ON YOUR MARK: WEEK 4 DAY 1
Mark 4
The Parable of the Sower
1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The Purpose of the Parables
10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that
“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”
13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
I am not a farmer or gardener, I never have been, and probably never will be. My wife, on the other hand, loves to garden so much. She is always telling me about the soil health and her joy of planting.
In verse four from today's passage, Jesus talked about how some of the seed was scattered on the path and was quickly eaten up by birds. Well, why would only the seed on the path be eaten by birds? If you have ever been to a farm, think of how soft the fresh tilled soil is. Even a seed can be scattered and sink into the ground enough to have the potential to produce something. In contrast, a path would be hard and rigid, unaccepting of the seeds.
The seed in this story is the Gospel, or good news, of Jesus Christ. The path is a symbol of hardened hearts. Paths are not designed for planting. Our hearts need to be like soft fresh soil, ready for the Gospel to be planted. If we choose to let our hearts remain hardened, the Devil has a much easier time collecting those seeds.
As Christians, before we spread seeds, we have steps we should be taking to make sure that the hearts who hear the message are prepared. Over the next three days, we will cover the rest of the steps, but for now here is step one:
Pray for heart(s) to be prepared.