Mark 4:1-20

The Parable of the Sower

1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."

9Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

10When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12so that,

" 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,

and ever hearing but never understanding;

otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'"

13Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."

BACKGROUND READING:


Isaiah 5


Isaiah 40


Isaiah 55:10-11



Dig Deeper

I had one semester while teaching high school history that will certainly not ever be inducted into the hall of fame of great teaching moments. I had decided to attempt to teach a unit on political cartoons. This was a pretty bold move considering the inner-city environment of the high school at which I was teaching. The thing didn’t turn out to be a total disaster but it was a pretty tough unit. The primary problem was that the students had an extremely difficult time understanding the true point of the cartoons. They just could never get it. The real problem was not that they weren’t intelligent enough to understand them, it was that they hadn’t been exposed to enough culture and history to be able to identify the symbols that most political cartoons use. For instance, when they saw a big elephant in a suit they weren’t thinking about the Republican Party, they just saw a big elephant in a suit. They would miss the entire point of the symbol.


The people of the ancient world were no strangers to symbols either. It was very common to use symbols like animals to tell stories about nations and kingdoms. There are many examples of this in the Old Testament. Jesus used symbols like this quite often in his parables as well. Quite often, Jesus took his symbols from older Old Testament symbols. The picture of God sowing the seed of Israel is a familiar one, particularly in the book of Isaiah. After many years of exile, God would restore the fortunes of his people. Like Isaiah 55 says: "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty."


In the same way, this is a story about the word that produces fruit, even though the grass will wither and flowers will fade. The big problem for Israel was that Jesus’ vision of how God was sowing his word was radically different from what they expected. They wanted all the flash and dash of the glory cloud from Exodus when God would come in dramatic fashion and destroy all of their enemies, restoring Israel to their rightful place as God’s true people. Jesus has something else in mind, though. God’s word is more like a seed hidden in the soil. It will apparently go to waste if the soil receiving it isn’t good and able to sustain it. Jesus wasn’t offering a timeless truth on how people listen to sermons (although it might certainly apply to that) he was giving a specific word-picture story on what was happening to the crowds as he was announcing God’s coming kingdom. He is telling them that for them being a part of the kingdom wasn’t automatic. It was available to all but not an universal birthright for the Jews.


Jesus was not only describing the division that the word of God would create, but his parables were part of the process. Not everyone who hears will take the seed to heart and produce fruit. Some may hear but not understand. But why would Jesus do that, doesn’t he want everyone to understand? Yes, and no. His concept of the kingdom was too radical to be said out in the open. If the authorities like Herod Antipas heard of his kingdom movement it would be too dangerous. Yet, it was so radical that if said in a straightforward manner, the regular people would be furious as well. He was saying that Israel was out as the children of God. God was doing a new thing and they may or may not be included.


This was the secret of the kingdom, then. It would be a spiritual kingdom that was far different than anything they had imagined, and they had better prepare their hearts for it or they would be left out.



Devotional Thought

Jesus’ words were so dramatic and subversive, so unexpected that he needed to wrap them in coded language so that only those with faith would fully understand. Is what we are saying so subversive and unconventional that we need to be discerning about how we say it? It it’s not, perhaps we’re not really spreading the same gospel that Jesus was.