The Sower and the Seed – Mark’s Gospel chapter 4
Thoughts, questions and doubts. Is serving Jesus worth the effort?
13 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some 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. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop – some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.’
Mark 4:13-20
The farmer sows the Word, the Gospel. This is a constant, never changes, but there are different soils.
- No Soil, the seed never penetrates the surface. This is the hard heart, and deaf ears.
- Rocky Soil, quick growth, but it doesn’t take root.
- Thorny Soil, thorns grow faster and choke the word, with no grain. Weeds of wealth, of desire for other things.
- Good Soil, seed grows well and give a big crop. Here is ground for hope. Here is one who hears and grows in love and service for Jesus, God’s Son
Let us hear! Take God’s Word into your heart.
Don’t stop sowing. Don’t change the seed.
The parable of the growing seed
He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces corn – first the stalk, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 As soon as the corn is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.’
Mark 4:26-29
The focus here is what happens after the sowing. “All by itself” – the farmer is out of the picture. Yes, the farmer sowed. But after that it is God’s work, we can’t comprehend it nor control it. This is reassuring, encouraging, so we wait in faith and patience. 1Cor 3:5-7
The parable of the mustard seed
Again he said, ‘What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.’
Mark 4:30-32
Smallest, “insignificant” seed is the starting point, yet grows to be the largest of garden herbs. This is “significant”. The story of the Jesus’ Church is the story of the mustard seed. Don’t despise the small.
New International Version – UK (NIVUK)
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