Soils and Sowers (Mark 4:2-20)
At several points in my life, my sweet Annie has made different recommendations to me. She’s said things like, “you’ve got to try sushi, it’s delicious” or “maybe you should take a day off or two, you’ve been working really hard.” I have this uncanny ability to somehow shut off ‘hearing’ and put aside what she says – and typically, it’s only a matter of time until a close friend reiterates Annie’s advice in some form or manner… when the message registers in my mind:
“I should try sushi!”
or...
“Maybe I need to take some time off… I AM exhausted!”
On a more serious note – I wonder how many of us who have grown up in a church setting have ever wondered to ourselves… “I’ve heard this message before” or “I get it, the message of the story is Jesus loves me” – how many of us hear a message from the Bible or worship songs and have just tuned out and walked out of church on a Sunday without a thought towards what we’ve just received.
This week we’ll be continuing our series in Mark talking about the parable of the soils and how each of us at different times in our faith will find ourselves challenged with the notion of not only hearing the word, but accepting and responding to it in light of many different challenges and distractions that come our way.
Looking forward to breaking open the Word with y’all this Sunday!!
Blessings!
Jason
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.”
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.”
- Mark 4:2-20