The Parable of the Sower has been on my mind a lot lately. It can be found in Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15. The passage from Mark is below.The Parable of the Sower
4 Again 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. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”
9 Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He 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 12 so that,
“ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
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—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
Anyone who has ever attended a Sunday school class has heard the explanation of the parable
Four kinds of people are represented by the four soils. All four kinds receive the same news. The first group consists of those who hear but do not believe at all, because of the work of the devil (v. 12).
The second group are those who listen and rejoice but then do not stick with the truth of the message for they have no root (v. 13). The fact that they believe for a while but … fall away means that they only accept the facts of the Word mentally and then reject it when “the going gets rough.” It does not mean they lose their salvation, for they had none to lose.
The third group are those who listen but never come to maturity (v. 14). These may be those who are interested in Jesus’ message but who cannot accept it because of their devotion to material things—life’s worries, riches, and pleasures.
The fourth group consists of those who listen, retain the Word, and … produce a crop (v. 15), that is, they bear spiritual fruit, evidence of their spiritual life. Their hearts were changed for they were noble and good.
As Christians we all want to be the good seed mentioned by Jesus. This is a common message preached on many Sundays around the word. However, God has been using the parable to speak to a different part of my life. Let me explain.
In front of my house I have a flower garden.
Yes it’s true, I am an engineer, but I have lilies, daisies, a hosta, Rose of Sharon, and orange, yellow, and blue flowers of names I can’t recall. With the flowers also come weeds, lots and lots of weeds. I could spend every weekend pulling weeds. I don’t do this often enough though and some of the weeds grow really, really big. The phrase “growing like a weed” is definitely true at my place. Where am I going with this analogy? As I said earlier as Christians we want to be, strive to be, the good soil described in the parable. However, our lives often resemble seed among thorn when the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. In my life, the “cares of the world” work, commitments, work, hobbies, work, can choke my ability to be good seed. I get so wrapped up in “stuff” that bearing spiritual fruit becomes difficult.
But here’s where the gardening analogy comes in. Weeds are easily pulled. In my flower garden the weeds have shallow roots, a little tugging removes the offending weed, even the large ones, allowing the flowers room to grow and bloom. The flowers also receive all the nutrients of the soil with the weeds gone! Bonus!
I’m working on turning my weeding over to God. Allow God in to pull your weeds. Turn the garden over to him, let him remove the weeds in your life, and you will bloom in the good soil and you will be beautiful.
