God The Sower

Mark 4
The Parable of the Sower

1 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, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them 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!’[a]”
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.”

Reflection

Katie and I have a very small garden on our apartment balcony. Scattered across our back porch are little, medium, and large pots containing some alive and some barely living plants.

When we first moved into our apartment, we went out and bought some plants, some seeds, pots, and soil to decorate our porch. We went home and placed some planets in the shade, some in the sun, and planted some in the dirt. Then we waited. A few weeks and months went by and some plants bloomed beautiful flowers, while some others just wilted and died. (Don’t worry; we had a small ceremony for those that passed-on.)

Through this whole process, Katie and I learned one hard lesson: plants are very delicate creatures.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus is using the practice of sowing seeds to illustrate a spiritual reality. The sower in the story just has one job, to go out and sow seeds. What is interesting about the parable is that the sower doesn’t carefully place each seed in the prefect place; the sower just throws them and allows them to land wherever they do.

Some of the seeds grow up to become healthy plants that produce amazing fruit and many more health plants. Other seeds fall into different types of environments and soon cause the seed to wither and pass-away.

Most preachers use this passage to tell Christians, “You are the sower. You better go out there and preach God’s gospel… now go out and throw those seeds!”

I think this is a rather interesting take on this parable. I have always thought of the “sower” as God, not us. That is not to say we do not have to preach the gospel by how we live, but we need to realize that we are not the one who plants the seed, God is.

What I have always found interesting about this parable is the different environments the seeds fall into. Some seeds fall into a good enough environments that they are able to grow up and become healthy plants. Other seeds fall into environments that destroy the seeds ability to become healthy.

This parable communicates something very interesting about us as humans: just like the plants that Katie and I tried to plant, we are delicate creatures. There are certain environments that can destroy our spirituality and the ability for us to grow into healthy, fruit-bearing Christians.

When I read this parable I always find myself asking, “What environment am I creating?” If God planted a seed in my community, would I help it grow or not?

In families and as people, I think we need to sometimes check in and ask ourselves a hard question, “What environment are we creating?” Is it one that is creating space for the spirit of God to move? Or, is it one that is focused more on things of the world?

Question
1. Who is the sower in Jesus’s parable?
2. Who are the seeds?
3. Why do some seeds grow while others die off? What is it about some environments that help the seeds grow well? What is it about the environment that causes some seeds to die?
4. What type of environment do you feel like this family is creating? Are we helping nourish each other’s spiritual lives?
5. What are some practical things we can change to help create a healthier environment?