sowing

Mark 4

1 Once again Jesus began teaching by the lakeshore.

A very large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat.

Then he sat in the boat while all the people remained on the shore.

2 He taught them by telling many stories in the form of parables, such as this one:


  3 "Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed.

4 As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it.

5 Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow.

      6 But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn't have deep roots, it died.

7 Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain.

8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted, grew, and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!"

9 Then he said, "Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand."


  10 Later, when Jesus was alone with the twelve disciples and with the others who were gathered around, they asked him what the parables meant.


  11 He replied, "You are permitted to understand the secret of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, 12 so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:

'When they see what I do,
  they will learn nothing.
When they hear what I say,
  they will not understand.
Otherwise, they will turn to me
  and be forgiven.'"


  13 Then Jesus said to them, "If you can't understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?

14 The farmer plants seed by taking God's word to others.

15 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away.

16 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy.

        17 But since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long.

        They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word.

18 The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God's word,

         19 but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things,

         so no fruit is produced.

20 And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God's word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!"



We all may have heard this passage used in all kinds of ways in talks & sermons we may have heard over the years.

Think about it this way...


Does anyone know the name of the person who was the very first person that told Billy Graham about Jesus?

I'm talking about the person who, when they told Billy about Jesus, Billy for the first time absorbed the full meaning of who Jesus is & started turning his heart toward Jesus.

As far as I know, no one has ever been credited for doing that.

But I think we'd all say that the ripple effect of that person's sharing with Billy is continuing to have an ever expanding effect on our world.


Maybe one of the many things Jesus is saying in this parable is that sometimes our lives are about telling one or a few people about Jesus, & the ripple effect of that sharing goes in directions similar to that first sharing by some person with Billy Graham.


So, no matter where we are, or what we may perceive about our lives & their impact, God may be using us in significant ways, without us even know it.


Is that a bit of a stretch for this passage?

I don't think so.


Perhaps one of the important messages of this passage is that we, as Christ followers, need to be constantly "sowing" the amazingly scandalous facts about the grace we find available through Jesus, regardless of whether we see any results.

Sometimes we are just the sowers, not the reapers - we may never see the results until we get to heaven.

(We're so results oriented here in America!)

Maybe we are simply called to sow, & trust God for what happens next to the seeds as we move forward sowing in other places, to other people.


(btw, this is a truth I've been holding on to since we moved up here to Blairsville.)