The Parable of the Sower
Have you considered the farmer in the Parable of the Sower? He plunges his hand into a sack of seeds. He draws it out, kernels of grain spilling from the edges of his overloaded fist. In one quick motion, he swings his arm back and then flings it forward. Seeds arc across the ground before his feet. He strides forward, slinging a handful of grain with each step. At the far end of the field, he turns to admire his work and smiles as he looks at the seeds sprinkled over the ground like so much golden salt.
Sure. Some of it spreads outside the boundaries of his field onto the wayside. Some of the grain lands among thorns or rocks. Some of his seeds may never sprout. Still, he knows that those on good ground will spring up, first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head. From each seed that does mature, he expects a yield of thirty, sixty, or even one hundredfold.
Jesus Characterizes the Soil
This is the Parable of the Sower that Jesus told his disciples in Mark 4:3–20. When Jesus unpacks its meaning, he explains that the seed represents the word of God and the four types of dirt represent those who hear that word and respond to it in varying degrees. The hard-packed soil allows birds to capture and swallow it up before it sprouts. The rocky ground hasn’t enough substance to support what little does sprout. Thorns and weeds strangle what’s planted before it can produce fruit in the third patch. But the good, deep, rich soil welcomes the seed, allowing it to grow roots. Then branches shoot up and flower into beautifully ripened fruit.
We usually read this passage as a cautionary tale about making sure our hearts are like that well-prepared ground, fully receptive to the word of God. Then why do many Bible versions label this story as “The Parable of the Sower” rather than “The Parable of the Soil”? Perhaps we should look at it again from the sower’s point of view.
Turning the Parable of the Sower Around
Jesus doesn’t specify who the sower represents in the story, so we might safely assume he stands for any of us spreading the Good News. Whoever he is, this farmer sows with wild abandon. Whether the ground is rocky, thorny, hard-packed, or rich and loamy, he flings it wide and lets it fall where it may.
That may not sound like efficient farming. After all, only a quarter of his efforts meet with success. But he follows the advice of the writer of Ecclesiastes. “In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good” (Ecclesiastes 11:6 NKJV). He doesn’t expect 100 percent efficiency out of his seeds. Yet he expects to receive an abundant harvest, so he plants generously.
What does that mean for the Gospel-spreaders among us? I think it coaxes us to resist discouragement when we don’t see every effort succeeding. Instead of worrying about the quality of the soil, we should just sow and sow and sow some more.
After all, who knows whether the owner of that patch of thorns might decide to plunge into the weeds and rip them out in time for flowers to grow? Who knows if the one sitting on rocky soil won’t gird up his loins and pull boulders out of the way before those seeds die?
Being Generous Sowers
Our job is to follow the advice (or maybe the command) in Deuteronomy 11:19. Keep speaking God’s words when we sit in our house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise up. Spread the Gospel morning and evening, because we don’t know which words will find a home in the hearts of those to whom we speak. We don’t know whether this seed or that will prosper, or whether both alike will be good.
We needn’t mourn over what doesn’t sprout. Even if we’re apparently only twenty-five percent effective, that little bit will more than make up for what seemed to go nowhere. After all, each individual seed that finds a good home produces a head full of many more seeds. And each of those seeds have the potential to create an even greater harvest in the future.
What more encouraging words could there be for the busy Gospel-spreader than the ones Jesus ends his story with?
“But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred” (Mark 4:20 NKJV).
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