Flashback Episode — The Most Important Parable: Mark 4:1-9, 13-20

As we continue moving through our first chronological year looking at events from Jesus’ life, we come to what many people may consider to be Jesus’ most famous parable. When we look a little closer at what Jesus shares about this parable, it is possible that this illustration is actually the most important parable in the entire Bible. This parable happens to also be among a very select group of parables that appear in three of the four gospels.

When looking at this parable and what Jesus teaches us within it, we get an amazing picture of God’s role and our role in the world today. While this parable is found in three of the gospels, let’s look at Mark’s version of it.

Our passage for this episode is found in Mark, chapter 4, and we will read it using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us:

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.”

Skipping down a couple verses, Jesus then explains this parable to the disciples when they are alone with Him. Coming back into chapter 4 at verse 13:

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.”

In this two-part passage, we have Jesus sharing one of His most famous parables as well as explain it to His disciples while they were alone together. One thing Mark includes that the other gospels don’t is Jesus’ pair of rhetorical questions in verse 13. Jesus asks the disciples: “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?”

This phrase clues me into the idea that Jesus perhaps thought that this parable was more significant than most of His other ones. While teaching and preaching, Jesus shared frequently about the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven through parables, but perhaps this parable is more foundational. Of all the parables Jesus shared, this one might be the parable we assume relates to God’s kingdom, while Jesus doesn’t actually attribute it to it. I suspect that regardless of the lack of attributing this to the kingdom of heaven, this parable actually speaks more to the state of our sin-filled human hearts and God’s desire to reach us than it does about teaching us a big truth about how God operates.

However, while this parable is famous, I suspect Jesus knew that His words might be taken out of context or misunderstood. To help there be no confusion among His followers, Jesus comes right out and says what He meant with this parable:

First off, Jesus states that the farmer sows the word. This tells me that the seed in the parable is God’s Word or God’s message. The primary action taken in this parable is spreading God’s message with others.

Next Jesus frames the different types of soil as different types of people.

First, He talks about the path, which is so hard that the seed has no place to go and that is quickly snatched away. This is like someone who is so closed to God, the Bible, or anything spiritual or religious that anything even remotely seen as spiritual is quickly discounted or ignored. This type of soil could also represent the person who is so busy that nothing new is able to get in – no new thoughts, ideas, or even rest.

Next Jesus talks about rocky places. These people receive God’s Word with joy, but their joy does not last. There is no foundation or root, and as soon as the first problem appears, they drop the whole idea. This soil describes people who abandon any faith or belief in God when challenged by someone from another worldview. These people aren’t “bad”, they just have no foundation or root structure to help them respond.

The third type of soil Jesus describes is the soil that has competition. Whereas the first two soils had outside opposition, this third type of soil has inside competition. Worries, stress, desire, and the money trap are all internal struggles that may not stop us from starting to grow, but they will keep us from maturing.

These first three types of soil describe people who never become who God wants them to be. These three types of soil all have various challenges, but they all share the characteristic that the seed the farmer sowed wasn’t able to mature.

However, these three types of soil are not permanent. A skilled farmer or gardener could break up the rock-hard path, remove the stones from the poor soil, and weed out the thorns to make good soil out of what was formerly poor soil. However, while this is an important message for you when thinking about which type of soil is closest to your current heart, this detail is not the focal point of this parable.

The fourth and last type of soil Jesus focused on is the good soil, and the seed sowed in this soil is able to take root and grow. These people hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop. However, it is worth noting that even in their fruitfulness, there are still differences in how fruitful each person is.

What is often missed in Jesus’ explanation of this fourth type of soil is that maturing and being fruitful is what God sees as important. How fruitful you are is not an issue. The farmer is just as happy with the thirty times growth as he is with the one hundred times growth. Both are very sustainable. In God’s eyes, being fruitful is more important than how fruitful you are.

Before wrapping up our episode, there’s one more detail I want to draw our attention to: In Jesus’ explanation of this parable, He never identifies who the farmer is. He starts by explaining that the seed is God’s word, and the soil types are how receptive people are, while completely skipping over who the farmer is. This detail is important for me because it leaves the role of farmer open.

While it is possible that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are the only acceptable Farmers in the context of this parable, I wouldn’t be surprised to discover Jesus sharing this parable with the intention that you and I could also step into the farmer role after we have matured in our relationship with God. Instead of worrying if we are one of the less-than-ideal types of soil, perhaps we should instead focus on being like the farmer and spreading God’s word and His message to those in our lives. If we chose to see ourselves as the farmer, not replacing Jesus but instead partnering with Him and His Holy Spirit, we might find ourselves to be more fruitful that we would otherwise realize or give ourselves credit for.

While I could go on talking about this parable, since it is one of my favorites, let’s save this discussion for later.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and ask Him to change your heart into being a better type of soil. Regardless of what type of soil you think your life or heart is, ask God to cultivate it into being the ideal soil that allows for Him to grow His truth in your life.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself in order to learn who Jesus really is – straight from God’s Word. While other people have ideas, take everything you read, hear, and see and filter it through the truth of God’s Word.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or let yourself be pulled away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!