The Seed and the Soil: Mark 4:1-8, 13-20

As we continue moving through the gospels looking at the parables Jesus shared, we come to what might be the most famous parable Jesus ever shared, and while carrying the title of most famous parable, this might also be the most important parable in the entire gospel record. This parable is the only parable that I can think of where both the parable and Jesus’ explanation of the details of this parable are included in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

If you are familiar with the gospels, or if you have been listening to this podcast for some time, I’m pretty sure you have heard this parable. However, just in case you haven’t read the gospels, or you have no clue what I am talking about, or if you need a quick reminder about the details of this parable, let’s read it together.

Let’s read this parable from Mark’s gospel, where it can be found in chapter 4, and let’s use the New International Version of the Bible to read it. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

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.”

It is at this point in the passage that the parable ends. Jesus then begins talking about something else that isn’t included in the gospels. Or perhaps, Jesus shared some of the other parables we will be looking at in the upcoming weeks.

If it wasn’t for the disciples coming to Jesus a little later and asking Jesus to explain this parable, we might be just as confused about this parable as we are about some of the others Jesus shared.

Like Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include this parable, they all include Jesus’ explanation. Instead of speculating what the details of this parable represents, as I have heard others who don’t know the gospels do, let’s read Jesus’ explanation of His own parable, because there is no better explanation than Jesus’ when it comes to helping us understand what He taught.

Picking back up in verse 13, Mark tells us:

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 explanation, we discover that different people react differently to hearing God’s word. In Jesus’ illustration, there are four possible reactions.

But before really focusing on the reactions, I want to point out Jesus’ own words when He sets this parable up to be a foundation for all of His parables. When the disciples ask Jesus to explain this parable to them, Jesus replied by saying in verse 13, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?”

While I don’t know if the disciples understood the parable before this point, but wanted clarification on some points, or whether they were completely clueless about why a farmer would so indiscriminately scatter seed in places where it wouldn’t grow well, we can thank them for asking for an explanation. While Jesus challenges them on their lack of understanding, He also shares the clear meaning of this parable.

In this parable, the farmer spreads God’s word. People on the path discount, ignore, or forget what was shared. People in the rocky places like what they heard but they don’t know how to apply it, nor do they have a foundation. When external challenges come, like the sun beating down, they give up God’s word and wilt away. People in the thorn bushes let God’s word take root, but they are challenged internally by deceit, worry, desires, and other things. These people let life’s problems strangle their relationship with God.

The last group of seed gets good soil, is able to take root, is not choked out by thorns, and is productive. While it would be easy to focus on why the farmer seemed to waste seed on not-ultimately-productive types of soil, let’s instead focus on the good soil.

Jesus writes about those in the fourth group in verse 20, saying: “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.”

I’ve read this verse a number of times, but a phrase jumped off the page at me this time. Those in this group “produce a crop”. In the subtle details of this parable, the goal of a seed is to make more seeds and to spread these seeds in order to produce a crop.

Like the parable we looked at in our previous episode, where the goal is being fruitful, we see a connection to this parable because the seed on good soil produces the fruit of a crop, and it does so in an exponential way.

Fruit trees and plants in general always produce more than one fruit or seed. Every plant produces significantly more chances of replicating itself than just once. Every plant is designed to realize that many of the seeds won’t become more plants. In the case of our current parable, the crop that is produced is fruitful, with some of the seeds replicating themselves up to a hundred times.

When we are being fruitful, we shouldn’t worry about how fruitful we are being. Those who are thirty times as productive are as rewarded as the ones who are one hundred times. Our level of fruitfulness isn’t as important as the simple truth that we must be fruitful.

However, in this parable, we get to chose where our seed lands. When God’s word comes into our life, will we choose to have a heart that is hard like a path, is weak like the rocky soil, is distracted and worried like the thorny soil, or will we open our hearts to God’s word, and multiply the message He has given to us by sharing it with others?

This parable lets us choose our response. Let’s choose to open our hearts to God and grow into being spiritually fruitful people!

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

Continue seeking God first and placing Him first in your life. Be sure to intentionally open your heart to God and let Him grow you into being the fruitful person He created you to be.

In order to do this, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. While it is okay to learn and grow from listening to pastors, speakers, authors, or even podcasters, never let your spiritual growth be filtered by others. Always be personally studying the Bible and testing what you read and hear with the truth included in the Bible’s pages, because while culture changes, the safest place to be anchored is 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 deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!