Jesus taught a lot in parables. Good stories…easy to relate to. This one is about a man who sows some seed. Some of it fell by the road and the birds came and quickly ate it. Some of it fell on rocky ground where there was not much soil. It produced a crop but was scorched quickly by the sun and died. Some fell among thorns and the thorns came up and choked it and it yielded no crop. But some fell into good soil and grew up and yielded a crop thirty, sixty, ninety times what he’d sown.
Nice story. What’s the point.
The seed is the word of God. Some hear it and reject it outright. Others hear it, think it’s great but quickly lose interest and turn away. Still others hear it but “all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of this life, the lure of wealth and the desire for nice things so no crop is produced.” It makes absolutely no difference in their life. They are busy with other things. It’s catalogued into one of those nice to know but really doesn’t impact my life type things. You can pull it out and talk about it to fit in with a crowd if that’s their thing, but it really doesn’t mean anything to you personally on a daily basis.
One guy, one out of the four, believed it, received it and it changed his life. How do I know that? Because he reproduced himself over and over.
We have to remember that Jesus was not friends with the high church guys. There is no way you can draw that conclusion. They hated him. They dogged him, trying to hang him up every time he disobeyed one of the rules. So Jesus was not saying the man in the story took 90 people to church with him and they became church members and sang in the choir and taught Sunday school.
He did say that the seed “took.” It germinated, it grew into a mature plant and that one seed reproduced itself.
How? Good question. Verse 27 says, “He himself does not know.” In other words, the guy had no clue.
The farmer in verse 26 plants his seed and goes to bed.”The seed sprouts up and grows…how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself, first the blade then the head, then the mature grain in the head. “ He doesn’t try to explain it or analyze it. He watches those amber waves of grain and marvels. He stands amazed. He takes his sickle and brings in the crop. He makes bread and feeds his family and a bunch of other people. How? He cannot say, he just knows after he eats, he is full, satiated, satisfied.
Verse 24 says, “Pay attention to what you hear. The more you do this, the more you will understand and even more besides. To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But to those who are not listening, even what they have will be taken away from them.”
That’s why Mark starts his book with, “This is good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” because this is a supernatural thing. This is not a hmmmm, this makes sense thing.
I just put four paperwhite bulbs in some soil in a container in my kitchen. Added water. Three weeks later I have these gorgeous, aromatic, pristine, tiny white flowers.
I don’t know if you have ever shopped for bulbs, but except for size, they all look alike. They are brown and shriveled and ugly. They always have the picture of the flower they will produce behind the little bin. Good thing…if you had never seen a bulb before and some random sales person said, “You would not believe what this turns into! See?” And he held up the picture of a fully mature paperwhite, you’d be incredulous. “Wow!” you respond. “ You’re kidding! How does it do it?”
“I have no idea,” he says, “but all you have to do is just put it right under some dirt or rocks, add water, wait three weeks and presto…your flower will look just like this one!”
Right.
Unless…. you’ve seen paperwhites before or have an extra 50 cents and decide to give it a try.
A God who created not only our universe but countless others, decided to have a relationship with man. He got a bunch of men to write down what he had to say. Some things we understand, some we don’t. I accept that. I’m finite. He is infinite. But he says, just accept this, make it part of your life, apply it, trust Me and I’ll give you more. It’ll begin to make sense and even when it doesn’t make sense, it’ll begin to work. It’ll begin to apply. Then when it does and you work through that, I’ll give you even more. You’ll begin to understand. You will stand amazed.
But….big but…if you don’t, whatever understanding you did have, will be taken away.
Three out of four blew it off. It radically changed the life of one…one guy and many benefited from what he produced.
We haven’t gotten to the fish or cut bait stuff of chapter eight…but we’re circling the runway.
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