Introduction 

This parable is a lovely story and familiar to all of us. The subject matter would also have been very familiar to the people originally listening to the story. When we want people to listen to a challenge, it is always good to speak of things with which they are familiar. Rooting new or challenging ideas in the familiar is a real aid to getting our ideas across. 

But make no mistake – this story presents a very real challenge not only to the original audience, but also to us today. Let’s look at it carefully.

Mark 1: 1-20 - The first part of our reading consists of Jesus telling the parable to a large crowd of people who have come to see him and hear him speak. The crowd is so large that Jesus is actually sitting in a boat on the lake and the people are on the water’s edge. The story is one they can relate to – it’s about a farmer sowing seed. Remember in those days the farmer would have carried the seed and scattered it by hand as he was walking. This meant that the seed fell on a variety of different types of ground - complete accuracy was not expected! In this story the seed falls on four different types of ground – the path, rocky places, among thorns and on good soil. And, of course, the growth and flourishing of the seed depends on what type of ground the seed falls on. 

Its worth noting the relevance of the ground to our own experience of responding to scripture and to discerning and following God’s will for our lives. It’s all very easy for us to sit here and assume we are always the good ground, but how many of us can say that, for example, during worship are we always truly listening to every word and our attention is totally focussed? 

How many of us can claim never to have wondered if our automatic oven has come on and our Sunday roast is cooking, or mentally listing the jobs we have to do when we get home, or whether the rain will hold off so we can get the car cleaned, or whether or not Villa will win the eagerly anticipated match this afternoon? How much time and attention do we give to our daily Bible reading and the reflection and prayer that follows it? How many of us can honestly say we have never looked at the clock and decided we have just got time to do our daily reading now as long as we get on with it? 

There is more to reading the Bible that skimming over the words on the page. The important question is: are we always good soil, or do we have rocky ground and thorn moments? How far does our daily specific time with God impinge on what we think, do and say during the day? Let’s look at the parable with fresh eyes and more than a bit of humility. 

Jesus tells the crowd that some of the seed falls on the path. The birds eat it up – as birds do - and it doesn’t stand a chance of growing into a plant. Some of the seed falls on rocky ground and flourishes for a brief while. However, the soil is too shallow to enable it to form the deep roots that might have enabled it to survive the scorching sun. Some of the seeds fall among thorns and grow for a while, but the young plants are no match for the rapidly growing thorns, which choke the plants so that they bear no grain. Finally some seed falls on good soil, and the plants flourish and produce a substantial crop. 

A good story, but what does it actually mean? When Jesus is alone with his disciples and just a few followers, they ask him what parables mean. Jesus explains the parable of the sower carefully, but only to his closest followers. To me, the parables, and other parts of the Bible, carry specific meaning at certain times. God often uses his word to speak directly to us today about current situations facing us as individuals or as a church, or indeed as a community or nation. 

The value of having a parable, or a story, that relates to us is that we remember the story because we enjoyed it, and when we recall it in the months and years ahead, we see deeper layers of meaning. We can read a verse we have read dozens of time, but suddenly it leaps out and hits us in the face and we see something we have never seen before – something specifically for us now. 

Let’s consider what Jesus says to his disciples when he explains the parable of the sower. 

The seed the farmer is sowing is the word of God. If people who receive it are the path the devil comes and takes away the word; they may completely forget about it, or have a false understanding of it, or simply regard it as irrelevant. Others, on the rocky places, receive the word with joy but because they have no deep roots in God they fall away from faith; perhaps they have been mocked and laughed at at work, or they have experienced people they love becoming seriously ill and in pain. Then there is the question of the thorns where the word cannot develop and grow because it is choked by the cares and ambitions of this life. The thorn people are more concerned with getting a good income, promotion at work, a larger house or car. Chasing after their priorities leads them away from loving relationships and a committed family life into things that have the appearance of glamour, but are worthless in God’s eyes. Some people, happily, are good soil – people who have studied God’s word, know what the Bible says and believe it, have developed a close relationship with God through prayer and through loving care of other people. They have deep roots that gradually grow deeper. That seed grows abundantly and produces a crop that brings in God’s kingdom. I believe that each person is capable of being all four soils at different times and for different reasons. I also believe that all of us here this morning have the desire to be good soil and bring in God’s kingdom – even if some of our ground needs a bit of Monty Don or Alan Titschmarsh care. Beautiful gardens don’t just happen!

Application

So, what can we learn from this parable about our own circumstances today and how we can help ourselves to become good soil.

We need to remember that God sows the seed, but we are responsible for nurturing the soil – that’s us – that the seed is sown in. If we have a desire to be good soil we must get our priorities right and make sure that our lifestyle, words and actions create that soil. We need to spend quality time with God, reading and studying his word, coming to him in prayer, listening to his prompts and being obedient to his call on our life.

We need to discipline ourselves to ensure that God’s priorities are our priorities and that we are not distracted by things that seem attractive and appealing but are essentially worthless.

Our faith in God must be central to our lives and we must trust in him and his promises and not lean on our own understanding, as it says in Proverbs 3 :5-6.

The parable of the sower speaks powerfully into our lives today. How ready are we to shape and discipline our lives so that we are ready to receive, understand, and act on, the word God speaks to us? Worth reflecting on!