Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion states simply that, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” When you walk, your foot pushes backward on the ground (action), and the ground pushes forward on your foot (reaction), moving you forward. In our exploration of Jesus’ parable in the fourth chapter of Mark, we will find that, like Newton’s law of motion, everyone reacted to Jesus. And everyone still reacts to Jesus today. But Jesus’ parable teaches us that every reaction to Him is not the same. Understanding the differences in reactions is key to our faith journey. Many New Testament scholars consider this parable of Jesus to be the parable that unlocks the understanding of all other parables and teachings of Jesus. If the scholars are correct, and I believe they are, how then have you and I reacted to Jesus, and how do we understand this key among all the parables? Let’s listen to Jesus today as though it were our first time hearing His words.
Mark set the scene for Jesus’ teaching in this way. “1 Again, Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he [Jesus] 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 [Jesus] taught them many things by parables” (Mark 4:1-2b). Mark’s gospel is primarily about Jesus’ actions. Today was different. Today was about Jesus’ teaching. Today, Mark focused on what Jesus said, not what Jesus did. Jesus was in Galilee, along the Sea of Galilee, which Mark referred to as a lake. Jesus had been ministering to the public with miracles and preaching for about a year. Jesus’ primary message never changed, even if his delivery at times differed. The message was “15 The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15). On this occasion, the crowd of people along the lake’s shore swelled so much that Jesus was forced to get into a boat, move offshore a little, so that he could be heard and seen by all. Who was in this crowd? There were the Twelve apostles of Jesus and disciples of Jesus, as well as religious leaders, and people who were fascinated by the miracles Jesus performed. Those comprising the crowd were very different in terms of their family histories, occupations, ambitions, talents, and reasons for being along the lake shore that day. And yet they were all the same in one regard. Everyone there had reacted in some way to Jesus. Everyone reacts to Jesus. They did then, and they do so today. Mark said Jesus taught this crowd with parables. From those parables, Mark was inspired by the Holy Spirit to share in detail one concerning a man sowing seeds.
Jesus began his teaching with a single word, “Listen!” In Greek, the word is akouō, ἀκούω, ak-oo'-o. As we move through this Chapter, we find that Jesus used the word akouō fourteen times. We miss that repetition in the English translations because akouō was not always translated into English as “Listen!” But fourteen times in this chapter, Jesus challenged the crowd to “Listen!” There was an urgency in Jesus’ words because Jesus’ message never wavered: “The time has come! Listen! Don’t miss it!”
Jesus said, 3 “Listen! [akouō] 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.” 9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” That last sentence is most important because in the Greek, it would be “καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς Ὃ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκούειν (kai legō autos ho echō ous akouō akouō). We might say it this way, “Whoever has ears, listen, listen!” This is a type of literary sandwich we discussed last month, found in the Bible, in which words, phrases, or sentences are repeated as a top and bottom layer to something essential in the middle. Jesus considered this parable essential, beginning with "listen" (akouō) and ending with "listen" (akouō).
What did the crowd learn here through this parable? Most learned nothing from the parable because they only heard the parable as a story about sowing seeds in Israel. The crowd would have understood already that a seed cast upon the hardened pathway would not sprout and be eaten by birds. They would have understood that a seed cast on the thin layer of soil covering bedrock would sprout but wither from lack of moisture. They would have understood that a seed cast among thorns would sprout but be choked out by the weedy plants. They would have understood that a seed was expected to produce 30 times its kind. A seed that produces sixty times itself would have caught their attention as unusual. A seed producing 100 times itself would have puzzled them and would be nothing other than miraculous. However, most of the crowd, despite hearing Jesus' words, did not understand them. Why? Because they were unwilling to listen.
But. There is always a but. But, Mark wrote, “10 When he [Jesus] was alone, the Twelve and the others around him [Jesus] asked him [Jesus] about the parables. 11 He [Jesus] told them [the Twelve and the other disciples], ‘The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside [the rest of the crowd] everything is said in parables (meaning here, riddles) 12 so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’” (Mark 4:10-12; Isaiah 6:9-10). To those who listened, Jesus taught in parables, but to those who only wanted to hear those same parables would be unsolvable riddles. Why? Because, as Jesus quoted Isaiah, “They might turn and be forgiven!” Does this mean Jesus did not want the crowd to be saved? No, not at all. Jesus, quoting from Isaiah, was using irony by saying the last thing on the minds of the people hearing these words of God is the idea that they would want to turn and be forgiven. Heaven forbid that should happen. What does it mean to turn and be forgiven? We sum that action up into a single word: repentance. To repent is to turn from your ways and follow God’s ways. The last thing the crowd wanted to do was to give up their ways and follow God. Yet, the central message of Jesus was, “The time has come. Repent (turn and be forgiven) and receive the good news” (Mark 1:15). The difference then between the crowd and those in Jesus’ company now was the spirit of repentance. When someone repents, they move from a hearer of God’s Word who finds it a riddle to one who listens and enters into the kingdom of God. This is why atheists reject the Word of God. They can only hear it but cannot understand it because they refuse to listen. They refuse to listen because they refuse to repent. If you know someone who rejects God’s word, ask them if they feel a need to repent. They will tell you, they don’t.
How then did the Twelve and the other disciples come to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God? They did so by listening to Jesus’ reply to the question about the parable of the man sowing seed. In response, Jesus said, “13 ‘Don’t you understand this parable? [If you do not understand this parable,] How then will you understand any parable?’” (Mark 4:13). Jesus’ words strongly suggest that this parable and Jesus’ explanation of it are key to understanding all the parables. Here is what Jesus had to say.
“14 The farmer sows the word” (Mark 4:14). The farmer is anyone who spreads the word, the word of God. In this immediate setting, the farmer represents Jesus, who came to share the good news. “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” (Mark 4:14-15). Jesus said, 'Some receive the word of God, some I have spoken to have received the word of God, but they react to it by rejecting it, just like hardened soil rejects the seed.' Satan is at the heart of the rejection and has, in his way, corrupted their thinking and stolen the word from them. We might recall that when we spoke from Chapter 3 of Mark a few weeks ago, the religious leaders accused Jesus of being Satan, Beelzebub. Jesus warned the religious leaders that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:29). In the parable, Jesus was making the point that the religious leaders and their followers of the crowd were being devoured by Satan, like birds would do to seed cast upon the hardened path.
Jesus continued, “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” (Mark 4:16-17). Among the crowd were those who followed Jesus because of the excitement of the healing miracles and the multiplying of loaves and fish. These were thrilling events that generated enormous interest, yes, even joy, but when they heard what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus, these people withered, like seed scattered in the thin soil over bedrock, and went home. Some in the crowd along the shore that day were there just for the excitement and free stuff.
Jesus addressed yet another group for whom the parable was but a riddle. Jesus said, “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” (Mark 4:18-19). We see this group exemplified by the rich young ruler who approached Jesus. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17b). The rich man had kept the commandments. Jesus said to him, “‘One thing you lack,’ he [Jesus] said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ 22 At this, the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth” (Mark 10:21-22). Some who heard the parable of the Sower that day had other gods before the Lord, namely wealth and worry, and those gods were choking their spiritual life.
Let’s pause here for just a moment. One of the things we will discuss in more detail in the weeks ahead is that Mark tends to present his gospel in patterns of three. Here we have seen the pattern of three displayed with three seeds that failed. Three types of people from the crowd with whom Jesus spoke, whose reaction to his words, the Word of God, produced nothing. The response of these people ended with them being either devoured, withered, or choked to death. Why did they react the way they did to Jesus? Because they failed to recognize that the time had come to repent and turn to God. Thus, they would be devoured, withered, or choked. In short, they would experience spiritual and eternal death. This was Jesus speaking about the judgment that awaits the unbeliever.
Mark wrote that Jesus then turned his attention to the other three seeds of the parable. Jesus said, “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” (Mark 4:20). Jesus was speaking here about disciples of Jesus in general. He said that some of those who hear the word and accept it will produce thirty times over. They will become good and pleasing to the Lord, producing what God would ask of them. A second group of disciples, a second seed, will produce an astounding doubling of what God would ask of them, a sixty-fold yield, if you will. The third group, a third seed, will overwhelmingly be productive for the kingdom, producing, if you will, a hundred-fold yield. In short, those who repent and receive the good news will experience life to the fullest and produce life for and within the kingdom to varying degrees, from the expected to the overwhelming. This parable illustrates that repentance and acceptance of God's word, as well as rejection of God’s word, are about making life-or-death decisions.
Jesus then added these words to the Twelve and other disciples, “21 ‘Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear’” (Mark 4:21-23). The last line again in Greek being, “εἴ τις αὐτοῖς ἔχει ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκούειν (ei tis echō ous akouō akouō). “If anyone has ears, listen! Listen!” Again, drawing emphasis to the importance of what he said.
What, then, do we take from Jesus’ parable and teaching? There are three things for us to consider today.
First, Jesus came with an open invitation, “The time has come! Repent and receive the good news!” (Mark 1:15). This is the Word of God. This is the Word of God that Jesus cast far and wide as he began his public ministry, as a Sower would do with seed. All were invited to listen to the word, but some heard and some listened. Jesus’ invitation still stands today. We can now be Sowers of that seed, the Word of God.
Second, everyone reacts to Jesus’ invitation. Some will hear the invitation and reject the Word; they will refuse to repent. Why? Because Satan has a hold over them. They will never listen to the word of God and will be devoured. Others will appear to receive the Word of God and bloom for a short time. But when difficulties come, they will claim God failed them or that God is a myth. These people will die spiritually, not by being devoured but by withering. A third group will appear interested in the Word of God but will not genuinely give their lives to Him because they have already pledged their lives to money or self-absorption, consumed by personal worries. Those concerns, the false gods of money and worry, will choke them to death. The reality is that some people will only hear the word of God and not be saved.
Finally, the good news of great joy is that those who do listen to the Word of God, who repent, who turn to Christ, will be saved. Those who are saved will receive life, and their lives will produce fruit for the kingdom of God. All of this will not be the result of personal effort but through the grace of God, a gift already prepared and awaiting those who believe and follow Jesus. If we understand all of this, we will understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and the parables will be joyful teachings because we will understand them.
This all leaves us with some questions each of us must answer. We should ask ourselves, “What is my reaction to God’s Word? Have I listened, repented, and received what God has for me, or have I only heard God’s word? Have I rejected God’s word and understand that in doing so, I will be spiritually devoured, withered, or choked?”
The time has come for each of us to repent and receive the good news of God's grace. As Jesus said, “εἴ τις αὐτοῖς ἔχει ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκούειν (ei tis echō ous akouō akouō). “If anyone has ears, listen! Listen!” Amen and Amen.