August 8, 2023

Mark 4: 2-14 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching, said, “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.” . . . “The farmer sows the word.” (NIV)

Our job isn’t to judge the soil. Our job is to spread the seed.*

When I was growing up in Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and church camp, I was taught that parables were illustrations that were simple enough for even a child to understand. This troubled me because as a reasonably intelligent little girl I didn’t always understand parables. I have learned a few things since those days, two of which are: 

1. Parables were deliberately obscure. 

2. If the gospel writers didn’t include Jesus’ explanation of the meaning, we can’t be sure of it ourselves. 

In their recounting of the parable of the sower (read the entire passage in your Bible), Matthew, Mark, and Luke each records Jesus telling us exactly what he meant by it. It is a chilling account of how the lost can stay lost even after exposure to the gospel. 

But what does Jesus say about the farmer? Does he criticize him for scattering his seeds along the path where the birds could eat them? Does he accuse him of carelessness because some of the seeds landed on rocky, shallow soil? Does he chastise the farmer for allowing precious seed to fall among thorns? No. In verse 14, he simply states: “The farmer sows the word.” 

In verse 11, Jesus tells the Twelve, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you.” As his followers, we hold that secret as well. We are farmers whose sole responsibility is to sow those seeds we’ve been entrusted with. We scatter them as we go along in a life that includes both good soil and bad. But Jesus doesn’t charge us with the responsibility of determining the readiness of the dirt. 

Do you see the urgency Jesus was trying to convey to his disciples? It was such an important message that he reemphasized it in his last words on earth: “Go and make disciples . . . teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you . . .” (Matthew 28: 19, 20) No final instructions about preparations or methods or strategy. Yes, plants grow better in a properly plowed garden but we have allowed our lack of readiness to blind us to the urgency. Don’t make excuses. Go.

Jesus didn’t say, “Calculate the probabilities and then go with the better odds." He said, “Go.”*