Mark 4:3-9 ESV “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The parable of the sower in Mark chapter 4 is one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible. In this parable, we come across four different kinds of soils; the way side, the stony ground, the thorny ground, and the good ground. As the parable unfolds, we see that the good ground is rightly the only ground that yields increase, as the Bible says, “some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
Christians in the world make up the body of Christ. In Romans 12:5, the Bible says, “So we, being many, are one body in Christ…” Like any body, food is requisite to sustained levels of performance. For the Christian body, our food happens to be the word of God (Jeremiah 15:16). But unlike what we are used to, every member of this body is responsible for his feeding. I find it amazing that the parable of the sower is the first parable the Bible records of Jesus. In this parable, we find the principle of growth and establishment in Christ. Here’s how I understand it: if we are able to develop the attitude of good soils, we would be able to assimilate the word and derive whatever benefits it has for us. We may not know exactly how these profits come about (Mark 4: 26, 27). For a system that operates like this, wouldn’t you agree with me that is would be detrimental if some members were propagating in the first three grounds: wayside, rocky and thorny?
I am of the understanding that a farmer would cease to plant in a particular soil when it consistently fails to yield increase. Maybe, that is what God does with us. When some members of this Christian body fail to digest the word, God “moves on” to others, whose hearts are of the right kind of soil for his word.
Amos 8:11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
When less and less food is made available to a population, food becomes scarce. As the scarcity of food gets severe, it is said that there is a famine. Less and less of the word would be made available to hearts that are not conducive for the word. Consequently, the body of Christ would waste away because in the latter part of Romans 12:5. We understand that our existence is mutual.
You don’t want to be responsible for the wasting away of Christ’s body – you wouldn’t want to stand in judgment for that. Only develop an attitude and a heart for the word of God.
Seeking to glorify God in any way possible.
I do feel “parched” and hungry and needy when I dont read the bible. I even get to points where I feel lost. Good article.