The Sower Part 1

Our Bible Study Live that is conducted every morning, Monday through Friday on my personal Facebook page, has been blessed many times with a strong word from the Holy Spirit. In this case, it was such a wonderful process, I felt it needed to be blogged and posted about. We will take each portion of the parable one at a time.
Please Read Mark 4:3-8
3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.
4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.
5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.
6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.
7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” Mark 4:3-8 (NKJV)

A simple explanation of the premise is that the Sower is Christ, the Seed is the Gospel/Word. That said, keep in mind that the word “sower” in this passage is not capitalized, meaning it is not specific to a person such as we would use the word “lord” with a capitalized first letter to refer to Lord Jesus. The word as it is spoken in the Greek (original writing) simply refers to someone who spreads the seed or the act of “sowing”. In the eventual understanding, it can also mean those who spread the Gospel as a Christian.

The “wayside” talks of the path that surrounds a field that is being used to grow crops. If you look at the last verse (8), you see that the point of the parable is about producing crops. The wayside would be hard packed soil that is unprepared for planting. It receives no turning and plowing of the soil. No fertilizer. Only the pressing of regular foot traffic. Therefore, a seed would never have the opportunity to begin the process of growth, much less produce a crop.

The first thing we see on the face of this part is the fact that the seed being present here is not the intention of the sower. As he sows, the seed is scattered broadly, landing in areas that were not prepared for it.
It speaks of the need to be “intentional” in the act
of taking the Gospel to the world.

Jesus explains the parable more in verses 13-20. He says the “birds of the air” are the devil taking the Gospel away. Making the Word sown there of no use. I believe (not in contradiction to the Words of Jesus) that the negative results are already planned against. The soil is already unusable from years of being packed down. Meaning the person (soil) already has no place for the Word of God to find its way into them. They are “jaded” or hardened against it for various reasons. They might be atheistic in their thinking. Maybe they grew up in a home that thought and taught that way, so their thinking is already very deeply rooted in them to be unaffected by any religious teaching.

Sometimes this thinking is because they have been mistreated or saw others mistreated by the Church or people in religious authority.

I had a friend many years ago that was an altar boy in the Catholic church. He was one of the many that had been molested by priests. This hardened him against all religions. It is sad but true that often the great hardening of the heart is the results of wayward Christians or religious people. Similar things have happened over and over in churches and religious organizations worldwide.

Often that injury is not sexual in context. It can be a financial situation. Sometimes bad teaching. Many reasons can cause a person to turn from God or grow up in opposition to anything religious. Either way, we see that the seed is ignored.

But a thought occurred to me as we studied. In our back yard we have a small garden/patio area. Bordering this area is several garden boxes. Within these boxes are several prosperous Columbine plants. I personally do not know much about the Columbine except to recognize the flower and leaves. But one thing I am certain of is that they do not grow randomly like a weed.

Several years ago the first of all these Columbines arrived. We did not plant it. One spring it just showed up in an odd place that we had nothing planted. It began its process and I chose not to pull it out (since I initially wondered if it was a weed). Eventually, my suspicions were rewarded as the distinctive flowers bloomed.

Picture, just a moment, a man is walking through the park where someone like Sean Feucht and “Let Us Worship” is in full swing. He wants nothing to do with it. A few days later he is at work and, while sitting down to lunch, he complains about these nuts singing in the park. The person sitting next to him is just waiting for a confirmation of God. All they needed was the mention of the brave worshipping God in public.

That person’s life is now forever changed.

So even the seed devoured by the birds of the air might have fruit. And, in turn that “wayside” heart could be affected by his co-worker. “It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” Isaiah 55:11 (NLT)