Mark 4:13-20
The Generous Sower
Devotional 20 of 50 · Mark chapter 4
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Mark 4:13-20 · BSB
13Then Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some are like the seeds 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. 16Some are like the seeds sown on rocky ground. They hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But they themselves have no root, and they remain for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Others are like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word, 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20Still others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, receive it, and produce a crop—thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold.”
Jesus
Jesus doesn’t leave His disciples in the dark; He takes time to unpack the deep meaning in the parable. Jesus is the source of these windows into the Kingdom, called parables, and He is also the source of the interpretation. Not only that, but Jesus is featured in the parables. Here, He is seen as the farmer who sows the seeds.
What can we learn about Christ as the sower? Farmers today wouldn’t waste their time on areas like paths, rocky ground, and weed-filled areas. Yet Jesus is altogether different. Without exception, the sower spreads the word in every area. Even those who might look like a lost cause are given the word. The word is the gospel, and many even connect the word to Jesus Himself, as He is described as the Word in John 1. The message and mission of Jesus are so intertwined that distinguishing them has little effect on how we interpret this parable.
The word has tremendous potential, and this will be clearly seen when it lands on good soil. The word is like a seed, and in it, there is unimaginable, exponential potential. Good soil produces a harvest, yielding up to a hundred times more by spreading additional seeds—the word. Even when the word goes out and yields no fruit, it is no fault of the word. The word has vast potential; it is a constant. The soil is the variable that separates fruitfulness from unfruitfulness.
His Desires
He desires that His word bears fruit. He desires that all would see the deeper meaning in the word and in His teaching and would be the good soil—without weeds, stones, or hardness of heart.
As we look at how He scatters seeds everywhere, we also see His desire for the word to go everywhere and be heard by everyone. Even if the word is not received, we see a desire that all would be saved, just like 1 Timothy 2:4 reveals Jesus as the one “who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Jesus wants us to be equipped with this parable. He trains us by giving a bird’s eye view of what every disciple and follower of Him will likely see. Jesus calls us to share the word, the gospel, with everyone (Mark 16:15). By telling this parable, He equips us to understand how people will miss the word, fall away from the word, strangle the word, lose the word, and bear fruit.
Follow Through
- Give yourself daily to receiving the word of God in the Scriptures.
- Through prayer, ask God to reveal any weeds in your heart and for the strength to uproot them.
- Ask God to break up any hard soil in your heart that the word might be implanted and the enemy might not snatch the word away.
- Forsake worldly worries and cares.
- Resist the devil, and he will flee.
- Share and sow the word of God everywhere.
- Interpret those in their reception, loss, and rejection of the word with this parable in mind.
Testimonies
This is where people will share how they actually obeyed this passage — and read what happened to everyone else who obeyed the same words.
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Devotional 20 of 50
Comments
Coming soon. This is where readers will share how they obeyed this passage.