Slices
Prepare
As you prepare to come to God, confess your sin to him, knowing that he loves you, forgives you, wipes your slate clean and washes you whiter than snow (Psalm 51:7).
Bible passage
The parable of the sower
4 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered round him was so large that he 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 taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 ‘Listen! 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.’
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,
‘“they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!”’
13 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 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. 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. 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. 20 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.’
Explore
In one of Jesus’ most famous parables explaining what the kingdom of God is like, he tells his disciples what his parables are about: namely, making known what has up to this point been kept secret about the kingdom of God (v 11).
He explains to the disciples – who still don’t understand (which probably means we wouldn’t either!) – that the kingdom of God works like this. The Father (the sower) has sown the Word (Jesus) on to all kinds of ground (humanity). And most of the ground is resistant to Jesus for various reasons.
Fruitfulness in the kingdom then simply comes from having hearts that gladly and humbly receive Jesus and choose to follow him. They allow him to work in them by the power of the Holy Spirit, turning them from being hard as stone into how they were always created to be – as flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). I don’t know about you, but my heart can quickly become a hard and rocky ground, and the weeds of pride get in there. I need the Holy Spirit to water and work on me every day.
Respond
Ask God to reveal to you the condition of the soil of your heart. Is it hard? Shallow? Full of weeds and distraction? Fruitful? Ask him to work in you through the power of his Spirit.
Deeper Bible study
What prayers of yours has God answered recently? Give thanks.
My son often asks, ‘Why doesn’t God make himself known to the world so obviously that no one could ever doubt his existence?’ Today’s reading would frustrate my son further, because it seems that rather than making it easy for people to believe, Jesus deliberately obscures his message by speaking in parables. In addition, the parable of the sower makes it clear that most people (three out of four of the groups who hear the gospel) either fail to keep going in their faith or never believe in the first place.
Clearly, Jesus thought there was benefit in making his listeners work at understanding his message. It has been said that the parables are ways of sifting out those who are genuinely interested in becoming disciples from those who are not.1 Jesus seems to want people to make a choice to follow him, and his story of the sower shows why: following Christ is not easy. It is important to go into faith with our eyes open: there is a cost involved and, just as the growth of the seeds on rocky ground failed when the sun beat down, many will not keep going when following Christ gets tough. Do we make the cost of discipleship clear when we present the Christian message, or are we so keen to win people over that we water down our words into ones of comfort without cost?
The pressures of life and materialism are other stumbling blocks. How easy it is for God to get pushed out by ‘the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things’ (v 19). In what ways do these interfere with our growth as Christians? How comforting do you find the parable’s ending that, if we persist, we will experience great fruitfulness?
Dear Lord, please help me to keep growing in faith and fruitfulness. I’m sorry for when I allow things to distract me from my devotion to you.
1 R Alan Cole, Mark, IVP, 1988, p88
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Isaiah 45,46; Psalm 107
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for Adelaide Nketsia, Human Resources Officer, as she provides advice and support across the full range of the HR function, ensuring statutory compliance and best practice.
