Mark 4:1-9: a reflection

1Again he began to teach by the seaside. A great multitude was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea and sat down. All the multitude were on the land by the sea. 2He taught them many things in parables, and told them in his teaching, 3“Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow. 4As he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and devoured it. 5Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil. 6When the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8Others fell into the good ground and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. Some produced thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much.” 9He said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Jesus tells the familiar parable of the sower: a farmer scatters seed, and it falls on four kinds of ground. On the path, where birds snatch it away; on rocky ground, where it springs up fast but withers for lack of root; among thorns, where it is choked; and on good soil, where it takes root and bears fruit, thirty, sixty, a hundredfold. The same seed, the word of God, falls on every soil; what differs is the ground that receives it.

Notice where the difference lies. The seed is the same in every case, good, living, capable of fruit. What varies is the soil, the condition of the heart that receives it. The hard path does not let it in; the rocky heart receives it with quick enthusiasm but has no depth to sustain it; the thorny heart lets the cares and desires of life choke it; the good soil receives it, holds it, and bears fruit. The question the parable presses is not about the seed but about the soil: what kind of ground is your heart?

That is a searching self-examination. The same word of God comes to all of us; the difference is in how we receive it. Is your heart a hard path where the word never penetrates? A shallow, rocky enthusiasm with no root for the hard times? A thorny ground where the word is choked by worries, wealth, and desires? Or good soil that receives the word, holds it, and lets it bear fruit? Examine the soil of your own heart, and ask God to break up what is hard, deepen what is shallow, clear the thorns, and make you good ground that hears the word and bears lasting fruit.

Lord, the same seed of your word falls on every soil, and what differs is the ground that receives it. Examine the soil of my own heart. Where it is a hard path, break it up; where it is shallow and rootless, give it depth; where thorns of worry and desire would choke your word, clear them away. Make me good soil that receives your word, holds it, and bears lasting fruit, thirty, sixty, a hundredfold. Let your word take root and grow in me.