My brothers and sisters, in the beginning of the fourth chapter of Mark, Jesus began a new method of teaching. He began to teach by parables. Literally, Parable means placing a thing by the side of something else for the purpose of comparing. A parable is a comparison, it is an earthly event pointing out a heavenly truth. In this particular parable, Jesus used the example of a seed to illustrate the power of the Word of God. The parable Jesus told was a simple story, yet its meaning was profound.
There are two lessons to learn from the parable of Jesus today. First, there is the lesson of sowing the seed, the lesson to the messenger of God. We all are messengers of God and we are to sow the seed, the Word of God, no matter the difficulty, the opposition, or the discouragement. Jesus knew the kind of people he was preaching to at that time, he knew the closed heart of the religionists, the deceptive enthusiasm of the poor and needy, the worldliness of the well to do. He knew that many would never listen but Jesus kept sowing the seed. He knew some would beat fruit. He knew some soil would be fertile, craving for the truth of life and eternity. Jesus expects YOU not to be discouraged but to continue on no matter the discouragement or opposition. There are some soils that are fertile, ploughed, and ready to receive the seed and bear fruit. DO NOT GIVE UP PREACHING THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL!
Secondly, there is the great lesson on receiving the seed, the lesson to all of us who are the hearers of the Word of God. The soil is definitely the human heart and it varies amongst men. This variance ranges from the hard hearts to the soft hearts. The kind of heart a person has depends on how he or she has lived, responded and conditioned himself or herself throughout life. The condition of a person’s heart determines how the person will love God and neighbours. The point is that God holds a person responsible for the condition of his or her heart and for how he or she responds to the Gospel.
Dear friends, we are both the messenger or the Word and the hearers of the Word, therefore, let us pray to God that he may help us to be consistent and persevering in sowing the seed, and also to be responsive to the seed sown.
May the Lord bless his Word in our hearts through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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