Mark 4:1-12
“Notice what you notice.” Today is Mark’s account of the Parable of the Sower. As with Matthew’s account, the parable comes today with the explanation tomorrow. Yesterday I dealt with minutia, a focus on the word “has” in Matthew’s Gospel. That focus was, in part, because Matthew is the only account of this parable that has that verse, For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away (Mathew 13:12). So today, more to the parable itself.
My interest today is in verse 7, the third type of soil: Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. I am always intrigued when I see something in real life today that amplifies something in Scripture. That’s the case with verse 7. Gardens, farming, and agriculture in general provide good connections with the first century A.D. – the earth has produced our food from the beginning of time.
We have planted a garden every year since we moved to our small farm. This past summer we had all the crops in that we intended to plant and Carol had probably a cup or so of sweet corn seed left over. So late in the planting season she prepared a small 6×6 spot of “good soil” and planted those seeds. Alas, that plot was too small to plant all the seeds, so Carol doubled, tripled, even quadrupled some seeds into the same hole. Because it was late in the season and we had so much rain we did not get much harvest from that small plot. The stalks grew, but yielded very little sweet corn.
However, just a week ago we were in our garden pulling up corn stalks to burn prior to tilling the soil anew. I was working on that small plot. Although some stalks were of normal height, most of the stalks were somewhat stunted in their growth compared to stalks in the larger plot that had been planted earlier in the season. However, I was not ready for the Bible lesson. Where Carol had dropped three or four seeds into one hole, every one of those stalks was barely a foot tall. The seeds had fought one another for sunlight and nourishment to the point that none of them produced worth a darn. Although the problem was not the seed “falling among thorns”, the seeds did “choke” one another and yielded no fruit.
It’s sweet when everyday occurrences bring Scripture teachings to life!
Slava Bohu!
My Bible study has a note that we usually consider the soil to be different people and their receptiveness to the gospel. But it mentioned that the different soils could be different times or phases in our life. When younger I certainly had a lot that choked out growth. The study also suggested the soils could be different areas of our life. Some areas we are receptive or good soil. Some areas are not at all, where we haven’t given over that area of our life to Christs rule.
All of those are intriguing, Debbie – different people, different times/phases in our lives, different areas of our life. I particularly like the last one – it says that I may, in fact, have some bad soil somewhere in my life! Who knew…??!!
I particularly resonate with the idea that the soil is also a metaphor for different areas of our lives now. I pray that God would reveal to me those areas of my heart where I am still resistant to the gospel, where it is choked out and I don’t even recognize it!