Mark 4:13-20
“Notice what you notice.” I try to remain true to our guideline for this year, “Notice what you notice.” And often it’s a small thing – and again today.
Mark 4:14 says, The sower sows the word. That doesn’t sound like anything earth-shattering, but it was a sentence that was missing in Matthew, who jumped right in with Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom… (Mt. 13:18-19a). It’s another case of Mark clarifying something with just a bit more description. Luke actually says it even more clearly, Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11). But also, Luke is missing one word that Mark has – “the sower”.
To mention “the sower” is to put a distinct imprint on a somebody. It may be Jesus’ words, but it’s not necessarily coming directly from Jesus’ mouth. It could be (and will be later) His disciples. Or it could be – and certainly is – me! Us! I am the sower. We are the sowers!! And what are we sowing? That is, what “word” are we sowing? With our words…? With our actions…? Paul says on a number of occasions, Be imitators of me… (I Cor. 4:16, 11;1). Can we say that? Do we want others hearing “the word” that we speak or doing “the word” that we do? It’s a really small item, The sower sows the word, but it has a lot to say to us!
Slava Bohu!