My favorite parable is The Parable of the Sower (or The Farmer Sowing Seed), from
Mark 4. After telling this parable, Jesus told His disciples that, if they couldn’t understand it,
they wouldn’t understand any of His parables. Then He did something for which I’m supremely thankful. He explained it. Had He not, I doubt I would’ve ever understood it.
So a farmer (preacher, whether in a pulpit or having coffee with a friend) sows some
seed (His Word). He’s broadcasting it, not planting it in rows, which means it covers a broad
area. Much of the seed lands in unfruitful places, but also in a fruitful area.
These 6 Ps categorize these areas for us.
1. Porch Pirates. These seed land on the path and are taken immediately by the birds. This
is like when Satan, ever ready to rob us, plucks God’s Word from the path between our
ears and our minds; he usually does this with a distraction – some bad seed to grab our
attention while he pirates our good seed. In the age of so much cyber-shopping and
items delivered to our porches, porch pirates are more common than ever. Sadly,
though, spiritual porch pirating is even more common. God, may we be ever attentive in
2023 to the deliveries of Your Word, precluding its pirating by drinking it quickly into our
hearts.
2. Persecutions. These seed germinate and spring up quickly. But because they’re in the
rocky soil and have under-developed root systems, the sun scorches and kills them. The
sun represents the persecutions that come with following Jesus in an anti-Christian
world. (If anyone is offended by the anti-Christian world term, just follow Jesus and you’ll feel for yourself how real it is.) Lord, please give us the resilience to
persevere all the fiery trials we encounter.
The next three seed categories are those that landed in the thorns. They grow up but
eventually lose the battle, dying and giving way to the plants competing for existence.
3. Preoccupations. It’s very easy to become preoccupied with tiny, trivial worries that eat
away at us until we have nothing productive left by which to live. Lord, please strengthen our focus on You that will burn away the distractions of the enemy.
4. Possessions. It’s also easy to become so focused on managing our resources that they
take up a disproportionate amount of our attention. So our heart is where our earthly
treasure is. God, help us to store up treasures in heaven.
5. Pleasures. The flesh is tricky because many of its desires are good to a point – like food,
sexual intimacy and relaxation. But they quickly and easily become gluttony, lust and
laziness or addiction. At that point they’ve become unfruitful and destructive. Oh Lord, that we would find our pleasure fully in You.
6. Produce. The final one – only one – of the six categories produces a great harvest for
God. This ground is fertile and free of contaminants. This is a heart that’s soft toward
God and hungry for His Word. God, please help us to keep our hearts soft and pure,
always ready to accept and apply Your Word.
May 2023 be a fruitful year for God’s kingdom in our lives! Happy New Year!
Mark 4:3-20
3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he
sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds [a] of the air came and devoured
it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it
sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched,
and because it had no root it withered away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the
thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no [b] crop. 8 But other seed fell on good
ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some a hundred.”
9 And He said [c] to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
The Purpose of Parables
10 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the
parable. 11 And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the [d] mystery of the
kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 so that
‘Seeing they may see and not perceive,
And hearing they may hear and not understand;
Lest they should turn,
And their sins be forgiven them.’ ”
The Parable of the Sower Explained
13 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you
understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes
away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16 These likewise are the ones sown on
stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and
they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when
tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. 18 Now
these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and
the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things
entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 But these are the ones sown on
good ground, those who hear the word, [e] accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some
sixty, and some a hundred.”