Mark 4:9 And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Listen).”
Jesus had been teaching and the crowd grew so large that he got on a boat and preached from that boat. He speaks to farmers and people who grow their food from the land. As well as fishermen who also know about farming. He begins to tell a story…This farmer goes out onto his land to plant seeds. He throws the first seed down beside a road and the birds come and eat the seed. The Sower is not finished. Some of the seed fell on rocky terrain and the crew fast but when the sun came out, they died. this was because the seeds grew up but not down to grow roots. Some of the seeds fell into a place where thorns grew, and they grew but had no fruits to be harvested. The last bit fell onto good soil and grew. He then tells them to listen to what he has said.
This is a simple enough parable, but what is he saying. The Sower is Jesus, and the seeds are the gospel of Jesus. The soil are the people that hear the gospel of Jesus. The soil is the condition where the people hear the gospel of Jesus.
The first group of people are by a road that is traveled. They hear the word of God, and because they are close to the world, they listen not to God but to the world, and instead are eaten by the world.
These people are those who like their lives as they are, and they do not see how their lives as they are living them are sinful. When they hear the words of the Gospel, they shake their heads and think those people are fools who follow that… they don’t have what I have in life. They are not ready to hear the gospel of Jesus. In fact, they do not hear it in their souls.
The second group of people are excited when they hear the gospel. They are excited, and are bursting with energy, but then the work comes in, and they don’t want to do the work because Christianity is a growth religion, and followers of Christ are expected to change who they are to a better version of themselves. They fade away because it would take work to remove the stones, and till the soil.
The third group are the people that hear the word of the gospel, but their hearts are full of thorns. They let their worries, their desires, their pains interfere with their growth in Christ. They do not die, but they do not produce fruit. After a while they will abandon what faith, they had.
The fourth group of people will hear the gospel completely and will begin the struggle of changing who they are. Bit by bit they will grow in faith and will grow in the trust of God’s will for their lives. They will till the soil, get rid of weeds, and they will become more complete individuals. Their faith will grow, and they will change. They will produce much fruit.
Jesus basically says at the end of this parable… those that hear listen… He knows the first group will listen in curiosity, but it won’t grow fruit. They don’t even know he is talking about them. The second group want everything handed to them and will complain that it is too much work. The third group (I was once a part of this group) focused not on God but on all their problems. They did not trust God. He is talking to the fourth group because Jesus knows they have listened.
Does that mean that the first three groups cannot be reached by the Gospel of Christ. No, but it means that it will not be easy to get them to the fourth level where they hear the Gospel deep in their hearts. Pray for people who do not listen to the message of the Gospel, because it does work. It sometimes takes years to reach a person who had a harden heart, or who doesn’t want to do the work to become the person God wants us to be which is loving, kind and patience people.
Personally, I am still working on me. I will be until the day I die, but I am a better person than I was in 2009 when my mother died. I am a better person than I was in the mid-1990s. I went to the mountains that spring. I was broken and lost, and I found a stream I waded into, and there I was given an understanding that I would not have had if I had not been broken. I am a better person than I was on October 17, 1971, when I accepted Christ as my savior.
Now to that understanding I received. I walked into a cold mountain spring that was off the beaten path. I was alone as I stepped into the water. It was cold, and I needed to be washed clean in cold water. As I was standing in the water, I noticed that the river rocks on the banks were not as shining as those in the river. The water was fast moving. I picked up from the bottom of the river one of those gem-like rocks, and as it dried the rock became dull. I put it back in the water, and it shined again… I realized at that moment that when we are in the living water two things happen.. all our rough edges wear smooth, and we shine like jewels. I danced in the water.
But to end this- pray for those people you know in the three first groups that God prepares the soil for them to hear the gospel and listen.
Simple Truth
The water was cold.
Held in my hand,
It was clear and shining.
My toes curled in the sand.
Remembering when they were small,
They loved the feel of cold water and sand.
The edge of my jeans
Touched the water’s edge.
They turned darker as the cold clearness
Rose up my legs beyond the watermark.
I walked out into the water.
The sand turned to stones.
Ordinary river rocks
Smooth from the wearing
Of water moving sand.
In the water,
The stones shined as polished gems.
Lifted into the air,
They dried; they faded; they became pale.
Standing there in the cold mountain river,
I saw that we are like ordinary river rocks.
Life moves against us;
Our edges become smooth.
The water living surges sand over the stones;
The stones are still only river rocks.
In the water, the creator of change,
They shine like polished gems.
There in the water living,
I saw when I allowed it to flow
Over me, around me, into me
I went from ordinary to something shining.
In my hand, I held a river rock;
In my heart, I held wonder-
Of water moving sand,
And stones worn smooth.
Mary Elizabeth Todd
April 3, 1996, Revised December 30, 2007, April, 2012
Today’s Question:
How has God changed you and have you thanked Him for changing you?
Ever in Christ’s love,
Mary Elizabeth Todd
February 3, 2024 & May 6, 2024
Ruhamah United Methodist Church Bible Verses 