“Know ye not this parable?” Mark 4:1-20
Jesus liked to teach in parables: simple stories drawn from everyday life that no one would regard as far-fetched or fantastic. The sower is such a story. Everyone knew what he was doing. They may have done it themselves. They even may have seen a sower at work on their way to hear Jesus.
But that’s where the easy comparison stops. What kind of farmer would waste his seed on rocky soil, or on a road, or in the middle of a patch of thorns? What was Jesus trying to say?
One thing was certain – Jesus was not teaching a course on effective farming methods. Even his disciples were confused and asked him privately for an explanation. Jesus was in fact teaching them something about the nature of the kingdom of God. The seed is God’s word and the various kinds of soils are the kinds of hearts within men and their receptiveness to that word. Not all soils can be cultivated to produce a good crop.
What? Does that mean God deliberately makes people that cannot respond to him? Not necessarily. People have the ability to choose how they will respond to God. “Cannot” is entirely different from “will not.” Apparently some folks have already determined to resist God by the time an opportunity to receive his word comes along. (The entire history of Israel is an example of this)
Jesus doesn’t sow his word among the thorns to demonstrate how resistant some people can be. He sows in the hard places with the hope that some, even if only a few, will respond. It cannot be said that Jesus has ever failed to give anyone the chance to come to him.
Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley