Wednesday: 3^rd Week in Ordinary Time-A

Gospel: Mark 4: 1-20: Imagine a sower going out to sow.

The Parable of the Sower or Farmer:

How Men receive the Word of God

There are two great lessons in this parable. First, there is the lesson of sowing the seed, the lesson to the messenger of God. The messenger of God or the genuine believer is to sow the seed, the Word of God, wherever he is no matter the difficulty, the opposition, or the discouragement. When Jesus stood before people, he knew the kind of people who sat before him. He knew...

·        The hard, closed hearts of the religionists and others.

·        The shadow, deceptive enthusiasm of the poor and needy and of others.

·        The worldliness of the well-to-do and others, how entangled they were in things and pleasure.

He knew that many would never listen but he also knew something else: if he just kept sowing the seed, some would bear fruit.

Second, there is the great lesson on receiving the seed, the lesson to the hearers of the Word of God. The soils, that is, human hearts, vary among people. Just what kind of heart a person has depends upon how he/she lived and responded and conditioned himself throughout life.

The condition of his/her determines how he/she will love God and his/her neighbour, whether he/she will be responsible or closed minded. The point is that God holds a person responsible for the condition of his/her heart and for how he/she responds to the gospel.

In this parable Jesus paints the picture of various soils (hearts) and how they receive the seed, the Word of God. (See notes for more discussion Mt 13:1-9; Lk 8:4-15).

1.     Jesus began a method of teaching-the parable (v.12)

a.     The setting: by the lake shore in a boat

b.    The crowd: very large

c.      The parable

2.     The parable: a sower or farmer sows (v.3-9)

a.     Sows seed that does not take root

i.                   Some fall by the path: devoured

ii.                 Some fall upon rocky places: withers

b.    Sows seed that does take root, but does not yield fruit-falls among thorns

c.      Sows seed that does bear fruit

d.    Sows only a few seed that bear 100 percent fruit

e.      A message heard only by spiritual ears

3.     The response to the parable (v.10-12)

a.     The disciples accept the parable

b.    The outsiders reject the parable-deliberately

i.                   Lest they hear, see and understand

ii.                 Lest they be converted and forgiven

4.     The meaning of the parable (v.13-20)

a.     The farmer sows the Word

b.    Some hear the Word-by the path

i.                   The Word is heard

ii.                 Satan comes-take away the Word

c.      Some hear the Word-rocky places

i.                   The Word is received excitedly

ii.                 The Word has no root

iii.              Trail and testing come

iv.              They wither away

d.    Some hear the Word among thorns

i.                   The Word is only added to life

ii.                 The world, riches and things choked the Word

e.      Some receive the Word-on good soil

f.      Some –only a few –bear 100 percent fruit.

Thought: Three steps involved in bearing fruit or producing a crop. Hearing the Word, Accepting the Word and Producing the Word, that doing and living the Word.

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