Mark 4:1-20 NRSVue

¹Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ²He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³“Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell on a path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” ⁹And he said, “If you have ears to hear, then hear!”

¹⁰When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything comes in parables, ¹²in order that

‘they may indeed look but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’ ”

¹³And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴The sower sows the word. ¹⁵These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷But they have no root and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. ¹⁸And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹but the cares of the age and the lure of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²⁰And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

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Reflection on Mark 4:1-20

Inspiration from 2027-01-27 Daily Prayer

The familiar parable we hear today is based on the common biblical image of God as a farmer sowing seeds. The success of the seeds is hampered by various natural occurrences – birds, rocky ground, the sun, thorns. Only the seed that falls on rich, fertile soil produces fruit, and abundant fruit at that. Jesus later explains that the seed is the Word of God and the soil conditions are all the things that might impact how the Word is received.

Do we have ‘ears to hear’? Are we able to make room for the Word of God to take root in our hearts, to accept and nourish and grow it so that it may bear fruit in our lives?