Spreading the Word

The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. (Mark 4:26-27 NLT)

Why do some people respond positively to God’s word while others do not? In the Gospels Jesus tells the parable of the sower (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8). It’s a story about a farmer planting seed. Probably Jesus’ listeners immediately knew he was talking about teaching or preaching. Sowing was a stock metaphor. Jesus says that some seed fell on the path and birds came and ate it. Other seed fell on rocky ground. It sprouted immediately but died because of a lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns that choked the seeds. Other seed fell into good soil and grew and the harvest was a hundredfold or sixty or even thirty. A first century Galilean farmer would be very excited with a tenfold harvest, taking in ten bushels for every one bushel of seed planted. About seven bushels would be average. So a harvest of 30, 60, or 100 times the original amount could only come from God.

When Jesus explains the story to his disciples he tells them that the farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others. So this story is a description of the results that the proclamation of the kingdom will produce. Sometimes people hear the word but right away Satan comes and steals what was planted in them. Sometimes people hear the word and receive it joyfully, but since they don’t have roots, it lasts only for a short time. When they experience distress or abuse because of the word, they immediately fall away. Sometimes people hear the word but it is crowded out by the cares of this life, the appeal of wealth, and the desire for more things. Sometimes, though, God’s word falls into good soil; people hear the word and embrace it and bear fruit.

As a preacher, I am like the farmer who plants seed by taking God’s word to others. The Church gathers each week to share the seed of God’s word. I see that my preaching is received by the gathered people in these various ways. Still, all of us, not just preachers, in the Church have the opportunity to share God’s word with others around us. As we do, we see it received in these various ways, too. Sometimes people fall away or they end up caring more about the desires of the world. For some, however, they respond by embracing the word and producing fruit. And the whole cycle starts over again, from spring to fall, planting to harvest.

I do not have a good answer as to why some people respond positively while others do not. It’s a mystery, but we know it’s true as we see it happening in the stories of scripture and in our own lives. It seems the majority of time when we take God’s word to others, we lose seed. But we keep at it sharing God’s word with others because when that seed lands in the good soil, the harvest is amazing, the results are spectacular. The Word of God somehow, mysteriously germinates in the hearts and minds and lives of people who truly follow Jesus. They are Jesus’ true family – the ones who do the will of the Father. And when that happens, the response is thirty or sixty or even a hundred times what was originally planted.