At the risk of sounding repetitious, Jesus’ popularity was still continuing to grow! Once again, Jesus has to step out into a boat to escape being absolutely crowded. We are told that Jesus taught them many things in parables. He wasn’t just healing but also teaching people which, as we saw a few weeks ago, was why he came. Being the action-packed Gospel that it is, Mark chooses not to include every single parable of Jesus but includes this one. It is actually quite key to our understanding of all the parables of Jesus. In fact, the very first and last words of this section is vital. Listen.

Jesus tells the parable of a farmer. He goes along and throws the seed around and the seed falls into different places. The ones along the path were quickly eaten. They didn’t have a chance to grow. The ones on the rocks grew a little and quickly but they didn’t have any root and to they died quickly. The ones in the weeds or the thorns grew but were eventually choked and they weren’t fruitful nor productive. The ones that fell into the good soil grew, multiplied and were fruitful.

As you well know, I’m no gardening expert, but I do know that it generally helps to have a good garden bed with good soil, good amounts of water, and sunlight. This is what the good soil has and so it bears fruit. What does this all mean for us? Again, the key is in V9. If you have ears to hear, make sure you listen. MC

Questions

Prayer

Lord God, thank you for your amazing generosity in making yourself known in Jesus. Help us to listen to him, pay attention to his words, and put them into practice. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen