Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 3 Study # 2
March 10, 2020
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(150)
1901 ASV
14 The sower sows the word.
15 These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.
16 In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky [
places,] who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;
17 and they have no [
firm] root in themselves, but are [
only] temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.
18 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,
19 but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20 And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
- I. The Sower Sows The Word.
- A. Because this parable holds the "key" to the disciples' grasp of the rest of the parables (as Jesus' second question in 4:13 teaches), we have to understand that both the issue of "sowing" and the "results" of that action are a major, and primary, metaphor for The Kingdom of The God.
- 1. It declares the necessity of a "sower" (a likely parallel to Paul's questions in Romans 10:14-15).
- 2. It declares the necessity of a "potent seed" that will be able to produce a "harvest" (a likely parallel to all of the Bible's references to the powerful Word and its attendant "requirement" of "receptivity" [Faith] such as Romans 10:17 as the ultimate conclusion to 10:8-13).
- 3. It declares the necessity of a "Good Earth" (as opposed to three other kinds of "soil") so that the seed is properly nourished and watered (a likely parallel to Paul's use of a similar metaphor in 1 Corinthians 3:6-8).
- 4. As the "key" metaphor of metaphors, we should see the entire "discipleship" concept of Mark 1:16-20 as "seminal" (as its origin in "semen" powerfully suggests; one "cell" which carries the male half of the "two cell reality" of conception unto a "living soul"). As such, we ought to view Jesus' purpose for coming (Mark 1:38) as "methodologically" critical and, as such, the basis of all New Testament teaching regarding the "believer's" "Life-Objective").
- B. Mark only refers to "The Sower" in this parable and the issue of "sowing" in this parable and that of the mustard seed.
- 1. "The Sower" (Present Active Participle Nominative Masculine Singular) is first mentioned in Jesus' "Listen, behold" introduction to this parable in 4:3.
- a. He is identified by his activity: sowing (broadcasting seed). [Note: there is, in Romans 10:18-19, an acknowledgement by Paul that, when men fail to be "sowers", there is an inanimate "sower" that accomplishes the task (Jesus, Himself, established this truth in Luke 19:40), but there is also such an acknowledgement by Paul that the inanimate "sower" is only "effectual" to the point of "inexcusability" and does not do what is necessary to bring about "salvation" (Romans 1:20)].
- b. He is not emphasized; the issue of the parable is not "who" the sower happens to be. The prominent issue is that there is a "sower" (someone whose actions provide seed for the soil). Every member of the Body of Christ is "discipled" toward this end (Titus 2:10).
- 2. The "sowing" is much more prominent.
- a. The action is identified, first, as broadcasting seed upon the earth.
- 1) "He that sows" went forth "to sow" (4:3).
- 2) "...while he was sowing, some indeed fell alongside the road..." (4:4).
- 3) There are other statements about the seed "falling upon" various soils, but no further use of "sower", or "sowing" until 4:14 and the explanation of the parable.
- b. Then the action is related to "proclamation" as "content that is heard" ("...when they hear..."), but this does not come up until Jesus explains the parable (4:14-20).
- 1) The issue of "hearing" begins in 4:3 with Jesus' "Listen, behold" and He repeats this matter in 4:9, at the end of the telling of the parable, with His "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." In other words, "Listen, behold" emphasizes the importance of the information that is to be declared, and "He that has ears..." puts forth the reality that some will "listen" and some will not.
- 2) Then, in the intermediate material wherein Jesus is explaining His use of parables, "hearing" is set forth in terms of the judgment that the "hearing" will be as if they did not "hear" (4:12).
- 3. The "seed" sown is notable for the fact that, though it is the same seed in every case, its progress as "seed-unto-purpose" is determined by the condition of the soil upon which it falls.
- a. The "seed" is presented as "The Word".
- 1) The "word", before this parable, is only mentioned in two places.
- a) In 1:45, "the word" is the leper's proclamation of his cleansing by Jesus.
- b) In 2:2 Mark, without identifying any specific content, simply says that Jesus "was speaking The Word to them". At this point, we have the prelude to "The sower sows The Word".
- 2) In this parable's explanation, there are seven uses of "word" and always as "The Word".
- 3) Then, as a conclusion, Mark records that Jesus "was speaking The Word to them" (4:33) in the form of parables.
- 4) In all, there are seven references to "The Word" in this parable and one more in reference to parables.
- 5) There are only twelve further uses of "word" in the remaining content of this Gospel.
- b. The "seed" as "The Word" points decisively to "divine revelation" in the vastness of its reality, both in every aspect of "creation" that "shows" (Romans 1:20) and in every "jot and tittle" that are used in the creation of a verbal revelation to men (Matthew 5:18).
- 1) In Paul's teaching regarding the function of the Body of Christ in this world, it is always "apostles" and "prophets" that exist as the preeminent "functions". These are the "foundation" of "the household of God" (Ephesians 2:20) as the primary instruments of verbal, divine, revelation. Even in his extended explanation of the "grace-gifts" in 1 Corinthians, he exalts "prophesying" as the one activity that means the most (14:1) in respect to "methodology".
- 2) Even Jesus, as introduced in the Gospel of John, is to be primarily known as "The Word of The God".
- 3) The conclusion is this: if a "ministry" is not organized to function in a way that presents "The Word", it is not a "ministry"; rather, it is a delusion of men who think they have a "better" methodology.