A Parable About Something Else

How often are you experiencing stress over things you cannot control? When was the last time you experienced peace releasing something which was not your responsibility? And don’t you just love it when someone you’re asking for help says, “That’s not my job” (okay, maybe not that one so much).

Jesus tells us to “take His yoke upon us”, because His burden is light and His yoke is easy. If you think about it, that’s a strange way to describe a yoke of any kind. And yet, He does. It’s one of the best ways He can describe our walk with Him, as opposed to our walk, blindly, in the dark.

One of the things you may be taking on yourself, which is not yours to take, is the responsibility of “saving” others. We are to reach out to others, to be a light of our Savior’s glory, and give explanations of our hope in Him. We are to be a witness to His existence, His love, and His desire for others.

We are not the “savior”, Jesus is the Savior. We are not their creator, our Father is our Creator. We are not one loving our family beyond measure. It may not feel like it, there is a measure to our love for anyone. Jesus’ love is immeasurable. It is the work of the Spirit of Jesus which changes lives.

He also said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground. He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. By itself the soil produces a crop, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. And when the grain is ripe, he sends in the sickle because the harvest has come.”

Mark 4:26-29 NET

The parable of the sower, previously, in this chapter had the “seed” being the “word”, or Jesus’ preaching. So, it is probably meant to be the same here. Rather than focusing on the soils, here the focus is on the responsibilities or duties for growing the seed. The seed may produce 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown, but how does that happen?

The breakdown of how this all happens can be viewed this way:

1. The sower (us) sows the seed (the word)
2. The we rise and sleep, day to day
3. The word sprouts and grows, we do not know how
4. The soil (hearer) by itself produces the grain in stages
5. We harvest (disciple) the word

That’s not the only way to view this parable. This way borrows the imagery and meaning from the Parable of the Soils, which is a good place to start. Although, some of the elements may not be exact correlations.

The soil producing “by itself” may reflect the unseen work of the Holy Spirit, more than any particular quality of the soil. But, think through the parable of the soils. It seems to be a quality of the soil which makes it more effective for growing. So, the Holy Spirit works in all who hear, but some are more receptive to Him than others.

Either way, the sower, you and I, we are spectators more than agents in this parable. Jesus doesn’t point out the work of the sower after sowing. It is probably understood, but our Savior has another point to make. He wants to emphasize that it’s not about the sower. It’s not about the sower’s work beyond sowing and harvesting. The sower “doesn’t know how” the seed grows.

It’s not about you. How refreshing. It’s not about how you hammer away at someone with the words of Jesus. It’s not about how intensely you love them, how consistently you preach to them, how clearly you articulate the truth of the good news. It’s not about you.

So, scatter seed. There are different soils, and some of it is good soil. Even on good soil, much will happen you cannot see, and do not understand. That’s a “feature”, not a “flaw” to sowing seed. Share the good news, and leave room for the Spirit of our Savior to work. Don’t aim at the “good soil”, chances are we are not good judges of soil. Just sow away.