Ep. Mark 4:1–9 The Parable of the Sower

A sower spreads seeds across various types of soil, illustrating the parable of the Sower from Mark 4:1–9.

And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:

“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”(Mark 4:1–9 NKJV)

When I picture this scene, I imagine the shoreline of Galilee crowded with people. Matthew says it was the same day He had just been confronted in the house, and Luke adds that people had come from “every city.” Fishermen still smelled of the lake, farmers carried dust on their sandals, mothers tried to quiet their children. The crowd was so large Jesus had to sit in a boat while the people stood on the shore. The water carried His voice across the multitude.

The parable He told was ordinary enough. Everyone there knew the frustration of sowing seed. Birds swoop down on hardened paths, shallow soil gives quick growth only to wither in the heat, thorny ground chokes out good plants. But then came something extraordinary — seed that produced thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.

I have asked myself, why doesn’t Jesus begin this parable the way He begins so many others — “The kingdom of God is like…”? Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record it the same way. None of them use the kingdom formula here. It seems to me that before Jesus can tell us what the kingdom is like, He first has to explain why people respond to it so differently. The story isn’t about the kingdom itself — it’s about the soil of the human heart.

And those numbers — thirty, sixty, a hundredfold — I need to remember what that would have sounded like to them. A normal harvest in that time was seven to ten times what was sown. Thirtyfold was beyond expectation. Sixty was almost unbelievable. A hundred was the kind of thing only God could do, a miraculous yield. So when Jesus threw out those numbers, His hearers wouldn’t have nodded politely. They would have been shocked.

And then He simply stopped. No explanation. No conclusion. Just, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

I can’t help but wonder — why leave the story hanging? Why not explain it right away? To the crowd, it must have felt unfinished, puzzling. To me, it’s a reminder that sometimes God doesn’t hand me the answers immediately. Sometimes His Word forces me to wrestle with it. The parable sits in my heart like seed in the soil, and time proves whether it will take root or be snatched away.

Application

This parable isn’t just a story about farmers in Galilee — it’s about me.

The Word of God goes out generously, like seed scattered everywhere. The problem isn’t with the seed. The difference is in the soil.

Some of us are like the path — hard from years of traffic, with no room for the Word to take root. Others are shallow, quick to get excited but just as quick to give up when following Jesus costs something. Some of us try to hold on to the Word, but our lives are so full of other priorities — money, ambition, comfort — that God’s Word gets choked out.

And then there is the good soil. That’s where the Word not only survives but produces more than expected. Fruit isn’t just for the plant itself; it blesses others. That’s what God is looking for in me: not just that I listen on Sunday, but that His Word bears fruit in my family, my work, my habits, and my community.

So I have to ask myself: Where am I in this parable? Am I hard, shallow, distracted? Or is the Word actually producing something lasting in me?

The seed has never been the problem. The question is always the soil.

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References

• Genesis 26:12 – Isaac’s hundredfold harvest as a sign of God’s blessing.

• Josephus, Wars 3.10.8 – description of Galilee’s fertile land and abundant produce.

• Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament – notes on ancient agricultural yields (7–10 fold typical, 100 fold extraordinary).

• R.T. France, The Gospel of Mark (NIGTC) – commentary on Mark 4:8, discussion of yield expectations in first-century Galilee.