In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening do not withhold your hand

Mark 3:31-4:25 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. ³² A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” ³³ Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” ³⁴ Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

4 He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ² And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³ “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸ Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, ^[a]let him hear.”

¹⁰ As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹ And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, ¹² so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.”

¹³ And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? 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.”

²¹ And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? ²² For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. ²³ If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. ²⁵ For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

Ecclesiastes 11:6 says:  In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, Either this or that, Or whether both alike will be good.   In today’s text Jesus tells and explains the parable of the sower. He says:  “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. 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. 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; 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. And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 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.  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.”  In Matthew 13:37-38, in the explanation of the parable of tares and wheat, Jesus says:  “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,  and the field is the world.”  It is vital that we understand our role as disciples of Christ. We need to recognize that we are now those who are commanded and commissioned to sow the word to the world. In Mark 16:15-16 Jesus says: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”   We are not responsible for the results of our preaching or sowing. Some will believe and others will not. We need to know that as it says in the parable of tares, all of the seed is good. Regardless of where it is sown, whether by the road, in rocky places, among the thorns or in good soil, the seed is good and has potential to produce fruit. In isaiah 55:11 God says:  So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.  

Living most of my life in rural areas, I have seen seed by the roadside that has taken root and produced fruit. Often, while it was taken by the birds, it was also replanted, by those same birds, in a place that it may grow for a season. The plant itself may not endure very long, but still there can be fruit born from that seed as well. Perhaps some one who hears the word of the gospel on the street of a city, or at your work place might themselves never flourish and grow, but they could relay the message of God’s love to someone else they encounter, a friend or a family member. That person might receive the good seed into a heart that is ready to receive and grow. I have also seen plants that grow in the crack in a sidewalk or straight through a crack in a rock. Even the seed that falls in rocky places can produce some fruit. Look at the account of Jesus on the cross with the two thieves in Luke 23:39-43:   One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”  And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”   Jesus did not hesitate to sow to the thief just because no more fruit would be born. If we believe that Jesus would have gone to the cross if only to save one soul, then how can we refuse to faithfully sow even to one who seems hopeless? Wild thorns are also the plants that produce some types of berries and roses. So even among the thorns, fruit can be born. Of course the seed that falls in good soil is the seed that produces thirty, sixty and one hundred fold. Yet we cannot know when we look at a person whether their heart is rocky, thorny or good.

Ours is not to judge the condition of the soil or the hearts of people. For us we should faithfull sow morning and night, not knowing which will produce more. We should trust the good seed of God’s word and His promise that it will not return void, but will accomplish and prosper in the way He intends. Jesus says:  “A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”   Like God Himself, the seed of His word is without limit. We should never feel that we need to hoard the word, saving it for only the right circumstance. If we are stingy with the word of God, we will receive by the same standard of measure. If we will freely sow the seed, we will be given more from His endless supply.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit; You continued to sow the good seed of Your word into the soil of my heart even when for many years it bore no fruit. Thank You that now that I have received Your word I can become a sower of Your word. May I faithfully sow every where I go, not concerning myself with the results, but rather trust Your word So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.   Amen.