– Scripture:
Are You Listening, Really Listening?
He went back to teaching by the sea. A crowd built up to such a great size that he had to get into an offshore boat, using the boat as a pulpit as the people pushed to the water’s edge. He taught by using stories, many stories. Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. Some fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams. Are you listening to this? Really listening? When they were off by themselves, those who were close to him, along with the Twelve, asked about the stories. He told them, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom you know how it works. But to those who can’t see it yet, everything comes in stories, creating readiness, nudging them toward a welcome awakening. These are people Whose eyes are open but don’t see a thing, Whose ears are open but don’t understand a word, Who avoid making an about-face and getting forgiven.” He continued, “Do you see how this story works? All my stories work this way. The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them. And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it. The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it. But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.
Mark 4:1-20 MSG
Key Verse – Are you listening to this? Really listening?
– Reflection:
Thinking about the people by the sea listening to Jesus as he talked about seeds and how they scatter in the wind during planting. Where some fall into the weeds, some fall into rocky areas, and then there is that seed that finds the best conditions possible and takes root. When I was younger, this passage went right over my head. All I heard was Jesus planting seed. Now that Christ is in me, I now know that those seeds were his words, speaking of the Kingdom, and the ground that the seeds are falling into is our hearts. Some hearts today are hard like the concrete, and asphalt we drive and walk on daily, and some are toxic, and some messy like a field of weeds where only weeds grow, then there is the field that has been tilled and prepared to receive the seed. It’s huge for me to know now that all this time he was talking aboout how we each receive him, and how our hearts look to him and the father.
Where do we go from here?
If you are listening, really listening, then you would know that if you have any other heart than the one best suited for hearing his word, then you have some work to do. Even though we, as Christians, are the fertile ground Jesus was speaking of, we have work to do as well. When you accepted him as your Lord and Savior, he placed work that needed to be within you as well. Now, we need to listen to what our hearts are saying and get the work done to make this world a better place than when we came into it. We need to be that light for those near us struggling and barely getting by. It costs nothing to be nice, and kind words are free.
Our Prayer for Today
Father, it is our blessing that we are awakened this morning to do the work that you have given us. We all have different paths that lead to the same place; may we all do them with dignity and the strength that was given to us by you. Thank you, Father, for being what we need each and every day. Amen.