Lent 2026 Day 4: Sat 21 Feb
Mark 4:1-9
1 Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and such a large crowd gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people crowded along the shore. 2 And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said,
3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop.
8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop—one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.” 9 Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Jesus has already used a boat on the lake to enable him to address the crowds. This he tells the parable of the Sower, one of the most well-known of Jesus’ parables. Matthew’s account is almost word for word the same. Luke has Jesus recounting this parable on his travels and he does not place Jesus by the lake.
But can you re-tell the parable without a prompt, recalling each of the four locations the seed fell and what happened to it? Further still, can you explain the meaning of each of those events?
Could he have told the same story in different locations? Why not?! If it’s worth telling, it’s worth telling again. Do we imagine that Jesus only told that parable once? Would it diminish his reputation if he’d used it again with a different audience? If Jesus had a good way of describing the Kingdom of Heaven, then why not use it more than once? Bishops can be called upon to conduct several confirmation services and I know from experience that most have used the same sermon around the parishes! If it’s a good sermon, then it’s worth hearing again. Would Jesus really ration his parables, treating them as fit only for a single rendition? Hardly! Mark, of course, only needs to recount the parable once.
Is parable-telling a dead art?
How far did you get with re-telling this parable?
What might Jesus’ hopes have been for the crowds who were listening?
Father God, as I grow deeper into you I pray that the meaning of the parables Jesus told may grow deeper in me. Amen.
Paul