Parable of the Sower

Parables of the Messiah

Shema – Hebrew

Shema Israel, Adonai elohenu – Adonai echad

Ve’ahavta et Adonai eloeikahB’khol levavkahUve’khol naphshekahUve’khol m’odekahVe’ahavta le’reacha Kamocha, Amen

Shema

Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord alone. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

And Love your neighbor as yourself. Amen.

Group of 4 parables

• Mark 4– Sower– Lamp on a Stand– Growing Seed– Mustard Seed

• #4 is often used in learning and studying• 4 kinds of soil

Jeremiah 4

• Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among thorns. vs. 3

• My wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done – burn with no one to quench it. vs. 4

Unkempt fields

Paths

Boundary

Thorns

Kinds of Soil

• We are the soil not the farmer– Not a warning on where to spread the gospel– Call to reflection

• What kind of soil are we?– Hard– Rocky– Thorny– Fertile

4 Soils = 4 Hearts

• Sponge – soaks up everything• Funnel – in one ear, out the other• Strainer – focuses on details and loses main idea• Sifter – filters out chunks and keeps fine flower

Prepare the soil

• The first thing you did was burn off the thorns• Parable of fire – lamp on a stand– Expose your sin and get rid of it– Do it in a loving community– Warning – the measure you use for others will be

used for you

Thorns and Rocks

Rocks keep coming up in the groundYou can’t see them to remove them until after thorns are burnedWork together to remove rocks

Fertile Soil

• 3rd parable – growing seed• Once your “soil” is ready you can produce a

crop• 4th parable – mustard seed• Even small seed produce in fertile soil

Ears

• He who has ears to hear, let him hear• Isaiah 6 – Be ever hearing, but never

understanding• Isaiah 5 – garden, what is a good crop?– Justice, righteousness, caring for needy

• May God chisel out our ears so we hear the tze’akah of the needy

Next week

• Feeding 5000, feeding 4000• Mark 6: 30-44, Mark 8:1-26