The Parable of The Four Soils

Scripture: Luke 8:4-8

4 One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him: 5 “A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. 6 Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” (Luke 8:4-8 NLT)

This is a parable, a story with a partly-hidden meaning, that Jesus told to a large and diverse crowd that had gathered to hear him. All kinds of people had gathered for all kinds of reasons. Jesus had been healing people who were sick with all kinds of diseases. Jesus had brought someone back from death. Most of them hadn’t seen him do that, but they had all heard about it! Jesus had been teaching some radical things, and the people were living in troubled times. They wanted to know if he was the one who would fix things at last! So he took the opportunity to tell them a story.

This story is not complicated, but understanding it is not automatic. It’s like a screening device. At one level, it’s a nice simple story. Anyone could hear it once and remember the four parts: Footpath, rocky ground, weeds, good soil. Un-sprouted, wilted, choked, abundantly fruitful. Some people, who had come to see a show, thought “Hey! Where’s the healings? Let’s see some action!” Others, who came hoping for a food-multiplying miracle, thought “Okay! Okay! When’s lunch?” Some people felt stirred by the story and wondered what it meant to the way they live their lives.

Willing to listen and ears to hear. A few days ago, when we looked at Jesus’ command in Luke 6 to love our enemies, he said “If You Are Willing to Listen”. Then, when he told this story, Jesus said, “Anyone with ears to hear, should listen and understand”.

Friends, we are willing to listen! We have ears to hear! It takes a desire to learn, a decision to lean in, and effort and time to hear, to understand, and to obey! Jesus’ disciples asked him what the story meant. We’ll talk about that tomorrow.

Prayer:

Father, We want to listen, to hear, to know, and to respond! Please fill us with your Spirit and lead us in the way of life-forming, Kingdom advancing truth!