The Devil, the World, and the Flesh

Mark 4:1-20

¹ Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” ¹⁰ And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, ¹² so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” ¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

The parable of the Sower and the Seed is probably not a new one for most of you. This story has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, as we teach this parable to our children starting at an early age. But never think you already know everything about a text, for I believe that is never going to be true! There’s always something new to learn and that is what makes Bible study so interesting and fun. Yes, I said fun.

Only seven parables are recounted by all three of the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. (John doesn’t contain any parables nor is it one of the Synoptic Gospels and that's a discussion for another day.) The parable of the sower and the seed is one of those seven. Unpacking the message of this story has been the work of scholars since the beginning of Christianity. Let’s review.

A Sower (Jesus) goes into the field to sow His seed. Jesus is ever the seeking Son of God. The expected result of that sowing is the harvest. Keeping the end goal in mind is helpful here. Note also that, in the parable, both the bad soils and the good soil coexist. Observe further that there is nothing at all wrong with the seed! The same seed is scattered on all occasions and falls on different soils, which themselves react differently. The problem, if there is one, is with the soils! It is also noteworthy that in the parable both bad soils and good soil coexist, telling us that the reign and rule of God is here in this age “even now” and “not yet” simultaneously.

As the seed falls, it lands on one of four places. The path, the rocks, among the weeds, or on the good soil. There is no admonition to “become good soil” or to change the type of soil you are. The admonition is to listen to the description given by Jesus. Keeping Jesus in focus, both as the lead character in the parable and as the teller of the parable, keeps interpretation heading in the right direction.

Voelz, J. W. ©2013. Concordia Commentary: Mark 1:1–8:26. (p. 279). St. Louis, MO: CPH.

Jesus is already addressing the response that He is receiving from the Jewish leadership – and ultimately by the crowds as well as His Passion story progresses. There are four possible reactions to the hearing of the Gospel:

1. the devil snatches the Word away so that it never even has a chance
2. those who fall away as soon as life becomes a struggle
3. those who leave the faith because the cares of the world squash it
4. those who received the Word and bear abundant fruit as that Word works through their lives.

In Ephesians 2:1–3, Paul clearly outlines the three enemies of our faith; the world, the devil, and our flesh. “¹And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

In our parable for today we find those three enemies hard at work, as they shall be until we are called from this earth by the Lord. The devil appears on the path to steal the Word from our hearts. The world appears on the rocks, seeking to steal our joy in the faith and drag us away through life’s struggles. And our own flesh conspires against us as we face the daily struggle not to gratify the desires of our own hearts.

So lest we decide that we are one soil or another, we must admit that we struggle with all three, even inside of the faith for who among us has not had to deal with the world, the devil, and our own flesh? But Jesus comes and sows that Seed of His Word into our hearts and willingly works good and abundant harvest from the faith that the Holy Spirit inspires. What a magnificent God we serve.