Tuesday 1, September 2026

Recently God revealed some lessons to me about the Parable of the Sower. Though familiar, there may still be nuggets worth reflecting on. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat

Mark 4:1-3 NIV

[1] Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.

[2] He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:

[3] “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.

The Principle of Sowing

According to Mark, Y’shua sat in a fishing boat to teach about farming. What’s even more interesting for me is that His earthly father was neither a farmer nor a fisherman. Joseph was reputed to be a woodworker. So we see a woodworker’s son climb into his friend’s fishing vessel to illustrate a lesson using a farming motif. While this isn’t the key point of the story, it does allude to the point I’m raising later.

God does not need our skills to perfect God’s ministry through us. What God works with is a willing vessel.

Self-Check

Rather than force ourselves into a set ministry mould, we must discern where God needs us. Are we offering ourselves to God as a willing vessel?

Deeper Dive

An interesting background note that influences this parable is the chain of events in Mark 3.

• The Pharisees criticised Jesus’ faith because He healed on the Sabbath.

• The miracles mentioned after that healing included Gentiles.

• Among the twelve disciples Jesus selected, Judas is named as Jesus’ betrayer

• Jesus’ family agreed with the accusations levelled against Him

• His family went to ‘rescue’ Him from Himself

• Jesus refused their efforts to help and set the qualifications of His ‘new’ family.

Mark next placed Jesus on a boat teaching the multitude. We suppose that the crowd may have influenced the location, as a boat gave Him some space while being relatively close. If He was still in the region of the previous day’s healing, there were people from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, regions across the Jordan, Tyre and Sidon present. Mark 3:7 indicates that He specifically used the boat to reduce the crush of the crowd.

Any parable used to teach the crowd would need to be based on what they could relate to and could sufficiently illustrate the point. People in those days all understood basic farming; he was in a fertile territory. His lesson was based on God’s gift of salvation and qualification for that gift. The parable needed to cover both.

Based on His prior experiences in Mark 3, we can safely assume that Jesus’ teaching would refute the doubt of His family and the teachers of the Law, as well as the criticism of the Pharisees. Our knowledge that Christ’s death offered salvation to all tells us that the soil wasn’t restricted to Jews, but to anyone. [That’s why Mark mentioned the healing of people from Tyre and Sidon.]

Siblings, we know in retrospect that the sower who went out to sow seed is God. The seed is God’s Word, i.e., Jesus. And the soil is people. The lesson that most of us may have missed is that God offered the seed, Jesus Christ, to everyone, regardless of faith, race, class, or nationality. That’s also the message of John 3:16.

God loves The World so much that God seeks to redeem us so that Everyone has access to Abundant Life in Christ

Do we hear the message? Will we receive Him?

Point to Ponder

Siblings, the world is dying for God’s message of hope. We have been sent in Y’shua’s stead to share this message. Are we watching the potential nature of the soil, or are we sowing God’s seed as directed?

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May all we seek be found in Christ