I wonder, why is it so easy for people who call themselves Christians to follow crowds, movements, etc. and so hard to follow Jesus? We have Scripture that was written down by His followers that tells us many things that Jesus said and taught while He walked on this earth. Jesus tells His disciples in this passage that He speaks in parables so only those who truly are following Him (not the crowd) will understand what He is teaching. “When they see what I do, they will learn nothing. When they hear what I say, they will not understand. Otherwise, they will turn to me and be forgiven.” Mark 4:12
Today, we may follow the crowds to church because that is where the good people hang out. We may go because that is a habit, and we somehow believe that going to church on Sunday morning will qualify us for heaven. We may go because we have friends there that we like to see on Sunday morning. We may go because we want others to think we are good people. We may go because our children need Sunday School. We may go because there is a dynamic or charismatic speaker there each week that is fun or easy to listen to.
Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to explain things to us as we hear and read His words. But if our hearts are closed, we will not understand. When we read or hear the Scripture about the seed falling on various types of soil, we believe ourselves to be the fertile soil and everyone outside the church to be the less productive soils. That is a mindset of self-righteous people. And self-righteousness actually creates a hard, untilled soil in our heart. It is a belief that I know all about it and I don’t have anything new to learn or need to change in any way. We sit in judgment on others and see how they don’t measure up and how the Scripture being taught is for them.
The next type of soil Jesus talks about is shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprout but they cannot take root. So the plants quickly whither and die. In the church, this may look like those of us who get excited about what is preached or the worship music on Sunday morning. We may even shout, “Amen!” But by the time we get to the door of the church, we forget what we heard or experienced. It makes absolutely no difference in our lives throughout the next hours let alone the next week! By Sunday dinner, we cannot even tell anyone what the sermon was about.
Seeds can also begin to grow but be choked out by weeds. To the church-attender, this is likely the most common soil. We have lives so scheduled with other activities (sports, meetings, projects, vacations, work schedules, etc.) that we don’t feel like we have time to spend specifically with God (reading His Word, praying, worshiping Him). We defend ourselves, make excuses and talk about all the good things we are doing. Meanwhile, our Father is waiting with amazing things He wants to tell us, but we don’t have time for even a short visit with Him. How can what He teaches us take root if we don’t nurture our relationship with Him?
So what does the fertile, tilled soil look like in the church? Those who are truly fertile soil are the ones who are filled with joy, are quick to love and show mercy to others, are quick to acknowledge that they need Jesus. They are humble, gentle, kind, and full of compassion. They have empathy for those who are struggling and are quick to pray for others with faith that God sees, He hears, He cares about what is happening to them. They spend time reading and studying Scripture, inviting His Holy Spirit to teach and instruct them so they can live out what they are learning. They pray deeply for themselves and for others. They listen for God’s voice to speak to them and obey when they hear Him speak.
My heart breaks for the number of people who sit on Sunday mornings and hear His words preached, but it falls on the hard, untilled soil, the rocky soil, or the weed-filled soil. Oh that it would fall on the fertile, tilled soil ready to receive the seed and allow it to grow and produce fruit! May we become a church filled with mercy and grace where people come to be healed and to grow in faith because we are tilling our soil, removing rocks and supplementing it with the compost of spending time with God and building strong relationship with Him. Amen.
