Yesterday, after attending the Evangelical Covenant Church of Manila (ECCM) public worship, we celebrated my wife's 48th birthday at Pizza Hut in SM Manila. My eldest son is not with us. Thanks to Lani, my youngest son's lady friend, for joining us in the celebration. 😅
Elder Mark's message is taken from Mark 4, verses 1 to 25. I find his take on the parables unconventional. Usually, the parable of the sower and the parable of a lamp on a stand are treated separately. In his case, he argued that the main point of the parable of a lamp on the stand is about the call to listen well to the word of God. I found such an insight very enlightening.
As our family practice, after listening to the message, I usually asked my two sons about the Fallen Condition Focus (FCF) of a specific passage, whether it's a narrative, a parable, or a letter. My youngest son refused to respond to my question and instead said that he's done with his homiletics class. Very safe answer. 😄
We all know that mental health issues are popular these days. The search for wellness or wholeness tells us that many these days are either mentally or spiritually sick. However, we don't usually associate listening with wellness.
If there is an idea that will guide us to understand the passage, I think this idea is something related to "fruitfulness" or "productivity." That's the whole point of sowing the seeds, to see them bear fruit. However, something happened to the seed that prevented it from bearing fruit.
It is also noteworthy that by sharing this parable, Jesus called the attention of his contemporaries to a specific situation in the history of Israel. That specific period was during the time of the prophet Isaiah. If this exegetical observation is accurate, it is appropriate to ask how the prophetic ministry of Isaiah was received by his own generation. Was he successful?
If we measure the prophet's ministry based on our modern standard of success, Isaiah's ministry would be a big disappointment. We read in Isaiah 6:9-10:
He said, “Go and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.
Imagine a prophetic ministry that people love to listen but they never understand the meanings of the words you proclaim. Imagine that the goal of your preaching is not to enlighten but to make the hearts of the people callous. That's a very sad ministry. It was as if the ministry was doomed to failure from the very start.
Comparing the two narratives, we observe a difference in words, but the essence of the message remains the same. In Isaiah, the "healing" language is used, whereas in Mark it has been replaced with the language of "forgiveness." Taking these two words, I cannot avoid asking, what's the connection between healing and forgiveness? What's the connection between those people who suffer mental and spiritual health issues and forgiveness? Isn't the reason why they are suffering from such issues because their conscience is burdened by guilt or feelings of not being forgiven?
The answer to the above question will be clearer if we see that both healing and forgiveness are related to repentance. In both contexts, the word "turn" has been retained, which signifies a reversal of an action that caused callousness in the first place to an action that will bring forgiveness and healing. Repentance is the most appropriate word to describe such a reversal in action.
Moreover, listening plays a significant role both in repentance and in experiencing forgiveness and healing. I think this is where we will see the importance of the parable of the sower, for it speaks of listeners or hearers of the word of God.
The problem with these listeners is that they are unfruitful. They keep listening to God's word, but the word of God remains unfruitful in their lives.
I told my family that the message last Sunday was painful, for if we are honest enough, almost everybody who fails to produce fruit in their lives falls under the first three types of listeners.
Why do many regular hearers of God's word today remain sick and unfruitful?
Many regular hearers of God's word today remain sick and unfruitful because they are hardened listeners, overly critical, and too "intellectual."
Of course, you cannot read the above description in the text. However, as Elder Mark expounded the meaning of the seed that "fell along the path," he mentioned the role of Satan in taking away the seed that has been sown. As he elaborated on how Satan accomplished that, that's where he arrived at the above implications.
Many regular hearers of God's word today remain sick and unfruitful because they are rootless and emotional.
The role of emotion and rootlessness is evident in times of trouble. The way people respond to troubles shows whether they have roots or not. Here, the speaker warns about the dangers of relying on feelings or emotions in making decisions.
Many regular hearers of God's word today remain sick and unfruitful because they remain anxious about the cares of this world, trapped by the deceitfulness of wealth, and distracted by worldly desires.
The foregoing descriptions are very plain from the text.
While I was conversing with @kopiko-blanca, we agreed that the parable has nothing to do with the popular notion of evangelism and salvation. The popular take on the passage is that the first three types of soils or listeners represent the unbelieving world or the unsaved, and only the good soil refers to Christians. However, again, calling for honesty, many regular listeners of God's word today remain unproductive even after several years of listening to the word of God. I think the point of the parable is not to discriminate between the unsaved and the saved but to serve as a warning about the way we listen to God's word. And that is why, after telling the parable of the sower, Jesus concluded with this warning:
Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.
And then again, after telling the parable of the lamp on a stand, he repeated:
If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.
And added:
Consider carefully what you hear. . . .
I might miss the details of the parable. However, from the above considerations, I can say with confidence that the message of the parable of the sower is about the way we listen to the word of God.