Mark 4:1-12

The parable of the seed given Mark 4:1-12: Jesus again taught by the Sea of Galilee. A very large crowd gathered He sat in a boat out on the lake and taught. He taught many things in parables. A parable was taking something that had happened or could happen and teaching a spiritual lesson with that story. One parable was that of a sower that went out to sow his seed. The seed sown had different results.

Some of the seed fell along the road and was eaten by birds. There was some rocky ground and some of the seed feel there. The soil was not deep and so when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and died. Other seed fell among thorns that choked it and it produced no grain. There was some of the seed that feel in good soil and it grew and produced. The seed yielded thirty-fold and sixty-fold and hundred-fold. Jesus repeated the statement "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

The apostles did not understand the parable so they asked the Lord for an explanation. We must all do our best to make sure that we understand the Lord's teachings also. Jesus told His apostles, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables." These people were unwilling to grasp heaven's truths because many of these truths would condemn their sinful way of living.