Do You Have Ears That Hear?

Mark 4:13-20

Jesus explains the parable. He starts with a mild chiding. His words note the essential and foundational nature of this parable. If they do not understand89 this one, they will struggle to understand the others. If children cannot add and subtract, they will scarcely be able to multiply and divide; and geometry, trigonometry, and calculus will be hopeless.

Jesus then proceeds to explain the four soils.

The sower in this story is Jesus, or anyone who shares the gospel, and the seed is the Word of God. The path represents hard-hearted or toughminded individuals. The Word comes to them, and “immediately,” as soon as they hear it, Satan snatches it away. They are resistant and thus unresponsive. They suffer from what might be called “gospel deafness.” Like skeptics, they dismiss the Word without giving it careful consideration. For whatever reason they are hardened to the gospel. The book closes when the service ends, and so do their ears and hearts.

The next soil is welcoming but not substantive enough to maintain the growth of the seed. The people represented by this soil hear the Word and receive it with joy. They endure for a while and even show signs of maturity, just as the plant sprouts quickly, grows well at first, and looks promising.

However, these people are shallow and have no roots. Soon tribulation and persecution—seen in the “sun” of Jesus’ parable—come because of the presence of the Word. When (not if!) oppression comes, these people “immediately” fall away (4:6, 17). They are “quickly green and quickly gone” (Dever, “Ignoring or Hearing?”).

This group of people receives the Word better than the first two. However, they eventually get distracted by worry, wealth, and craving for other things. Theirs is a partial commitment, which is, in reality, no commitment at all. This present life is more important to them than the life to come, and stuff is more important than the Savior.

In John 8:31, Jesus says those who “continue” are “really” disciples. Therefore those in this group show themselves to be false disciples. There is no real surrender to Christ as Lord. They find more pleasure in cash than in Christ, more pleasure in their cravings than in their Creator.

The final soil is noticeably different from the first three. It represents those who hear the Word, accept it, and bear fruit. Tribulation and persecution do not deter them. Worries, wealth, personal desires, and sinful cravings do not distract them. Their hearing is active, not passive. They aggressively pursue the Word, allow it to take root, and then rejoice in its abundant growth. Note the promise that comes with receptivity to God’s Word: It will grow and produce fruit. Failure to do so proves that it is really sown on another soil class. A fruitless Christian is an oxymoron. John 15:5 says, “The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit.” If we are not producing anything, that shows we are not really connected to the power of God through faith in His Word.

Christianity is a religion of the Word and therefore of the ear. Do you have ears that hear? Do you tune in to the words of Scripture and the gospel, or do you tune them out? Think carefully before dismissing Jesus’ words. Hearing God’s Word is dangerous. What you do with it is critical to your soul.

My challenge is this: Be greedy for the Word. Go after it, grab hold of it, and do not let it go. Like a starving beggar who has found bread, seize it with all your might and cherish it for the life-sustaining food that it is! He who has ears to hear, let him hear.