CHAPTER 4
The story of the sower
4:1-8 Then once again he began to teach them by the lake-side. A bigger crowd than ever collected around him so that he got into the little boat on the lake and sat down, while the crowd covered the ground right up to the water's edge. He taught them a great deal in parables, and in the course of his teaching he said, "Listen! A man once went out to sow his seed and as he sowed, some seed fell by the roadside and the birds came and gobbled it up. Some of the seed fell among the rocks where there was not much soil, and sprang up very quickly because there was no depth of earth. But when the sun rose it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. And some of the seed fell among thorn-bushes and the thorns grew up and choked the life out of it, and it bore no crop. And there was some seed which fell on good soil, and when it grew, produced a crop which yielded thirty or sixty or even a hundred times as much as the seed."
4:9 Then he added, "Every man who has ears should use them!"
4:10-12 Then when they were by themselves, his close followers and the twelve asked him about the parables, and he told them. "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those who do not know the secret, everything remains in parables, so that, 'seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them'".
4:13-20 Then he continued, "Do you really not understand this parable? Then how are you going to understand all the other parables? The man who sows, sows the message. As for those who are by the roadside where the message is sown, as soon as they hear it Satan comes at once and takes away what has been sown in their minds. Similarly, the seed sown among the rocks represents those who hear the message without hesitation and accept it joyfully. But they have no real roots and do not last - when trouble or persecution arises because of the message, they give up their faith at once. Then there are the seeds which were sown among thorn-bushes. These are the people who hear the message, but the worries of this world and the false glamour of riches and all sorts of other ambitions creep in and choke the life out of what they have heard, and it produces no crop in their lives. As for the seed sown on good soil, this means the men who hear the message and accept it and do produce a crop - thirty, sixty, even a hundred times as much as they received."
2 comments:
Translating logos as "message" feels to me like a cheapening of the teaching. It seems clear that early Christianity understood far more by the term than just what can be conveyed in a message.
Thanks for dropping by Marshall. I'm guessing your comment maps to the prior discussion on incarnation.
Yes, I think logos, as John uses the term bears much weight, drawing upon both the Platonic concept and the Hebrew notion of Sophia as personified Wisdom as well as the Hebrew term, Word of God.
For me the simplest articulation is, the spirit that inspired the Hebrew prophets, became a prophet.
I think this notion is in Paul and in a way that implies Paul inherited it from others. Which makes it VERY early, earlier than the gospel of John. I'm agnostic on whtehr it was a part of Jesus own self-identity. But I rather think its impossible to actually know whether it was a part of Jesus own self-identity.
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