GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 4:20
Hear, Receive, Produce
Medieval Europe, spanning about 476 to 1348, experienced both population and agricultural growth. Population growth was largely based on increased agricultural production, as more food provided for more people. Agricultural production was about 1:10, that is, a farmer would plant one bushel of grain and reap ten bushels. This change resulted from the use of fertilizer, the development of new farming tools—especially the heavy-wheeled plow—crop rotation, and the shift from the oxen to the horses as a draft animals. Additionally, climatologists describe a “warm pulsation” in the European climate during this era, which allowed for longer growing seasons. Farmers planted seeds in good soil and reaped a tenfold increase.
As Jesus explained the meaning of his parable of the sower and his seed, he described hard soil on which some seeds fell, but they didn’t take root; the soil was hard and resistant. Then he described the rocky soil; the seed took root, grew, but withered quickly because it had no depth of soil. Next, he described good soil, but it was populated with weeds. The seed took root and grew, but the weeds also grew and choked the good plants. Finally, Jesus said, “And these are the ones sown on good soil, who hear the word, and receive it, and bear fruit—one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred.” (Mark 4:20) In this parable, the soil (the people) hears the Word, but so did the stony and weedy soils (other people). These people receive the seed, the Word, but so did the stony and weedy soil people. However, in this last class of people, the hearers bear fruit. The hard-path soil people might hear the word but don’t receive it. The stony-soil hearers receive the Word. It sprouts, but it has no depth, no stick-to-itiveness. The weedy-soil hearers receive the Word, but other things—careers, possessions, family, entertainments, habits, etc.—gradually choke out the Word. But finally there are the good-soil hearers who receive the Word— it takes root, grows, and produces fruit.
Everyone who heard Jesus’ explanation of the sower or reads the gospel record finds themselves described in one of these four categories—everyone.
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