GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 4:15
A Well Used Path
The state built a road around a city in northeast Georgia. The intent was to divert traffic around the city. The original road through the city is still there and still heavily used.
When Jesus began his explanation of the message inside his parable of the sower, he said, “Now these are those beside the road where the word is sown; and whenever they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which was sown in them.” (Mark 4:15) Beside the Palestinian farmer’s field was a path, beaten hard as stone by the feet of those who traveled it. As the sower scattered his seed, some seed might fall there along the path, and there it had no chance to grow.
There are two elements in this scene. First, the seed would be trampled. The second element in this picture, however, is that the path would lose out because of indifference, the recipient might think it irrelevant to life and think they can get along without it. The path was still there—still there without the Word. The path was still there, much like the original road in the city which now has a bypass. In this parable, the person in whom the Word was sown is still there, perhaps sitting in the same church pew, attending the same Bible study group, participating in the same benevolent activities—all this without the Word. It is quite possible that the person looks at himself and says, “I’m still a path. I’m still doing the same work. I’m still a good person. I don’t need the seed.” In fact, it may be difficult for anyone to notice a difference—the path is still the path. According to Mark, Satan came to take away the seed; according to Matthew, Jesus said the evil one takes away the seed. (Matt. 13:19)
This is a scene of deception, for the path was still useful, still where it had always been, and would remain for future travelers. What need did it have, then, of the seed? In another case, a city council voted to abandon a road, which was later bulldozed aside for a new building—it was gone. In Jesus’ parable, the path, the hearer, will have to meet the Father whom he has abandoned.
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