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+title = "Luke 8:4–15"
+date = "2022-11-22"
++++
+
+### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk8.4-15)
+
+By this time, Jesus was drawing a crowd from a wide area wherever He went. He
+tells them a parable that is familiar to many of us now, having been in the
+church for a while and hearing taught several times. But to these people it was
+brand new, and that's actually part of the point of the parable, as we shall
+see.
+
+The story is that a man is sowing seed in the traditional way: walking along
+the field and throwing handfuls of seed onto the ground so that they are widely
+and evenly dispersed. When you've got an acre to work, maybe two, and no
+machinery to help you, you don't individually plant every single seed. Instead,
+you get the seeds on the ground, and then plow the rows so that the seeds are
+buried in the topsoil.
+
+At least, that's what happens for most of the field. Because the seed is just
+thrown around, not all of it lands on the good soil. The sower walks on a
+hard-packed path between the field plots. The path doesn't get plowed, so it's
+easy for the birds to find the seed on the top of the ground and eat. Around
+the edges will be the weeds and rocks. Even though these parts aren't plowed
+either, the seed scattered there can sprout naturally, but the plant that grows
+from it doesn't thrive.
+
+"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (_v. 8_) The disciples evidently
+wondered if they had ears to hear because they didn't understand what Jesus was
+saying. But Jesus tells them that's the whole point of teaching in parables:
+those that are meant to understand will, and those that aren't won't. Then
+Jesus gives them the explanation for this parable because He does want His
+disciples to know what He is talking about. The seed represents the word of God
+and the people who hear it are the soil it is sown on. Some are hard-packed
+paths and reject God's word, so the devil takes it away before it can grow and
+bear fruit. Others are thin rocky soil and believe the word for a little bit
+until it becomes too hard to hold to their beliefs. Still others have too many
+competing concerns in their life to let the word flourish in their lives. But
+the last group, the good soil, believes in the word of God wholeheartedly, so
+that it produces good fruit which can be sown again to others.
+
+Very often, the application that is taught with this parable is "be the good
+soil". Yes, that is a good thing to be, but that's not the point that Jesus has
+made. How does soil become good for farming? It gets plowed! And before that
+the farmer has to remove the rocks and weeds (and keep removing the weeds after
+planting). Beloved reader, take note of this. _The soil can not make itself
+good for the seed._ When we hear God's word, it is not up to us whether it
+takes root in our lives. It is by His grace alone that we are saved, not our
+own works, so that no one may boast.
+
+* * *
+
+Lord Jesus, break up the clods in our hearts and make us ready to receive your
+word with great joy. Make us into fertile ground that reproduces Your word over
+and over again to be sown in the hearts of those around us.