Every once in awhile I like to use this space to reflect on my reading of Scripture, and today’s lectionary readings featured the parable of the soils from Mark 4:1-20.
Jesus mentions four soils in this parable, all with different responses to the sowing of the seed. Later he tells the disciples that the seed represents the word, or message, of the kingdom. This is the gospel, the good news that Jesus proclaimed: that God’s kingdom was within reach and available to anyone who wants to live in it. And this proclamation is received in a variety of ways, producing a variety of effects. I was particularly struck this morning, though, by the third soil: the seed that fell “among thorns.”