Root: Sprout Mortality (Mark 4)

The farmer sows the word. Some people are like... - Mark 4:14

Jesus told a story of a farmer who went out to sow seeds. Each of the seeds were identical-a nutrient-packed bundle of vitality-but the results were quite different. Four seeds-three deaths. One seed never even makes it off the starting block--the birds come and carry it away. Two more seeds start well, breaking dormancy quickly and sending a sprouts sky-ward and roots earth-ward. But the tough conditions prevent the sprout from ever reaching viability--the initial supply of sustenance from the seed gone, they wither and die. Only the fourth seed germinates, matures and thrives.

Jesus parallels this with the response of people to God's message. God reveals himself ("sows"). The seed is his message ("the word"). Each person treats the message differently.

And, in most case, the seed dies. Sprout mortality is high.  The human heart is not a supportive environment. Each seed is full of the life-giving spiritual DNA of the savior, who lavishes it on the unwelcoming soil.

So what are the causes of sprout mortality?

1. If the seed lands upon the path, where the hard soil and exposed conditions insure a quick death, it never sprouts. Jesus said: "As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them"  (vs. 15) The heart never hears; the word is not welcomed; it is discounted and ridiculed and unconsidered and forgotten.
2. If the seed lands in the rocky places, there is a thin veneer of soil. The seed sprouts as the word of God takes root. During this period, it is dependent on the nutrients that are in the seed itself. The sprout is tender and unable to bear up under environmental stress, especially lack of water. The roots must deepen. But, if the soil is rocky, they cannot and the heat of the sun kills the sprout. This is the period of testing. The testing shows whether the plant is viable-truly a new life. In the journey of faith, rooting is a change from self-dependence to God-dependence, so that in the scorching, we draw upon the sustenance of God.
3. If the seed lands in the fertile but uncultivated places, there is rich soil and plenty of weeds to share it with. This is the period of priorities. The uncultivated heart does not clear enough space--enough priority--for the word of God to flourish. Many weeds are good plant in the wrong place. Others are just nasty, spiny bullies. Without clearing them,  they will suck up nutrients, moisture and sunlight  You must clear the real estate of your heart for the word of God to flourish. Other priorities will suck up your time, attention and ambitions.

Sprout mortality is far too common. People start the journey of faith each time God confronts them with a word about himself. But it is aborted when the word is discounted, scorched or crowded out of their life. So their journey must start again.

But if the people can make it past this phase--if they are rooted and established--then they can draw upon the vastness of the love of God and grow. Paul talks about it this way:

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ - Ephesians 3:17b-18

In the fertile and cultivated places, there are nutrients, there is moisture and there is sunlight. The result is growth. The result is fruit (Gal. 5:22-23). The result is a new harvest of seed:

Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown. - Mark 4:20

Root. Grow. Fruit. Seed. It all starts with drawing upon the grace of God.