The Four Reactions to God’s Word
Every time you teach or speak God’s Word, you get a reaction. You will get a reaction because every action produces a reaction. God’s Word goes so far as to tell you the four possible categories into which reactions fall. This is found in the fourth chapter of Mark in the form of a parable which Jesus taught his disciples. When we really understand this parable and appropriate its meaning in our lives, it will enlighten us and lift burdens off our minds. Mark 4:3-12:
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that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. And he [Jesus] said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was alone [after he got away from the crowd], they [the disciples] that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand.... Two verses later the explanation of this parable begins. Mark 4:14: The sower soweth the word. This explains what the sower of verse 3 was sowing: God’s Word. A number of words in this verse intrigue me. First of all, the words, “Hearken; Behold....” These are two similar words in the text and they could both be translated “behold.” T