The Savior & Soils
The Savior, Suffering, and Your Heart (Part 3 of 6)
Your suffering tells a story. It tells the story of your soul. How you respond to persecution for the sake of Jesus opens the window to your heart, revealing either the presence or the absence of the Savior. This is what Jesus is driving at with the second ground on which the Sower sowed his seeds. In the previous post, we considered the path as the heart whose seeds are stolen by Satan. No root, no fruit, no growth. Mark not only records Jesus’ parable and interpretation, but throughout his Gospel spotlights the grounds with particular people or groups.
The second ground is the rocky ground. Jesus says that these are “the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away” (Mark 4:16-17). Here’s what makes this ground different from the others. There’s an initial joy, but subsequent suffering (i.e., persecution) reveals rootlessness. The pain shows that the seed had never taken root. Three examples from Mark bear this out: 6:20, 8:34-38, and 11:1-11. I will take them in reverse order.
In Mark 11:1-11, our eyes open to the jubilant crowd during our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. At the sight of the Savior riding on a colt, instantly they rejoiced, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (v. 9). The crowd is off to a good start. However, as we read the rest of the chapter, we notice that our Lord has a low view of who actually believes at the time. He illustrates the people’s unbelief through cursing a fig tree, a tree that bears no fruit. Ask Jesus, “What’s the state of Israel right now?” and his short reply is, “No fruit. No faith.” Follow up, “But, Lord, did you not see the crowd surrounding you with praise, ushering you in Jerusalem as King?” Simply, our Sower replies, “No root.” Granted, there was an initial joy, but the events following his triumphal entry display a rootless tree. For the Jews and the civil magistrate will soon persecute the Christ and seek to kill all who call upon his name. Facing persecution, Israel fades away, withering like the fig tree (11:21).
Moving back a few chapters, we hear Jesus’ warning to anyone in the crowd seeking association with the Christ. In Mark 8:34-38, Jesus urges the crowd to consider their allegiance. He invites the people to associate affliction with the Suffering Servant (v. 31). If anyone, however, believes that profit with the world is better than eternal wealth, he will be ashamed of this association. The person may initially receive the Son, only to turn away at so high a cost for staying connected to Christ. If you want the Christ, you must also have the cross (v. 34). Suffering and the Suffering Sower go hand-in-hand, for his hands were nailed to the cross of grief and pain, bearing the sin-weight due the world’s wickedness. What was initially joyful becomes shameful, for the Son of Man will be ashamed of all who are ashamed of him (v. 38).
Finally and ironically, we take a couple chapter-steps back again. In Mark 6:14-20, we read the tragic account of the death of John the Baptizer. He confronted Herod for taking his (Herod’s) brother’s wife, Herodias, and John’s prophetic rebuke against the magistrate infuriated the wife. The solution was to decapitate the prophet. Herodias hated John, had this grudge against him, but for a time was prevented, because hubby Herod “feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man” (v. 20a). Herod knew the message John preached. He even initially received the seed which the Sower sowed through John. What’s remarkable is that Mark uses similar language here to what Jesus used back in 4:16. Speaking of Herod, Mark says, “When he heard him [John the Baptizer], he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly” (6:20b).
Through similar word usage, Mark showed us that Herod was among the group who received the seed initially with joy. But the irony shows itself in this way. Whereas Jesus said the people who receive it with joy, being rootless, will fall away because of persecution, Mark shows us that Herod, who received it with joy, falls away and shows himself to be rootless through persecution. In other words, Herod wasn’t experiencing the persecution and so fell away; he was the one dishing it out, no doubt pressured by his ill-gotten, Christ-hating wife.
Through Jesus’ parable and Mark’s illustrations, we are meant to sober up to the reality of affliction for the sake of Christ. We must never be content with an initial joy of the gospel. The true test comes when the waves of woe crash against us from those who seek to shipwreck our faith. Through the furnace of affliction, will your joy for Jesus fade? When the fiery hostility of the world alights upon the embers of your heart, will you stoke them with this rod of affliction to burn ever brighter, or will the flames burn out? When opposed by Christ-deniers, will you hide your light under a basket? Does suffering for Jesus move you away in shame from the Sower, or move you to praise for the deep roots the Sower has planted in your heart? The initial joy, if genuine joy, will become a harvest of joy for those united to the one who despised the shame of the cross but for the joy set before him endured the cross (Hebrews 12). Consider yourself blessed when you suffer for righteousness’ sake; rejoice and be glad (Matthew 5:10-12). But if you shrink back from the Savior, you’re a fool to rest assured on an initial joy alone. These are Jesus’ wake-up words from the rocky ground. Settle your faith on the Solid Rock of Christ, not on the shifting sands of sudden satisfaction that turns into shame for the Sower.
Rev. Dr. Michael Mock is the Pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Fresno, CA and an ACBC-certified Biblical Counselor. He’s the author of Hey, Dad, Why Do We…?: Kids Ask the Greatest Questions, Old Testament Introduction and Workbook, New Testament Introduction and Workbook, Comfort from Corinthians: A Devotional Walkthrough of 2nd Corinthians for Sinful and Struggling Saints, and A Confessional Marriage: Marriage Based on the Firm Foundation and a Faithful Confession. You can find his books here: Amazon.com: Dr. Michael D. Mock: books, biography, latest update.