A fresh look at the parable of the sower; the seed, the word, the gospel

I have used up a lot of key strokes in this blog showing you that Jesus and his disciples redefined the phrase, the word of God,  with gospel and himself the incarnate gospel. With this in mind I have posited Mark 4:11-20 and have substituted the term gospel for word. Gospel is in purple font and italics.

Mar 4:11-20  And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables,  (12)  so that "they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven."  (13)  And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?  (14)  The sower sows the gospel.  (15)  And these are the ones along the path, where the gospel is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the gospel that is sown in them.  (16)  And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the gospel, immediately receive it with joy.  (17)  And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the gospel, immediately they fall away.  (18)  And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the gospel,  (19)  but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the gospel, and it proves unfruitful.  (20)  But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the gospel and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

So what exactly is the gospel? In short, it is the redemptive action and purposes of God being fulfilled in the earth. God has set to rights the entire creation in Jesus Christ. He did it by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. As Paul explained it, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself (2Cor 5:19.) Jesus, the last Adam restored the relationship that the first Adam had before the fall. Further it is a done deal… accomplished (John 19:30.)

Faith is the method of apprehending this gospel reality. It all begins in the mind… that is, in a renewed mind. The key then, to having the word/gospel stick enough in order to bear fruit is faith. It will produce thirtyfold, sixtyfold or a hundredfold depending upon the level of faith developed and faith is a process of growth ever increasing as it ebbs and flows. This is the secret or mystery of the kingdom of God. The fruit is restoration.