Sunday School - Parable of the Sower

In anticipation of Vacation Bible School next month (July 18-22), the children have begun a series of Sunday School lessons on Jesus' parables. Today, it was the parable of the sower. Kent, a farmer and thus a sower of seeds, taught the class and brought some soybean seeds and plants. We discussed the Bible story (for example, Mark 4:1-20) of the sower who scattered some seeds: some along the road where they were eaten by birds, some among the rocks where they germinated but quickly withered, some among the thorns which choked out the young plants, and finally some seeds in good, moist ground where the seed roots took hold and the plants flourished, yielding 100 times their number. Kent explained how this is how real seeds are affected, and had some examples of newly germinated seeds which then dried up and died due to lack of moisture.

We talked about the meaning of the parable, how Jesus is like the sower and the seeds are like God's Word. Many people hear the Word, but some do not try to understand, some believe only until they experience hard times, and some are lured away by worldly temptations. But those that let the Word take hold, who believe it, study it and let it grow, to those people comes a yield of 100 times.