Mark 4:1-20

Again  he began to teach  by the sea, and a very large crowd gathered around him. So he got into a boat on the sea and sat down, while the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore. He taught them many things in parables,  and in his teaching  he said to them, “Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow.   As he sowed, some seed fell along the path,   and the birds came and devoured   it. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly,   since the soil wasn’t deep. When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.   Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit. Still other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit that increased   thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.”   Then he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”   When he was alone, those around him with the Twelve  asked him about the parables.  He answered them, “The secret   of the kingdom of God   has been given to you, but to those outside,   everything comes in parables so that they may indeed look, and yet not perceive; they may indeed listen, and yet not understand;   otherwise, they might turn back and be forgiven. ”   , , Then  he said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable?   How then will you understand all of the parables? The sower sows   the word.   Some are like the word sown on the path.   When they hear, immediately Satan   comes and takes away the word   sown in them.   And others are like seed sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy.   But they have no root; they are short-lived. When distress   or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away.   Others are like seed sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, but the worries   of this age,   the deceitfulness   , of wealth,   and the desires   for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.   And those like seed sown on good ground hear the word,   welcome it, and produce fruit   thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was sown.”