The Lutheran Hour
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"Tell Me a Story!"
- Full Program MP3 Reflections
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Text: Mark 4:1-20, 26-34
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I thank you for joining us. Let us begin by praying for the care of children: Almighty God, Heavenly Father, You have blessed us with the joy and care of children. Give us calm strength and patient wisdom that, as they grow in years, we may teach them to love whatever is just and true and good, following the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
What makes for a good father? One of my memories as a seminary student—this goes back almost 50 years; time flies!—one of my memories was Professor Arthur Carl Piepkorn telling our class that he had studied what makes for good parenting. Dr. Piepkorn was a very learned man, so when he said he studied something, we knew he did. He had looked at parents in various situations, but he found only one thing that made for good parenting. That was love, simply love. Now the question is how do you show a child, or anyone for that matter, that you love them? My message today is that we show love by spending time with our children, grandchildren, and others, and in that time together, we tell stories. Tell me a story! Do you remember The Andy Griffith Show from the 1960s? Andy was the sheriff of Mayberry, a fictional town in North Carolina. He was a widower raising his son Opie. At the end of every show, you would see Andy and Opie walking down a dirt road with their fishing poles. They were going off not only to fish but also to spend time together and share their stories. Opie would grow up knowing his dad loved him. To our own harm, these days many of us are not sharing time and stories the way Andy and Opie did.
Bernard Bull is associate professor of education at Concordia University Wisconsin. He has written Digitized, published by Concordia Publishing House. Digitized is very helpful because Dr. Bull examines how our tech culture has changed our lives. Chapter two is titled, “‘Cat’s in the Cradle’ Goes Digital.” That refers to a 1974 song by Harry Chapin. The song is about a father whose son is born while he’s away on business. As the boy grows up, he wants to be like his dad. Through the song, the son repeatedly asks to spend time with his father, but his father always answers by saying he doesn’t have time now but later “we’ll have a good time.” At the end of the song, there’s a sad turn. The dad has become old and wants to spend time with his son, but now the son is too busy. Sure enough, he grew up to be just like his dad. My father-in-law used to say, “They don’t learn it from strangers.”
Dr. Bull gives the moral of “Cat’s in the Cradle”: “This song remains a warning to parents around the world to enjoy time with their children and to recognize that they are the model for their children. Yet modern life often values that which happens outside of the home more than what happens inside the home. Modern society and its technological innovations create so many ways to accommodate longer work days and to focus on getting ahead in our careers that we fail to enjoy the God-given gift of family and neglect to take the time to enjoy one another.”
Whether it’s Andy and Opie going fishing, or you working together around the house, showing up at your kids’ events, or eating meals together, and eating together without TV on or your phones in your hand, however you do it, sharing time and stories shows your love.
Jesus told stories. When Jesus began His ministry, He announced, “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15). What is the “kingdom of God”? Professor James Voelz of Concordia Seminary says it is the “reign and rule of God.” That works. The kingdom of God is how God reigns and rules in our hearts. Most of all, the reign and rule of God is about His love for us all. Jesus often taught about the kingdom of God, about God’s reign and rule. Sometimes He did it by commenting on current events like the accident when the tower at Siloam collapsed and people were killed, Luke 13. Or when He and the disciples were admiring the architecture of the temple, Jesus made a teachable moment and spoke about the end of the world, Mark 13. Other times, Jesus preached; He laid out the truths of God in straight-forward teaching, as He did in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7. But very often Jesus told stories; they’re called “parables.” Some of the parables were made-up stories like the story of the Good Samaritan who took care of a man beaten by robbers, Luke 10. Jesus’ stories always had some contact with real life, with the day-to-day life the people knew. This was the way Jesus taught the disciples about God’s love, about His gracious rule and reign in our lives. And still today, Jesus’ parables have contact with the day-to-day life you and I live.
For example, let’s consider the well-known “Parable of the Sower.” It’s about a man who sowed seed by hand. If Jesus were telling the story today, He would probably talk about a farmer pulling a planter behind his tractor to plant hundreds of acres. As I read the story to you, listen how lavish, or you might think how careless, the farmer is with the precious seed.
“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Sounds careless, doesn’t it? Sowing seed on the road and on an outcrop of rocks? My friend Louie is a farmer. He tells me that when a farmer is ready to plant, he programs into the computer exactly where he wants the seeds planted. For example, he programs in 24 rows with 30 inches between the rows. The computer and the GPS make sure that no seed is wasted. But Jesus was not telling this story about a careless farmer, but rather about the lavishness of God sowing His saving Word. God doesn’t look at whether someone will receive the Word or not. St. Paul says, “God our Savior … wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). So the sower scattering seed on all kinds of ground isn’t careless; it’s the lavish love of God to get His saving Word into every kind of heart.
However, the disciples didn’t understand the Parable of the Sower. Because the crowd that heard the story had true followers of Jesus and also critics, people out to get Him, Jesus spoke cryptically. When the disciples were alone with Jesus, they asked Him to explain. That’s important. As a teacher, I often slip into stories of experiences in my life. I do that because the story makes a point about the lesson we are covering in class. When I launch into a story, the students stop taking notes and lean back. They think it is entertainment time. No, this story makes a point you need to learn. So when Jesus’ critics had left, the disciples asked what the parable meant. In His explanation, Jesus teaches us that people receive the Word of God in different ways. Listen.
“The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
People receive the Word of God in different ways. The critics don’t give it a second chance. The devil is there to keep the Word from their hard hearts. Other people receive the Word enthusiastically but don’t grow in it, don’t stick with Jesus when discrimination or persecution comes for following Jesus. Still others are preoccupied with the things of this world. These people are like Harry Chapin’s song about the dad so caught up in making a career that he didn’t give time to his son. In this context I would say to the godly raising of his son. But the good soil, ah, that’s what you and I want to be! To be sinners who receive the forgiving and hope-giving Word of Christ! To continue to grow in reverence for the loving rule and reign of God! To be followers of Jesus who produce godly fruit in our lives. May we be good soil in whom the love of God’s kingdom grows!
But how does this happen, this growth in the reign and rule of God in us? Jesus has a story about just that. This also comes from Mark 4. The setting is that the crowd that listened to the Parable of the Sower has dispersed. The hard-hearted critics are gone. Now Jesus tells His followers that His ministry of the Word is not spectacular, not something that amazes the world, but the kingdom does grow because God’s Word works. Listen.
“He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.’”
It is Jesus who scatters the seed on good ground. You, I, and others hear His preaching and teaching. We take it to heart. Like a seed, His Word grows slowly but surely in us. Dr. Voelz says this story is intended to comfort us. He writes this in his commentary on Mark: “The ministry of Jesus, especially in his preaching and teaching, brings … the reign and rule of God in a way that is simple and mysterious, and … leads finally and inevitably to success at the proper time. The narrative is to comfort, to assure those with eyes to see and ears to hear that, despite meager appearances—especially initial appearances of unproductiveness—the fullness of God’s reign and rule will be achieved.”
That is comforting in these days when many people are full of gloom and doom about the decline of the institutional church. God’s lavish sowing of love from His Word makes all the difference in our lives and in the church. The prophet Isaiah put it this way. “As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).
Tell me a story! I have one more for today’s message, and this is another story from Jesus about seeds. “Again He said, ‘What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade’” (Mark 4:30-32).
The mustard seed, traditionally thought of as the smallest seed, grows into a large garden plant. Don’t discount what the Word of Jesus is doing in your life and in the church! Says Dr. Voelz: “The reign and rule of God in Jesus is not in and of itself magnificent, at least not by normal worldly standards. Its results, however, are magnificent (great branches result), and all peoples everywhere (the birds in the parable) benefit greatly. One cannot help but see the worldwide spread of the Christian faith as a fulfillment of this depiction.”
Tell me a story! Let’s wrap up today’s message by going back to fathers. Taking time to be with your children, to tell them your stories, and to hear their stories is an important way to show you love them. Andy and Opie went fishing to be with each other and to share stories. But the father in “Cats in the Cradle” was too busy to spend time with his son. So, as they say, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” When the son grew up, he didn’t have time for his aged father. Jesus is our Savior from sin and our model for daily life. By spending time with His disciples and telling them stories, Jesus prepared the disciples for what was going to come in their lives.
Mark says, “With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when He was alone with His own disciples, He explained everything” (Mark 4:33-34). Tell me a story! And make sure to share the point of your story. That is one of the most effective ways we can share the wonderful Word of Jesus with the next generation.
Ted and Chelsea Doering have written Myth of the Millennial, a book about “connecting generations in the church.” As Jesus told stories to prepare His disciples for the future, doesn’t our Heavenly Father’s love given to us in Jesus motivate us to tell the next generation how Jesus’ Word has worked in the stories of our lives? Here’s what Ted and Chelsea say: “When the Word of God goes out, it does not come back empty. You are not alone nor must you have the exactly right answer every time. God is going to do His work! There is a generation in need of the goodness of the Gospel. They are scraping to find meaning in life. Friendships, jobs, and a long line of relationships have let them down. But the Gospel will not. This is the importance of what you have to share.”
Tell me a story! Amen.
Reflections for August 30, 2026
Title: Parables of Growth, Grace, and JudgmentMark Eischer: you’re listening to The Lutheran Hour. For FREE online resources, archived audio, our mobile app, and more, go to lutheranhour.org. Joining us now, here’s Lutheran Hour Speaker, Dr. Michael Zeigler.
Mike Zeigler: Thanks, Mark. Visiting again with my good friend and teacher and mentor, Dr. David Schmitt. Thanks for talking about parables with us.
David Schmitt: Thank you for inviting me.
Mike Zeigler: I want to talk to you today about how Jesus’ parables change as He gets closer to the goal of His mission: the cross and resurrection.
David Schmitt: Scholars have sometimes grouped them into categories, and it’s kind of beginning, middle, and end. In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, you have parables of growth, parables of creation, parables showing this generosity of God. But then in the middle of Jesus’ ministry, now you start to get parables of grace, parables that have, you know, the lost son that’s received back home, the lost sheep that’s brought back home. You’ve got these parables of forgiveness and grace, which is the central message and work of God in Jesus Christ is going to be to bring about this grace. And so this is when Jesus is beginning to reveal His mission to His disciples, and you’ve got those parables of grace. And then toward the end of His ministry, parables of judgment. I think they’re parables that Jesus brings the judgment to bear upon the hearer because He wants them to change. He wants to turn their hearts. This is the last chance before they kill Him for them to hear.
Mike Zeigler: Let’s reflect then on now what we’ve learned about parables over these last five weeks we’ve been talking about them. So we started with this definition of a parable, that it’s drawn from everyday life. There’s some setup. There’s a shocking or startling event and then some teaching about God’s ways and our response. But then also looking at how the parables align to Jesus’ own ministry of spreading the word about the Kingdom, but recognizing that it’s going to lead Him to a cross and judgment of God on Him that He takes so that He can be that shoot that rises from the stump and start new. So how does this help us understand and receive the parables?
David Schmitt: On the one hand, I think it helps us really treasure the clarity of the Gospel that happened after the resurrection as Jesus opens everyone’s minds to understand the Scriptures so that there’s greater clarity in the time of parables. In a sense, the time of parables is over. We speak the clear, beautiful Gospel of Jesus Christ to people. There’s no need to be speaking of it in parables anymore. Then in the ministry of Jesus, it helps us see His desire to reach out to people using what they understand in a way that awakens them to something more that’s going on in His ministry that will be of saving value for them.
Mike Zeigler: So in some sense, like you said, there’s not a need for parables anymore. The Gospel is very clear. God so loved the world. He gave His Son that whoever trusts in Him, believes in Him, would not perish, but have eternal life. And yet, especially Matthew, Mark, and Luke, when they wrote down their accounts, they saw fit to include—by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration—to include all these parables. So now we can go back to them and they’re not establishing the truth of the Gospel, but they’re supporting it and drawing us deeper into it.
David Schmitt: Yeah. You know, as we read them, we think about common life and how God works in common life sometimes in surprising ways that lead us deeper into an understanding of His will for this world and for our lives.
Mike Zeigler: You’ve been teaching God’s people and preparing pastors for a long time.
David Schmitt: A long time.
Mike Zeigler: How does Jesus’ way of teaching, how does that influence you the way you try to bring the mystery of the kingdom of God to bear in your students?
David Schmitt:Well, I kind of like Dale’s reference to that smaller parable about sowing. The farmer sows the seed and it grows, he knows not how. That exactly how I teach. I just throw the seed out there and I don’t understand how it grows. It’s beautiful to see it, though. You see it growing in students in different ways. So the same teaching will be heard in different ways and you get to stand there and tend that growth and then send the students out and then you hear from them, you see them at a pastoral conference, and it’s beautiful to see the way in which God works at replenishing His kingdom. You are a good example.
Mike Zeigler: I am one of your students. And I rejoice in the work of God that He’s done through you and how that’s now multiplied. How it happens, we know not how.
David Schmitt: We know not how.
Mike Zeigler: But it happens.
David Schmitt: But we’re thankful that it does ‘cause God’s in control of it and that’s the beauty.
Mike Zeigler: Amen.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“Crucifer” by Sydney H. Nicholson, arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.