010. Jesus Likens Hearers to Four Kinds of Soil

Voice

Hear what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
A sower goes to plant grain.

Planter

Why lug this heavy seed any farther?
I will sow them here by the road.
Pretend to scatter seeds.)
Now, what do you think happens to these seeds?

Prompter & Echoes

Tweet! Tweet!
Pretend to flap your wings, pick up seeds and eat them.)

Voice

Birds snatch up the seed! Some hear God’s Word
but fail to grasp it;
the evil one snatches it away before it takes root in their hearts.

.Planter

Thieving birds! I’ll sow the seed among these rocks,
where the birds `won’t see it. (Pretend to scatter seed.)

Voice

The seed springs up at once, as it has no depth of soil.

Planter

Hey! Something’s wrong!

Prompter & Echoes

Drying up!
(Stretch arms out like branches of a plant and look up.
Then wither, dropping slowly to the ground).

Planter

The sun dries the plants in the rocky soil; they lack root and wither.

Voice

The rocky soil is those who hear God’s Word
and receive it with joy,
but they have no firm root in themselves.
When trouble or persecution comes because of God’s Word,
they fall away. He who has ears, let him hear.

Planter

I’ll sow the seed here in the shade of these plants.
They have thorns, but they’ll shield the hot sun.
(Pretend to scatter seed.) What’s happening?

Voice

The thorn bushes choke the new plants out.

Prompter & Echoes

Strangled! (Grip your throat and fall.)

Voice

The thorny soil is like those who hear God’s Word,
but worries of the world and the treachery of riches choke it.
The seed yields no fruit.

Planter

I’ve been lazy. I’ll sow the seed far from the road and those birds,
where it’s neither rocky nor weedy. (Pretend to sow).
See how the seed grows!

Prompter & Echoes

(Stand straight and lift your hands toward heaven)
A huge harvest!

Voice

The good soil is like one who hears God’s Word, grasps it and bears fruit, thirty, sixty or a hundredfold. He who has ears, let him hear.