<P> Some scholars think the parable was originally optimistic in outlook, in that despite failures eventually the "seed" will be successful, take root and produce a large "crop". Mark uses it to highlight the effect Christ's previous teachings have had on people as well as the effect the Christian message has had on the world over the three decades between Christ's ministry and the writing of the Gospel . </P> <P> Jesus says he is teaching in parables because he does not want everyone to understand him, only those who are his followers . Those outside the group are not meant to understand them . Thus one must already be committed to following Jesus to fully understand his message and that without that commitment one will never fully understand him or be helped by his message . If one does not correctly understand the parables, this is a sign that one is not a true disciple of Jesus . He quotes Isaiah 6: 9 - 10, who also preached to Israel knowing that his message would go unheeded and not understood so that the Israelites' sins would not be forgiven and they would be punished by God for them . This parable seems to be essential for understanding all the rest of Jesus' parables, as it makes clear that what is necessary to understand Jesus is a prior faith in him, and that Jesus will not enlighten those who refuse to believe, he will only confuse them . </P> <P> According to Genesis 26: 12 - 13, the Hebrew patriarch Isaac sowed seed and "reaped a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him . (He) began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous". Anglican bishop Charles Ellicott thought "the hundredfold return was, perhaps, a somewhat uncommon increase, but the narrative of Isaac's tillage in Genesis 26: 12 shows that it was not unheard of, and had probably helped to make it the standard of a more than usually prosperous harvest" but Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer argued that "such points of detail...should not be pressed, serving as they do merely to enliven and fill out the picture". </P>

What is the meaning of the parable of the sower and the seeds