Jesus and the Scattering of the Seeds

How effective was Jesus when it came to preaching and saving people? He tells a parable that reveals part of how he measured his effectiveness. If here playing baseball, he would have a .250 average - which, for the record, isn't that impressive. Here's the parable he gives -

While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable:
"A farmer went out to sow his seed.
As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.
Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.
Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown."

When he said this, he called out, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."
His disciples asked him what this parable meant.
He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you,
but to others I speak in parables, so that,
" 'though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.'

"This is the meaning of the parable:
The seed is the word of God.
Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

Luke 8v4-15

According to some scholars who are working hard to better understand the culture and context of Jesus' teachings and actions, it seems more and more that Jesus was preaching and saving people with 70AD in mind. Not so much the exact date as much as the judgment that would come to pass in that era. Jesus had come to announce God's plan to restore all in Israel who would hear and respond; to those who listened and acted accordingly, the would be spared judgment. But for those that rejected Jesus and his announcements, they would be the ones who precipitate the coming judgment when Rome would destroy Jerusalem. It's this crisis that Jesus has come to prevent. And it is worth mulling over this parable with this judgment in mind.

The parable is about four general responses people have to the announcement of God's Word - its still observable today. Jesus would have everybody hear and produce a fruitful crop; Jesus would have everybody be saved...but not everybody will listen and follow. The key to averting the coming judgment is to retain the Word of God in your heart and abide by it. To not retain it results in the kind of life where a Rome is destroying a Jerusalem, where self-destruction and deep sorrow come to pass in this life...and the next.

How effective is Jesus? For those who hear and retain His Words, he is very, very, very successful. For all the others who don't retain his words...he still dies for them, he still forgives them, he is willing to sow again...and again...and again.