Reel Luke

Jesus Teaches About Seeds

Luke 8:4-15

Helpful Stuff to Know

Jesus often taught using parables — simple stories that were easy to understand but not always easy to believe because they challenged the status quo or unsettled the comfort zone. His parables always featured common images and familiar settings, in this case a farmer planting seed.

Be Sure Not to Miss

Two thousand years after Jesus taught this parable, we still understand it today — his images are timeless and his Truth never changes.

Jesus didn’t talk just about seeds that grew and seeds that didn’t grow. He described four different scenarios (or four different ways people hear and receive God’s Word) which meant everyone listening would be able to find themselves in the story.

All the seed was the same. But the ground where the seed fell was different.

Reel Questions

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Reel Setting (place)

Where did this story happen? (Describe the setting — in a house, on a road, by a lake, in a city, etc.)
What do you think that place looked like? smelled like? sounded like?
Do you think it matters that this story happened in that specific place? Why?
What about the place in this story feels familiar? What feels strange?

Reel People (characters)

Make a list of all the people in this story and give a one-word description of each (include “crowd” if there is one). Why did you choose that word?
What does Jesus say and do in this story? List all the things. Does anything surprise you? Why?
Which person (besides Jesus) is most interesting to you? Why?
What details about the characters do you wish were included or explained in the story? Why?
Why do you think [choose a specific character or the crowd] spoke or acted the way they did?
What are some different things that [the person from previous question] could have said or done? How would that have changed the story?
What do you think the onlookers were thinking and feeling as things were happening in this story? Why?
How do you think the main characters might have changed after this story? Why? (Sometimes it tells us, like with Zacchaeus, but other times it doesn’t.)
How do you think the crowd or onlookers might have changed after this story? Why?
If you’d been there, where would you have been standing or sitting? What would you have been thinking or feeling? Why?

Reel Events (plot)

List all the events in the story.
List some details that aren't included but are assumed in the story.
What do you think are the two or three most important moments in this story? Why?
If this story were a film, when would the music be scary or tense? When would it be joyful or upbeat? Why?
What do you think maybe happened right before this story? What do you think maybe happened right after this story?
Does the biblical story before or after this one matter to this story? How? Why do you think that?
What are some different ways things could have happened or ended in this story?
If this story were happening today in your school or town, what are ways Jesus might have acted or explained things for your context?
What would you call this story if it were a full-length book or movie? Why?

Real Faith

What’s a way people could misunderstand or misuse this story?
Why do you think this story is in the Bible? Why would God want us to read and learn from it?
What are you learning about Jesus (or his Father or the Spirit) from this story?
What are you learning about following Jesus (living for Jesus and living like Jesus) from this story?
After reading this story, what are some questions you have about Jesus and following him?

Story-Specific Questions

Why do you think Jesus used the image of a farmer planting seed to teach the crowd?

What do you think Jesus meant when he said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand”?

What are ways people can keep God’s Word in their hearts (8:12)? grow deep roots of faith (8:13)? love Jesus more than the world (8:14)?

Which of the people (different soils) in this parable are true followers of Jesus and are really saved? Why?