Back in 1896, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto noted that in Italy during his day about 80% of Italian land was owned by about 20% of Italy’s population. This got people thinking about the ratio of 80:20. Normally when you hear about the “Pareto Principle,” it is specifically that about 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. My friend Dan who is the director at Hillel has another great way of saying this, a quote from his mother that states, “if you want something done, ask a busy person.” 
And while we may initially scoff at the simplicity of the Pareto Principle or Dan’s mother’s quote – you have to admit, there’s something to it. Jesus even seems to agree. The parable of the sower in some ways is a parable of the Pareto Principle. We don’t know the percentages that fell on the path, or the rocky soil, or in the thorns — but we can almost imagine that probably about 20% ended up in the good soil. Yet that good soil yielded an increase of 30 to 100 times what was sown in it.
So the question that seems to follow most of the time is “what do I do about the 20%?” The notion is that if we can isolate the 20%, then we can only work with them and therefore be more efficient or productive or whatever. By extension, we may also wonder how we can jettison the 80%.
But Jesus doesn’t seem too concerned with the “what now?” question. He doesn’t scold or malign the farmer character for poor seed placement. He doesn’t even give us the next step of how many bushels of grain are replanted into the next iteration of the agricultural cycle. This may be because Jesus is talking about people’s reception of the Gospel. His sermons are the “seed casting” and He knows that He will be casting seed over and over again – and perhaps 20% will again produce 30-100 times. He’s not concerned with efficiency, He’s concerned with possibility.
And that’s the case for us. God continues to throw His Gospel – the Good News of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection – at us because He is concerned with what it might look like if we find ourselves in the 20%.