Commentary - Mark 4

Bird's-eye view

In Mark chapter 4, the Lord Jesus Christ shifts His public teaching method to parables, a form of instruction designed to both reveal and conceal. He is not being obtuse for the sake of being obtuse; rather, He is ministering in a way that gives more to those who have, and takes away from those who have not. The central theme is the nature of the kingdom of God. How does it arrive? How does it grow? What kind of reception will it have? Jesus addresses these questions through a series of agricultural parables, beginning with the foundational parable of the Sower, which serves as the interpretive key for all the others. The kingdom does not arrive with the kind of immediate political overthrow many were expecting. Instead, it grows organically, mysteriously, and inexorably, like a seed. Its growth is not uniform because the reception of the gospel, the seed, varies depending on the condition of the human heart, the soil. The chapter concludes with a powerful demonstration of Christ's authority, not in a parable, but in a real life storm. He who preaches the kingdom is the King Himself, with absolute authority over the created order, which ought to instill a holy fear and a robust faith in His disciples.

This entire chapter is a lesson in kingdom dynamics. It is a kingdom that starts small but becomes immense. It is a kingdom that operates on spiritual principles, not worldly ones. It is a kingdom that faces opposition from Satan, from worldly pressures, and from shallow commitments. And it is a kingdom ruled by a King who can speak peace into the most chaotic storms, whether they are meteorological or spiritual.

Outline

Context In Mark

Mark 4 comes after a series of confrontations between Jesus and the religious leaders. Their hearts have been revealed as hard soil, resistant to the seed of His word. In chapter 3, they accused Him of being in league with Satan. This charge of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was a point of no return for them. In response, Jesus redefines His family as those who do the will of God. Now, in chapter 4, He turns to the crowds and His disciples, adopting a new mode of teaching. The parables function as a judicial sentence upon the hard-hearted leaders. The truth is now veiled from those who have rejected the plain speaking that came before. For the disciples, however, those who have "ears to hear," Jesus provides private explanations, drawing them deeper into the mysteries of the kingdom.

This chapter is therefore a pivotal moment. It explains why the gospel produces such varied results. It's not the fault of the sower or the seed, but of the soil. This prepares the disciples for the reality of their future ministry, where they too will sow the word and see it fall on different kinds of hearts.

Key Issues

The Parable of the Sower

4:1-2 And He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching,

The setting itself is instructive. Jesus is pushed back by the sheer mass of humanity, so He commandeers a boat for a pulpit. He is seated, the traditional posture of a rabbi who is about to deliver authoritative teaching. The crowd is on the land, looking out to Him. This physical separation mirrors the spiritual separation that the parables will create. He is accessible to all, yet His teaching will sift the crowd. He teaches in parables, which are earthly stories with heavenly meanings. They are not simple moral fables. They are instruments of divine judgment and revelation. To the humble, they are windows. To the proud, they are walls.

4:3-4 “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; and it happened that as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.

Jesus begins with a command: "Listen!" This is the fundamental requirement for receiving anything from God. The parable is about hearing. The sower is broadcasting seed liberally, almost wastefully from a modern agricultural perspective. This represents the indiscriminate preaching of the gospel. The first soil is the hard-packed path. This is the heart that is beaten down by the traffic of the world. The gospel never penetrates. It lies on the surface, exposed, and Satan, represented by the birds, comes immediately and snatches it away. There is no reflection, no consideration. The message is heard, but not received.

4:5-6 And other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

The second soil is shallow. There's a thin layer of dirt over a shelf of rock. This represents the emotional or superficial hearer. There is an immediate, joyful reception. This person is enthusiastic. The plant springs up quickly because the roots can't go down, so all the energy goes up. But when the sun comes out, which Jesus later explains is tribulation or persecution, the plant is scorched. There is no root system to draw up moisture, no depth of character or conviction. This is the religion of pure feeling, and it cannot withstand hardship. When following Jesus costs something, this person is gone.

4:7 And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

The third soil is crowded. The seed falls on good ground, but it's not the only thing growing there. Thorns, which represent the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things, are already present. The gospel seed sprouts and begins to grow, but it is in competition. The thorns grow faster and stronger, choking the life out of the good plant. This is the distracted heart. This person wants Jesus, but they also want everything else the world offers. Their spiritual life is suffocated by anxiety, materialism, and worldly ambition. The result is a fruitless life.

4:8-9 And other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they were yielding a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Finally, there is the good soil. This is the heart that has been prepared by God. It hears the word, accepts it, and bears fruit. The result is a supernatural harvest. The yield is not uniform, thirty, sixty, a hundredfold, but it is always fruitful. True conversion always results in a changed life, in spiritual fruit. Jesus concludes as He began, with an exhortation to hear. This is not just about auditory function. It is a call for spiritual perception, for a heart that is willing to receive and obey the truth.

The Purpose of Parables

4:10-12 And when He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, everything comes in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, LEST THEY RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.”

This is a hard saying, and it is meant to be. The disciples, the true followers, come to Jesus privately for clarification. This is the posture of the good soil. Jesus explains that they have been given the "mystery" of the kingdom. A mystery in the New Testament is not a puzzle to be solved, but a truth previously hidden and now revealed by God. For those "outside," the willfully blind and obstinate, the parables serve a judicial function. Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6, a passage where Isaiah is commissioned to preach to a people whose hearts are already hardened. The preaching itself will confirm their hardness. The parables do the same thing. They are not designed to prevent sincere seekers from understanding. They are designed to confirm the spiritual blindness of those who have already rejected the light. If they were to "return and be forgiven," it would be a superficial, foxhole repentance, not a genuine change of heart. God is not being unfair; He is giving them over to the blindness they have chosen.

The Parable Explained

4:13-20 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown: when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. And in a similar way, these are the ones being sown on the rocky places: those who, when hearing the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are those being sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for anything else enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And those are the ones which were sown on the good soil: they who hear the word and accept it and are bearing fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

Jesus expresses some surprise that they don't grasp this foundational parable. If they miss this one, they will miss them all. He then gives them the answer key. The sower is anyone who preaches the gospel, beginning with Christ Himself. The seed is the Word of God, the message of the kingdom. The soils are four different types of human hearts. It is crucial to see that three out of the four soils are unproductive. This should prepare us for the reality of gospel ministry. We should not be discouraged when many do not respond savingly. Notice the immediacy of the opposition. Satan comes "immediately." Persecution causes the rocky soil to fall away "immediately." The Christian life is a battle from the very start. The explanation is straightforward, a direct correlation between the elements of the story and their spiritual meaning. The good soil is marked by three actions: they hear, they accept, and they bear fruit. This is the pattern of true salvation.

Further Kingdom Parables

4:21-25 And He was saying to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be put on the lampstand? For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And He was saying to them, “Beware what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

These sayings expand on the theme of revelation and responsibility. The truth of the kingdom, which Jesus is revealing to His disciples, is not meant to remain a secret society's password. It is a lamp meant to give light to the whole house. The initial secrecy is temporary, for the purpose of training the disciples who will then proclaim this message from the housetops. Truth is meant to be known. But with this revelation comes responsibility. "Beware what you listen to." How you hear the word determines what you get out of it. If you measure it out with a thimble, you will get a thimble's worth back. If you come with a bucket, you will receive a bucketful, and more. This is the principle of spiritual returns. Those who are faithful with the truth they have will be given more. Those who are unfaithful will lose even the little understanding they thought they had. This explains the growing chasm between the disciples and the Pharisees.

4:26-29 And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

This parable emphasizes the mysterious, sovereign power of the Word. The sower's job is to sow. After that, the growth is out of his hands. He goes about his ordinary life, sleeping and rising, and the seed does its work. He doesn't understand the mechanics of it, the hidden biospiritual process. The growth is certain and follows a set pattern: blade, head, full grain. This is an encouragement to the preacher and the evangelist. Our job is to be faithful in sowing the seed. The results belong to God. We cannot make anyone grow. But we can trust that the seed of the Word has life in it, and when it falls on good soil, God will bring it to harvest.

4:30-34 And He was saying, “How shall we compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes largest of all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE.” And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it; and He was not speaking to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

The parable of the mustard seed tackles the problem of insignificant beginnings. The kingdom of God started with a handful of disciples from Galilee. To the world, it looked like nothing. But this tiny seed, Jesus says, will grow into the largest of garden plants, a tree-like shrub. This is a picture of the extensive growth and influence of the church in history. It will grow to such a size that it provides shelter and a place of lodging, even for the "birds of the air," which in the first parable represented the evil one. This is not a picture of a corrupted church, but rather a church so large and influential that it provides a civilizational structure where both believers and unbelievers can dwell. Mark summarizes by telling us this was Jesus' standard method: parables for the crowd, explanations for the disciples. He tailored His teaching to their capacity to hear.

The King Calms the Storm

4:35-38 And on that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling up. And Jesus Himself was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion; and they got Him up and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

The scene shifts from teaching to a real-life test. Jesus gives a command, "Let us go over to the other side." This is a promise. He did not say, "Let us go sink in the middle." They take Him "just as He was," likely exhausted from a long day of ministry. A violent, sudden storm descends, a common occurrence on the Sea of Galilee. These experienced fishermen are terrified. The boat is swamping. And where is Jesus? Asleep in the stern. His sleep is not the sleep of ignorance or indifference; it is the sleep of sovereign trust. The disciples' question is raw and accusatory: "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" This is the cry of faithless fear. They question His character, His love for them.

4:39-41 And He woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you so cowardly? Do you still have no faith?” And they became very afraid and were saying to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus arises and deals with the problem. He rebukes the wind and the sea as one would rebuke a demon or a fever. He speaks with absolute authority, and the result is immediate and total. "A great calm." Then He turns and rebukes His disciples. His questions cut to the heart of the matter. "Why are you so cowardly? Do you still have no faith?" Their problem was not the storm, but their unbelief. They had the Creator of the wind and waves in the boat with them, and they were afraid of His creatures. The disciples' fear of the storm is now replaced by a greater fear. They are terrified, but this is a different kind of fear. It is the fear of awe, of being in the presence of raw, divine power. Their theological categories are being shattered. They ask the ultimate question: "Who then is this?" This is the question Mark's gospel is written to answer. He is the Son of God, the King of the kingdom, whose authority extends over all creation.