Mar 4:1-20 | KingComments | STEP | In the previous chapter, the testimony of the Holy Spirit was rejected, as was the Son of Man personally. As a result, the Lord no longer acknowledges the old relationships. Instead, He forms new relationships ( ). Subsequently, a description of His ministry follows in this chapter. 1. In the form of parables the course and results of His service are shown ( ). 2. We also see that the responsibility of the disciples in view of their participation in this work is discussed ( ). 3. We also see the rest of those who, as they work, trust in God ( ). 4. Finally, at the end of this chapter, we see the circumstances of the disciples during their ministry ( ). The storm in which they find themselves points to the storms that will come to test their faith, while the Lord seems to pay no attention to them. This chapter shows again how the Lord continues His ordinary work of teaching. Many are attracted thereby. Because He is by the sea and there is a danger that the crowd will drive Him into it, He gets into a bout in the sea. As He sits down there, He speaks to the crowd standing on the land. By sitting down in a ship, He separates Himself from the people who, as we have seen in the previous section, have rejected Him in their religious leaders, where they attribute His work to the devil ( ). He starts again with His ordinary work, teaching, but He gives this teaching in a different form. In connection with the development that has just taken place in His relationship with the Jews, He will make use of parables. He explains the reason for this in . With the call “listen!” ( ) He urges the whole crowd to listen carefully to what He is going to say. Although He speaks to the crowd, it is the condition of each individual person that matters. Each individual person is a kind of ground into which the seed falls. He presents to them a sower who goes out to sow. That sower is He Himself. He goes out, He has gone out from the Father ( ). That He now presents Himself as the Sower means that it is no longer a matter of seeking fruit in His vineyard Israel – and He had come for that purpose – but that, by sowing, He is now going to produce that fruit it Himself. The seed that is sown falls on different types of soil. The first kind is beside the road, the hardened road. The seed that ends up there becomes a prey of birds, because the soil is so hard that it cannot take root. The second kind where part of the seed ends up, is rocky soil. There is a little bit of ground there, which makes it look as if this seed does produce something. But because of the rocky soil, the seed hasn’t been able to get deep roots. So when the sun rises, it scorches. Another part ends up between the thorns. There is soil and it can take root, but it can’t grow because of the thorns that choke it, so there won’t be any fruit from this seed either. The fourth type of soil is the good soil. The seeds that fall in it grow, increase, and yield fruit. The fruit is represented in different measures. There is seed that bears thirtyfold fruit, there is seed that bears sixtyfold fruit, and there is seed that bears a hundredfold fruit. In Matthew 13 the order is the other way around ( ). There it is about the history of the kingdom of heaven as it has been entrusted to the responsibility of man. Everything that is entrusted to man’s responsibility begins well, but then decay makes its entrance and a process of weakening begins. Thus the church starts well on the day of Pentecost and the first days thereafter, but more and more worldly influences cause that first strength and freshness to gradually diminish. Here in the Gospel according to Mark it is about the work of the perfect Servant. Then the result increases further and further to the perfect measure. What the Lord says to the multitude at the beginning, “listens”, or “hear”, He says at the end of the parable to the few who are eager for Divine instruction. We must first listen, or hear, in order to bring forth fruit.

‏ Mark 4:1-20

Introduction

In the previous chapter, the testimony of the Holy Spirit was rejected, as was the Son of Man personally. As a result, the Lord no longer acknowledges the old relationships. Instead, He forms new relationships (Mk 3:35). Subsequently, a description of His ministry follows in this chapter.

1. In the form of parables the course and results of His service are shown (Mk 4:1-20).

2. We also see that the responsibility of the disciples in view of their participation in this work is discussed (Mk 4:21-25).

3. We also see the rest of those who, as they work, trust in God (Mk 4:26-29).

4. Finally, at the end of this chapter, we see the circumstances of the disciples during their ministry (Mk 4:35-41). The storm in which they find themselves points to the storms that will come to test their faith, while the Lord seems to pay no attention to them.

Parable of the Sower

This chapter shows again how the Lord continues His ordinary work of teaching. Many are attracted thereby. Because He is by the sea and there is a danger that the crowd will drive Him into it, He gets into a bout in the sea. As He sits down there, He speaks to the crowd standing on the land. By sitting down in a ship, He separates Himself from the people who, as we have seen in the previous section, have rejected Him in their religious leaders, where they attribute His work to the devil (Mk 3:22).

He starts again with His ordinary work, teaching, but He gives this teaching in a different form. In connection with the development that has just taken place in His relationship with the Jews, He will make use of parables. He explains the reason for this in Mk 4:10-12.

With the call “listen!” (Mk 4:3) He urges the whole crowd to listen carefully to what He is going to say. Although He speaks to the crowd, it is the condition of each individual person that matters. Each individual person is a kind of ground into which the seed falls. He presents to them a sower who goes out to sow. That sower is He Himself. He goes out, He has gone out from the Father (Jn 13:3). That He now presents Himself as the Sower means that it is no longer a matter of seeking fruit in His vineyard Israel – and He had come for that purpose – but that, by sowing, He is now going to produce that fruit it Himself.

The seed that is sown falls on different types of soil. The first kind is beside the road, the hardened road. The seed that ends up there becomes a prey of birds, because the soil is so hard that it cannot take root. The second kind where part of the seed ends up, is rocky soil. There is a little bit of ground there, which makes it look as if this seed does produce something. But because of the rocky soil, the seed hasn’t been able to get deep roots. So when the sun rises, it scorches. Another part ends up between the thorns. There is soil and it can take root, but it can’t grow because of the thorns that choke it, so there won’t be any fruit from this seed either.

The fourth type of soil is the good soil. The seeds that fall in it grow, increase, and yield fruit. The fruit is represented in different measures. There is seed that bears thirtyfold fruit, there is seed that bears sixtyfold fruit, and there is seed that bears a hundredfold fruit.

In Matthew 13 the order is the other way around (Mt 13:23). There it is about the history of the kingdom of heaven as it has been entrusted to the responsibility of man. Everything that is entrusted to man’s responsibility begins well, but then decay makes its entrance and a process of weakening begins. Thus the church starts well on the day of Pentecost and the first days thereafter, but more and more worldly influences cause that first strength and freshness to gradually diminish.

Here in the Gospel according to Mark it is about the work of the perfect Servant. Then the result increases further and further to the perfect measure.

What the Lord says to the multitude at the beginning, “listens”, or “hear”, He says at the end of the parable to the few who are eager for Divine instruction. We must first listen, or hear, in order to bring forth fruit.

Why Parables?

Those who are genuinely interested in the things of God ask the Lord about the meaning of the parables. In His answer He underlines the distinction between the unbelieving Jews and His disciples. The latter represent the faithful remnant. Parables manifest who truly belong to Him and who do not. Those who belong to Him are taught by Him about the mystery of the kingdom of God. To them He tells that the kingdom of God is not initially established in outward glory, but in a hidden way.

This hidden form of the kingdom is the result of His people rejecting Him. His rejection by the people means postponement of the kingdom in power and majesty on earth. Instead, it is established in the hearts of those who acknowledge Him as their personal Lord (Rom 14:17).

The mystery of the kingdom of God means that Christ tells His servants to consider what they will encounter in their service in that kingdom. The area is vast, but we must count on the fruit being small, and work constantly to bring forth a hundredfold fruit. Ecumenism – and we see this also in fast-growing evangelical denominations – is focused on large fruit which is, however, only a number. Those who are focused on large numbers are blind to the true character of the service.

To those who are ‘outside’ the parables mean judgment. They do not want to bow down to Him because He does not meet their expectations as Messiah. They acknowledge only as Messiah one who delivers them from the yoke of the Romans, ignoring that this yoke of foreign domination is the result of their forsaking of God (cf. Neh 9:35-36).

The parables prevent them from repenting and receiving forgiveness. Indeed, the repentance they would show if He did not speak in parables would not be real repentance. And the forgiveness they would think they have would be an imaginary forgiveness.

Explaining the Parable of the Sower

The Lord makes it clear that if they understand the parable of the sower, they will understand all parables. For this parable lays the foundation for all other parables.

He does not say that He Himself is the sower, but emphasizes what the sower does. This fits the character of this Gospel in which He is presented as the true Servant. A servant is about what he does, not who he is. The work of the Servant is to sow the Word, these are the words of God. Only the Word gives fruit. Fruit is not obtained through civilization, education, upbringing, or examples, however useful these things may be. The sower sows only the Word and nothing else. The effect of the sown Word does not lie in the Word, but in the condition of the soil. The soil in which the seed falls represents the spiritual state of the human being who hears the Word.

Mark speaks of the seed as “the Word”. Matthew speaks of the seed as “the Word of the kingdom” (Mt 13:19), which indicates the content of the Word. Luke speaks of the seed as “the Word of God” (Lk 8:11), which indicates the source, the origin of the Word.

Those who are beside the road are those who have hardened hearts. When they hear the Word, it does nothing to them. They are so under the influence of satan that he immediately takes away the sown Word. In this group we see the scribes. With them the soil is so hard that nothing of the seed can grow. Demonic powers take it away. But the application is also for us. For example, we can say: ‘I don’t understand anything’ and then we proceed to the order of the day, without making any effort to understand what we have read. Satan wants us to react like this.

The next group of people consists of those who “immediately receive it with joy”. Joy, however, is never the first result of the sown Word. The first thing the Word does is to discover man to himself, through which he sees that he is a lost sinner who deserves hell. When God speaks to someone, He speaks to that person’s conscience, awakening a sense of sin and guilt (Acts 2:37). When people joyfully accept the Word immediately, there is no root. People can become emotional from what they see or hear without their conscience being reached (Acts 23:27-28). As soon as pressure is put on them because of their confession, they will be exposed. God uses oppression or persecution to test the authenticity of faith.

In this second group and also in the next group, we can see the Lord’s relatives. They are not enemies of Him and the Word. There is a soil in which the seed falls and shoots. Yet there is no fruit. This happens when the Word is only accepted by feeling. They become happy and get a warm feeling, but the conscience remains unaffected. When they are away from the sphere of the Word, they have forgotten everything again. The sown Word has not convinced the heart of sin and judgment. That would bring repentance. The application to us is that there is a danger that anything but our conscience will be appealed to, so that we will not be brought to a life of dedication to Christ.

The third category of people who hear the Word are compared to those who are sown between the thorns. These people live in conditions that influence them so much that the Word heard is overgrown by them. The circumstances in which they live can consist of worries, wealth, and desires.

Poverty and wealth are two extremes. Both have the great danger of seizing us so much that we forget the Word (Pro 30:8-9). He who is poor must be wary that the worries do not occupy him in such a way that the Word cannot do its work. He who is rich must be wary that he is not carried away by the deceitfulness of riches by which he becomes disconnected from God and the Word cannot affect him.

For all people, desires for all kinds of other things can come in, that is, into the heart. The things we have are a danger, and the things we don’t have are if we want them. What the eye sees awakens the desire to want it. If someone can only think about that, he shuts himself off from the workings of the Word, and it becomes unfruitful. This too has its application to the believers.

Even on the good soil there is a difference in result. What is fatal for the unbeliever can seriously harm the fruit of the believer. Fruit can be described as follows: the received blessing is returned to God – what we do by worshiping Him for that blessing He has given – and life is lived in His presence and to His glory. In this way God receives fruit from the life of His own.

As said, in the Gospel according to Matthew we see the reverse order because it is about what man does with what is entrusted to him and then we see that decay occurs in it. Here it is about the service, and in this we see an increase, because the Lord’s service is aimed at us producing more fruit.