Chapter 4
Jesus continues to preach by the lake, still speaking from his boat to get some breathing space from the crowd. He tells a parable of a farmer who is sowing seed across a field. Some of the seed falls on the path and gets eaten by birds. Some falls on rocky ground with thin soil, and although they sprout quickly, as soon as the sun comes up the plants get scorched and die because they have no root in the shallow dirt. Some of the seed falls among thorns, and dies because the weeds grow up around them and choke them out. Some of the seed falls on good soil, and that seed manages to grow and produce a crop, and gives the farmer a bountiful harvest. (cf Matthew chapter 13)
The apostles and other disciples ask Jesus about the parable, and Jesus tells them that the kingdom of God has been given to them, “but to those on the outside, everything is said in parables.” This fulfills the prophecy that they will be “ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!”
Jesus asks them if they’ve understood the parable. And if not, how will they understand any parable? He explains it to them: When a person hears Jesus’ message, but doesn’t understand it, Satan comes and snatches it away. That’s the seed on the path that gets eaten by birds. Some people receive the word and have an initially enthusiastic response, but their faith has no root and disappears at the first sign of trouble. That’s the seed that fell on the rocky ground with shallow soil. Some people are distracted by worries, or deceived by wealth, which drowns out the message. That’s the seed that fell among the thorns and weeds. Some people hear the word and understand it, and that’s the seed that fell on good soil. (cf Matthew chapter 13)
Jesus asks them, if you light a lamp, do you stick it under the bed or put a bowl over it? No, of course not. You put it on its stand so it can cast its light. (cf Matthew chapter 5) Also, whatever measure you use is the same measure God will use for you. “Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”
Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Afterward, the seed grows night and day, whether the farmer does any more work or not. The seed sprouts and grows by itself, and soon the grain is full grown and the farmer has a harvest. The kingdom of God is also like a mustard seed, which is the tiniest seed, yet grows into a plant so large that birds can roost in it. (cf Matthew chapter 13) Jesus tells the disciples many more parables, and when they’re alone he explains what they mean.
That night, they decide to sail to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is already in a boat, so they all hop in and start sailing. After they’ve been sailing for a while, a violent storm suddenly sweeps in. The disciples are afraid the boat will sink, but Jesus is sleeping peacefully on a cushion, undisturbed by the tumult. They wake him up and frantically tell him they’re all going to drown! Jesus gets up, commands the waves to be still, and the storm instantly dies. The disciples are all amazed. (cf Matthew chapter 8)
Commentary
From now on, links at the end of paragraphs (“cf Matthew chapter whatever”) will indicate that a particular section of writing is very similar or identical to a section of writing in a previous book. Links inside the text will be used for references to other chapters inside the same book (mainly for continuity purposes), or to third-party sites. Am I overthinking this? I don’t care!
Re: the prophecy about the “outsiders” only getting parables otherwise they might understand and be forgiven: Wtf? Mark only quotes part of the prophecy here; the full prophecy reads: “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” Matthew quotes the entire prophecy. The last part of the sentence that Mark quotes (“otherwise they might turn and be forgiven”) is not part of the actual prophecy, although Mark writes it as if it is.
The way Mark writes it, makes it sound like Jesus is speaking in parables specifically to confuse the “outsiders” and keep them on the outside. Matthew gave the much more generous message that Jesus speaks in parables in order to bring people who are too spiritually deadened to be able to understand stark speech, into the “believer’s group” by softening his concepts into more easily understood stories.
From Mark’s very different interpretation of Jesus’ words, and the fact that he leaves out half the prophecy (incidentally, the half which is nice to “outsiders”), I deduce that Mark is a very insular person and doesn’t like new people. I guess time will tell if I’m right. Mark also seems to distinguish more between the twelve apostles and the “other” disciples, whereas Matthew never seemed to see much difference the two groups and indeed seldom even divided them into two groups. In Matthew it’s often unclear if the vaguely-labelled “disciples” mentioned at any given time are only the twelve apostles, or all of Jesus’ followers, but Mark usually clearly differentiates which one he’s talking about.
In Matthew, the story about hiding the lamp under a basket was part of the Sermon on the Mount. The thing about God using the same measure as you apparently means that if you are generous to others, God will be generous to you, and if you are stingy to others, God will be stingy with you.
The “many more” parables that Jesus supposedly told are not described by Mark. Most likely they’re the other parables recounted in Matthew 13 that Mark didn’t record here (e.g. the one about the farmer whose enemy messed up his crop, the one about the kingdom of heaven being like yeast, etc.)
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