Mark 4:1 - Meaning and Application

In the earlier chapter, Christ was teaching in the synagogue. Here he begins teaching again beside the sea. He changed his setting so that, if possible, he could reach everyone and make an impression on them. He did not always preach by the sea to please the richer, more refined people who had seats in the synagogue and cared little for hearing elsewhere. But when he had freedom, he often went into the synagogue and taught there. In the same way, he did not always preach in the synagogue to suit the poor crowd who could not get room there, but began again to teach by the sea, where they could hear him.

In this way, he was debtors both to the wise and to the unwise, as Paul says in Romans 1:14. A new arrangement appears here, one that had not been used before, though Christ had preached by the sea earlier (Mark 2:13). He stood in a boat while his hearers stood on the land. Since the Sea of Tiberias had no tides, the water would not rise and fall to disturb them.

It is fitting to think of Christ carrying his teaching into a boat and preaching from there as a sign of what would come later. It pointed ahead to the gospel going out to the islands of the Gentiles. It also hinted at the kingdom of God, that rich treasure, being taken from the Jewish nation and sent to a people who would produce more fruit from it.

Notice, first, the way Christ taught the crowd. He taught them many things, but he used parables, or comparisons. These drew people in, because people like to hear things spoken in a form they can recognize. Careless hearers will often catch a simple image from everyday life and remember that, even if they miss the truth it was meant to teach. But unless they took pains to search it out, the parable would only amuse them. They would see, yet not understand (Mark 4:12). So what was meant to help them also became a judgment on their dullness. They shut their eyes against the light on purpose, and so Christ justly gave them truth in the form of a parable. It had a bright side for those who were willing to apply it to themselves and be guided by it. But for those who only wanted a quick thrill, it gave only flashes of light and then left them in the dark.

It is right for God to say of those who will not see that they shall not see. He hides the truth from people who only glance around carelessly and never look ahead with concern for the things that belong to their peace.

Second, notice the way Christ explained his teaching to his disciples. When he was alone, not only the twelve, but also others who were with them, took the chance to ask him what the parables meant (Mark 4:10). They found it good to be near Christ. The closer they were to him, the better. It was also good to be with the twelve and to spend time with those who were close to him. Christ told them what a special favor it was that they were made familiar with the mystery of the kingdom of God (Mark 4:11). The secret of the Lord was with them. What only puzzled others gave them instruction, and each parable helped them grow in knowledge. They came to understand more about how Christ meant to set up his kingdom in the world, while others were sent away no wiser.

Those who know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven must admit that it is given to them. They receive both the light and the sight from Jesus Christ, who, after his resurrection, opened the Scriptures and opened their understanding too (Luke 24:27, Luke 24:45).

Here we have, in particular, the parable of the sower, as also given in Matthew 13:3 and following. Christ begins with “Listen” (Mark 4:3), and ends with “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:9). The words of Christ call for careful attention. Those who speak for him may rightly call for that attention and should awaken it. Even when we do not yet fully understand what he says, or understand it correctly, we must listen carefully, trusting that his words are both clear and weighty. In time, we will find more in them than we first saw.

Then comes Christ’s explanation to the disciples. Before he explains the parable, he asks them a question that Matthew does not record: “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” (Mark 4:13). If they did not understand this one, which is plain enough and shows the different results of hearing the word, how would they understand the others, which would be more hidden? If they stumbled over this one, how would they grasp the parables that would later speak of the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles, things they had not yet imagined?

This should stir us to prayer and effort in seeking knowledge. There are many things we need to know. If we do not understand the plain truths of the gospel, how will we handle the harder ones? Life is short, but learning is long. If we have run with foot soldiers and they have worn us out, how will we race horses? (Jeremiah 12:5).

If they did not understand this parable, which was meant to guide them in hearing the word so they could profit from it, how would they profit from what they were to hear later? The point of the parable was to teach them to listen carefully and to be moved by the word, so that they might understand it. If they did not receive this lesson, they would not know how to use the key that opens the rest.

Before Christ explains the parable, he first shows them how sad the condition of those is who are not brought into the meaning of his teaching: “To you it has been given, but not to them.” It helps us value our privileges as Christ’s disciples when we think about the miserable state of those who do not have them, especially because they are outside the usual path of conversion, lest they should turn and have their sins forgiven them (Mark 4:12). Only those who are converted have their sins forgiven. The misery of unconverted souls is that they remain under guilt that has not been pardoned.

He also shows them how shameful it was that they needed such careful explanation of what they heard and did not grasp it at once. Those who want to grow in knowledge must first be made aware of their ignorance. After preparing them in this way, he gives them the meaning of the parable of the sower, as recorded already in Matthew. Let us notice only this here,

First, in the wide field of the church, God’s word is given to everyone without distinction. “The sower sows the word” (Mark 4:14), and he scatters it broadly, “beside all waters,” on all kinds of ground (Isaiah 32:20), not knowing where it will land or what fruit it will bear. He spreads it out so it may increase. Christ first sowed the word himself when he went about teaching and preaching, and now he sends his ministers to sow through their hands.

Ministers are sowers, and they need the skill and judgment of a wise farmer (Isaiah 28:24-26). They must not be ruled by winds and clouds (Ecclesiastes 11:4, 11:6), but must look to God, who gives seed to the sower (2 Corinthians 9:10). Second, out of the many who hear the gospel, read it, and live among its truths, only a few receive it in a way that brings fruit. In this picture, only one out of four comes to good. It is sad to think how much of the precious seed of God’s word is lost and sown in vain, but a day is coming when lost sermons will have to be answered for. Many who heard Christ preach in their streets will one day be told to depart from him. Those who make hearing their whole religion, as if that alone could save them, fool themselves and build on sand (James 1:22).

Third, many are deeply moved by the word for a time, yet they gain no lasting benefit from it. Their feelings match what they hear, but the response is only a quick flash, like thorns crackling under a pot. We read of hypocrites who delight to know God’s ways (Isaiah 58:2), of Herod, who heard John gladly (Mark 6:20), of others who rejoiced in Christ’s light (John 5:35), and of those to whom Ezekiel was like a lovely song (Ezekiel 33:32). The stony ground in the parable stands for people like this. They receive the word with joy, and yet it comes to nothing.

Fourth, the reason the word does not leave a strong, lasting mark on people’s minds is that their hearts are not properly prepared to receive it. The fault is in them, not in the word. Some are careless and forgetful hearers, and they gain nothing at all. The word enters by one ear and leaves by the other. Others have their convictions overpowered by their sinful desires, and they lose the good effect the word had begun to make.

Fifth, the devil is very active around loose and careless hearers, just as birds gather around seed that lies exposed on the ground. When the heart is like an unplowed road, unbroken and not humbled, open to every passerby, as happens with people who spend their lives in empty company and talk, then the devil is like those birds. He comes quickly and carries the word away before we know it. So when those birds came down on Abram’s sacrifices, he drove them away (Genesis 15:11). We cannot stop the devil from circling overhead, but we should not let him settle in our hearts.

Sixth, many people are not openly offended and do not abandon their profession of faith like those on the stony ground. Yet the power of the word is quietly choked and smothered, so it comes to nothing. They go on in a barren, hypocritical profession that accomplishes nothing, and they still go down to hell, though in a more polished way. Seventh, impressions that are not kept will not last. They wear off in hard times and suffering, like footprints in sand that the next high tide of persecution washes away. When lawlessness increases, the love of many grows cold. Many keep their profession in fair weather but lose it in a storm. They are like people who take a boat out only for pleasure and come back as soon as the wind rises. The ruin of hypocrites is that they have no root. They do not act from a living, settled principle. They do not care for inner work, and without that, religion is nothing. The true Christian is the one who is inwardly such.

Eighth, many are kept from benefiting by the word because of their love for the world. Many good lessons about humility, charity, self-denial, and a heavenly mind are choked and lost by the ease and comfort that worldly success brings. So many professing believers, who might otherwise have come to something, prove like Pharaoh’s lean cows and thin ears. Ninth, those who are not weighed down by worldly care and the lure of riches may still lose the value of their profession through the desires for other things. Mark adds this point. It means, as Dr. Hammond explains, an out-of-control appetite for things that please the senses or the imagination. A person may have little of this world and still be ruined by giving in to bodily desires.

Tenth, fruit is what God expects and requires from those who enjoy the gospel. This means fruit in keeping with the seed, a spirit and way of life that fit the gospel, with Christian graces practiced each day and Christian duties faithfully carried out. This is the fruit God looks for, and it will count for our good. Lastly, no good fruit can be expected unless the seed is good. If the seed falls on good ground, if the heart is humble, holy, and set on heaven, there will be good fruit. Sometimes it will even yield a hundredfold, like the crop Isaac reaped (Genesis 26:12).