The sower
1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake, but such a large crowd gathered about him that he got into a boat and sat in it on the lake while the crowd stood on the shore.
2 He taught them many things through stories or parables. In his teaching he said,
3 “Listen! The sower went out to sow.
4 As he sowed, some of the seed fell along a path and the birds came and ate it up.
5 Some of the seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil; it sprang up im mediately because it had no depth;
6 but when the sun rose and burned it, it withered because it had no roots.
7 Other seed fell among thornbushes and the thorns grew and choked it, so it didn’t produce any grain.
8 But some seed fell on good soil, grew and in creased and yielded grain; some produced thirty times as much, others sixty and others one hun dred times as much.”
9 And Jesus added, “Listen then, if you have ears.”
10 When the crowd went away, some who were around him with the Twelve asked about the parables.
11 He answered them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But for those outside, everything comes in parables,
12 so that the more they see, they don’t perceive; the more they hear, they don’t understand; otherwise they would be converted and pardoned.”
13 Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables?
14 What the sower is sowing is the word.
15 Those along the path where the seed fell are people who hear the word, but as soon as they do, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
16 Other people receive the word like rocky ground. As soon as they hear the word, they accept it with joy,
17 but they have no roots so it lasts only a little while. No sooner does trouble or persecution come be cause of the word, than they fall.
18 Others receive the seed as among thorns. After they hear the word,
19 they are caught up in the worries of this life, false hopes of riches and other desires. All these come in and choke the word so that finally it produces nothing.
20 And there are others who re ceive the word as good soil. They hear the word, take it to heart and produce: some thirty, some sixty and some one hun dred times as much.”
Parable of the lamp
21 Jesus also said to them, “When the light comes, is it to be put under a tub or a bed? Surely it is put on a lamp stand.
22 What ever is hidden will be disclosed, and whatever is kept secret will be brought to light.
23 Listen then, if you have ears!”
24 And he also said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. In the measure you give, so shall you receive and still more will be given to you.
25 For to the one who produces something, more will be given, and from him who does not produce anything, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
The seed growing by itself
26 Jesus also said, “In the kingdom of God it is like this. A man scatters seed upon the soil.
27 Whether he is asleep or awake, be it day or night, the seed sprouts and grows, he knows not how.
28 The soil produces of itself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
29 And when it is ripe for harvesting they take the sickle for the cutting: the time for harvest has come.”
The mustard seed
30 Jesus also said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall we compare it?
31 It is like a mustard seed which, when sown, is the smallest of all the seeds scattered upon the soil.
32 But once sown, it grows up and becomes the largest of the plants in the gar den and even grows branches so big that the birds of the air can take shelter in its shade.”
33 Jesus used many such stories or parables, to proclaim the word to them in a way they would be able to understand.
34 He would not teach them with out parables; but privately to his disciples he explained every thing.
Jesus calms the storm
35 On that same day when eve ning had come, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.”
36 So they left the crowd and took him away in the boat he had been sitting in, and other boats set out with him.
37 Then a storm gathered and it began to blow a gale. The waves spilled over into the boat so that it was soon filled with water.
38 And Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.
They woke him up and said, “Master, don’t you care if we sink?”
39 As Jesus awoke, he rebuked the wind and ordered the sea, “Quiet now! Be still!” The wind dropped and there was a great calm.
40 Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?”
41 But they were terrified and they said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
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Comments Mark, Chapter 4
• 4.1 See commentary on Matthew 13:1 and Luke 8:9.
Mark will now give us a few parables relating to the Kingdom of God, for it was this proclamation of the beginning of a kingdom of God which was the great highlight of Jesus’ message. The Jews of the time occasionally spoke of a reign of God but what they envisaged was the liberty of his people in the land of Israel and the punishment of their oppressors. Jesus instead affirmed that God reigns in our midst: the Kingdom is already here, at our door.
The sower went out to sow. There was impatience to harvest the fruits of such terrible suffering and of so much blood shed under Roman occupation, and for Jesus it was still sowing time! We have here the great paradox of the Gospel, which often causes us to stumble: the Kingdom is there and with it we have all that God can give us in this world. However it remains that all we have is hope (Rom 9:24). After twenty centuries of Christianity, the Kingdom resembles a field that has just been sown. Some of the grain bears fruit and multiplies (8). Those who have eyes to see cannot fail to see how many things are born of the Gospel and continue to be born where it is received. The Kingdom is manifest in the life and example of the saints, known and un known. The fact that Western culture may deny the Gospel does not prevent its being born of its dynamism. The Gospel is behind all that has been undertaken to give the world unity and peace.
All this is born of the Word, but it must mature and take shape in the heart of righteous persons.
• 10. The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been given to you. Jesus reminds the disciples who are there with him, receiving from him the Word of God, that they owe it to God’s grace. God himself has chosen them to receive and transmit the proclamation of the Kingdom. Instead of pausing to ponder over such generosity, we might take the phrase in its opposite sense and ask: Has God then wished that others neither see nor understand?
This verse 12 quotes an important text of Isaiah (6:9) which will be recalled in Jn 12:40 and Acts 28:26. To understand, we must remember that the prophet used a grammatical form proper to Hebrew and difficult to translate into English. More or less this is what God says to the prophet: “Harden their heart, speak so that listening they do not hear.” It should be understood in this way: “You will only succeed in hardening their heart, you will speak, but in fact they will listen without wanting to understand.” In no case does God wish anyone to be mistaken or remain in ignorance.
Everything comes in parables. Those who have not been called to meet Christ, or who once called have refused, live in a world “outside,” where they are not without the light of God, but such comes to them in “parables,” which means through many intermediaries and human limitations. The Gospel, then, brings light even to one who has not taken the step, but is adapted to its capacity, since such a person lives in a world of half-truths.
• 13. See commentary on Matthew 13:18.
How then will you understand any of the parables? The apostles themselves are incapable of understanding very simple things. Jesus puts us on guard against an over-simplistic vision: on one side the “disciples,” on the other those who are not! We have never fully understood the mystery of the Kingdom, still less are we mastering it: the frontier between “disciples” and “outsiders” passes in the midst of us all: Jesus will remind us in the parable of the weeds.
In fact, many Christian communities never grasp the real meaning of the words of Jesus. Some, because they always choose the same Gos pel verses to justify their own ideas, and do not really want to listen. Others, because they look for practical advice that they be more generous, more patient etc., and they do not see that Jesus wants to show them a vision of the world and Church much wider than their own.
The parable of the sower leads the other pa ra bles. Here Jesus tells us the purpose of his mission: he has come to ini tiate a new age in the human story: the kingdom of God is now among us.
Sometimes it seems that the Gospel does not have much power to trans form life. Maybe this is because we have trampled on many seeds that the wind brought us. It all depends on us.
Jesus speaks of thirty and one hundred fold. The word that is heeded transforms our life and strengthens our attempts to save the world. Who can tell what is possible for a free and liberated person?
• 21. Listen then, if you have ears. Jesus warns us, “You waste your time if you only listen to me yet do not allow what you hear to bear fruit. The mea sure that you measure out will be the measure you receive. That is to say, if you begin to act according to what you have learned, you will receive from God new strength and new knowledge. If you do nothing, even your religious beliefs will be of no value to you, not even when you present yourself before God. You read my Gospel, but now challenge yourselves before you fol low any further.”
Whatever is hidden. The word works se cretly within the heart but when we discover the transformation that is at work in our life, we readily proclaim Christ and make known to others the secret that has made us happy (Eph 2:4; Col 3:3; Phil 2:10).
• 26. In every period of time, people become impatient. When will the kingdom of justice be realized? Will violence and corruption soon come to an end? Jesus answers: invisible forces are already at work; the world matures and the Kingdom grows on.
SEEDS
How many seeds are cast to the wind? A new style, a new song, a new device, a radio program. Some seeds have grown and taken root, producing fruits that mobilize people. Let us recognize the humble beginnings of the work of God: good willed people meeting together to solve a community prob lem; a gesture of kindness in a closed, unfriendly environment; a first attempt to smile at life after a great disappointment. The seed grows, and the person who has welcomed the word walks more confidently on the path where God leads.
• 30. See commentary on Matthew 13:31.
• 35. In the last two parables Jesus has shown the irresistible growth of the Kingdom, and to give a visible sign of it, he will pass to the other shore of the lake, that is to say, on the pagan side of Lake Galilee. The two miracles he is about to perform will show that his victory over the demon goes beyond the frontiers of Israel.
In Jewish mentality the sea is a daily re minder of primitive chaos, it is there the ma rine monsters move around, monsters which only God, for he is the all-powerful, can challenge: Leviathan and Rahab. In com mand ing the sea: Quiet now! Be still! Just as he does with the demons (Mk 1:25) Jesus affirms his divine power over the forces of evil.
Confronted with all the forms of evil that attack them, in the midst of tempests that arise, people, at times, wonder if God “does not sleep.” Jesus is there. He is not surprised by the disciples’ fear of the tempest, but of their lack of faith; only trust in the victory of Jesus, Son of God, over the forces of evil, will allow them to overcome this fear.
At the very instant when they discover this divine power in Jesus, the apostles are terrified, as was Moses at the burning bush (Ex 3:1), and Isaiah at the time of his vision in the Temple (Is 6:5), as all those to whom God shows himself in a special way: more than a friend, more than a master, Jesus re vealed himself to them in the truth of his being. This fear in discovering God so close to them was greater than the fear they had felt during the tempest a few moments earlier.