Bible School · The Gospels · Class 32 of 89

The sower and the storm: the word of the kingdom and the Lord of the sea

Mark 4 · about 20 minutes

By the end of this class you should be able to

Explain what a parable is in Jesus' teaching and why Mark gathers parables in chapter 4.
Describe the four soils in the parable of the sower and the interpretation Jesus gives.
Discuss Jesus' words about 'the mystery of the kingdom' and the quotation of Isaiah 6:9-10, and name the main ways scholars read them.
Explain the two growth parables, the seed that grows by itself and the mustard seed, and what they say about the kingdom.
Show how the stilling of the storm echoes the Psalms and raises the question 'Who is this?'

Read the passage

4Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and such a large crowd gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people crowded along the shore. ²And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said, ³“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop—one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.” ⁹Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” ¹⁰As soon as Jesus was alone with the Twelve and those around Him, they asked Him about the parable. ¹¹He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables, ¹²so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.’” ¹³Then Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? ¹⁴The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵Some are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶Some are like the seeds sown on rocky ground. They hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷But they themselves have no root, and they remain for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸Others are like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word, ¹⁹but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰Still others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, receive it, and produce a crop—thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold.” ²¹Jesus also said to them, “Does anyone bring in a lamp to put it under a basket or under a bed? Doesn’t he set it on a stand? ²²For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light. ²³If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴He went on to say, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more will be added to you. ²⁵For whoever has will be given more. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” ²⁶Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how. ²⁸All by itself the earth produces a crop—first the stalk, then the head, then grain that ripens within. ²⁹And as soon as the grain is ripe, he swings the sickle, because the harvest has come.” ³⁰Then He asked, “To what can we compare the kingdom of God? With what parable shall we present it? ³¹It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds sown upon the earth. ³²But after it is planted, it grows to be the largest of all garden plants and puts forth great branches, so that the birds of the air nest in its shade.” ³³With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, to the extent that they could understand. ³⁴He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples. ³⁵When that evening came, He said to His disciples, “Let us cross to the other side.” ³⁶After they had dismissed the crowd, they took Jesus with them, since He was already in the boat. And there were other boats with Him. ³⁷Soon a violent windstorm came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was being swamped. ³⁸But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?” ³⁹Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. “Silence!” He commanded. “Be still!” And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm. ⁴⁰“Why are you so afraid?” He asked. “Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹Overwhelmed with fear, they asked one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Open Mark 4 in the reader (BSB)

01Background

Mark is an anonymous Gospel. The early tradition, from Papias through Eusebius, says it was written by John Mark from the preaching of Peter. Most scholars place it in the 60s AD, and most hold it to be the earliest of the four Gospels, though some defend the priority of Matthew. It was probably written for Gentile Christians, by tradition in Rome, who faced pressure and hostility. Its purpose is to show Jesus as the Son of God who suffers. is the only extended block of parables in Mark, and it falls in the middle of the Galilean ministry, around AD 28 to 30.

The setting is the shore of the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum. Jesus teaches from a boat while the crowd sits on the shore, an arrangement that is often said to suit the ground, since water and a curving shore carry a voice well. The parable of the sower is told in all three Synoptic Gospels (; ). Matthew gathers seven parables here, while Mark gives three and Luke gives the sower in the same context and the mustard seed later (). The parable of the seed growing by itself () appears only in Mark. The storm on the lake is in all three (; ).

The Sea of Galilee lies some 700 feet below sea level and is surrounded by hills, and sudden violent winds coming down on the water are well known. Several of the disciples were fishermen who had spent their lives on it. When they say they are perishing, they speak from experience. The persecution mentioned in the interpretation of the sower () would have meant much to Mark's first readers.

02Outline

The parable of the sower
The mystery of the kingdom and those on the outside
Jesus explains the sower
The lamp and the measure: sayings on hearing
The seed that grows by itself and the mustard seed
Many parables, privately explained
The storm stilled

03How to read it

A parable (Hebrew mashal, Greek parabole) is a comparison or riddle. In the Old Testament a mashal could be a proverb, a riddle or a story with a hidden meaning. Jesus' parables take images from daily life and compare them to the kingdom. They invite the hearer to work out the meaning, and they can reveal to one person and hide from another. Scholars have long debated whether a parable has a single point or several. In the nineteenth century Adolf Jülicher argued for one point per parable and treated the allegorical readings as later additions. Later scholars have noticed that Jesus' stories often have more than one element that matters, as the sower does, and that the sower's explanation fits the story. The class takes the explanation as Jesus' own.

The chapter is built around a verb: hearing. The call 'Listen!' opens the sower (), and the cry 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear' appears at and . The warning 'Pay attention to what you hear' follows in . The whole discourse is about how the word is received. Read in sequence, the sower tells of the fate of the word, the lamp says that what is hidden will be revealed, and the two growth parables say that the kingdom grows beyond human control.

The passage about is the hardest. Mark says Jesus spoke in parables 'so that' outsiders may not understand. Matthew gives 'because' (). Some scholars take Mark's wording as a real purpose of judgment, matching the experience of Isaiah, whose preaching hardened a people who had already closed their ears. Others argue that the Aramaic behind it can mean 'who', not 'so that', as in the proposal of Joachim Jeremias, or that 'so that' describes a result and not an aim. Most agree on the main point: the parables reveal to those who come with ears to hear and leave the others where they stand.

04What the text says

Verses 1–9

The crowd is so large that Jesus gets into a boat and sits, which was the teacher's posture. The sower scatters seed by hand, and it falls on four kinds of ground. The path is hard-packed, and birds eat what lies on top. Rocky ground is a thin layer of soil over limestone bedrock, so the seed sprouts quickly and withers in the sun. The thorns are weeds already in the soil, which grow with the crop and choke it. The good soil yields thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold. A hundredfold is an extraordinary harvest; records it as a sign of God's blessing on Isaac. The surprise of the story is the result, not the waste.

Verses 10–12

When alone with the Twelve and others, Jesus is asked about the parable. He answers, 'The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you.' In the Bible a 'mystery' (musterion) is a secret that God reveals (as in ). Here the secret is that the kingdom has come in Jesus. To those 'on the outside' everything comes in parables, as describes: seeing and not perceiving, hearing and not understanding. Insiders and outsiders are defined by response to Jesus, not by class or learning.

Verses 13–20

Jesus asks, 'Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?' This shows that the sower is the key to the rest. 'The farmer sows the word.' The path is those from whom Satan takes the word at once. The rocky ground receives the word with joy but has no root and falls away under 'trouble or persecution'. The thorns are 'the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things'. The good soil hears, receives and bears fruit. Only one in four is fruitful, but the harvest is large.

Verses 21–25

A lamp is put on a stand, not under a basket. What is hidden is meant to be revealed. The saying about measure, 'with the measure you use, it will be measured to you', warns that the response to the word determines what more will be given.

Verses 26–29

In the parable found only in Mark, a man scatters seed and sleeps. The seed sprouts and grows, 'though he knows not how', 'all by itself' (Greek automate). First the stalk, then the head, then the grain. When it is ripe, he 'swings the sickle'. The kingdom's growth is God's work. The harvest echoes .

Verses 30–32

The mustard seed is 'the smallest of all seeds sown upon the earth', in the proverbial sense, and it grows into the largest of garden plants, with branches where birds nest. The image of birds in the branches recalls and , where a great tree shelters the nations. A small beginning leads to a kingdom with room for all peoples.

Verses 35–41

That evening Jesus says, 'Let us cross to the other side.' A violent windstorm swamps the boat, and Jesus is asleep on the cushion in the stern. The disciples wake him: 'Teacher, don't You care that we are perishing?' He gets up, rebukes the wind, and commands the sea, 'Silence! Be still!' The verb for rebuke is the one used to silence a demon in . The wind dies and there is 'a great calm'. He asks, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?' They are 'overwhelmed with fear', and ask, 'Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?' They now fear Jesus more than the storm.

05Key terms

parable parabole: A comparison or riddle, from the Hebrew mashal. It places one thing alongside another to teach by likeness.
mystery musterion: A secret that only God can reveal. In the Gospels it is the coming of the kingdom in Jesus ().
word logos: The message that the sower sows (). It is the word of the kingdom, spoken by Jesus.
listen akouo: To hear, and by extension to heed. The chapter uses it repeatedly and joins hearing to obeying.
rebuked epitimao: To command with authority. Used of silencing demons () and here of the wind ().
calm galene: Stillness on the water. Mark says there was a great calm, the answer to the great storm (, 39).

06In the whole Bible

The chapter teaches that the word of God is the seed of the kingdom, and that its reception varies. The Bible elsewhere uses the same picture: the word goes out and does not return empty (). Fruit is the sign that the word has taken root, as 'the worries of this life' and wealth and persecution show how the word can be lost. and apply the same concern.

It also teaches about revelation and hardening. The Bible holds together God's sovereign purpose and human responsibility. describes a mission that hardens, and the New Testament returns to this passage to explain Israel's response to Jesus (; ; ). The kingdom parables say that God's reign grows by his power, from a small beginning to a great one, in a hidden way that awaits harvest. That matches the New Testament's account of the present age as the time of sowing and the end as the harvest (; ).

The stilling of the storm teaches God's lordship over creation. In the Bible's story only the Creator governs the sea (; ). Mark says the same of Jesus without explanation, and leaves the disciples with the question.

07Where Christ is

The sower is Jesus, and the word is his. The interpretation does not name him, but he speaks, the crowd hears and the kingdom comes by his word. The quotation of in is fulfillment: the same hardening Isaiah met now meets Jesus. says Isaiah saw Jesus' glory when he wrote it, which shows how the New Testament connects the two.

The storm scene is an echo of the Old Testament, where only God stills the sea. describes sailors in a storm who cry to the LORD, and he calms the storm and hushes the waves. says that the LORD rules the raging sea and stills its waves. speaks of God quieting the roaring of the seas. When wind and waves obey Jesus, Mark shows that Israel's God is in the boat. The contrast with Jonah is also striking. Jonah, also asleep in a boat in a storm, was woken by sailors and told them to throw him into the sea. Jesus, asleep in a storm, wakes and commands it. Mark's question 'Who is this?' is left open for the rest of the Gospel.

The mustard seed echoes and , where a great tree shelters the nations. Mark presents the kingdom Jesus brings as that tree in seed form. The picture of Jesus asleep also shows his full humanity, since he is tired. The Gospel holds both truths together.

08How traditions read it

The rocky ground and the thorns raise the question of whether a true believer can fall away. Reformed and many Baptist readers hold that those who bear no lasting fruit never truly believed, and that the elect persevere, as Jesus says in . Wesleyan, Arminian and many Pentecostal readers hold that the seed can truly take root and later be lost, and they cite warnings such as . Catholic and Orthodox teaching generally holds that grace can be resisted and forfeited. Mark's parable does not say which view is correct. It says that fruit at the end is the sign of the word's work.

09Review questions

What are the four soils and what happens to the seed in each, according to Jesus' own interpretation in ?
What is the 'mystery of the kingdom of God' in , and how do the main readings of explain Jesus' use of parables?
What does the parable of the seed that grows by itself () say about who makes the kingdom grow?
Which Old Testament texts does the mustard seed parable recall, and what do they show?
How do and help explain the disciples' question in ?

Prepared with AI assistance. A scholar's review is still to come; if you spot anything to correct, please tell us.