Mark 4:1-20 (HG1)
1 Comments »
Mark 4:1-20
Observation
Observation is very straightforward in this passage as it involves just one parable. The parable also appears in Matthew and Luke.
Who: Jesus, very large crowd, the 12 disciples and other followers (also the characters in the parable: sower, birds, soils.)
What: Jesus = teaching many things, crowd = gathered, disciples and followers = asked Jesus about the parables
How: Jesus = taught in parables, disciples and followers = to them it had been given to understand the mystery of the kingdom of God
When: See Matthew 13:1 – the same day that Jesus left the house
Where: in a boat in the sea
Interpretation
Who is the sower? Jesus (also others who share God’s Word)
Are the sowers just the disciples/followers who were given the “understanding” or are all Christians sowers? Matthew 4:12
What is the seed? God’s Word (the gospel)
What are the soils? What do they represent? Mark 4:14-20
The road – The seed doesn’t take root and Satan immediately takes away the seed
The rocky soil- Warm and fuzzy feeling early on but easily let go of the word when facing persecution
Thorny soil - Worries, deceitfulness of riches, desire for other things choke the word
The good soil – Bear fruit. What kind of fruit (concordance)? (Galatians 5:22-24, Colossians 1:6,10, Philippians 1:11, John 15:16)
If the seed represents the gospel, which of the four soils represent someone who is saved? The last 3 or just the last 1?
Why did Jesus speak in parables? Was His purpose to shut out or to reach out?
Consider the context of the quotation from Isaiah 6:9,10 God is willing that none should perish. He gives people a chance to respond, even when He knows they won’t.
In Mark 4:11, God chooses people. See Romans 9. Does this refer to the concept of election?
Read Matthew 13:11-12, part of a parallel account of the parable. Jesus said that if people really want to know more about God’s Word, it will be revealed to them.
Jesus spoke in parables because so many of the people didn’t understand. He was showing mercy to them by engaging them on a different level, via story.
Application
What kind of soil are we? (Romans 10:9-10)
As a believer, even after we are saved, we continue to grapple with the world, the flesh and the devil.
What do you need to ask the Gardner of Your Soul to do in your heart? In particular, we may struggle with the three thorns in Mark 4:19: the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of richness and the desire for other things. Spend a few minutes praying with your palms down on your lap, laying before God the thorns in your life. Next, turn your palms up and listen, allowing God to speak to your heart about these matters.
Be the Gardener of My Soul
By Richard Foster
Spirit of the Living God, be the Gardener of my
soul. For so long I have been waiting, silent and still –
experiencing a winter of the soul. But now, in the strong
name of Jesus Christ, I dare to ask:
Clear away the dead growth of the past,
Break up the hard clods of custom and routine,
Stir in the rich compost of vision and challenge,
Bury deep in my soul the implanted Word,
Cultivate and water and tend my heart,
Until new life buds and opens and flowers.
Amen.
Application
Are we too called to be sowers? See 1 Corinthians 3:6-9.
How did the sower sow, sparingly or widely? What are the implications for our sowing of the gospel?
He sowed widely, not sparingly.
He might have sowed wisely.
We can’t see into people’s hearts. Ask God to prepare the soil.
What makes seeds grow? What is our role in witnessing? What is God’s?
God prepares the soil. God makes the seed grow. God produces the fruit.
What does the fruit contain?
More seeds.
Why did Jesus speak in parables to the masses?
He used the seed image because the people were farmers. What “parables” could we use to engage with people in the city of Chennai? (Music, sharing personal experiences.)
Observation
Observation is very straightforward in this passage as it involves just one parable. The parable also appears in Matthew and Luke.
Who: Jesus, very large crowd, the 12 disciples and other followers (also the characters in the parable: sower, birds, soils.)
What: Jesus = teaching many things, crowd = gathered, disciples and followers = asked Jesus about the parables
How: Jesus = taught in parables, disciples and followers = to them it had been given to understand the mystery of the kingdom of God
When: See Matthew 13:1 – the same day that Jesus left the house
Where: in a boat in the sea
Interpretation
Who is the sower? Jesus (also others who share God’s Word)
Are the sowers just the disciples/followers who were given the “understanding” or are all Christians sowers? Matthew 4:12
What is the seed? God’s Word (the gospel)
What are the soils? What do they represent? Mark 4:14-20
The road – The seed doesn’t take root and Satan immediately takes away the seed
The rocky soil- Warm and fuzzy feeling early on but easily let go of the word when facing persecution
Thorny soil - Worries, deceitfulness of riches, desire for other things choke the word
The good soil – Bear fruit. What kind of fruit (concordance)? (Galatians 5:22-24, Colossians 1:6,10, Philippians 1:11, John 15:16)
If the seed represents the gospel, which of the four soils represent someone who is saved? The last 3 or just the last 1?
Why did Jesus speak in parables? Was His purpose to shut out or to reach out?
Consider the context of the quotation from Isaiah 6:9,10 God is willing that none should perish. He gives people a chance to respond, even when He knows they won’t.
In Mark 4:11, God chooses people. See Romans 9. Does this refer to the concept of election?
Read Matthew 13:11-12, part of a parallel account of the parable. Jesus said that if people really want to know more about God’s Word, it will be revealed to them.
Jesus spoke in parables because so many of the people didn’t understand. He was showing mercy to them by engaging them on a different level, via story.
Application
What kind of soil are we? (Romans 10:9-10)
As a believer, even after we are saved, we continue to grapple with the world, the flesh and the devil.
What do you need to ask the Gardner of Your Soul to do in your heart? In particular, we may struggle with the three thorns in Mark 4:19: the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of richness and the desire for other things. Spend a few minutes praying with your palms down on your lap, laying before God the thorns in your life. Next, turn your palms up and listen, allowing God to speak to your heart about these matters.
Be the Gardener of My Soul
By Richard Foster
Spirit of the Living God, be the Gardener of my
soul. For so long I have been waiting, silent and still –
experiencing a winter of the soul. But now, in the strong
name of Jesus Christ, I dare to ask:
Clear away the dead growth of the past,
Break up the hard clods of custom and routine,
Stir in the rich compost of vision and challenge,
Bury deep in my soul the implanted Word,
Cultivate and water and tend my heart,
Until new life buds and opens and flowers.
Amen.
Application
Are we too called to be sowers? See 1 Corinthians 3:6-9.
How did the sower sow, sparingly or widely? What are the implications for our sowing of the gospel?
He sowed widely, not sparingly.
He might have sowed wisely.
We can’t see into people’s hearts. Ask God to prepare the soil.
What makes seeds grow? What is our role in witnessing? What is God’s?
God prepares the soil. God makes the seed grow. God produces the fruit.
What does the fruit contain?
More seeds.
Why did Jesus speak in parables to the masses?
He used the seed image because the people were farmers. What “parables” could we use to engage with people in the city of Chennai? (Music, sharing personal experiences.)
If only the last seed represents a "saved" Christian, then I think many Christians need to reevaluate themselves.
Growing up, salvation was taught to me as a heartfelt prayer proclaiming my faith and acknowledging my sin. After that, I could always be sure of my spot in heaven. The problem is that I was taught that I needed to whole-heartedly believe in Jesus, as in believe he existed and did all that the Bible said he did. No one explained to me that I also had to whole-heartedly believe in what Jesus taught, represented, and exemplified.
And I think this parable is explaining that simply believing the facts about Jesus isn't enough. We are supposed to be Christ-like, not just know of Christ. If we truly were, in this sense, Christ-like, we would naturally bear fruit just as Jesus and the disciples beared fruit.