Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:1-9 – Teaching in Parables

CHAPTER FOUR:
PARABLES TO ILLUSTRATE THE KINGDOM

[“Kingdom Mysteries”]
Key word: Kingdom

Mark 4:1-9 – Teaching in Parables

|| Matthew 13:1-9;[1] Luke 8:4-8

MK4:1 Now Jesus began to teach by the seashore and there gathered around him a crowd so large he got into a boat and sat a bit off shore. The whole crowd was on the beach at water’s edge. MK4:2 Then Jesus taught them many things by means of parables, and in his teaching he said to them: MK4:3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow,[2] MK4:4 and it happened as he sowed that some [seed] fell by the side of the road. Now the birds of heaven came and picked them up. MK4:5 Also, some [seed] fell on rocky ground where there was little soil. So, the seed sprouted quickly because it had no depth of soil. MK4:6 But, when the sun rose the sprout was scorched and because it had no root it withered away. MK4:7 Now [other seed] fell among thorns and when the thorns also grew up they choked it producing nothing. MK4:8 Some, though, fell on good soil and it did produce something, sprouting and increasing – some yielding thirty times, some sixty times, and others even one-hundred times!” MK4:9 And Jesus added: “Let the one with ears – hear!”

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[1] Matthew 13:1-9: For details see notes in Nazarene Commentary 2000 on Matthew.

[2] Sower went out to sow: The parable illustrates four reactions to the teachings of Jesus – then, and today.

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Preceding

Matthew 13:1-9 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Parable: the Soil and the Seed

Mark 3 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Review Questions on Chapter Three

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Additional reading

1. Jesus the Storyteller 2 Interpreting Jesus’ stories
2. Leading people astray!
3. The Parable of the Sower
4. Seeds, weeds and kingdoms
5. Seeds and weeds for being the greatest nation
6. What God should I believe in

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Related articles

1. How Is Your Hearing?
2. Lenten Devotional: March 2
3. Speaking in Parables
4. Parable of the Sower
5. Exploring The Parable of the Sower
6. The Parable of the Sower in Modern Day
7. Aim To Pass The Test
8. Heart-A-Check Meter
9. Which Soil are You?
10. Seeds and Me
11. The Soil – Part 1
12. The Soil – Part 2
13. The Soil – Part 3
14. The Soil – Part 4
15. God’s dirt, word and work [Sermon]
16. Parable of the Torso?
17. The primacy it requires
18. Sculptor and Clay
19. Matthew 13: Jesus, the Greatest Storyteller Speaks in Parables to Bring the Kingdom to Us
20. Don’t give up
21. Kingdom secrets and the unstoppable word in the soil of your soul (Growing deeper with Luke 8:4-15)