fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark This article is about the chapter of the Gospel of Mark. For other uses, see Mark 4 ( disambiguation )
Mark 4 is the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It tells the fable of the Sower, with its explanation, and the parable of the Mustard Seed. Both of these parables are paralleled in Matthew and Luke, but this chapter besides has a parable singular to Mark, the Seed Growing Secretly. The chapter ends with Jesus calming the storm .

text [edit ]

The original textbook was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 41 verses.

textual witnesses [edit ]

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are :

Parables [edit ]

jesus goes again ( see Mark 3:7–9 ) to the lake ( the Sea of Galilee ). He begins to teach by the ocean or “ on the prop up ”, [ 1 ] and then sits in a gravy boat, and speaks to “ a great battalion ” ( Mark 4:1 ). The Pulpit Commentary notes that “ the Greek adjective, according to the most approve read, is πλεῖστος, pleistos, the greatest of πολὺς, polus, and should be rendered ‘a very big ‘ multitude. The room and the little court no longer sufficed for the multitudes that came to him. ” [ 2 ] From there the text suggests that “ he spoke many things in parables ” ; from the many, Heinrich Meyer argues that Mark presents “ a survival ” : [ 3 ]

The Sower [edit ]

The first parable Mark relates is the fable of the Sower, with Jesus public speaking of himself as a sower or farmer and his seed as his give voice. a lot of the seed comes to no account but “ still early seed fell on good land. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times. ” ( 4:8 ) His disciples ( students ) do not understand why he is teaching in parables or even what the mean of the parables are. Later, after the crowd have left and Jesus tells them “ The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables then that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceive, and always hearing but never understand ; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven ! ‘ ” ( 4:11-12 ), with Jesus quoting Isaiah 6:9-10. early Christians used this passage from Isaiah “ … to explain the miss of a convinced reception to Jesus and his followers from their fellow Jews. ” ( Miller 21 ) He rebukes them for not understanding him, and explains his mean, and that those who accept his news, i.e. his teach are the ones who will produce the large “ cultivate ”. This is besides found in Luke 8:4-15 and Matthew 13:1-23. It is besides saying 9 of the Gospel of Thomas .

Lamp on a Stand [edit ]

Jesus then speaks of a lamp on a stand, that one does not put it under screen but allows to shine ( Mark 4:21 ). He says, “ For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear, ” ( 4:22-23 ) the last conviction being, judging from all available texts, a favorite say of Jesus. This is besides in Luke 11:33 and possibly in Matthew 10:26-27. “ ‘Consider cautiously what you hear, ‘ he continued. ‘With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. Whoever has will be given more ; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ‘ ” ( 4:24-25 ) The Scholars Version translates these verses like such : “ … The standard you apply will be the standard applied to you, and then some. In fact, to those who have, more will be given, and from those who do n’t have, even what they do have will be taken away ! ” Mark 4:25 besides occurs in the Parable of the Talents ( Matt 25:29, Luke 19:26 ) and Matt 13:12, Luke 8:18, Thomas 41. Mark 4:24 besides occurs in Matt 7:2 and Luke 6:38.

The Growing Seed [edit ]

The fable of the Growing Seed ( verses 26–29 ) and the parable of the Mustard Seed ( verses 30–32 ) follow, each showing analogies with nature and belittled beginnings yielding a lot more in the end. They are both illustrations of the growth of the kingdom of God. In the Seed Growing Secretly Jesus used the metaphor of a man planting a seed and then paying it no attention until “ arsenic soon as the grain is advanced, he puts the sickle to it, because the crop has come. ” ( 29 ) This is partially replicated in Thomas 21 The mustard seed, says Jesus, is like the kingdom of God because it starts out as the smallest sow and so far “ … becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade. ” ( 32 ) This is in Matthew 13:31-32 and Luke 13:18-19. It is besides saying 20 of Thomas .

Great Miracles [edit ]

From Mark 4:35 to the end of chapter 5, “ four strike works follow each early without a open frame ”. [ 4 ] These accounts of miracles raise the stakes over miracles which have been reported before. Mark credibly intends to demonstrate the enormousness of Jesus ‘ authority ( εξουσíα, exousia ). Chapter 4 ends with an explanation of Jesus calming the storm at ocean. He is sleeping while crossing the lake in a gravy boat with his disciples. Mark notes that they left a large crowd, that they took Him “ merely as He was ”, and that other boats were with Him. [ 5 ] A storm comes up and they madly wake him :

“He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, `Peace! Be still!`. Then the wind ceased and there was a dead calm…And they were filled with great awe and said to one another `Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:39-41, NRSV)

The greek : Σιώπα ( siōpa ) in verse 39 means “ secrecy ”, and is sol translated in the New Living Translation and the Holman Christian Standard Bible. [ 6 ] Dr. R. A. Cole, author of the comment on Mark in the Tyndale New Testament Commentary series, writes :

“We must remember that miracles are not meaningless magic but designed to show us who Jesus was.”

The floor of the sedate of the sea [ 7 ] and the miracles which follow show Jesus ‘ assurance over nature. Jesus has authority over not entirely men but even an untamable man, delivering the amuck from not merely one monster but a wholly united states army of demons ( see Mark 5 ). At the culminate of these miracle accounts, Jesus does not merely heal the sick, but he raises the dead girlfriend, all of which sets the proofreader up for a greater line when Jesus is rejected in his home plate town of Nazareth ( 6:1-6 ) in Mark 6 ( see France for an unfold discussion ) .

See besides [edit ]

References [edit ]

further understand [edit ]

  • France, R. T., The Gospel of Mark: a Commentary on the Greek Text; The New International Greek Testament Commentary, Eerdmans (c) 2002, ISBN 0-8028-2446-3; pages 220, 226, 241
  • Miller, Robert J., Editor, The Complete Gospels, Polebridge Press, 1994 ISBN 0-06-065587-9