Mark 4:1-12

Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that

  “‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand,
  lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

(ESV)

STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?

  • What is the writer saying?
  • How do I apply this to my life?

💡How to do your quiet time


Jesus began teaching again and a large crowd gathered. The crowd was so large that He needed to get into a boat to teach (probably to remain safe from the bustling crowd who all wanted to touch Him). At this point in His ministry, Jesus began to teach in parables. Parables were stories told that contained deeper spiritual truths but on the surface they were mysterious and difficult to understand.

Jesus’ first parable was of a farmer who sowed seed. The same seed landed on four different surfaces: rocky ground, shallow soil, soil with dormant weeds, and good soil. The birds ate the seed on the rocky ground while all the other seed took root and began to grow. The plants in the shallow soil withered from lack of root. The seed among the weeds was choked as it tried to grow so it yielded no crop. The plants in the good soil grew well and had a strong yield far greater than a farmer would consider a good crop (tenfold was considered a fine crop).

Jesus explained that He began to teach in parables because of the state of people’s hearts. To the disciples (probably more than the twelve) who had chosen to believe, God had helped them see that Jesus was ushering in a new kingdom plan. Jesus was bringing in a new way of doing things that the disciples believed in while the religious leaders only saw as a threat to their way of life. The parables provided a way for those who really sought the truth to dig for it and ponder it while those who didn’t want to believe, the truth remained hidden from them.

What is your approach to God’s word? Do you recognise it as the source of all truth which you read eagerly anticipating that truth to be revealed? One of the biggest stumbling blocks to the effectiveness of the truth of God’s word is our unwillingness to see our way of life changed. God’s word will remain ineffective if you’re not willing to let it change you.