Mark 4:1-20: Jesus the High Prophet of the Kingdom

Introduction

Welcome

Good morning and thank you for joining us.

I am find myself in an odd place as I open my Bible and meditate on my notes before an empty room. I want you to know that if you were part of our Santa Cruz Baptist community prior to this odd circumstance we have now found ourselves in for seven weeks, you have been in our prayers. This time has made me for one realize anew the heart of Paul when he opens his letters mentioning the fervency and regularity of prayer for his partner churches. Please know that the elders are seeking to bring you and your families before God each and every day by name and with specific concerns and burdens. We love you and I want you to know that we miss more than the regularity of gathering with you. We miss you. As Paul writes in the opening of 1 Thessalonians:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

I would like to add that if you have been joining us during this time through our website, I would like to encourage you to reach out to us via email ([e-mail]) because we would love to uphold you in prayer in any way we can, as well we have some resources available that we can get to you in order to encourage your walk with Christ in days of social distancing.

Turning to the Text

It is actually with that in mind, what it looks like to have a fruitful walk with Christ that our text is concerned. So without much ado, let’s turn our attention to the Gospel of Mark chapter 4. We’ll be looking at verses 1-20.

Prayer

Let’s pray before the reading of the Word of the Lord.

Father-in-Heaven,

Father of Jesus, sender of the Son,

We humbly ask for you to reveal to us the identity of your Son. We ask that you silence our frenetic hearts that we might hear your voice in this word. We ask that you might give clarity. We ask that you might convict us of sin so as to knit our hearts more tightly to Jesus. I ask, that you quiet me so that you may speak. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be honoring in your sight, faithful to your word.

Amen.

Reading Mark 4:1-20

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 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. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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.’ ”

English Standard Version Chapter 4

13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Thanks be to God for the Word of the Lord.

Outline

As we unpack this text I want us to see three things and a fourth which follows from those three:

The Forces that Oppose the Word

The Mark of Good Soil

The Reason Jesus Speaks in Parables

And following those three,

Jesus is the High Prophet of God’s Kingdom

Context of Our Parable

What is a parable?

It may help to begin with a basic understanding of what a parable is. The basic understanding of a parable comes in two parts:

First, a parable is a story that has layers of meaning and is used to illustrate a point that is often difficult to grasp in normal didactic instruction. So if something is hard to understand in a formal educational context then it may call for parabolic instruction—for an illustrative story.

Second, The word parable is simply a transliteration (a word written from another language using the English alphabet). Parable is a Greek word parabolē, which means (para) beside or alongside and (bolē) to cast or throw. The idea is that a parable teller is placing a story next to a teaching or a question or an experience in order to explain it.

For Jesus then, what we have are these stories in which Jesus wants to explain something, but he does not think the explanation laid out in formal instruction would be easy to hear. So he places these stories alongside something he is witnessing or a question he has been asked in order to soften the blow while giving understandable content and a deeper meaning to those who are his true disciples. Think of the line that closes the parable,

“for those who have ears to hear, let them hear.”

Even in parable teaching it is not an easy thing to grasp, you need something special in terms of equipment. You need, as it were “hearing ears.” Ears attuned to the words of Jesus. Let’s see how this plays out in our text by looking at the context that Jesus speaks this parable to.

Context of the Parable of the Soils

Look at verses one and two with me:

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables

Right off the bat we note the word “again,” what is happening is not new, Jesus is teaching, he is teaching by the sea, he is teaching by the sea and soon a very great crowd gathers to him.

This word “again” harkens us back to Mark 3:7-12 in which Jesus is teaching his disciples, he is teaching them by the sea, he is teaching them by the sea and soon a great crowd gathers to him.

There are two subtle differences that we should note:

First in Mark 3:7 most english translations say a great crowd and in Mark 4:1 most english translations say a very large crowd. Greek scholars note that the phrasing of Mark 4:1 is intentionally done to tell us that the crowd in Mark 4:1 is moderately bigger than the crowd in Mark 3:7.

This same idea is communicated in Jesus’ actions in both cases. In Mark 3:7 Jesus—as a precaution—has the disciples prepare one of their fishing boats in case Jesus becomes in danger of being crushed by the throng of people gathering to hear him.

In Mark 4:1, the boat is no longer a precaution. Instead Jesus teaches from inside the boat on the water to create a natural barrier between himself and the growing audience.

So here is what the first two verses tell us in set up for the parable:

Jesus’s ministry is growing in viewership.

What is Jesus’s ministry?

We have said throughout our study of the Gospel of Mark that is has several phases, but the first phase is teaching the word.

Mark 1:37-39 is the text we draw this from:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

And what is he preaching?

The Word.

What is the Word?

Mark 1:14-15 tells us the summary of Jesus’ message is:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

It sounds to me like the Word is that the culmination of God’s plan of redemption—which is that creation would be restored and a new humanity would be saved into the never-ending, always-flourishing Kingdom of God’s creation and under God’s rule—and this kingdom has arrived in the person of the King, Jesus. The response, then, to that proclamation is that we turn from our sins and put our trust in Jesus.

And as he teaches about what this forgiveness is, what the Kingdom of God is, and his role which brings them both together, crowds continue to gather and grow.

So this is what Jesus is seeing. Increasing crowds, but he knows there is a reality behind the mere numbers.

And then he tells the audience about the reality he knows is there, in effect this parable is a commentary—as almost all parables are—on his ministry. This parable is a sort of breaking the fourth wall to the unfolding drama that Jesus is at the center of.

This parable about seed being scattered far and wide over a field with that seed meeting a variety of outcomes on the basis of where the seed lands, specifically the condition of the soil.

Jesus is saying “I am speaking this message of the Kingdom and the Good News of forgiveness and reconciliation with God far and wide, but not everyone of you who hear this message—not everyone of you on whom this seed falls—will have the same result.

There is hard soil in my audience and you will not truly hear what I am saying. There is shallow, rocky soil in my audience and you have joy at my words but you will not continue to follow when things get difficult. There is weedy and thorny soil in my audience whom will never produce the crop which I desire. But there is good, deep, rich soil in my audience and you will reproduce this message until the field is full and ready for harvest.”

That is what Jesus is saying.

So now that we have a grasp of parables in general and our parable in particular let’s unpack it by looking at our first two points.

The Opposition

There is, according to Jesus, opposition to the hearing, receiving, and understanding his message. Jesus says that opposition can be summed up in three scenarios:

Hard Hearts in Tandem with Demonic Action

Shallow Faith in Tandem with External Persecutions

The Cares and Concerns of this World

Satan

Now I think it is fair to say that one of these stands out more than the rest. The mention of Satan may trigger all sorts of things for you. It is possible that you come from a place of skepticism about the spiritual realm. I know that I often have a difficult time with it. But I find Jesus to be corrective here.

Notice that the mention of Satan comes in the explanation to the disciples. He is not being coy with them, he is not using metaphor, he is not merely a product of his culture or ancient thought. He is speaking about the metaphysical reality of what can happen when the gospel message of salvation in his Kingly ministry goes out. Sometimes Satan, working in tandem with the hardened soil of our hearts, keeps reception and subsequent understanding from taking place.

Just a few notes for this:

If things continue along the plan we have sketched out for teaching this summer, we will take a pause in the Gospel of Mark and when we return to Mark 5 at the end of summer to discuss the longest passage dealing with demons in any of the Gospels.

As well, if you cannot wait until late summer and have some available reading time, I would recommend two books one by theologian Michael Hiesler called The Unseen Realm and another by Graham Cole titled Against the Darkness. Both are readable, biblical, and helpful.

And if you do struggle with skepticism about these things, whether you have been a Christian for a while or you’re new to the faith, or maybe you would not even identify as a Christian. I would like to encourage you to reach out to us for discussion and to think about this question while we wait to connect:

What is the reason for your skepticism? Do you believe the existence of such forces have been disproven? If so how? It surely cannot be science as by all definitions science is based on observation and empirical testing of the physical world, but we are not discussing physical beings. Science has no ability to comment on the existence of the soul, on the nature of love, nor on the spiritual realm. This is no a knock on science, it just falls outside of its purview. So what reason do you have for not believing in such forces? What do you believe has disproven them?

Unfortunately we are not given much in this passage to understand satanic tactics, but I would like to point out two things hinted at here.

Notice that Satan appears in connection to hardness of soil, or we might say hardness of heart. Satan is not unilaterally working here, he is working in tandem with the sinful heart, which tells us a bit about his limitations.

Notice that Satan can skim the seed off the top of the ground, but is not depicted as digging up the seed that has been recieved. I do not want any here to be concerned that Satan will come and extract the message of the gospel from you heart. In this text, that does not appear within his power.

There is much more to say, but we must keep moving through this passage because it is so packed.

Shallow Faith in Tandem with Persecution

Perseverance of the Saints

In what I think is the oddest part of the parable we are told that there is a soil that receives the message with joy and yet the seed does not take root because the ground is not cultivated. So persecution leads to apostasy. In order to understand what is happening here we must use the guardrails of the rule of faith.

The rule of faith is a term which means, in essence, that we use the clearer parts of the Bible to interpret the less clear parts of the Bible.

The Bible clearly teaches a doctrine called “the Perseverance of the Saints.” That those whom are saved and in whom the Holy Spirit dwells cannot lose their salvation:

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

John 10:27–30 ESV

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

So I feel comfortable saying that in the power of the Holy Spirit, we struggle, we fall, we may even walk away for a time, but no true disciple will be lost.

As such what is happening in this text must be affirming something else. We can note:

1 John 2:19 ESV

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

Matthew 7:21–22 ESV

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

What does this mean?

Professing Christ and even participating in the ministry are not necessarily signs of true trust in Christ.

This is the point of much of Jonathan Edward’s classic work Religious Affections.

Again,

1 John 2:3–4 ESV

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

Clarifying Persecution and Exhorting to Press In

All of that about not losing your salvation is great, but if we take a moment to reflect we ought wonder whether this example is not a warning to us. I wonder if any of us have faced what would qualify as persecution to the church throughout the world and throughout the ages. Yes the cultural tides have turned against Christianity, but what harm has been done? I cannot remember the source, but I once heard a speaker quip, “the first century Christian feared the raised fist or sword, the twenty-first century Christian fears the raised eyebrow.”

I don’t mean to be little any awkward or difficult experiences you have experienced for your faith. In fact I commend your resilience. My point is that we ought not consider ourselves good soil by default. It may be that persecution is coming that will challenge whether or not you are truly rooted in Christ or whether your roots sit just below the surface, not engaging with the real substance of the faith and the discipleship that Jesus calls us too.

As such I would like us to hear these exhortations from Paul:

Colossians 2:6–7 ESV

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Philippians 2:12–13 ESV

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Jesus says ,

Luke 9:62 ESV

Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Let’s put our hands on the plow of faith and push forward. Let’s open our Bibles wrestle with the text, have glory of God and the conviction of sin drive us to prayer—prayers of repentance, prayers or thanksgiving, prayers of intercessions for others. And let’s get rid of any of this silliness that keeping God’s commands is somehow legalism. Jesus tells us again and again that his disciples OBEY him.

If we do this, when or if, the sun of persecution arises we will find that strengthens our devotion to Christ, rather than drive us from him.

The Cares and Concerns of the World

The third form of opposition is the cares and concerns of this world. Jesus specifically highlights the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things. Again there is much that could be said, but we have yet to see who this passage tells us who Jesus is yet. So I will keep this point brief.

Notice that this seed does not die. In fact it is a reasonable step in the progression:

Some seed never starts

Some seed starts but dies

Some seed starts but never produces

Some seed starts and multiplies

This too is a warning that we should not, merely because we are listening to a sermon this morning (or for me delivering a sermon) assume we are the good soil. Is it possible that our discipleship has stalled out, choked by the “thorns” of the world.

What these thorns are?

They are the internal to us.

Notice these thorns are not persecution or pressure from external to us, but rather they come from within.

They are the ways in which our hearts cling to the cultures and systems of this world rather than the culture of the Kingdom Jesus is proclaiming.

The thorns are divide loyalties within us. We are not full and completely committed to Jesus if we fall into this classification.

These thorns are about the direction of our hearts. Look at the terms associated with it: deception, desire, the word concerns could also be translated anxieties. These things come from the core of our being.

The author and philosopher James K.A. Smith is helpful to understand what we are dealing with here:

“Our wants and longings and desires are at the core of our identity, the wellspring from which our actions and behavior flow.” - You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit

I know this is something I struggle with. The eyes of my heart are all to easily drawn away from the things of Christ to the things of the world. I am deeply grateful to one of my seminary professors who taught me to pray this short hymn:

Jesus, all for Jesus All I am and have and ever hope to be Jesus, all for Jesus All I am and have and ever hope to be All of my ambitions, hopes and plans I surrender these into your hands All of my ambitions, hopes and plans I surrender these into your hands For it's only in your will that I am free For it's only in your will that I am free Jesus, all for Jesus

Good Soil

What about the good soil? We should note one more time the focal point of the parable. I like how one commentator says it:

The Message of Mark 4. The Parable of the Sower (4:1–20)

The central clue in the parable is found in the various types of receptivity in the ground. Neither the sower nor the seed (and certainly not the weather!) are determinative. Everything depends on the state of the ground.

And when it comes to the good soil we recognize that it stands in contrast to the path in that it is soft to receive the seed. In contrast to the rocky soil it is deep to enable roots which anchor and support the crop. In contrast to the thorny soil there is room for multiplication.

And since there are a variety of farming analogies used in scripture, it is good to get clear on the multiplication that is expected. Let’s consider the last verse:

English Standard Version Chapter 4

those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

It seems to me that the most natural reading of the text is that multiplication of grain is a multiplication comes through the seed of the word falling on more good soil. As such I think we should understand Jesus’s meaning to be that of a multiplication of disciples. Jesus is telling us that a primary marker that we are the good soil is whether or not we are participating in the Great Commission:

English Standard Version Chapter 28

Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Conclusion: Jesus as the High Prophet of the Kingdom of God

The Sticky Part

As we wrap up I come to the point that Dustin Howell told me was “the hardest to digest.” Nestled in between Jesus telling and Jesus explaining the parable is the following:

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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.’ ”

Let this sink in for a minute Jesus is saying the Kingdom of God is a secret and that parables are intentionally used so that some may not perceive because if they did they would repent and be forgiven.

To our ears this is extremely difficult to hear, but that is often, to be honest, because we are lazy Bible readers. Notice Jesus is quoting someone. Isaiah 6:9-10. Let’s take a quick look at that section.

Old Testament Context

Isaiah 6:1 ESV

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

The note that this took place in the year King Uzziah died is really important. It tells us that Isaiah is speaking to a generation that is faithless and has wandered from the word of God. 2 Chronicles 26 and 27 tell us about the life and death of Uzziah, though he was one of the better kings (2 Chronicles 27:2), we are told:

English Standard Version Chapter 27

But the people still followed corrupt practices.

Isaiah has this vision takes place in a time of faithlessness and rampant idolatry.

Back to the text,

Isaiah 6:2–7 ESV

Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

What is going on so far?

Isaiah is having a temple vision of God. He has been yanked (whether in a dream or in waking life we don’t know) into the throne room of God and he looks around angels (Seraphim are a type of angel) and he sees the Lord enthroned above him and a booming voice calls out “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Isaiah realizes something.

Isaiah realizes ‘I should not be here.’

He is made acutely aware of his sin and is fearful fo the presence of God. He does the only thing he can think of confess his sin.

So one of the angels takes a burning coal and touches it to his lips—a sign of purification, which parallels the words of the angel that his sin is atoned for.

Let’s continue:

Isaiah 6:8–10 ESV

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

The Lord requests a messenger to go and Isaiah volunteers, then he learns when you never volunteer before you know the job. He is told to deliver a message to the people of Israel,

That they are to listen to him, but they won’t really get it.

That they will see him, but they won’t understand his life or ministry.

That they will be spiritually deaf and spiritually blind.

And Isaiah has his second realization. This is going to be unpleasant.

Isaiah 6:11–13 ESV

Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

Here God is talking about exile. That Isaiah’s ministry will be one of the witnesses against the faithless people of Israel and that they will be captured and exiled.

But a remnant will remain,

which will be burned again. Where is the first burning?

The coal that purified Isaiah it burned away his sin so that he could be in the presence of the Lord.

And all that will be left is a stump, which is also what?

A holy seed—a word from God.

What is the point of all of this?

Jesus is arrives as another Isaiah, calling God’s people to repent and making available the secret, or the unexpected manner, of the kingdom of God. Like Isaiah the message of Christ in its unexpected and challenging nature will harden the hearts of many. But it will also craft a remnant.

Who is Jesus, the greater Isaiah. The prophet whose lips were clean and had no need of repentance.

Who is Jesus, the greater Isaiah. The prophet whose word ccreated a remnant that not only strived for faithfulness but fruitfulness—and multiplied some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold

Who is Jesus, the seed sower, the High Prophet of God’s Kingdom.

Let’s pray.

Concluding Prayer