The Biblical Illustrator Mark (Ch.4 5) (A Compilation)

《The Biblical Illustrator – Mark (Ch.4~5)》(A Compilation)

04 Chapter 4

Verse 1-2

Mark 4:1-2

And He began again to teach by the seaside.

Christ teaching

I. The place where Christ taught.

1. By the seaside. Opposed to a prevailing notion. This example at present imitated.

2. In a ship. The spread of the gospel prefigured.

II. Those who formed His audience.

1. The general crowd.

2. The apostles and disciples.

III. The manner in which Christ taught.

1. He taught the multitudes in parables. Remarkable for simplicity when understood. Very apt and likely to be misunderstood.

2. He explained His parables to His disciples, but this was accompanied by reproof.

IV. The reason He taught the multitude in parables.

1. As a fulfilment of prophecy (Psalms 78:2; Matthew 13:34-35).

2. In consequence of the moral state of the Jewish nation (Isaiah 6:9-10; Matthew 13:14-15, and elsewhere).

3. Originally, and as quoted, describes a particular moral state, in which-The Word is not understood, not felt, does not convert, is not heard. This state is ascribed to themselves, to the prophet, to God (Matthew 13:14-15; Isaiah 6:9-10; John 12:40). Learn: That the ungodly see and hear without understanding; that in order that a people be left in darkness, it is not necessary that the gospel be removed; that when a faithful ministry is sent to a people, it is not always for their conversion; that the means of converting are also the means of hardening.

V. The reason Christ taught His disciples more directly.

1. A knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom was a gift to them.

2. Instruction was the mode of conveying it. (Expository Discourses.)

By parables.

The use and abuse of allegorical instruction

Lay down some rules to assist in the interpretation of parables.

1. The first and principal one I shall mention is, the carefully attending to the occasion of them. No one, for instance, can be at a loss to explain the parable of the prodigal son, who considers that our Lord had been discoursing with publicans and sinners, and that the proud and self-righteous Pharisees had taken offence at His conduct. With this key we are let into the true secret of this beautiful parable, and cannot mistake in our comment upon it. Understanding thus from the occasion of the parable what is the grand truth or duty meant to be inculcated.

2. Our attention should be steadily fixed to that object. If we suffer ourselves to be diverted from it by dwelling too minutely upon the circumstances of the parable, the end proposed by Him who spake it will be defeated, and the whole involved in obscurity. For it is much the same here as in considering a fine painting; a comprehensive view of the whole will have a happy and striking effect, but that effect will not be felt if the eye is held to detached parts of the picture without regarding the relation they bear to the rest. Were a man to spend a whole hour on the circumstances of the ring and the robe in the parable just referred to, or on the two mites in that of the good Samaritan, it is highly probable both he and his hearers by the time they got to the close of the discourse, would lose all idea of our Saviour’s more immediate intent in both those instructive parables.

3. That great caution should be observed in our reasoning from the parables to the peculiar doctrines of Christianity.

Verse 1-2

Mark 4:1-2

And He began again to teach by the seaside.

Christ teaching

I. The place where Christ taught.

1. By the seaside. Opposed to a prevailing notion. This example at present imitated.

2. In a ship. The spread of the gospel prefigured.

II. Those who formed His audience.

1. The general crowd.

2. The apostles and disciples.

III. The manner in which Christ taught.

1. He taught the multitudes in parables. Remarkable for simplicity when understood. Very apt and likely to be misunderstood.

2. He explained His parables to His disciples, but this was accompanied by reproof.

IV. The reason He taught the multitude in parables.

1. As a fulfilment of prophecy (Psalms 78:2; Matthew 13:34-35).

2. In consequence of the moral state of the Jewish nation (Isaiah 6:9-10; Matthew 13:14-15, and elsewhere).

V. The reason Christ taught His disciples more directly.

1. A knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom was a gift to them.

2. Instruction was the mode of conveying it. (Expository Discourses.)

By parables.

The use and abuse of allegorical instruction

Lay down some rules to assist in the interpretation of parables.

3. That great caution should be observed in our reasoning from the parables to the peculiar doctrines of Christianity.

Verses 3-9

Verse 3

Mark 4:3

Hearken; behold, there went out a sower to sow.

Parable of the sower

This parable is both a solemn lesson and warning, and also a description of what is actually taking place in the world. There are calls to lead a holy life perpetually going on; there are either sudden rejections or gradual forgettings of those calls. Such calls may differ in degree, and strength, and strikingness of the impression, but they are all calls; a truth is distinctly embraced by the mind of the person at the time: he sees that something is true which he had not realized to be true before, and had only held in word. That person can never afterwards say he did not know or was not made fully aware of Christian truth; or that it was always brought before him in such a way that he could not recognize it. He has been made to see it, and to recognize it. The point with which this parable deals is the various kinds of treatment accorded by different people to these calls. Let us look at the several classes.

I. The unscrupulous. By a bold, proud, sometimes even sudden and impulsive act of sin, they cast out of their hearts something which incommodes and annoys them, and threatens to interfere with their plan of enjoyment. These are they who have made up their minds to get on in life, and they refuse to let anything interfere with the realization of this desire. Judas. Ananias and Sapphira. I do not say that a man may not recover spiritually after having inflicted such a blow upon himself, but it is a dreadful act, which provokes the righteous justice of God, and that worst of punishments, a hardened heart.

II. The light-minded and careless. These could receive the Word, because that merely implies the capacity of being acted upon by solemn and powerful representations of the truth; which they might be, lust as they might be impressed by some striking scene or incident. But, being without energy of their own to take hold of the Word and extract its powers, they soon fall away. To begin a thing, and to go on with it, are two totally different affairs. The commencement is in its own nature something fresh; but to go on with an undertaking is to do things over and over again, when all the freshness has disappeared, and no incentive remains but the sense of duty. This is the true test, and under it how many fail! Upon how many do we count for continuing their profession under different circumstances? Is there not a regular expectation formed in us, when we estimate the manifestations which men make, that they will not last; that they have their time, like the seasons or periods of weather, and that they will end as naturally as they have begun? Can there be a greater contrast to the abiding faithfulness of the gospel pattern?

III. The worldly. These are not light-minded men altogether; they are serious as regards this world, calculating, exercising forecast, attentive, persevering; but it is solely in relation to this world that they maintain this gravity and seriousness. They do not give a place in their thoughts to another world. What a common mistake with regard to religion this is! Our Lord says, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon;” and yet it would almost appear as if one-half of mankind had determined to prove Him a liar, and to show that that is possible which He declared was not. Each one thinks that in his own particular case there will be a complete agreement in these two great aims and undertakings, the earthly and the spiritual; that others may have missed this union, but that they will fix upon it. They enter upon their course in life with a swing. Feeling no hesitation about themselves, they plunge into the thick of the struggle for the world’s possessions, they are carried away with the ardour of the pursuit, and they do not imagine at all that they are injuring or suppressing the religious principle in them. They think that can maintain itself, and therefore they never think of looking after it, to see how it is faring. And so the stream carries them along, being interested in the objects of the world, content with supposition and doing nothing about religion; until that which has thriven by practice has completely driven out the principle which has had no exercise, and the result is a simple man of the world.

IV. Opposed to all these is the treatment given to the word by the honest and good heart. Not sinning against light; not abandoning what it has undertaken; not captivated by worldly pomp and show: it is faithful to God; it knows the excellence of religion; it is able to count the cost, and make the sacrifice which is necessary for the great end in view. Have we this? We cannot be certain of it until we have continued and persevered to the end. Those who have begun well may boldly cast away the Spirit, or they may fall away from grace because they have no root, or they may be swallowed up by the cares and aims of worldly life. We know not what we are till we have been tried to that extent which God thinks fit. But so far as we have striven, we may feel a comfortable sense that we do possess that heart; and certainly, if we have not striven, we cannot give ourselves any such hope. Let us strive to enter in at the strait gate, and to be found among the faithful. (J. B. Mozley, D. D.)

The effect of Divine truth as conditioned by the state of men’s hearts

The title with which we are familiar is almost a misnomer. It is not the sower who is most prominent, for the seed of the Word is a more important factor; nor yet is the seed, for it is the four kinds of soil into which it shall fall that determines the seed’s future. If preachers and teachers are drawing lessons from the parable, then it may be well called the Parable of the Sower; but if the hearers of the Word are getting their lessons from it, they will find the greater part of the parable telling of the soil and the false growths therein that may render the Word unfruitful. Jesus, standing by the seashore, and surveying the motley company before Him, gives us a prophecy of the future of His truth among men. It cannot win an easy triumph. The seed is God’s own, but it does not create its own soil. It drops on what is at hand, and is to be scattered broadcast, to meet varied fortunes. (E. N. Packard.)

The sower

I.The function of the sower, not destructive but constructive; not to root up or remove, but to plant.

II. The loneliness of the sower. A sower. The reaper may work amidst a company, but the sower is always alone. Thousands reap the fruit of what one man sows.

III. The season when he goes forth to sow. No foliage, no verdure, sky cloudy, and air cold.

IV. Sowing is a sorrowful process. He goes forth weeping. He must part with a certain amount of present good, in order to obtain a larger amount of future good.

V. The nature of the seed which he sows. The word of truth must be the word of life. (Hugh Macmillan.)

The sower

I.The sower.

1. Unity of purpose. His work was seed sowing, not soil culture.

2. Variety of results.

II. The seed.

1. Its origin. Every seed was originated by Christ. But there is a sense in which every man originates his own seed. This he does when he is true to his individuality.

2. Its vitality.

3. Its growth. Man can sow, God alone can quicken.

4. Its identity. The seed is the same in all ages and climes.

III. The soil.

1. Hardness-“Some seeds fell by the wayside,” etc

2. Shallowness-“And some fell upon stony places,” etc.

3. Preoccupancy-“And some fell among thorns,” etc.

4. Richness-“Other fell into good ground,” etc.

This soil contained all the qualities essential to fruitfulness. Moisture, depth, cleanness, and quality. (A. G. Churchill.)

The leading ideas of the parable explained

These are-the sower, the seed, the ground, and the effect of casting the seed into it.

I. By the sower is meant our Saviour Himself, and all those whose office it is to instruct men in the truth and duties of religion. The business of the husbandman is, of all others, most important and necessary, requires much skill and attention, is painful and laborious, and yet not without pleasure and profit. A man of this profession ought to be well versed in agriculture, to understand the difference of soils, the various methods of cultivating the ground, the seed proper to be sown, the seasons for every kind of work, and in short how to avail himself of all circumstances that arise for the improvement of his farm. He should be patient of fatigue, inured to disappointment, and unwearied in his exertions. Every day will have its proper business. Now he will manure his ground, then plough it; now cast the seed into it, then harrow it; incessantly watch and weed it; and after many anxious cares, and, if a man of piety, many prayers to heaven, he will earnestly expect the approaching harvest. The time come, with a joyful eye he will behold the ears fully ripe bending to the hands of the reapers, put in the sickle, collect the sheaves, and bring home the precious grain to his garner. Hence we may frame an idea of the character and duty of a Christian minister. He ought to be well-skilled in Divine knowledge, to have a competent acquaintance with the world and the human heart, etc. Of these sowers some have been more skilful, and successful, and laborious than others. Among them the Apostle Paul holds a distinguished rank. But the most skilful and painful of all sowers was our Lord Jesus Christ.

II. The seed sown, which our Saviour explains of “the Word of the Kingdom,” or as St. Luke has it, “the Word of God.” The husbandman will be careful to sow his ground with good seed. He goeth forth bearing precious seed. By “the Word of the Kingdom” is meant the gospel. Let us apply it-

1. To personal religion. In the heart of every real Christian a kingdom is established. Now the seed sown in the hearts of men is the Word of this kingdom, or that Divine instruction which relates to the foundation, erection, principles, maxims, laws, immunities, government, present happiness, and future glory of this kingdom: all which we have contained in our Bibles. It is the doctrine of Christ. Again, let us apply the idea of a kingdom.