Information AboutMark 4 |
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Mark 4 is the fourth chapter of the Gospel Of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible . It contains the Parable 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 also has a parable unique to Mark, the Seed Growing Secretly . PARABLES . Jesus then speaks of a lamp on a stand, that one does not put it under concealment but let's it shine. 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 sentence being, judging from all available texts, a favorite saying of Jesus. This is also in Luke 11:33 and perhaps in Matthew 10:26-27 . "'Consider carefully 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 ) There is then the parable of the Seed Growing Secretly and the parable of The Mustard Seed, each showing analogies with nature and small beginnings yielding much more in the end. They are both explanations of the nature 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 mind until "As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." ( 29 ) This is partially in Thomas 21 The Mustard Seed, says Jesus, is like the kingdom of God because it starts out as the smallest seed and yet "...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 also saying 20 of Thomas. GREAT MIRACLES From here to the end of chapter 5 are accounts of great miracles. These miracles raise the stakes over miracles which have been reported before. Mark probably intends to demonstrate the greatness of Jesus' authority (εζουσíα). The calming of the sea demonstrates Jesus' authority over Nature . Jesus has authority over not only men but even an untamable man, delivering the demoniac from not merely one Demon but a whole army of demons. At the climax of these miracle accounts, Jesus does not merely heal the sick, but he raises the dead girl, all of which sets the reader up for a greater contrast when Jesus is rejected in his home town of Nazareth ( 6:1-6 ). (see France for an extended discussion) CALMING OF THE STORM The chapter ends with an account of Jesus`s calming of the storm. He is sleeping while crossing the lake in a boat with his disciples. A storm comes up and they frantically 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?` Parallel versions of this account are also found in Mathew 8:23-27 and Luke 8:22-25. Dr R.A.Cole, author of a book 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. SEE ALSO Parables Of Jesus Miracles Of Jesus REFERENCES
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