Mark 4

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This article is about the chapter of the Gospel of Mark. For other uses, see Mark 4 (disambiguation).
Mark 4
The Latin text of Mark 1:5–5:8 in Codex Gigas (13th century).
BookGospel of Mark
CategoryGospel
Christian Bible partNew Testament
Order in the Christian part2
Gospel of Mark
Chapters

Mark 4 is the fourth chapter of the

Seed Growing Secretly. The chapter ends with Jesus calming the storm
.

Text

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

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Parables

See also: Parables of Jesus

superlative of πολὺς, polus, and should be rendered 'a very great' multitude. The room and the little courtyard 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 selection".[3]

The Sower

Main article: Parable of the Sower

The first parable Mark relates is the

parable of the sower, with Jesus perhaps speaking of himself as a sower or farmer,[4] and the seed as his word. Johann Bengel refers to Christ as the sower, along with others who proclaim the gospel,[5] but the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary notes that the question, "who is the sower?" is not answered here, "because if 'the word of God' be the seed, every scatterer of that precious seed must be regarded as a sower".[6]

Much of the seed comes to no account but "[some] seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times." (4:8) His

twelve and "those around him", in many translations,[7] based on the Greek and Syriac texts,[8] but "the twelve who were with him" in the Vulgate,[9]
for not understanding him, and explains his meaning, and that those who accept his word, i.e. his teaching, are the ones who will produce the large "crop".

This parable is also found in Luke 8:4-15 and Matthew 13:1-23, and it forms Saying 9 of the Gospel of Thomas.

Lamp on a Stand

Main article: Lamp under a bushel
An illustration of the parable of "a lamp on a stand", together with the parable of the Growing Seed, in Mark 4.

Jesus then speaks of a lamp on a stand, that one does not put it under concealment 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 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) 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 don't have, even what they do have will be taken away!" Mark 4:25 also 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 also occurs in Matt 7:2 and Luke 6:38.

The Growing Seed

Main article: Parable of the Growing Seed

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 "As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest 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 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

See also: Calming the storm and Miracles of Jesus
Rembrandt's The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633

From Mark 4:35 to the end of

the lake in a boat with his disciples. Mark notes that they left a large crowd, that they took Him "just as He was", and that other boats were with Him.[11]
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?" (Mark 4:39-41,
NRSV
)

The Greek: Σιώπα (siōpa) in verse 39 means "silence", and is so translated in the New Living Translation and the Holman Christian Standard Bible.[12]

Dr. R. A. Cole, author of the commentary on Mark in the

Tyndale New Testament
Commentary series, writes:

"We must remember that
magic
but designed to show us who Jesus was."
Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovsky
1817-1900

The story of the

army of demons (see Mark 5). 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) in Mark 6
(see France for an extended discussion).

References

  1. ^ Maclear, G. F. (1893), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Mark 4, accessed 20 June 2021
  2. ^ Pulpit Commentary on Mark 4, accessed 6 June 2017
  3. ^ Meyer, H. A. W. (1880), Meyer's NT Commentary on Mark 4, sixth edition, translated and published 1880, accessed 20 June 2021
  4. ^ Baker, L. L., The Parable of the Sower - Bible Story, Bible Study Tools, published 28 September 2022, accessed 5 March 2023
  5. ^ Bengel, J. A. (1742), Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament, accessed 5 March 2023
  6. ^ Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R. and Brown, D. (1871), Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Mark 4, accessed 5 March 2023
  7. ^ Mark 4:10: New King James Version
  8. ^ MacEvilly, J. (1898), An Exposition Of The Gospels by The Most Rev. John Macevilly D.D., Mark 4, accessed 6 March 2023
  9. Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
    , translation of the Biblia Sacra Vulgata
  10. ^ Chadwick, G. A. (1896), Four Miracles, in The Gospel according to Saint Mark
  11. ^ Buls, H. H., Buls' Notes on Mark 4:35-41, accessed 15 November 2017
  12. ^ BibleGateway.com: Mark 4:39
  13. this lake the sea, using a word (thalassa) that most Greek writers reserve for the much larger Mediterranean (Luke uses the more proper term for a lake, limne, in Luke 5:1
    ; 8:22-23, 33. ...)"

Further reading

External links
Preceded by
Mark 3 		Chapters of the Bible
Gospel of Mark 		Succeeded by
Mark 5
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