In Mark 4, Jesus teaches by the Sea of Galilee, delivering the Parable of the Sower to a vast crowd, illustrating the reception of God's word. He innovatively uses a boat as a pulpit to reach the multitude on the shore, emphasizing new methods of teaching to engage his audience. The chapter also discusses the nature of sowing the spiritual seed and the importance of the human heart in receiving this message.

1. MARK 4 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
The Parable of the Sower
1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The
crowd that gathered around him was so large
that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the
lake, while all the people were along the shore at
the water’s edge.
GILL, "And he began again to teach by the sea side,.... He went out of the
house where he was at Capernaum, the same day he had the above discourse with the
Scribes and Pharisees, and on which his mother and: brethren came to speak with
him; and from thence he went where he had been before, and taught the people;
namely, to the sea side, the shore of the sea of Galilee, or Tiberias:
and there was gathered unto him a great multitude; which followed him
from the house, and from other parts of the city, and perhaps from the adjacent
places:
so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; in the ship at sea, at some
little distance from the shore; the sea of Tiberias being rather a lake, and within land,
had no tide, and so was still and quiet:
and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land; stood on the land, all
along the sea shore; See Gill on Mat_13:1, Mat_13:2.
HENRY, "
The foregoing chapter began with Christ's entering into the synagogue (Mar_4:1);
this chapter begins with Christ's teaching again by the sea side. Thus he changed his
method, that if possible all might be reached and wrought upon. To gratify the nice
and more genteel sort of people that had seats, chief seats, in the synagogue, and did
not care for hearing a sermon any where else, he did not preach always by the sea
side, but, having liberty, went often into the synagogue, and taught there; yet, to
gratify the poor, the mob, that could not get room in the synagogue, he did not
always preach there, but began again to teach by the sea side, where they could
come within hearing. Thus are we debtors both to the wise and to the unwise, Rom_
1:14.
1

2. Here seems to be a new convenience found out, which had not been used before,
though he had before preached by the sea side (Mar_2:13), and that was - his
standing in a ship, while his hearers stood upon the land; and that inland sea of
Tiberias having no tide, there was no ebbing and flowing of the waters to disturb
them. Methinks Christ's carrying his doctrine into a ship, and preaching it thence,
was a presage of his sending the gospel to the isles of the Gentiles, and the shipping
off of the kingdom of God (that rich cargo) from the Jewish nation, to be sent to a
people that would bring forth more of the fruits of it. Now observe here,
JAMIESON, "Mar_4:1-34. Parable of the sower - Reason for teaching in
parables - Parables of the seed growing we know not how, and of the mustard seed.
( = Mat_13:1-23, Mat_13:31, Mat_13:32; Luk_8:4-18).
And he began again to teach by the seaside: and there was gathered
unto him a great multitude — or, according to another well-supported reading,
“a mighty” or “immense multitude.”
so that he entered into a ship — rather, “the ship,” meaning the one
mentioned in Mar_3:9. (See on Mat_12:15).
and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the
land — crowded on the seashore to listen to Him. (See on Mat_13:1, Mat_13:2.)
COFFMAN, "Jesus took his message to the seashore and the open sky and
delivered the parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-9), explained it (Mark 4:10-20), and
gave a number of sentence sermons (Mark 4:21-25). He then gave the parable of
the seed growing secretly (Mark 4:26-29), and that of the mustard seed (Mark
4:30-34). The chapter is concluded by the narrative of his calming the great
storm (Mark 4:35-41).
And again he began to teach by the sea side and there is gathered unto him a
very great multitude, so that he entered into a boat, and sat in the sea; and all the
multitude were by the sea on the land. (Mark 4:1)
Jesus' innovative method of making a boat the pulpit in an auditorium of land
and sea must have been regarded by many of the religious class as sensationalism
and stunting; but, as Barclay said, "It would be well if his church was equally
wise and equally adventurous."[1]
A very great multitude ... is literally "a greatest multitude,"[2] stressing the
superlative size of the immense throng which attended the preaching of the
Master.
[1] William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press,
1956). p. 81.
[2] W. N. Clarke, Commentary on the Gospel of Mark (Valley F
PULPIT, "And again he began to teach by the seaside. This return to the seaside
is mentioned by St. Mark only. From this time our Lord's teaching began to be
more public. The room and the little courtyard no longer sufficed for the
multitudes that came to him. The Authorized Version says that "a great
multitude was gathered unto him." The Greek adjective, according to the most
2

3. approved reading, is πλεῖστος the superlative of πολὺς, and should be rendered
"a very great" multitude. They bad probably been waiting for him in the
neighborhood of Capernaum. He entered into a boat—probably the boat
mentioned at Mark 3:9—and sat in the sea, i.e. in the boat afloat on the water, so
as to be relieved of the pressure of the vast multitude ( πλεῖστος ὄχλος) gathered
on the shore.
PULPIT, "Mark 4:1-20
Spiritual sowing.
It is a picturesque and memorable sight. Multitudes of people, of all classes and
from every part of the land, have assembled on the western shore of the Galilean
lake, where Jesus is daily occupied in teaching and in healing. To protect himself
from the pressure of the crowd, and the better to command his audience, Jesus
steps into a boat, and pushes off a few yards from the beach. There, with the fair
landscape before him, corn-fields covering the slopes, the birds of the air above,
winging their flight over the still waters,—the great Teacher addresses the
people. His language is figurative, drawn from the processes of nature and the
employments of husbandry, probably at the very moment apparent to his eye.
How natural that, at this moment and in this scene, our Lord should introduce a
new style of teaching, should enter upon a new phase of ministry! The parable,
as a vehicle for spiritual truth, had indeed been employed by Jewish teachers
and prophets; but it was our Lord himself who carried this style of spiritual
instruction to perfection.
I. THE sower. Every man, and especially every teacher, is a sower—intellectual,
moral, or both. Christ is emphatically the Sower. He was such in his ministry on
earth; in his death, when the corn of wheat fell into the ground and died, he was
both the Sower and the Seed; in the gospel dispensation he continues to be the
Divine Sower. His apostles and all his ministers have been sowing through the
long centuries, or rather he has been sowing by their hands. How wise, liberal,
diligent, unwearied, is Christ in this beneficent work!
II. THE SEED. This is the Word of God. All truth is spiritual seed; the truth
relating to God—his will and grace—is "the seed of the kingdom." Like the seed,
the gospel is comparatively small and insignificant; it has within it inherent
vitality, a living germ; it is seemingly thrown away and hidden; its nature is to
grow and to increase and multiply; it is tender and depends upon the treatment
it meets with whether it lives or dies.
III. THE sore. The human heart is adapted to receive and to cherish the spiritual
seed. But as on the surface of the earth some ground is fertile and some is barren,
some ground is adapted to one crop and other ground to a crop of different kind,
so it is in the spiritual husbandry. Whilst all hearts are created to receive the
heavenly seed, and only fulfill their end when they bear spiritual fruit, we cannot
but recognize the marvellous diversity of soil into which the gospel is deposited.
Yet we must not so interpret the parable as to countenance the doctrine of
fatalism.
3

4. IV. THE sowing. Was the sower in the parable guided, in the manner and
measure of his sowing, by the likelihood or otherwise that the land would prove
fruitful? No; neither should the gospel sower reckon probabilities: his Master
did not. The sower should be liberal and indiscriminate, should "sow beside all
waters," should remember that he "knows not which shall prosper, this or that."
It is for him to do his work diligently and faithfully, and leave results to God; e.g.
the mother and the child, the teacher and the class, the master and the pupil or
apprentice, the preacher and the congregation, the author and the reader.
V. THE GROWTH. This is not universal; for, as the parable reminds us, it
comes to pass, both in the natural and the spiritual sowing, that in some cases the
seed disappears and comes to nought. Yet the redemption of Christ proclaimed,
and the grace of the Holy Spirit vouchsafed, co-operate oftentimes to most
blessed results, even as in nature seed and soil, showers and sunshine, produce a
vigorous growth.
VI. THE HARVEST. What is the end of sowing and tilling, of culture and toil? It
is fruit. And, in the spiritual kingdom, what is the aim and recompense of the
Divine and of all human sowers? It is fruit—of holiness, obedience, love, joy,
peace, eternal life. It shall not be wanting. "My word shall not return unto me
void;" "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy;" "They shall bring their sheaves
with them;" it may be "after many days." There is a harvest in time, and a
richer, riper harvest in eternity.
PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. One of encouragement for all gospel sowers; they are doing the Master's work,
they are following the Master's example, they are assured of the Master's
support.
2. One of admonition to all to whom the Word is preached. Take heed what and
how you hear. The seed is heavenly; is the soil kindly, prepared, grateful,
fruitful?
BARCLAY 1-2, "TEACHING IN PARABLES (Mark 4:1-2)
4:1-2 Jesus began again to teach by the lakeside. A very great crowd collected to
hear him, so great that he had to go on board a boat and sit in it on the lake. The
whole crowd was on the land facing the lake. He began to teach them many
things in parables, and in his teaching he began to say to them, "Listen! Look!
The sower went out to sow."
In this section we see Jesus making a new departure. He was no longer teaching
in the synagogue; he was teaching by the lakeside. He had made the orthodox
approach to the people; now he had to take unusual methods.
We do well to note that Jesus was prepared to use new methods. He was willing
to take religious preaching and teaching out of its conventional setting in the
synagogue into the open air and among the crowds of ordinary men and women.
4

5. John Wesley was for many years a faithful and orthodox servant of the Church
of England. Down in Bristol his friend George Whitefield was preaching to the
miners, to as many as twenty thousand of them at a time, in the open air; and his
hearers were being converted by the hundred. He sent for John Wesley. Wesley
said, "I love a commodious room, a soft cushion, a handsome pulpit." This whole
business of open air preaching rather offended him. He said himself, "I could
scarcely reconcile myself at first to this strange way--having been all my life (till
very lately) so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I
should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a
church." But Wesley saw that field preaching won souls and said, "I cannot
argue against a matter of fact."
There must have been many amongst the orthodox Jews who regarded this new
departure as stunting and sensationalism; but Jesus was wise enough to know
when new methods were necessary and adventurous enough to use them. It
would be well if his church was equally wise and equally adventurous.
This new departure needed a new method; and the new method Jesus chose was
to speak to the people in parables. A parable is literally something thrown beside
something else; that is to say, it is basically a comparison. It is an earthly story
with a heavenly meaning. Something on earth is compared with something in
heaven, that the heavenly truth may be better grasped in light of the earthly
illustration. Why did Jesus choose this method? And why did it become so
characteristic of him that he is known forever as the master of the parable?
(i) First and foremost, Jesus chose the parabolic method simply to make people
listen. He was not now dealing with an assembly of people in a synagogue who
were more or less bound to remain there until the end of the service. He was
dealing with a crowd in the open air who were quite free to walk away at any
time. Therefore, the first essential was to interest them. Unless their interest was
aroused they would simply drift away. Sir Philip Sidney speaks of the poet's
secret: "With a tale forsooth he cometh unto you, with a tale that holdeth
children from play and old men from the chimney-corner." The surest way to
awaken men's interest is to tell them stories and Jesus knew that.
(ii) Further, when Jesus used the parabolic method he was using something with
which Jewish teachers and audiences were entirely familiar. There are parables
in the Old Testament of which the most famous is the story of the one ewe lamb
that Nathan told to David when he had treacherously eliminated Uriah and
taken possession of Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:1-7). The Rabbis habitually used
parables in their teaching. It was said of Rabbi Meir that he spoke one-third in
legal decisions; one-third in exposition; and one-third in parables.
Here are two examples of Rabbinic parables. The first is the work of Rabbi
Judah the Prince (e. A.D. 190). Antoninus, the Roman Emperor, asked him how
there could be punishment in the world beyond, for since body and soul after
their separation could not have committed sin they could blame each other for
the sins committed upon earth. The Rabbi answered in a parable:
5

6. A certain king had a beautiful garden in which was excellent
fruit; and over it he appointed two watchmen, one blind and one
lame. The lame man said to the blind man, "I see exquisite
fruit in the garden. Carry me thither that I may get it and we
will eat it together." The blind man consented and both ate of
the fruit. After some days the Lord of the garden came and
asked the watchmen concerning the fruit. Then the lame man
said, "As I have no legs I could not go to it, so it is not my
fault." And the blind man said, "I could not even see it so it
is not my fault." What did the Lord of the garden do? He made
the blind man carry the lame and thus passed judgment on them
both. So God will replace the souls in their bodies and will
punish both together for their sins.
When Rabbi Chiyya's son Abin died at the early age of twenty-eight, Rabbi Zera
delivered the funeral oration, which he put in the form of a parable:
A king had a vineyard for which he engaged many labourers,
one of whom was specially apt and skilful. What did the king
do? He took this labourer from his work, and walked through the
garden conversing with him. When the labourers came for their
hire in the evening the skilful labourer appeared among them
and received a full day's wages from the king. The other
labourers were very angry at this, and said, "We have toiled
the whole day, while this man has worked but two hours. Why
does the king give him the full hire even as unto us?" The king
said to them, "Why are you angry? Through his skill he has done
6

7. more in the two hours than you have done all day." So it is
with Rabbi Abin ben Chiyya. In the twenty-eight years of his
life he has learned more than others learn in a hundred years.
Hence he has fulfilled his life work, and is entitled to be
called to Paradise earlier than others from his work on earth;
nor will he miss aught of his reward.
When Jesus used the parabolic method of teaching, he was using a method with
which the Jews were familiar and which they could understand.
(iii) Still further, when Jesus used the parabolic method of teaching he was
making the abstract idea concrete. Few people can grasp abstract ideas. Most
people think in pictures. We could talk about beauty for long enough and no one
would be any the wiser; but, if we can point to a person and say, "That is a
beautiful person," beauty becomes clear. We could talk about goodness for long
enough and fail to arrive at a definition of it; but every one recognizes a good
deed when he sees one. There is a sense in which every word must become flesh;
every idea must be actualized in a person. When the New Testament talks about
faith it takes the example of Abraham so that the idea of faith becomes flesh in
the person of Abraham. Jesus was a wise teacher. He knew that it was useless to
expect simple minds to cope with abstract ideas; and so he put the abstract ideas
into concrete stories; he showed them in action; he made them into persons, so
that men might grasp and understand them.
(iv) Lastly, the great virtue of the parable is that it compels a man to think for
himself. It does not do his thinking for him. It compels him to make his own
deduction and to discover the truth for himself. The worst way to help a child is
to do his work for him. It does not help him at all to do his sums, write his essay,
work out his problems, compose his Latin prose. It does help greatly to give him
the necessary help to do it for himself. That is what Jesus was aiming at. Truth
has always a double impact when it is a personal discovery. Jesus did not wish to
save men the mental sweat of thinking; he wished to make them think. He did
not wish to make their minds lazy; he wished to make them active. He did not
wish to take the responsibility from them; he wished to lay the responsibility on
them. So he used the parabolic method, not to do men's thinking for them, but to
encourage them to do their own thinking. He presented them with truth which, if
they would make the right effort in the right frame of mind, they could discover
for themselves, and therefore possess it in a way that made it really and truly
theirs.
PULPIT, "Mark 4:1
Divine teaching from the fisherman's boat.
7

8. Matthew gives us, in the thirteenth chapter of his Gospel, a series of seven
parables, which correspond with the three which Mark records here. They all
illustrate the nature and the progress of the kingdom of God which Christ sought
to establish. The parable of the sower describes the founding of the kingdom,
and the various difficulties with which it would meet; the parable of the seed
growing secretly teaches us that its progress would be natural, unostentatious,
and certain; while the parable of the mustard seed declares that in its final
consummation it would have wide-reaching influence. The second of these is
peculiar to Mark. We propose to consider, not the parables themselves, but the
circumstances under which they were uttered, which also suggest and illustrate
truths concerning the kingdom. Our Lord's teaching from the fisherman's boat
suggests the following thoughts:—
I. THAT HOSTILITY MAY CHANGE OUR METHOD, BUT MUST NOT BE
ALLOWED TO PREVENT OUR WORK. The Pharisees had become openly
antagonistic to our Lord. Their spies followed him everywhere. Their
controversial champions argued with him and misrepresented him in the
synagogues. This hostility drove the Lord from the sanctuaries of his people. He
would not suffer his Father's house to be desecrated by such tactics. Accordingly,
he no longer, as a rule, was found in the synagogues, but in the fields and streets,
in the homes of the people, or in the fishing-boats that rocked on the Sea of
Galilee. He thus acted on the principle he laid down for his disciples when he
said to them, "If they persecute you in one city, flee to another." And that
principle still holds good, and may have the widest application. St. Paul acted on
it when he adapted himself, under varying circumstances, to the conditions of his
hearers. If he addressed the people of Lystra, he did not argue from the Old
Testament, of which they knew nothing, but pointed to the mountains and fields,
and spoke of the God who gave them "fruitful seasons." If he was surrounded by
Athenians in their beautiful city, he referred to the temples which crowned the
Acropolis, and to the statues which adorned the Agora. If he was in the
synagogue at Antioch, in Pisidia, he argued from the sacred Scriptures, the
authority of which his hearers acknowledged. He became "all things to all men,
if by any means he might win some;" and in this he followed in the footsteps of
the great Teacher, who, when refused a fair hearing in the synagogue, preached
beside the open sea. Thus, with the utmost flexibility and freedom, Christian
workers should alter their methods to meet the changing circumstances in which
they find themselves; never for a moment losing sight of the object they have set
before themselves, but seeking to attain that by the most suitable means. This
may be applied to those who preach or teach, whether amongst the sceptical or
the indifferent, among the children or the cultured.
II. THAT THERE IS NO PLACE WHERE GOD'S WORK MAY NOT BE
DONE. The change in method, indicated by the text, did not trouble our Lord as
it would have troubled any one to whom place and mode seem everything in
worship. All the earth was holy in his eyes. The heavenly Father was near him
everywhere. The rippling of the sea or the rustling of the corn would be more
grateful to him than the murmured repetitions of formal prayers by the
mechanical and unspiritual worshippers in the synagogue. Apart from
persecution, he would often have chosen, from preference, such a sphere of work
8

9. as this, as indeed he did when he preached the sermon on the mount. Read his
teaching to the woman of Samaria (John 4:20, John 4:21), and see how
acceptable to God is spiritual worship wherever it may be offered. Study the
parable that immediately follows our text, and you will notice that the sower
threw out his seed broadcast upon all kinds of soil. Our Lord would preach in a
Pharisee's house, or on a mountain, or from a boat, as readily as in a synagogue
or in the temple; for "Holiness to the Lord" (Zechariah 14:20) was written
everywhere, and he accounted "nothing common or unclean" (Acts 10:15). Too
often Christian workers select their little sphere for service, and strictly confine
themselves to it, contented that multitudes should be left untouched who might
easily be brought under their influence. The true sower is willing to scatter his
seed broadcast.
III. THAT THE MODE OF OUR LORD'S TEACHING MADE HIS
UTTERANCES MORE WIDELY ACCEPTABLE. This was not only true of his
own day, but of ours. Publicans, lepers, and outcasts, excluded from the
synagogue, could hear him on the beach; and all "the common people heard him
gladly," for he spake "as one having authority, and not as the scribes." It is well
for us also that it was so. There is wonderfully little local colouring about his
words; a marvellous freedom from such theological technicalities as the rabbis
were wont to use; and his teaching, therefore, comes home to us as it never would
have done if couched in the phraseology currently used for the interpretation of
the Law. His utterances are fragrant with the fresh air, and they ring with a
pleasant freedom, for which we cannot be too thankful; for what might have
been Jewish is human, and the words of him who called himself, not "the Son of
David," but the "Son of man," are so simple and natural, that there is not a
fisherman on our coasts, not a merchant in our streets, not a housewife in our
homes, not a sower in our fields, who may not know something of the meaning
and beauty of the doctrine of the great Teacher who has come from God.
IV. THAT OUR LORD'S POSITION IN THE FISHING-BOAT IS A SIGN OF
THE TRANSIENT NATURE OF ABUSED PRIVILEGES. Christ in the boat
has often been regarded as an emblem of Christ in his Church. From both he
preaches to the world. The Church, in comparison with the world it seeks to
influence, is small, as the boat with the few in it was small compared with the
crowds listening upon the beach; and her comparative poverty may be
represented by that fisherman's barque, which had about it, we may be sure, no
costly adornment. But small and poor as the Church may seem, and the Christ
who is in it, she is free as the Master was, who could in a moment leave those
who were hostile or unreceptive, and pass over to the other side (Luke 8:37).
There are yet to be found amongst us the impenitent and foolhardy, to whom he
will have to say, "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my
hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would
none of my reproof: I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your
fear cometh.'—A.R.
LIGHTFOOT, "[He began to teach.] That is, he taught; by a phrase very usual
to these holy writers, because very usual to the nation: Rabh Canah began to be
tedious in his prayer; that is, he was tedious. That scholar began to weep; that is
9

10. he wept. "The ox began to low"; that is, he lowed. "When the tyrant's letter was
brought to the Rabbins, they began to weep"; that is, they wept.
This our evangelist useth also another word, and that numberless times almost:
the others also use it, but not so frequently; namely, the word presently; which
answereth to the word out of hand, most common among the Talmudists. We
meet with it in this our evangelist seven or eight times in the first chapter, and
elsewhere very frequently: and that not seldom according to the custom of the
idiom, more than out of the necessity of the thing signified
BI, "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 (Psa_78:2; Mat_13:34-35).
2. In consequence of the moral state of the Jewish nation (Isa_6:9-10; Mat_
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 (Mat_13:14-15; Isa_6:9-10; Joh_
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
10

11. 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.
(1) An intemperate use of figures tends to sensualise the mind and deprave
the taste. Sensible objects engross the attention of mankind, and have an
undue influence on their appetites and passions. They walk by sight, not by
faith.
(2) The misapplication of figures, whereby false ideas are given the hearer of
the things they are made to stand for. It is easy to conceive how men’s notions
of the other world, invisible spirits, and the blessed God Himself, may in this
way be perverted. A licentious imagination has given rise to tenets the most
absurd and impious. To this the idolatry of the pagan world may be traced up
as its proper source (Rom_1:21-28).
(3) The reasoning injudiciously from types and figures, begets a kind of faith
that is precarious and ineffectual. We have clear and positive proofs of the
facts the gospel relates, and the important doctrines that are founded
thereon. But if, instead of examining these proofs to the bottom, and
reasoning with men upon them, we content ourselves with mere analogical
evidence, and rest the issue of the question in debate upon fanciful and
imaginary grounds, our faith will be continually wavering, and produce no
substantial and abiding fruits. An enthusiast, struck with appearances,
instantly yields his assent to a proposition, without considering at all the
evidence. But as soon as his passions cool, and the false glare upon his
imagination subsides, his faith dies away, and the fruit expected from it
proves utterly abortive. (S. Stennett, D. D.)
2 He taught them many things by parables, and
11

12. in his teaching said:
CLARKE, "He taught them many things by parables - See every part of this
parable of the sower explained on Mat_13:1 (note), etc.
GILL, "And he taught them many things by parables,.... As he sat in the ship,
and they stood on shore;
and said unto them in his doctrine; as he was teaching them, and delivering
unto them the doctrine he had received from his Father: though the Jews say (c), that
"the Israelites will have no need ‫משיח‬ ‫מלך‬ ‫של‬ ‫,לתלמודו‬ "of the doctrine of the king
Messiah, in the time to come"; because it is said, "unto him shall the Gentiles seek",
and not the Israelites.''
But it appears from hence, and many other places, that the Israelites both stood in
need of his doctrine, and sought after it; and very excellent it was; the doctrine of
God, and of the grace of God; and was spoken with authority, and in such a manner
as never man spake, and which he delivered to his apostles; and which, if ministers
bring not with them, should not be bid God speed.
HENRY, "I. The way of teaching that Christ used with the multitude (Mar_4:2);
He taught them many things, but it was by parables or similitudes, which would
tempt them to hear; for people love to be spoken to in their own language, and
careless hearers will catch at a plain comparison borrowed from common things, and
will retain and repeat that, when they have lost, or perhaps never took, the truth
which it was designed to explain and illustrate: but unless they would take pains to
search into it, it would but amuse them; seeing they would see, and not perceive
(Mar_4:12); and so, while it gratified their curiosity, it was the punishment of their
stupidity; they wilfully shut their eyes against the light, and therefore justly did
Christ put it into the dark lantern of a parable, which had a bright side toward those
who applied it to themselves, and were willing to be guided by it; but to those who
were only willing for a season to play with it, it only gave a flash of light now and
then, but sent them away in the dark. It is just with God to say of those that will not
see, that they shall not see, and to hide from their eyes, who only look about them
with a great deal of carelessness, and never look before them with any concern upon
the things that belong to their peace.
JAMIESON, "And he taught them many things by parables, and said
unto them in his doctrine — or “teaching.”
COFFMAN, "Practically all of this chapter deals with parables. The Hebrews
had but a single word for several English words, including both PARABLE and
PROVERB. "A parable is a truth presented by a similitude, being of necessity
figurative"; but a proverb may be "figurative, but not necessarily."[3] The
12

13. reason for Jesus' resort to the method of teaching by parables is complex: (1) He
did so in order to fulfill prophecy. (2) He did so to confound the spies of the
Pharisees. (3) He thus challenged his disciples to greater spiritual discernment.
(4) The Hebrew people were familiar with that method. (5) It made his teachings
easier to remember. (6) The parables were interesting in the highest degree. (7)
They contained the dynamic teaching of Jesus in language which was unsuitable
to the court-charges the Pharisees were anxious to make against him. In short,
he, by this method, taught those who wished to know the truth and confounded
those who sought to oppose him. In the literature of all the world, there is
nothing to compare with the parables of Jesus.
ENDNOTE:
[3] E. Bickersteth. The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), Vol. 16, p. 156.
PULPIT, "He taught them many things in parables. This was a new system of
teaching. For some months he had taught directly. But as he found that this
direct teaching was met in some quarters with unbelief and scorn, he abandoned
it for the less direct method of the parable. The parable ( παραβολή) is
etymologically the setting forth of one thing by the side of another, so that the
one may be compared with the other. The parable is the truth presented by a
similitude. It differs from the proverb inasmuch as it is necessarily figurative.
The proverb may be figurative, but it need not of necessity be figurative. The
parable is often an expanded proverb, and the proverb a condensed parable.
There is but one Hebrew word for the two English words "parable" and
"proverb," which may account for their being frequently interchanged. The
proverb (Latin) is a common sentiment generally accepted. The parable (Greek)
is something put by the side of something else. Theologically, it is something in
the world of nature which finds its counterpart in the world of spirit. The
parable attracts attention, and so becomes valuable as a test of character. It
reveals the seekers after truth, those who love the light. It withdraws the light
from those who love darkness. And said unto them in his doctrine ( ἐν τῇ διδαχῇ
αὐτοῦ); literally, in his teaching, namely, that particular mode of teaching which
he bad just introduced; "he taught them" ( ἐδίδασκεν). He said, "in his
teaching" ( ἐν τῇ διδαχῇ αὐτοῦ).
3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.
GILL, "Hearken, behold, there went out a sower to sow. By whom is meant
Jesus Christ, who came forth from God as a teacher, and went out into the land of
Judea to preach the Gospel, which is sowing spiritual things among men; and this
may be also applicable to any faithful minister of the word.
HENRY, "II. The way of expounding that he used with his disciples; When he
13

14. was alone by himself, not only the twelve, but others that were about him with the
twelve, took the opportunity to ask him the meaning of the parables, Mar_4:10. They
found it good to be about Christ; the nearer him the better; good to be with the
twelve, to be conversant with those that are intimate with him. And he told them
what a distinguishing favour it was to them, that they were made acquainted with the
mystery of the kingdom of God, Mar_4:11. The secret of the Lord was with them.
That instructed them, which others were only amused with, and they were made to
increase in knowledge by every parable, and understood more of the way and method
in which Christ designed to set up his kingdom in the world, while others were
dismissed, never the wiser. Note, Those who know the mystery of the kingdom of
heaven, must acknowledge that it is given to them; they receive both the light and
the sight from Jesus Christ, who, after his resurrection, both opened the scriptures,
and opened the understanding, Luk_24:27, Luk_24:45.
In particular, we have here,
1. The parable of the sower, as we had it, Mat_13:3, etc. He begins (Mar_4:3), with,
Hearken, and concludes (Mar_4:9) with, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Note, The words of Christ demand attention, and those who speak from him, may
command it, and should stir it up; even that which as yet we do not thoroughly
understand, or not rightly, we must carefully attend to, believing it to be both
intelligible and weighty, that at length we may understand it; we shall find more in
Christ's sayings than at first there seemed to be.
2. The exposition of it to the disciples. Here is a question Christ put to them before
he expounded it, which we had not in Matthew (Mar_4:13); “Know ye not this
parable? Know ye not the meaning of it? How then will ye know all parables?” (1.)
“If ye know not this, which is so plain, how will ye understand other parables, which
will be more dark and obscure? If ye are gravelled and run aground with this, which
bespeaks so plainly the different success of the word preached upon those that hear
it, which ye yourselves may see easily, how will ye understand the parables which
hereafter will speak of the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles, which
is a thing ye have no idea of?” Note, This should quicken us both to prayer and pains
that we may get knowledge, that there are a great many things which we are
concerned to know; and if we understand not the plain truths of the gospel, how shall
we master those that are more difficult? Vita brevis, ars longa - Life is short, art is
long. If we have run with the footmen, and they have wearied us, and run us down,
then how shall we contend with horses? Jer_12:5. (2.) “If ye know not this, which is
intended for your direction in hearing the word, that ye may profit by it; how shall ye
profit by what ye are further to hear? This parable is to teach you to be attentive to
the word, and affected with it, that you may understand it. If ye receive not this, ye
will not know how to use the key by which ye must be let into all the rest.” If we
understand not the rules we are to observe in order to our profiting by the word, how
shall we profit by any other rule? Observe, Before Christ expounds the parable, [1.]
He shows them how sad their case was, who were not let into the meaning of the
doctrine of Christ; To you it is given, but not to them. Note, It will help us to put a
value upon the privileges we enjoy as disciples of Christ, to consider the deplorable
state of those who want such privileges, especially that they are out of the ordinary
way of conversion; lest they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven
them. Mar_4:12. Those only who are converted, have their sins forgiven them: and it
is the misery of unconverted souls, that they lie under unpardoned guilt. [2.] He
shows them what a shame it was, that they needed such particular explanations of
the word they heard, and did not apprehend it at first. Those that would improve in
knowledge, must be made sensible of their ignorance.
14

15. JAMIESON, "Mar_4:3-9, Mar_4:13-20. Parable of the Sower.
Mar_4:3, Mar_4:14. The sower, the seed, and the soil.
Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow — What means this? See
on Mar_4:14.
SBC, "Waste.
The sower went out to sow, and, as he sowed, there was a great waste. Much precious
seed fell, to his right hand and to his left, on ground unprepared to receive it. Ground
hard as the nether millstone was one part of the surface on which the germ of food
and life fell. It lay there for a few moments, more or less, but it sank not in, it found
no receptive, no digestive, no assimilating power in the earth on which it lighted; it
was caught away and devoured, and the act of sowing was all that it ever knew of a
harvest.
I. The text teaches us to regard waste of all kinds as a great fault and sin. Wasted
food, wasted money, wasted health, wasted time, wasted opportunities of doing and
receiving good, these, in their several ways, are all sins against God and our own
souls.
II. Observe that, sinful as waste of any kind is in us, there is in nature, in providence,
in the spiritual world, a constant waste going on, suggesting much of anxious and
painful wonder. In nature, might we not almost say that for one thing used, ten are
wasted? for every seed brought to maturity in plant or tree, ten perish and are
defeated? for every human body preserved through the accidents and risks of life to
complete its term of earthly existence, ten fall prematurely into disease and decay,
and are abruptly cut off from that amount of enjoyment and of usefulness which
might seem, theoretically at least, to be the birthright and inheritance of all into
whose nostrils has once been breathed the creative breath of life? Would we could
stop here! would that we could ascribe only to that part of God’s operations which we
call nature, or at the utmost to that part of God’s operations which we call
providence, the manifestation of that principle of which we are speaking. But in the
spiritual world also—it is the saddest sight of all—we seem to see it in its fullest
development. How much of truth—precious life-giving truth—have we trifled away in
our short lifetimes! Let us awake to a better appreciation of the gift of the Word of
life, that we may at last hear unto profiting, and believe to the saving of our souls.
C. J. Vaughan, Memorials of Harrow Sundays, p. 304.
PULPIT, "Mark 4:3-8
Hearken ( ακούετε). This word is introduced in St. Mark's narrative only; and it
is very suitable to the warning at verse 9, "he hath ears to hear, let him hear. The
sower went forth to sow. The scope of this beautiful parable is this: Christ
teaches us that he is the Sower, that is, the great Preacher of the gospel among
men.
1. But not all who hear the gospel believe it and receive it; just as some of the
seed sown fell by the wayside, on the hard footpath, where it could not penetrate
the ground, but lay upon the surface, and so was picked up by the birds.
2. Again, not all who hear and believe persevere in the faith; some fall away; like
the seed sown on rocky ground, which springs up indeed, but for want of depth
15

16. of soil puts forth no root, and is soon scorched by the rising sun, and, being
without root, withers away.
3. But further, not all who show faith bring forth the fruit of good works; like
the seed sown among the thorns, which, growing up together with it, choked it
( συνέπνιξαν αὐτὸ); such is the meaning. St. Luke has the words ( συμφυεῖσαι αἱ
ἄκανθαι ἀπέπνιξαν), "the thorns grew up with it and choked it."
4. But, lastly, there are those who receive the gospel in the love of it, and bring
forth fruit, not, however, in equal measures, but some thirtyfold, some sixty,
some a hundred; and this on account of the greater influences of grace, or on
account of the more ready co-operation of the free-will of man with the sovereign
grace of God. The whole parable marks a gradation. In the first case the seed
produces nothing; in the second it produces only the blade; in the third it is near
the point of producing fruit, but fails to bring forth to perfection; in the fourth it
yields fruit, but in different measures.
COFFMAN, "THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER
The interpretation of the various things of this great parable will be undertaken
in connection with the Saviour's own explanation of it, beginning in Mark 4:14.
Hearken ... and Let him hear ... are, in a sense, the Lord's own double
exclamation points bracketing the parable first and last, and thus indicating its
very great importance.
Seeds ... (in Mark 4:8), being plural, and thus contrasting with "some" and
"other" seed mentioned in Mark 4:4 and Mark 4:7, is important, according to
Cranfield,[4] who saw in this an indication of a great harvest, the size of the
harvest, in his view, being the great message of the parable.
A fact of great significance is that Jesus our Lord saw in the entire world around
him the analogies between earthly and heavenly things. His mightiest teachings
were related to a farmer planting wheat, fishermen casting nets, the lamp, the
bed, the bushel, the candlestick, the hen and little chickens, the yoke, pruning
grape vines, patching old clothes, making bread, a son leaving home, a merchant
seeking pearls, a shepherd finding the lost sheep, searching for a lost coin,
lighting a lamp, sweeping the house, etc. "Earthly things must remind us of
heavenly. We must translate the book of nature into the book of grace."[5]
A proper understanding of this parable depends upon a knowledge of the
method of sowing grain which was used in Jesus' times, and which may still be
observed in the world today. The sower put a bag full of grain on his shoulder,
having first prepared his field; and then he strode forth scattering the seeds with
his hands, fanning them out in an arc before him as he walked. Naturally, such a
sowing is a jubilee for the birds. Also, any seeds falling upon a pathway, or into
thorn-infested ground, were unproductive. However, the farmer mentioned by
Jesus made a good crop.
16

17. [4] C. E. B. Cranfield, The Gospel according to St. Mark (Cambridge: The
University Press, 1966), p. 150.
[5] Thomas Taylor, On the Parable of the Sower, 1634.
BARCLAY, "FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN (Mark 4:3-9)
4:3-9 "Listen! Look! The sower went out to sow. As he was sowing, some seed fell
along the roadside; and the birds came and devoured it. Some fell upon rocky
ground where it did not have much earth; and it sprang up immediately, because
it had no depth of earth, but, when the sun rose, it was scorched, and it was
withered away, because it had no root. Some fell among thorns; and the thorns
crowded in on it until they choked the life out of it, and it did not yield any fruit.
And some fen on good ground; and, as it grew up and grew greater, it yielded
fruit and bore as much as thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." And he
said, "Who has ears to hear, let him hear."
We leave the interpretation of this parable until we come to the interpretation
Mark gives us, and for the moment we consider it only as a specimen of Jesus'
parabolic teaching in action. The scene is the lakeside; Jesus is sitting in the boat
just off the shore. The shore shelves gently down to the water's edge, and makes
a natural amphitheatre for the crowd. Even as he talks Jesus sees a sower busy
sowing seed in the fields beside the lake. "Look!" he said, "The sower went out
to sow." Herein is the whole essence of the parabolic method.
(i) Jesus started from the here and now to get to the there and then. He started
from a thing that was happening at that moment on earth in order to lead men's
thoughts to heaven; he started from something which all men could see to get to
the things that are invisible; he started from something which all men knew to
get to something which they had never as yet realized. That was the very essence
of Jesus' teaching. He did not bewilder men by starting with things which were
strange and abstruse and involved; he started with the simplest things that even
a child could understand.
(ii) By so doing Jesus showed that he believed that there was a real kinship
between earth and heaven. Jesus would not have agreed that "earth was a desert
drear." He believed that in the ordinary, common, everyday things of life men
could see God. As William Temple put it: "Jesus taught men to see the operation
of God in the regular and the normal--in the rising of the sun and the falling of
the rain and the growth of the plant." Long ago Paul had the same idea when he
said that the visible world is designed to make known the invisible things of God
(Romans 1:20). For Jesus this world was not a lost and evil place; it was the
garment of the living God. Sir Christopher Wren lies buried in St. Paul's
Cathedral, the great church that his own genius planned and built. On his
tombstone there is a simple Latin inscription which means, "If you wish to see
his monument, look around you." Jesus would have said, "If you wish to see
God, look around you." Jesus finds in the common things of life a countless
source of signs which lead men to God if they will only read them aright.
(iii) The very essence of the parables is that they were spontaneous, extempore
17

18. and unrehearsed. Jesus looks round, seeking a point of contact with the crowd.
He sees the sower and on the spur of the moment that sower becomes his text.
The parables were not stories wrought out in the quiet of a study; they were not
carefully thought out and polished and rehearsed. Their supreme greatness is
that Jesus composed these immortal short stories on the spur of the moment.
They were produced by the demand of the occasion and in the cut and thrust of
debate.
C. J. Cadoux said of the parables: "A parable is art harnessed for service and
conflict.... Here we find the reason why the parable is so rare. It requires a
considerable degree of art, but art exercised under hard conditions. In the three
typical parables of the Bible the speaker takes his life in his hands. Jotham
( 9:8-15) spoke his parable of the trees to the men of Shechem and then fled for
his life. Nathan (2 Samuel 12:1-7), with the parable of the ewe-lamb, told an
oriental despot of his sin. Jesus in the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen used
his own death sentence as a weapon for his cause.... In its most characteristic use
the parable is a weapon of controversy, not shaped like a sonnet in undisturbed
concentration but improvised in conflict to meet the unpremeditated situation. In
its highest use it shows the sensitiveness of the poet, the penetration, rapidity and
resourcefulness of the protagonist, and the courage that allows such a mind to
work unimpeded by the turmoil and danger of mortal conflict."
When we bear in mind that the parables of Jesus were flashed out extempore,
their wonder is increased a hundredfold.
(iv) That brings us to a point we must always remember in our attempts to
interpret the parables. They were, in the first instance, not meant to be read but
to be heard. That is to say, in the first instance, no one could sit down and study
them phrase by phrase and word by word. They were spoken not to be studied at
length and at leisure, but to produce an immediate impression and reaction. That
is to say, the parables must never be treated as allegories. In an allegory every
part and action and detail of the story has an inner significance. The Pilgrim's
Progress and the Faerie Queene are allegories; in them every event and person
and detail has a symbolic meaning. Clearly an allegory is something to be read
and studied and examined; but a parable is something which was heard once and
once only. Therefore what we must look for in a parable is not a situation in
which every detail stands for something but a situation in which one great idea
leaps out and shines like a flash of lightning. It is always wrong to attempt to
make every detail of a parable mean something. It is always right to say: "What
one idea would flash into a man's mind when he heard this story for the first
time?"
BI, "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
18

19. 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
19

20. 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.
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21. 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.
2. To the Christian dispensation, or the whole visible church. In this sense it is
used by John the Baptist, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven,” that is, the
gospel dispensation, “is at hand.” All who profess the doctrine, and submit to the
institutions of Christ, compose one body of which He is the head, one kingdom of
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22. which He is the sovereign-“a kingdom which,” He himself tells us, “is not of this
world.” Now the gospel is the seed of this kingdom, as it gives us the laws by
which it is to be regulated, of worship, ordinances, discipline, protection, increase
and final glory. Once more, the term kingdom is to be understood also.
3. Of heaven, and all the happiness and glory to be enjoyed there. The gospel is
the Word of this kingdom, as it has assured us upon the most certain grounds of
its reality, and given us the amplest description of its glories our present
imperfect faculties are capable of receiving.
III. To consider the ground into which the seed is east, by which our Saviour intends
the soul of man, that is, the understanding, judgment, memory, will, and affections.
The ground, I mean the earth on which we tread, is now in a different state from
what it was in the beginning, the curse of God having been denounced upon it. In like
manner, the soul of man, in consequence of the apostacy of our first parents, is
enervated, polluted, and depraved. It shall suffice at present to observe, that as there
is a variety in the soil of different countries, and as the ground in some places is less
favourable for cultivation than in others, so it is in regard of the soul. There is a
difference in the strength, vigour, and extent of men’s natural faculties; nor can it be
denied that the moral powers of the soul are corrupted in some, through sinful
indulgences, to a greater degree than in others. As to mental abilities, who is not
struck with the prodigious disparity observable among mankind in this respect? Here
we see one of a clear understanding, a lively imagination, a sound judgment, a
retentive memory, and there another, remarkably deficient in each of these
excellences, if not wholly destitute of them all. These are gifts distributed among
mankind in various portions. But none possess them in that perfection they were
enjoyed by our first ancestors in their primeval state. The ground must be first made
good, and then it will be fruitful.
IV. Consider the general process of this business, as it is either expressly described
or plainly intimated in the parable. The ground, first manured and made good, is laid
open by the plough, the seed is cast into it, the earth is thrown over it, in the bosom
of the earth it remains awhile, at length, mingling with it, it gradually expands,
shoots up through the clods, rises into the stalk and then the ear, so ripens, and at
the appointed time brings forth fruit. Such is the wonderful process of vegetation.
Nor can we advert thus generally to these particulars, without taking into view at
once the exertions of the husbandman, the mutual operation of the seed and the
earth on each other, and the seasonable influence of the sun and the rain, under the
direction and benediction of Divine providence. So, in regard of the great business of
religion, the hearts of men are first disposed to listen to the instructions of God’s
Word; these instructions are then, like the seed, received into the understanding,
will, and affections; and after a while, having had their due operation there, bring
forth, in various degrees, the acceptable fruits of love and obedience. And how
natural, in this case, as in the former, while we are considering the rise and progress
of religion in the soul, to advert, agreeable to the figure in the parable, to the happy
concurrence of a Divine influence, with the great truths of the gospel, dispensed by
ministers, and with the reasonings of the mind and heart about them. To shut out all
idea here of such influence would be as absurd as to exclude the influence of the
atmosphere and sun from any concern in culture and vegetation. Let the
husbandman lay what manure he will on barren ground, it can produce no change in
the temperature of it, unless it thoroughly penetrates it, and kindly mingles with it;
and this it cannot do without the assistance of the falling dew and rain, and the genial
heat of the sun. In like manner, all attempts, however proper in themselves, to
change the hearts of men, and to dispose them to a cordial reception of Divine truths,
will be vain without the concurrence of Almighty grace, Reflections:
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23. 1. How honourable, important, and laborious is the employment of ministers.
2. What a great blessing is the Word of God.
3. What cause have we for deep humiliation before God, when we reflect on the
miserable depravity of human nature.
4. How great are our obligations to Divine grace for the renewing influences of
the Holy Spirit. Let not the regard which the sower pays to Divine providence,
reproach out inattention and insensibility to the more noble and salutary
influences of Divine grace. (S. Stennett, D. D.)
The four kinds of soil
The growth of the seed depends always on the quality of the soil. The stress of the
story lies not on the character of the sower, or even on the quality of the seed, but on
the nature of the soil. The character of the hearer determines the effect of the Word
upon him. We should cultivate the habit of profitable hearing. It is well that our
students should be instructed how to preach, but it is equally important that the
people should be taught how to hear; for if it be true, as is sometimes cynically said,
that good preaching is one of the lost arts, it is to be feared that good hearing also has
too largely disappeared; and, wherever the fault may have begun, the two act and re-
act on each other. A good hearer makes a lively preacher, just as really as a poor
preacher makes a dull hearer; and eloquence is not all in the speaker. To use Mr.
Gladstone’s illustration, he gets from his bearers in vapour that which he returns to
them in flood, and a receptive and responsive audience adds fervour and intensity to
his utterance. Eloquent hearing, therefore, is absolutely indispensable to effective
preaching; and so it is quite as necessary that listeners should be taught to hear, as it
is that preachers should be taught what and how to speak.
1. Taking, then, first, the things to be guarded against, we find foremost among
these the danger of preventing the truth from getting any entrance into the soul
at all. The seed that fell upon the pathway lay on the outside of the soil. The
ground had been so hardened by the tread of many feet, that the grain could not
get into it. The soul may be sermon-hardened as well as sin-hardened. But
another thing which makes a foot walk over the soul is evil habit.
2. But a second danger to be avoided is that of shallow impulsiveness. So the man
of shallow nature makes a great show at first. He is all enthusiasm. He “never
heard such a sermon in all his life.” He seems greatly moved, and for a time it
looks as if he were really converted; but it does not last. It is but an ague fever,
which is succeeded by a freezing chill; and by and by some new excitement
follows, to give place in its turn to another alternation into cold neglect. He lacks
depth of character, for he has nothing but rock beneath the surface. He seems to
have much feeling, indeed, and his religion is all emotional; but, in reality, he has
no proper feeling. It is all superficial. That which is only feeling, will not even be
feeling long. Now, the fault in all this lies in a lack of thoughtfulness, or a
neglecting to “count the cost.” The man of depth looks before he leaps. He will
not commit himself until he has carefully examined all that is involved; but when
he does thus commit himself, he does so irrevocably. He who signs a document
without reading it will be very likely to repudiate it when any trouble comes of it;
but the man who knew what he was doing when he appended his name to it, if he
be a true man, will stand to his bond at all hazards. Now, the merely impulsive,
shallow, flippant hearer acts without deliberation, signs his bond without reading
it, and is therefore easily discouraged. When he is called to suffer anything
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24. unpleasant for his confession, he breaks down. He had not calculated on such a
contingency. He enlisted only for the review, and not for the battle; and so, on the
first alarm of war, he disappears from the ranks. He did not stop to consider all
that his enlistment involved; he was allured only by the uniform, and the gay
accessories of military life: but, when it came to fighting, he deserted. The
enthusiastic convert is often preferred to the calm and apparently unimpassioned
disciple. The growth in the one seems so much more rapid than in the other, that
he is put far above him. But when affliction or persecution arises, what a
revelation it makes! for then the enthusiasm of the one goes out, and that of the
other comes out.
3. But we must look to the kind of thing to be guarded against, which we may call
the preoccupation of the heart by other objects than the word heard by the man.
II. The qualities to be cultivated by gospel hearers, as these are indicated in the
Saviour’s explanation of the seed which fell into good soil.
1. Attention: they hear.
2. Meditation: they keep.
3. Obedience: they bring forth fruit with patience. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Eastern cornfields
Our grain fields are level, and covered with the crop from hedge to hedge. But theirs
were broken patches, not unlike the little croft you may see before a Highland
cottage. It is not fenced; the footpath to the moor, the well, or the village runs
through it; the soil is wavy, and dotted with rocky hillocks; bushes of thorn and
thistle are in the corner. As the crofter sows his little plot, some seeds fall on the
footpath and its hardened margins, some on the rocky knolls, and some among the
thorns, as well as on the best soil. Such uneven seed fields stretched then along the
Lake of Galilee, sloping suddenly up from the shore. The soil was deep at the water’s
edge, but grew shallower near the foot of the little hills. Very likely Christ’s hearers
were then standing upon or within sight of such a field. (J. Wells.)
Life in the seed
Dry and dead as it seems, let a seed be planted with a stone flashing diamond, or
burning ruby; and while that in the richest soil remains a stone, this awakes and,
bursting its husky shell, rises from the ground to adorn the earth with beauty,
perfume the air with fragrance, or enrich men with its fruit. Such life there is in all,
but especially in gospel, truth. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Force in the seed
Buried in the ground a seed does not remain inert-lie there in a living tomb. It forces
its way upward, and with a power quite remarkable in a soft, green, feeble blade,
pushes aside the dull clods that cover it. Wafted by winds or dropped by passing bird
into the fissure of a crag, from weak beginnings the acorn grows into an oak-growing
till, by the forth-putting of a silent but continuous force, it heaves the stony table
from its bed, rending the rock in pieces. But what so worthy to be called the power as
well as the wisdom of God as that Word which, lodged in the mind, and accompanied
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25. by the Divine blessing, fed by showers from heaven, rends hearts, harder than the
rocks, in pieces? (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Propagation in the seed
A single grain of corn would, were the produce of each season sown again, so spread
from field to field, from country to country, from continent to continent, as in the
course of a few years to cover the whole surface of the earth with one wide harvest,
employing all the sickles, filling all the barns, and feeding all the mouths in the world.
(T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Varied soils
The wayside hearers do not take in the seed at all; the rocky ground hearers take in
the seed, but do not let it sink deep enough; the thorny ground hearers take it in, but
take in bad seeds also; the good-ground hearers take the seed into their deepest
heart, and take in nothing else. In these four sorts of soil you see the beginning and
end of spring, summer, and autumn. In the first, the seed does not spring; in the
second, it springs, but does not grow up; in the third, it grows up, but does not ripen;
in the fourth, it ripens perfectly. (J. Wells.)
The duty of the sower
A pastor or preacher is a workman hired and sent out to sow the field of God; that is,
to instruct souls in the truths of the gospel. This workman sins-
1. When, instead of going to the field, he absents himself from it; nothing being
more agreeable to nature and Divine law than for a servant to obey his master, for
a seedsman to be in the field for which he is hired, and whither he is sent to sow.
2. When he stays in the field, but does not sow.
3. When he changes his master’s seed, and sows bad instead of good.
4. When he affects to cast it on the highway, i.e., loves to preach only before
people of fashion and influence.
5. When he fixes on stony ground, from whence there is little hope of receiving
any fruit. If interest, inclination, the spirit of amusement, or self-satisfaction
determine a pastor to attend chiefly on such souls who seek not God, and whose
virtue has no depth, he has but little regard to his Master’s profit. He must not,
indeed, neglect any, but he ought not to base his preference on worldly motives.
6. When he is not careful to pick out the stones, and to pluck up the thorns. The
sower Complains of the barrenness of the field; and perhaps the field will
complain, at the tribunal of God, of the negligence of the sower, in not preparing
and cultivating it as he ought.
7. When he does not endeavour to make the seed in the good ground yield fruit in
proportion to its goodness. (Quesnel.)
In framing this parable, our Lord classified the hearers of the Word according to His
own experience as a preacher, basing His classification not so much upon generalities
25

26. as upon well-remembered illustrations. It would not be difficult to exemplify this, by
specimens drawn from the records of His dealings with men (Bruce, e.g. has found
examples of each kind of hearer in St. Luk_12:11; Luk_21:13; Luk_9:57; Luk_
9:61-62, and in the case of Barnabas). It will suffice at present, however, to give point
to His descriptions, by recalling the divers effects produced by His claims to the
Messiahship.
1. There were men hardened by Jewish prejudice, and seared with worldliness,
who looked only for material advancement by the establishment of a new
kingdom, and yet flocked to hear His words, meek and lowly as He was. They
might possibly have been impressed, had not the Pharisaic enemies of the Cross,
the emissaries of Satan, stepped in with their specious arguments, and caught
away the seed before ever it found any lodgment in their hearts.
2. There were others of an emotional temperament, who were carried away in the
excitement aroused by His sudden popularity, who, when they witnessed the
wonderful works that He did, would have taken Him by force and made Him a
king; and yet, staggered by the first check their enthusiasm received, within
twenty-four hours “went away backward, and walked no more with Him.”
3. There was another class, more limited, no doubt, who saw in Him the beauty
they desired, and recognized His goodness; men, too, whom He loved in return
for all that was best in their lives; but who failed at last because their heart was
not whole. Underneath all this there was “a root of bitterness”-love of riches, or
pleasure, or even distracting cares of home; and though for a time these
blemishes showed no vitality, not springing up simultaneously with the crop of
new desires, yet by the vapidity and rankness of their growth they just spoiled the
life when it was on the eve of bearing fruit.
4. The last class was composed of those whose hearts the Baptist had prepared,
and the Lord had opened, who were “waiting for the consolation of Israel:” men
like Andrew, John, Nathanael, or women like the devout band who “ministered to
Him of their substance,” and in varying degrees of productiveness bore fruit in
their lives. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
Likeness between the Word and seed
God’s Word has all the hidden life of a seed. Take up a grain of wheat in your hand,
and ask yourself where its life lies. Not, surely, upon the surface; not in its inner
compartments as a distinct thing. Chemistry will give you every material element it
contains, and you will be as far as ever from knowing or seeing the very thing that
makes it a seed-that mysterious something we call its life. Within that little mass of
matter there lies a force which sun, rain, and soil shall call forth with voices it will
hear and obey. God hath given it a body, and to every seed his own body. The hidden
life and unwearied force of the wheat grain furnish analogies to the Word of God.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the Word of Christ shall not pass away. This is
not because of any arbitrary fiat of Omnipotence, any mechanically conferred
sanctity, but because it is an eternal seed, to which God has given eternal form. But
this vitality is not lodged where we can see it. (E. N. Packard.)
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27. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along
the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
CLARKE, "The fowls - Του ουρανου, of the air, is the common reading; but it
should be omitted, on the authority of nine uncial MSS., upwards of one hundred
others, and almost all the versions. Bengel and Griesbach have left it out of the text.
It seems to have been inserted in Mark, from Luk_8:5.
GILL, "And it came to pass, as he sowed,.... Whilst he was preaching the,
Gospel, casting about the precious seed of the word, he was laden with:
some fell by the way side; the common beaten path: the word was dispensed
among some men comparable to it, on whom it lighted, but made no impression;
there it lay, though not long, and was not inwardly received, and took no root, and
consequently was of no effect:
and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up; the devils, who have their
abode in the air, especially the prince of the posse of them; and the Syriac version
reads it in the singular number, "and the fowl came"; that ravenous bird of prey,
Satan, who goes about seeking what he may devour; and for this purpose attends
where the word is preached, to hinder its usefulness as much as in him lies.
JAMIESON, "Mar_4:4, Mar_4:15. First Case: The Wayside.
And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the wayside — by the side
of the hard path through the field, where the soil was not broken up.
and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up — Not only could the seed
not get beneath the surface, but “it was trodden down” (Luk_8:5), and afterwards
picked up and devoured by the fowls. What means this? See on Mar_4:15.
CALVIN, "Mark 4:12.That seeing, they may see, and not perceive. Here it may
suffice to state briefly what has already been fully explained, that the doctrine is
not, strictly speaking, or by itself, or in its own nature, but by accident, the cause
of blindness. When persons of a weak sight come out into sunshine, their eyes
become dimmer than before, and that defect is in no way attributed to the sun,
but to their eyes. In like manner, when the word of God blinds and hardens the
reprobate, as this takes place through their own depravity, it belongs truly and
naturally to themselves, but is accidental, as respects the word.
Lest at any time they should be converted. This clause points out the advantage
that is gained by seeing and understanding It is, that men, having been converted
to God, are restored to his favor, and, being reconciled to him, enjoy prosperity
and happiness. The true end for which
27

28. God desires that his word should be preached is, to reconcile men to himself by
renewing their minds and hearts. With respect to the reprobate, on the other
hand, Isaiah here declares that the stony hardness remains in them, so that they
do not obtain mercy, and that the word fails to produce its effect upon them, so
as to soften their minds to repentance.
LIGHTFOOT, "[And some fell.] According to what falls. The Gloss there,
"According to the measure which one sows." And there the Gemarists speak of
seed falling out of the hand: that is, that is cast out of the hand of the sower: and
of seed falling from the oxen: that is, "that which is scattered and sown" by the
sowing oxen. "For (as the Gloss speaks) sometimes they sow with the hand, and
sometimes they put the seed into a cart full of holes, and drive the oxen upon the
ploughed earth, and the seed falls through the holes."
PULPIT, "Mark 4:4, Mark 4:15
The Word stolen from the heart.
Young preachers, in the strength of their convictions and the ardor of their
benevolence, are often inspired with enthusiastic expectations concerning the
results of the preaching of the gospel. It seems to them that the Word has only to
be addressed to men's minds in order to meet with an eager, grateful, and
immediate acceptance. As their experience enlarges, and as they learn in how
many cases reason and conscience are silenced by the clamor of passion and
interest, or disregarded through the power of sinful habit or the influence of
sinful society, they turn to this parable, and learn how just was the view and how
tempered the expectations of the Divine Teacher and Saviour, as to the
acceptance with which his gospel should meet.
I. THE HEART HARDENED BY WORLDLINESS AND SIN IS NOT
RECEPTIVE OF THE WORD.
1. Wordly thoughts and cares preoccupy the mind, so that there is no response to
the appeals of the gospel. When the attention is absorbed by things seen and
temporal, spiritual realities appear imaginary and uninteresting. As there was no
room for the babe Jesus at the inn, so the nature which welcomes every passing
guest finds no place for the King and for his Word.
2. Sin shuts out the truth. There is no fellowship between light and darkness. The
sinner's heart is closed against the heavenly rays. What preacher could not, from
his own observation, offer many a living illustration of the saying, "Men love
darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil" ? To revert to the figure
of the text, sin loved and unrepented of treads down the heart into a hard,
impenetrable pathway, where no glebe breaks up, in frost, in shower, or in
sunshine, to give a welcome, a home, a cradle, to the germ of spiritual life.
3. Familiarity with truth unheeded hardens any nature against the gospel. Who
are the least hopeful in our congregations? Surely they are those who have, from
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29. habit or through influence, been attending the "means of grace" for many years,
to whom every statement, every appeal, every remonstrance, every warning, is an
old familiar sound, "a twice-told tale." The nature becomes not only indifferent,
but callous; there is no real heed, no living susceptibility, no response of faith
and joy.
II. THE ENEMY OF SOULS SNATCHES THE WORD FROM THE
HARDENED HEART. The condition of the sinner's soul is such as offers to
Satan an occasion for frustrating the benevolent designs of the Divine Sower.
Had the seed fallen into good ground and been covered over, there would have
been no invitation or opportunity for the birds to snatch it away. So it is only the
worldly, sensual, or unbelieving nature that, so to speak, tempts the tempter
himself. By the birds it is usually understood that the great Teacher intends to
represent evil thoughts and imaginations and desires, such as possess the
unspiritual and unthinking. How true to the life is this account! How many
careless and unbelieving hearers of the gospel no sooner leave the church in
which they have listened to the Word, than common, foolish, selfish, sinful
thoughts take possession of their mind, and the Word is snatched away—is as
though it had not been! The necessary result is that there is no fruit. How can
there be fruit when the Word has not been mixed with faith in the heater's
heart? "Do you take care that it falls not on, but in, your souls." "Break up your
fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord."
PULPIT, "Mark 4:4-8
Human hearts tested by truth.
"The seed is the Word." Such is the interpretation given by the Lord himself, in
his exposition of the parable of the sower. In other words, the seed represents the
truth uttered by Christ and embodied in Christ, who is himself declared to be the
everlasting Word (John 1:1). This heavenly seed is the gift of God. It has life in
itself (John 5:26); it is the germ of life to the world; and, when it is received, it
brings forth those "fruits of the Spirit" of which St. Paul speaks. The mode in
which that seed is received is a test of character, and this is illustrated in the
words before us. The four kinds of soil upon which the sower cast his seed
represent four conditions of heart, which we propose to consider.
I. THE HARDENED HEART. Our Lord speaks of some seed falling by the
wayside; that is, on the trodden pathway running through the field, which is
impervious to anything which falls gently, as seed falls. Finding a lodgment
there, either the birds carry it away or else it is crushed by the foot of the
wayfarer. Just as the once soft soil becomes hard, so do our moral sensibilities
become blunted by the frequent passing over them of ordinary duties, and stilt
more of evil words and deeds. We often read in Scripture of the hardening of the
heart. Pharaoh is said to have " hardened his heart" because, after being stirred
to some thought by the earlier plagues in Egypt, he conquered feeling until he
became past feeling. Hence, after the most terrible of the plagues, he pursued
God's chosen people to his own destruction. The Israelites, too, hardened their
hearts in the wilderness. All the issues of this sin recorded in sacred history give
29

30. a significant answer to the question of Job, "Who hath hardened himself against
God, and prospered?" This process still goes on, not least amongst regular
attendants on the means of grace. Address a gathering of outcasts, and though
you may hear a mocking laugh, you will more probably see the penitential tear
as you speak of the Saviour's death and of the Father's love; but speak of this to
those who have often heard the truth, and their calm impassivity will drive you
to despair, if it does not drive you to God. He who knows all but feels nothing is
represented by the wayside; for the truth preached to him is gone as swiftly from
his thoughts as though evil birds had carried it away.
II. THE SUPERFICIAL HEART is also graphically portrayed. The stony
ground is not ground besprinkled with stones, but rocky soil covered with a thin
layer of earth, such as might often be seen in the rocky abutments which ended
the terraces of cultivated soil on a hillside in Palestine. Seed falling there would
take root and grow, but would soon strike rock, and then withering would begin.
This represents those who "receive the Word with gladness." They are
interested, instructed, impressed; but they have no understanding of its spiritual
meaning or of Christ's requirements. They have no sense of sin, and no conflict
with it. Their knowledge and experience alike are shallow, and they have "no
root," because they have no depth of nature. Very significant is the phrase,
"They have no root in themselves;" for there is a want of individuality about
them. Their faith depends upon surrounding excitement and enthusiasm, and
they are wanting in the perseverance which can only arise from personal
conviction. Let temptation come to them, and they give up at once their poor
shreds of faith; let them go among sceptics, and soon their mockery will be the
loudest; let persecution arise, and straightway they stumble to their fall.
III. THE CROWDED HEART. "Some fell among thorns;" that is, in soil in
which thorns were springing up. The soil possibly was good, and therefore unlike
the last, but it was already full. Soon the thorns springing up choke the seed,
crowding it down, and so depriving it of air and sunshine that the withering stalk
can produce no fruit. Every one knows the meaning of this who has pondered the
words," Ye cannot serve God and mammon," or who understands the warning
against "the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches," and inordinate
desires after other earthly things. Here is such a one. He was once earnest in
work for God; he made time for the study of his Word; he was eager for the
quiet hour when he could speak to his Father in secret. But this is only a memory
to him now. And how came the woeful change? There has been no hour when he
has deliberately cut himself adrift from holy influence, nor can he recall any
special crisis in his history. But the cares of life, the plans he felt called upon to
make, thoughts concerning money and the best way to make it or to keep it,
obtruded themselves more and more, even on sacred times, till holy thoughts
were fairly crowded out. Thorns have sprung up, and they have choked the seed,
so that it has become unfruitful.
IV. THE HONEST HEART. The seed which fell into "good ground" not only
sprang up into strong stalk, but brought forth fruit in the golden harvest-time,
and over it the sower rejoiced. Our Lord often spoke of the conditions which are
essential to the fulfillment of this in the spiritual realm. For example, he said,
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31. "He that is of the truth heareth my voice;" and he bade his disciples become as
little children, that they might rejoice in him. Nathanael was a beautiful example
of what Jesus meant. When the truth is thus received, in the love of it, it guides
the thoughts, rules the affections, checks and controls the plans, and sanctifies
the whole being of the man. "Christ is formed" in his heart "the hope of glory."
Abiding in prayer, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, he experiences a
quickening and a refreshment like that which the growing corn has when
enriched and blessed by showers and sunshine, and "the fruits of the Spirit"
appear in him, to the glory of God the Father. "Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit."—A.R.
BI 4-15, "Some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it
up.
Though men be outward hearers of the Word, and do also in some sort understand
what is taught, yet if their hearts be so hardened in sin and through Satan’s
temptations that they are not affected and moved by it, it can never profit them. As
seed sown upon a beaten path or highway cannot sink into the earth by reason of the
hardness of it, nor take root or fructify; so the doctrine of the Word being preached
to those whose hearts are hardened in sin cannot enter into them, and therefore
cannot profit them. If the seed of the Word be only sown in their outward ears and in
their minds; if it lie above ground, i.e., if it swim and float aloft in their brain and
understanding only, and do not enter and sink into their hearts; if their hearts be not
affected to love and embrace it, as well as their understandings enlightened by it, it
will never take root or bear fruit in them. (G. Petter.)
The character of inattentive hearers considered
1. These persons hear the Word. They are not deaf, and so utterly incapable of
hearing. Nor are they determined that they will not hear (Jer_22:21).
2. They are only occasional hearers of the Word. They are, in regard of the
assemblies where the gospel is preached, what the wayside is to the field where
the seed is sown, ground without the inclosure, Or whereon the seed falls as it
were accidentally or by chance. They come by constraint of conscience, or from
curiosity.
3. They are not at all prepared for hearing the Word. The ground is beaten, and
has received no cultivation.
4. That they hear in a heedless, desultory manner.
5. They remain grossly ignorant.
6. But some in this class do in a sense understand the Word, for the seed is said
to be sown in their hearts. They understand speculatively.
7. It makes no abiding impression on the heart.
8. Our Lord’s account of the manner in which these impressions are effaced-“the
fowls of the air came,” etc.
I. Who is this wicked one and why he is so called. From this short scriptural account
of Satan it appears with what propriety he is here, and in many other passages, styled
emphatically “the wicked one.” He is wicked himself in the highest degree, for as be
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32. exceeds all others in subtilty and power, so also in impiety and sin; a spirit the most
proud, false, envious, turbulent, and malignant among all the various orders of fallen
spirits. He, too, is the author of all wickedness, the contriver and promoter of every
species of iniquity. Whence, the infinitely numerous evils that prevail in our world
are called “the works of the devil.” Such is the character of this first apostate arch-
angel, the grand, avowed enemy of God and man. And thus are we led to our second
inquiry-
II. What is meant by his “catching away the seed,” and how is this done? For no
more is meant by the influence which Satan is supposed in certain cases to exert over
the mind, than what is similar to the influence which wicked men are acknowledged
to have over others, to allure them by persuasions to sin, and to dissuade them by
menaces from their duty. It cannot force them into sin against the consent of their
will; or, in other words, so operate on their minds as to deprive them of that freedom
which is necessary to constitute them accountable creatures. This mighty adversary
watches his opportunity to prevent the salutary effect of the Word upon those that
hear it. And considering what is the character of the sort of hearers we are here
speaking of, it is not to be wondered at that he is permitted to catch away the seed
sown in their hearts, or that he succeeds in the attempt. For if their motives in
attending upon Divine service are base and unworthy, if they address themselves to
the duties of religion without any previous preparation, how righteous is it in God to
permit Satan to use every possible artifice to defeat the great and good ends to which
religious instructions are directed!
1. Satan uses his utmost endeavours to divert men’s attention from the Word
while they are hearing it.
2. Satan uses every art to excite and inflame men’s prejudices against the Word
they hear.
3. Another artifice Satan uses to counteract the influence of God’s Word on men’s
hearts is to prevent their recollecting is after they have heard it. (S. Stennett, D.
D.)
Wasted seed
We are taught to regard waste of all kinds as a great fault and sin. Wasted food,
wasted money, wasted health, wasted time, wasted instruction, wasted opportunities
of doing and receiving good; these, in their several ways, are all sins against God and
our own souls. While we are young we are punished for them; when we are older we
suffer for them; the consummation of them at last is the loss of the soul. But what I
wish you to observe is that, sinful as waste of any kind is in us, there is in nature, in
providence, in the spiritual world, a constant waste going on, suggesting much of
anxious and painful wonder. (C. J. Vaughan, D. D.)
The plough needed
Nothing is needed but to plough it up. God drives a deep share through many a
wayside heart, and the coulter of affliction breaks up many a spirit, that it may
afterwards yield “the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” And if He does that for you,
bless Him for His mercy; but do not wait, for you can get rid of all this insensibility
by the simple effort of your own will. (Dr. McLaren.)
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33. The devil is an inveterate enemy to the hearing of the Word, and to the
fruit of it
He hinders men in sundry ways from profiting by the Word.
1. By keeping them from hearing it; stirring up occasions of worldly business or
some other impediments on the Lord’s day to keep them away from church.
2. By keeping them from attending to it when they do hear it.
3. By blinding their minds that they may not understand it.
4. By labouring to hold them in infidelity that they may not believe and apply the
Word to themselves.
5. By using means to thrust the Word heard out of their minds that they may not
remember it.
6. By keeping them from yielding obedience to the Word. See from this what
need we have to be watchful over ourselves and against Satan and his practices
when we are to hear the Word. How needful to watch before we hear, that he may
not lay blocks in our way to hinder us from hearing. How needful in time of
hearing to watch against Satan, that he hinder not our attention by suggesting to
us roving thoughts. How needful to pray to God not to suffer him to blind our
minds or harden our hearts in unbelief, that we may not understand or believe
the Word. How needful also to watch against Satan after we have heard, that he
do not quickly thrust the Word out of our minds and memories. Look to these
things therefore everyone that would profit by hearing. The more malicious and
politic Satan is to hinder us from profiting, the more wise must we be and careful
to disappoint him of his purpose. (G. Petter.)
The Satanic hindering of the Word of God
The Lord tells us that this indifference to the Word, by which it fails to convince and
convert, is brought about, not through natural, but through supernatural, agency. An
enemy does this. In our present fallen state he is able to summon up thoughts which
may distract the attention from the thoughts which the life-giving Word suggests,
and our evil will fails in with the thoughts which he instills. These thoughts may not
always be evil by any means, but they do his work, for they distract the attention, and
being far more in accordance with the bent of the evil heart the good thought is
swallowed up, effaced, and forgotten. I think that no minister who comes closely into
contact with the souls of men for their conversion, but must be aware that there is
not only an evil principle at work in the heart, but an evil personal agency which is
able to suggest doubts and interpose difficulties, and assist the soul in barring out the
Word by placing all his cunning at the disposal of the evil will. Satan or his emissary,
the evil spirit to whom he has committed the destruction of the man’s soul, cometh
immediately. (M. F. Sadler.)
The devil a great traveller
The devil is no idle spirit, but a walker and vagrant runagate walker, like Cain, that
cannot rest in a place. I have heard of travellers that have seen many parts of the
world, but never any perpetual peripatetic or universal walker but Satan, who hath
travelled all coasts and corners of the earth, and would of heaven, too, if he might be
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34. admitted. He is not like St. George’s statue, ever on horseback and never riding, but,
as if he were knight-marshal of the whole world, he is ever walking. His motion is
circular, and his unwearied steps know no rest. He hath a large and endless circuit.
His walk is a siege, that goes about the fort to find the weakest place as easiest for
battery. His walks are the circumference, and man the centre. The motive, cause, and
main intention of his journey is to win man. As he walks through the streets there he
throws a short measure, a false balance, into a tradesman’s shop. He steps into a
drinking house and kindles a quarrel. He shoulders to the bar and pops in a forged
evidence, a counterfeit seal. He dares enter the schools and commence schisms and
contentions, nay, climb up into the pulpit and broach sects and divisions. He travels
no ground but, like a stinking fox or dying oppressor, he leaves a scent behind him.
(T. Adams.)
5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not
have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because
the soil was shallow.
GILL, "And some fell on stony ground,.... The word was preached to some
persons who had hearts of stone, and which remained so:
where it had not much earth; and so could be received only in a notional and
superficial way, but could take no place, so as to produce any good effect:
and immediately it sprung up; a sudden and hasty profession of the word was
made, without a powerful experience of it:
because it had no depth of earth; if it had, it would have been longer in coming
up; more work would have been done by it, which would have required more time,
before a profession of it had been made.
JAMIESON, "Mar_4:5, Mar_4:16. i1 Second Case: The stony or rather, rocky
ground.par And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth —
“the rocky ground”; in Matthew (Mat_13:5), “the rocky places”; in Luke (Luk_8:6),
“the rock.” The thing intended is, not ground with stones in it which would not
prevent the roots striking downward, but ground where a quite thin surface of earth
covers a rock. What means this? See on Mar_4:16.
6 But when the sun came up, the plants were
scorched, and they withered because they had
no root.
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35. GILL, "But when the sun was up, it was scorched,.... When persecution arose
because of the word, and that became very hot and vehement, it tried and pierced
through this thin speculative knowledge of the word, which could not stand before it,
and bear the heat of it:
and because it had no root, it withered away; the word had only a place in the
head, and not in the heart; wherefore the profession of it was soon dropped, and
came to nothing.
7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up
and choked the plants, so that they did not bear
grain.
GILL, "And some fell among thorns,.... The word was ministered to some who
were eat up with the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and other
lusts:
and the thorns grew up, and choked it; the word did not take place so as to beat
down, overcome, and root out these things, nor even to weaken, and keep under, and
prevent the influence of them; but these got the ascendant of the word, and prevailed
over it, and made it altogether useless and unsuccessful: for whilst it was
administered, the minds of these persons were after their riches and worldly things,
and gave no heed to the word; and last were prevailed upon, not to attend upon it,
but drop the profession of it:
and it yielded no fruit; it was not the means of grace; faith did not come by it, nor
any other grace; nor did it produce good works in the life and conversation.
JAMIESON, "Mar_4:7, Mar_4:18, Mar_4:19. Third Case: The thorny ground.
And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it,
and it yielded no fruit — This case is that of ground not thoroughly cleaned of the
thistles, etc.; which, rising above the good seed, “choke” or “smother” it, excluding
light and air, and drawing away the moisture and richness of the soil. Hence it
“becomes unfruitful” (Mat_13:22); it grows, but its growth is checked, and it never
ripens. The evil here is neither a hard nor a shallow soil - there is softness enough,
and depth enough; but it is the existence in it of what draws all the moisture and
richness of the soil away to itself, and so starves the plant. What now are these
“thorns?” See on Mar_4:19.
SBC, "Prosperity a Trial.
I. The growing occupation of time, although apt to be overlooked, is one of the most
serious clangers of prosperity; for usually money is not made, social circumstances
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36. are not made, influence of any kind is not gotten among our fellow men, without
great efforts. He who seeks these things, as a rule, you may depend upon it, rises
early, sits up late, and eats the bread of carefulness. One of the chief dangers of a
state of general prosperity, especially when that prosperity is in a growing state, is
the constant tendency to the entire occupation of time with merely secular duties,
which may be done in a religious spirit, but which will be done in a religious spirit
with more and still more difficulty if there are not select and express times for the
purpose of refreshing.
II. Is it not very evident that if the time, which rightfully should be devoted to the
care and cultivation of religion expressly, be unwarrantably abridged, and other
subjects and interests, social or what not, engross the attention and fill the heart, is it
not very evident that when the time comes, the inclination and spiritual taste for
religious improvement may be very much abated? Spiritual things prove dim and
hazy; the busy labours of the day are succeeded by the slumbers of the night; and
bargains, and speculations, and gains and losses, will form the subject even of the
man’s dreams and visions in the night. "The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness
of riches, and the lust of other things, entering in, choke the word, and it becometh
unfruitful,"
III. The third danger to be apprehended from a growing prosperity is the increase of
pride.
IV. Closely associated with this danger comes another; that of self-indulgence, an
easy, soft, luxurious temper.
V. Worldly success has a tendency to lead to what we usually understand and I think
fairly describe, without uncharitableness, as a worldly life, that is, a life occupied with
transitory things, a life from which spiritual religion is, to a considerable extent,
excluded altogether, a life without religious hope, a life without God in the world.
A. Raleigh, Penny Pulpit (New series), No. 96.
PULPIT, "Mark 4:7, Mark 4:18, Mark 4:19
The Word choked in the heart.
Thorns make a good hedge but a bad crop. The soil here described was in itself
rich, good soil. But it could not grow both thorns and wheat, and, when occupied
by the one, failed to yield the other.
I. WHAT ARE THE THORNS THAT OVERGROW THE SOIL? Thorns,
thistles, brambles, briers, are signs of neglect. They are the emblems of the
primeval curse, for the garden was by our first parents exchanged for the thorny
wilderness. In our parable the thorns are explained to represent:
1. "The cares of this world." Cares, whether of State or business, of letters or
science, of family or calling, may occupy the mind which has received the truth
of God, to such an extent as to hinder that truth from growing up.
"Care, when it once hath entered in the breast,
Will have the whole possession ere it rest."
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37. Cares are distractions, and, even when concerning lawful things, if unchecked,
are detrimental and disastrous. This is the special temptation of the poor and
hardworking. Well are we directed to be "careful for nothing," etc., and "to take
no thought for the morrow," etc.
2. "The deceitfulness of riches" is depicted under the figure of the thorns. The
possession of wealth may be a curse to the rich, and the search—the race—after
riches may be a curse to the avaricious and worldly. The unwary are deceived;
for riches promise what they cannot give, and they sometimes draw away the
heart from the treasure in heaven, which alone can truly enrich and satisfy for
ever. How many, trusting in riches, have failed of the kingdom!
3. "The lusts of other things" have much of mischief laid to their charge.
Pleasure is a fair and fragrant flower, but it may hide a thorn. It may be
manifestly sinful, it may be doubtful, it may be innocent but unduly absorbing,—
and in any such case it may choke the Word. How many are the things which
men put in the place of religion ! They are left unnamed, that we may supply
them from our own knowledge of our own hearts and their manifold and varied
snares. To desire aught earthly overmuch is to desire things heavenly too little.
II. HOW DO THESE THORNS CHOKE THE SEED? In two ways:
1. By taking up the room which the Word requires. They occupy the short and
fleeting period of time allotted for our probation. The leisure for pondering and
practically obeying the truth never comes. Time flies: the soul dies. They absorb
attention and engage the heart. The words of the world must be listened to, and
Christ must wait until "a more convenient season"—which never comes. But if
the world must have our ears, must claim our hands, Christ should have our
heart. Alas! men plan and toil, prosper and grow rich, respected, powerful,
famous; and in doing so neglect the Word. Little know they of the mind of Paul,
"To me to live is Christ."
2. By counteracting the influence of the truth. In the former case (the rocky
ground) it was persecution; in this case it is the allurements of the world which
prove injurious to the soul. Cares and lusts are thorns which must be choked or
they choke. So thorn and corn grow side by side with a fair show. But gradually
the evil gains the victory, and goodness perishes. What experienced sower has
not seen and mourned over the process? Warnings are in vain. The thorns grow
apace; the soul becomes insensible to all the claims of Christ, to all the appeals of
the gospel. So the Word is unfruitful as before.
"Stones mar the root;
Thorns spoil the fruit."
What poor produce there is comes to no maturity, no perfection. Labour is
wasted, promise is blasted, hope is clouded, all is lost!
APPLICATION. None who receive the Word of life are free from the danger
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38. here described. Search and find out the hindrances to vigor and fruitfulness in
the spiritual life. Root them all up, that the Word may live and grow and yield
abundance. Look for fruit; God looks for it as the only proof of life. Else, when
the Lord comes and finds no fruit, the thorns will indeed be burned, but the
ground will be exposed as fruitless and worthless, and "nigh unto cursing."
8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up,
grew and produced a crop, some multiplying
thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
GILL, "And other fell on good ground,.... The word was preached to some
whose hearts were disposed by the Spirit and grace of God to receive it; and their
understandings were enlightened by it; and they had a savoury and comfortable
experience of the truths of it, it coming with power to them; it was a good word to
them, and through the grace of God they became good by it; a good work of grace was
wrought upon their souls, and they were filled with all goodness and righteousness:
and did yield fruit that sprang up, and increased; they not only appeared, and
made an outward profession of the word, and brought forth a little show of fruit,
which comes to nothing, as in others; but they were filled with the fruits of
righteousness, and increased with the increase of God, and grew in grace, and in the
knowledge of Christ Jesus, and continued to bring forth fruit to the end of their lives:
and brought forth some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred;
that is, so many fold: in some the word of God produced larger and greater effects;
the grace of God was more in exercise in some, than in others, and some were more
fruitful and useful; yet in all of them there was true grace, and a measure of it; some
degree of lively exercise, and some usefulness.
JAMIESON, "Mar_4:8, Mar_4:20. Fourth Case: The good ground.
And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit, etc. — The goodness of
this last soil consists in its qualities being precisely the reverse of the other three
soils: from its softness and tenderness, receiving and cherishing the seed; from its
depth, allowing it to take firm root, and not quickly losing its moisture; and from its
cleanness, giving its whole vigor and sap to the plant. In such a soil the seed “brings
forth fruit,” in all different degrees of profusion, according to the measure in which
the soil possesses those qualities. See on Mar_4:20.
PULPIT, "Mark 4:8, Mark 4:20
The Word fruitful in the heart.
Most varied results attend the preaching of the gospel. Look at our Lord's own
ministry. On the one hand, we are told, "He did there no mighty works because
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39. of their unbelief;" "yet they believed not upon him; 'and we find him exclaiming,
"Woe unto you, cities!" etc. On the other hand, "the multitude heard him
gladly;" of the Samaritans, "many more believed because of his word," and
sometimes, in their eagerness, "they pressed upon him to hear," etc. Nor was this
fact peculiar to Christ's ministry; the apostles confessed that they were to some a
savor of life, to others of death; and the historian records, as a matter of fact,
that "some believed, and some believed not." So is it with Christian preachers in
every age; there are instances which rejoice and recompense them, and others
which disappoint and depress them. The great Teacher foretells in this part of
the parable that there shall ever be cases in which the Lord's Word "shall not
return unto him void."
I. THE PREPARED SOIL. The good ground was in contrast with the several
varieties of poor and bad soil. It was soft and yielding, as distinguished from the
trodden earth of the wayside. It was deep, as distinguished from the shallow
sprinkling of earth upon the rock beneath. It was clean as distinguished from the
foul, weedy, thorny land. So with the honest and good heart, prepared by Divine
influences and responsive to Divine culture and care. There is in this figurative
language no countenance given to fatalism. We meet with good ground
sometimes amongst those brought up in the Christian family and Church, as in
Timothy; sometimes amongst those not specially privileged, but candid and
guileless, as in Nathanael; sometimes even among the outwardly wicked, who yet
may not be hardened, but may be ready to welcome deliverance from their evil
ways, as in some of the publicans and sinners. Similar instances are recorded in
the Acts of the Apostles.
II. THE VITAL PROCESS. In the other cases, the seed sooner or later perishes;
in this case it lives. It is neither stolen, nor starved, nor choked. The reason is
that the soil accepts and retains the seed. So with the heart that not only receives
but holds fast the Word of life, that cherishes and matures it, that gives it a
resting-place, and welcomes all heavenly influences which can quicken and
strengthen and prosper it. That nature will develop into Divine life and immortal
fruitfulness which ponders the truth of God, assimilates it, keeps for it the place
of honor, pre-eminence, and power, gives it room and scope and play, watches
over it and prays for its vitality, energy, and increase. In such a nature the seed
germinates and lives and grows, for it finds there congenial soil and cordial
welcome and sustenance. The power of this life is that of the Holy Spirit: "God
giveth the increase."
III. THE FRUITFUL HARVEST. What is meant by "fruit" ? Spiritual result for
spiritual toil and agency and culture. In the case of the sinner, the first and most
welcome fruit is that of conversion unto God. But the rich fruits expected are
these: obedience, righteousness, holiness, Christlikeness, consecration, self-
denial, usefulness. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace," etc. Such fruit is
the only proof of life and growth. "By their fruits ye shall know them;" i.e. by
the quality, the flavour, and fragrance of the moral produce. "Herein is my
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit;" i.e. by abundance alone can the
husbandman be satisfied and recompensed. The multiplication of the seed is one
of the many points of resemblance between the physical and the spiritual life.
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40. Who has not seen a heart changed by one sermon, a life made anew by one
utterance or by one lesson of Divine providence? Seemingly an insignificant seed,
yet a crop of glorious ripeness and luxuriance. And as for variety, every
congregation of Christians is a living witness to this. Either because the same
opportunities have been, in some eases, more diligently used, or because different
advantages have been employed with equal assiduity; it results that some yield
fruit thirty, some sixty, and others a hundredfold.
PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. The responsibility of hearing the Word. God provides the seed; but the
preparation of the soil is largely in our hands.
2. The expectation of the Sower is great in proportion to the greatness of our
advantages. Nothing less than much fruit can satisfy him from you.
9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear,
let them hear.”
CLARKE, "And he said - He that hath ears to hear, let him hear - The
Codex Bezae, later Syriac in the margin, and seven copies of the Itala, add, και ᆇ
συνιων συνιετω, and whoso understandeth, let him understand.
GILL, "And he said unto them,.... To the multitude of hearers that were on the
sea shore attending to the word preached, and among whom, doubtless, there were
all those sorts of hearers mentioned in this parable:
he that hath ears to hear, let him hear: observe, and take notice of what has
been said, as being of the greatest moment and importance: for a larger explanation
and illustration of this parable, see the notes on Mat_13:3.
JAMIESON, "And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear.
PULPIT, "And he said, Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. St. Luke (Luke 8:8)
bus a stronger word than ( ἔλεγεν) "he said." He (Luke 8:8) has ( ἐφώνει) "he
cried." Our Lord uses this expression, "he that hath ears to hear," etc, when the
subject-matter is figurative or obscure, as though to rouse the attention of his
hearers. He has "ears to hear" who diligently attends to the words of Christ, that
he may ponder and obey them. Many heard him out of curiosity, that they might
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41. bear something new, or learned, or brilliant; not that they might lay to heart the
things which they heard, and endeavor to practice them in their lives. And so it is
with those who go to hear sermons on account of the fame of the preacher, and
not that they may learn to amend their lives; and thus the words of Jehovah to
Ezekiel (Ezekiel 33:32) are fulfilled, "And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely
song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for
they hear thy words, but they do them not."
PULPIT, "Mark 4:5, Mark 4:6, Mark 4:16, Mark 4:17
The Word starved in the heart.
The Christian preacher sometimes reason to exclaim, "Who hath believed our
report?" But sometimes he has occasion to lament over those who apparently
have believed but whose goodness proves, as time passes, "as the morning cloud
and as the early dew, which goeth away." Our Lord warns us that we shall meet
with such cases, which first excite hope and expectation, and then cloud the soul
of the Christian labourer with disappointment and sorrow. Such are compared
to the rocky soil, with just a scattering of earth upon the surface, where the seed
may grow, but where it will never live to produce a crop.
I. GROWTH EXCITES HOPE. In the cases symbolized by this part of the
parable there is much to please and encourage the inexperienced sower of the
Divine Word. We observe:
1. Sensibility and susceptibility. How different from the wayside hearer is this!
Here we behold the truth obtaining at once a lodgment and welcome in the heart.
An impressible nature is affected by the glad tidings which Christ brings from
heaven. The conscience is aroused, the judgment is convinced, the heart is
captivated. The first contact of the truth with the soul is of the most hopeful
character.
2. Gladness follows the reception of the Word; for this is an emotional nature,
responsive to the joyful tidings. This is indeed what ought to be expected; yet its
occurrence is so rare as to occasion surprise and enkindle the most glowing
expectations. It is especially in times of "revival" that such instances abound. A
general excitement heightens the emotion of joy which springs up in the heart of
the impressible hearer; it is joy as of one who finds a great treasure.
3. Precocity of growth is the natural consequence. The soil is of a "forcing"
character, and yields speedy and surprising, if temporary, results. Very different
from the slow, steady, gradual growth, which is most, on the whole, to be desired,
is the rapid development of the religious life in the superficial convert of the
apparent "revival." Extreme views, extravagant expectations, thoughtless but
ardent resolves,—all testify to the quick, unhealthy growth.
II. WITHERING BRINGS DISAPPOINTMENT.
1. After a while a season of trial comes. Time tries all, and affliction and
41

42. persecution arise. This is the providential appointment; it is discipline which
Divine wisdom deems necessary. In the early days of Christianity this was a
common test, and in some form and in some measure it continues and will long
continue to be so.
2. Before the scorching sun the feeble growth is withered and destroyed. The
furnace which refines the gold consumes the straw. The effect at first produced
was owing to novelty, excitement, company, enthusiasm. Only the surface was
reached, below was nothing. The transitory joy is followed by depression,
carelessness, stolidity, obduracy. Perhaps there is a hope of the renewal of
excitement, which never comes. It is seen that belief is not faith, feeling is not
principle, joy is not life. To endure that test there is needed an inward, hidden
life, hidden with Christ in God. There is needed a soil watered continually by
heavenly dews and showers. "Blessed is he that endureth!"
APPLICATION.
1. Let sanguine preachers and teachers take a sober and scriptural view of their
work, and guard against being misled by enthusiasm and extravagant
expectations.
2. Let hearers of the gospel seek grace that the truth may not only touch but may
penetrate their heart; let them seek the Holy Spirit's aid that they may hear the
Word of God, and keep it!
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the
others around him asked him about the
parables.
BARNES, "See the notes at Mat_13:10-17. On Mar_4:12, see the notes at Joh_
12:39-40.
When he was alone - That is, separate from the multitude. When he withdrew
from the multitude a few followed him for the purpose of more instruction.
CLARKE, "They that were about him - None of the other evangelists intimate
that there were any besides the twelve with him: but it appears there were several
others present; and though they were not styled disciples, yet they appear to have
seriously attended to his public and private instructions.
GILL, "And when he was alone,.... After the multitude was dismissed, and he
either remained in the ship, or left it, and retired to some private place, it may be to
42

43. Simon's house in Capernaum. The Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, "when
they were alone"; meaning as follows,
they that were about him with the twelve; that is, such disciples of his, who,
besides the twelve, constantly attended him; perhaps those who now were, or
hereafter were the seventy disciples. The Vulgate Latin reads, "the twelve that were
with him". In Beza's most ancient copy it is read, "his disciples"; and to this agrees
the Persic version; and so the other evangelists, Matthew and Luke, relate, that his
disciples came and
asked of him the parable; the meaning of it, and why he chose this way of
speaking to the people, Mat_13:10, though that word may include others besides the
twelve.
HENRY, "II. The way of expounding that he used with his disciples; When he
was alone by himself, not only the twelve, but others that were about him with the
twelve, took the opportunity to ask him the meaning of the parables, Mar_4:10. They
found it good to be about Christ; the nearer him the better; good to be with the
twelve, to be conversant with those that are intimate with him. And he told them
what a distinguishing favour it was to them, that they were made acquainted with the
mystery of the kingdom of God, Mar_4:11. The secret of the Lord was with them.
That instructed them, which others were only amused with, and they were made to
increase in knowledge by every parable, and understood more of the way and method
in which Christ designed to set up his kingdom in the world, while others were
dismissed, never the wiser. Note, Those who know the mystery of the kingdom of
heaven, must acknowledge that it is given to them; they receive both the light and
the sight from Jesus Christ, who, after his resurrection, both opened the scriptures,
and opened the understanding, Luk_24:27, Luk_24:45.
JAMIESON, "After this parable is recorded the Evangelist says:
And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve —
probably those who followed Him most closely and were firmest in discipleship, next
to the Twelve.
asked of him the parable — The reply would seem to intimate that this parable
of the sower was of that fundamental, comprehensive, and introductory character
which we have assigned to it (see on Mat_13:1).
PULPIT, "When he was alone. These words do not appear in St. Matthew's
account. He simply says that " the disciples came and said unto him." This must
have been upon some other occasion. It could not have been when be was
preaching from the boat; for St. Mark says, they that were about him with the
twelve. He is the only evangelist who notices this. We must not forget that,
besides the twelve, there were seventy other disciples. They asked of him the
parables ( τὰς παραβολάς), according to the best reading. The inquiry was a
general one, although St. Mark here gives the explanation of one only.
PULPIT 10-13, "Mark 4:10-13, Mark 4:21-25
The lamp of parabolic teaching.
Probably the opposition, malignity, and misrepresentation of the scribes and
43

44. Pharisees were the occasion of the commencement by our Lord of a new style of
public teaching. He did not wish at present to excite so much turmoil and
violence as should lead to the interruption of his ministry. His design was to
introduce into men's minds new ideas of the spiritual reign of God—ideas
altogether in contradiction to their own carnal notions and hopes. He knew,
however, the importance of considering the character and the mental position of
the learner, in order that the mature might be thoroughly enlightened and
instructed, in order that the immature might be encouraged to inquiry and to
thought, in order that, for a season, the doctrine might remain concealed from
the unspiritual and the unsympathetic.
I. THE LAMP OF DIVINE TEACHING IS INTENDED TO GIVE LIGHT. The
Galilean cottage had its lampstand, its bed, its corn-measure; and every peasant
could see the absurdity of first kindling the lamp and then hiding it under the
meal-box or the couch. Let it be put upon the lofty stand, and it will give light to
all. So when Christ came, the great Teacher, the great Saviour, he came a light
into the world, to be the light, of men. His words, his character, his deeds, his
whole life, were an illumination from heaven. When he taught he taught for all
humanity and for all time.
II. THE PARABOLIC FORM OF TEACHING WAS NO EXCEPTION. The
parable hid the truth, made a secret of it, enclosed it like a jewel in a casket. But
it was never intended that the truth should remain concealed; the intention was
that it should be manifested, that it should come to light (Mark 4:22). And, as a
matter of fact, the figurative and pictorial form has served to display and
illumine rather than to hide the great truths of Christianity. To how many
simple, childlike minds have the parables of our Lord Jesus brought home
lessons of wisdom, grace, hope, and consolation! And what materials for
reflection, what profound spiritual help and illumination, have they afforded to
the thoughtful student of the Word! And what themes for the teacher, the
preacher, the expositor, have these parables ever been found! They are "a
mystery;" but a mystery is a truth once hidden but now made clear and
published abroad.
III. IN FACT, PARABOLIC TEACHING IS DARKNESS TO THE
UNSPIRITUAL AND LIGHT TO THE SPIRITUAL. Like all good things, it
may be used and it may be abused. When Christ speaks, there are those who do
not perceive, who do not understand. Is this the fault of the Word? No, it is the
fault of their own inattentive, unreceptive, unsympathizing nature. It is they, the
hearers, who are to blame; not the truth which they will not appreciate (Mark
4:12). Yet are there those "who have ears to hear;" and these hear. To them the
Word is as music, satisfying their souls, bringing to them the thoughts of the
Divine mind, the love of the Divine heart, the secret of the Divine purposes. To
them it is said, "Happy are your ears, for they hear!"
IV. CHRISTIANS LEARN THE MYSTERY THAT THEY MAY PUBLISH IT.
Speaking especially to his apostles, but through them to all who receive the
gospel, our Lord bids those who welcome and value the truth to proclaim it far
and wide. It is light intended for the world's illumination; let it be set up on high,
44

45. that all in this great dark house of humanity may see their way to God. It is meal
for the hungering multitude; let it be dealt forth to every applicant with no
sparing hand, no grudging heart. There is light enough for all who are in
darkness; bread enough for all who are in danger of starving. It is the office of
the members of Christ's Church to hold forth the light of life, to take of the food
and, as it multiplies in their hands, to give to the vast multitude in the barren
wilderness.
V. WE ARE ACCOUNTABLE BOTH FOR THE WAY IN WHICH WE
RECEIVE AND FOR THE WAY IN WHICH WE IMPART DIVINE TRUTH.
1. "Take heed what and how ye hear." It is unprofitable and wrong to offer a
willing ear to every teacher, to all tidings. On the other hand, it is folly and sin to
turn away from him who speaketh from heaven, or to listen to him with
inattention, with unconcern, with unsympathizing, unbelieving hearts.
2. "With what measure ye mete it shall be measured unto you." Be faithful, be
diligent, fulfill your trust with zeal and wisdom, display benevolence towards the
untaught and the unblessed, and you shall receive more—more of truth and
more of spiritual enrichment and joy. On the other hand, the selfish, the
unpitying, the unfaithful, shall gain nothing by spiritual niggardliness; from
them shall be taken away even that which they have'
BARCLAY, "THE MYSTERY OF THE KINGDOM (Mark 4:10-12)
4:10-12 When Jesus was alone, his own circle of people, together with the
Twelve, asked him about the parables. He said to them, "To you there is given
the knowledge of the Kingdom of God which only the initiated can know. To
those who are outside, everything is expounded by means of parables, so that
they may indeed see and yet not perceive the meaning of things, and may indeed
hear and not understand, lest at any time they should turn and be forgiven."
This has always been one of the most difficult passages in all the gospels. The
King James Version speaks of the mystery of the Kingdom of God. This word
mystery has in Greek a technical meaning; it does not mean something which is
complicated and mysterious in our sense of the term. It means something which
is quite unintelligible to the person who has not been initiated into its meaning,
but is perfectly plain to the person who has been so initiated.
In New Testament times in the pagan world one of the great features of popular
religion was what were called the Mystery Religions. These religions promised
communion with and even identity with some god, whereby all the terrors of life
and of death would be taken away. Nearly all these Mystery Religions were
based on the story of some god who had suffered and died and risen again; they
were nearly all in the nature of passion plays.
One of the most famous was called the Mystery of Isis. Osiris was a wise and
good king. Seth, his wicked brother, hated him and along with seventy-two
conspirators persuaded him to come to a banquet. There he induced him to enter
a cunningly made coffin which exactly fitted him. When he was inside, the lid
45

46. was snapped down and the coffin was cast into the Nile. Isis, his faithful wife,
after a long and weary search, found the coffin and brought it home in
mourning. When she was absent the wicked Seth came again, stole away the
body, cut it into fourteen pieces and scattered them throughout all Egypt. Once
again Isis set out on her sad and weary search. In the end she discovered all the
pieces and by her magical powers put them together and restored Osiris to life
again; and from that time he became the immortal king of the living and the
dead.
What happened was this. The candidate underwent a long preparation of
purification and of fasting and of asceticism and of instruction as to the inner
meaning of the story. Then the dramatic story with its grief and its sorrow and
its resurrection and its triumphal ending was played out as a passion play. Music
and incense and lighting and a splendid liturgy were all used to enhance the
emotional atmosphere. As the play was played out the worshipper felt himself
one with the god both in his sufferings and in his triumph. He passed through
death to immortality by union with the god. The point is that to an uninitiated
person the whole thing would have been meaningless; but to the initiated the
thing was full of meaning which he had been taught to see.
That is the technical meaning of this Greek word musterion (Greek #3466).
When the New Testament talks of the mystery of the Kingdom, it does not mean
that the Kingdom is remote and abstruse and hard to understand; but it does
mean that it is quite unintelligible to the man who has not given his heart to
Jesus, and that only the man who has taken Jesus as Master and Lord can
understand what the Kingdom of God means.
The real difficulty of the passage lies in the section that follows. If we take it at its
face value it sounds as if Jesus taught in parables deliberately to cloak his
meaning, purposely to hide it from ordinary men and women. Whatever else the
passage originally meant it cannot have meant that; for, if one thing is crystal
clear, it is that Jesus used parables not to cloak his meaning and to hide his truth
but to enable men to see it and to compel them to recognize it.
How then did this passage come to be in the form it is? It is a quotation from
Isaiah 6:9-10. From the beginning it worried people. It was worrying them more
than two hundred years before Jesus made use of it. The Hebrew literally runs
(the following two translations are by W.O.E. Oesterley):
And he said, Go, and say to this people, "Go on hearkening,
but understand not; go on looking, but perceive not." Make fat
the heart of this people, and its ears make heavy, and its eyes
besmear; lest it see with its eyes, and with its ears hear, and
its heart understand, so that it should be healed again.
46

47. It seems on the face of it that God is telling Isaiah that he is to pursue a course
deliberately designed to make the people fail to understand.
In the third century B.C. the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek, and
the Greek version, the Septuagint, as it is called, became one of the most
influential books in the world, for it carried the Old Testament everywhere
Greek was spoken. The Septuagint translators were worried at this strange
passage and they translated it differently:
And he said, Go and say to this people, "Ye shall hear indeed,
but ye shall not understand; and seeing, ye shall see, and not
perceive." For the heart of this people has become gross, and
with their ears they hear heavily, and their eyes they have
closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear
with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them.
The Greek version does not say that God intended that the people should be so
dull that they would not understand; it says that they had made themselves so
dull that they could not understand--which is a very different thing. The
explanation is that no man can translate or set down in print a tone of voice.
When Isaiah spoke he spoke half in irony and half in despair and altogether in
love. He was thinking, "God sent me to bring his truth to this people; and for all
the good I am doing I might as well have been sent to shut their minds to it. I
might as well be speaking to a brick wall. You would think that God had shut
their minds to it."
So Jesus spoke his parables; he meant them to flash into men's minds and to
illuminate the truth of God. But in so many eyes he saw a dull incomprehension.
He saw so many people blinded by prejudice, deafened by wishful thinking, too
lazy to think. He turned to his disciples and he said to them: "Do you remember
what Isaiah once said? He said that when he came with God's message to God's
people Israel in his day they were so dully ununderstanding that you would have
thought that God had shut instead of opening their minds; I feel like that to-
day." When Jesus said this, he did not say it in anger, or irritation, or bitterness,
or exasperation. He said it with the wistful longing of frustrated love, the
poignant sorrow of a man who had a tremendous gift to give which people were
too blind to take.
If we read this, hearing not a tone of bitter exasperation, but a tone of regretful
love, it will sound quite different. It will tell us not of a God who deliberately
blinded men and hid his truth, but of men who were so dully uncomprehending
that it seemed no use even for God to try to penetrate the iron curtain of their
47

48. lazy incomprehension. God save us from hearing his truth like that!
COKE, "Mark 4:10. And when he was alone,— Many writers of harmonies,
thinking this inconsistent with the acknowledged circumstances of the history,
havesupposed, that the interpretation of the parable was not given now, but on
some other occasion, though, for the sake of perspicuity, it is related together
with the parable; yet the nature of the thing, as well as the testimony of St.
Matthew, Matthew 13:10 prove sufficiently, that the question which occasioned
this interpretation was put immediately after the parable was delivered; for the
question took its rise from the concluding words of the parable, He that hath
ears to hear, let him hear; which were no sooner pronounced, than the disciples
came from their several stations in the vessel, and asked the reason why he spake
in parables, since he desired his hearers to understand what he said? To remove
this difficulty, therefore, we may suppose, that in addressing Jesus the disciples
spake with such a tone of voice as they used in conversation, and that Jesus
answered in the same key; so that the people on the shore not hearing distinctly
what passed, Jesus and his disciples were to all intents and purposes alone; or
after finishing the parable he might, as on former occasions of this kind, (see
Luke 5:1-3.) order his disciples, to thrust out a little further from the land, that
the people might have time to consider what they had heard; and the disciples,
embracing this opportunity, might speak to him in private concerning the
manner of his preaching. Either of these suppositions seems fully to come up to
the import of St. Mark's phrase; which, however, some would render, and when
he was in private, they that were about him, or his disciples, with the twelve, &c.
See Luke 9:18.
COFFMAN, "They that were about him with the twelve ... refers to a wider
circle of believers, perhaps including the seventy.
The mystery of the kingdom of God ... "Nowhere in the New Testament does this
term (mystery) correspond to esoteric knowledge and rites as in the so-called
mystery religions of the Roman Empire."[6] "Mystery" in the New Testament
sense refers to a glorious truth long concealed but now revealed (Romans
16:25,26). Cranfield described the mystery as the fact "that the kingdom of God
has come in the person, words, and works of Jesus."[7] According to New
Testament definitions of it: (1) it is the enlightenment of all nations concerning
the obedience of faith to the only wise God through Jesus Christ (Romans
16:25-27); (2) it is the plan of redemption formulated by the Father before the
world was, but now preached in Christ (1 Corinthians 2:7); (3) it is the revelation
of God's purpose of summing up all things in heaven and upon earth in Christ
(Ephesians 1:10); (4) it is God's eternal purpose of including Gentiles as fellow-
heirs with Jews, fellow-members of the spiritual body of Christ, and fellow-
partakers of the promises in Christ (Ephesians 3:6); (5) in short, it is the gospel
of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 6:19), hidden under the types and shadows of the old
covenant, but now proclaimed to all nations through Christ and his apostles.
That seeing they may not perceive, etc. ... Jesus' statement here to the effect that
the parables were intentionally designed to blind some of his audience is viewed
as a problem by some of the commentators. Even Cranfield referred to it as "a
48

49. stumblingblock"[8] but admitted the meaning to be that the kingdom of God, "in
accordance with Old Testament prophecy, remains hidden from many, ...
something that is within the purpose of God."[9] Barclay wrote that "The real
difficulty of the passage (is that) if we take it at its face value, it sounds as if Jesus
taught in parables deliberately to cloak his meaning, purposely to hide it from all
ordinary men and women."[10]
Barclay's analysis is correct except in his identification of the persons from
whom Jesus hid his message by the parables. (See under Mark 4:2). If Jesus had
spoken plainly and unambiguously of his Messiahship and kingdom, the
Pharisees could have accomplished his murder prematurely; therefore, it was
under the most positive necessity that Jesus cloaked his teachings in those
beautiful and humble parables, which in no sense hid his message from
"ordinary men and women," they being the very ones who fully understood him.
They did, however, fully hide it from the proud, arrogant, unspiritual priesthood
who organized the cabal against him and finally accomplished his judicial
murder. This purpose of concealment was a fundamental characteristic of the
parables. In addition to the reasons for speaking in parables cited under Mark
4:2, above, Cranfield has the discerning word that "God's self-revelation is
veiled, in order that men may be left sufficient room in which to make a personal
decision."[11]
JESUS' EXPLANATION OF THE PARABLES
Despite the fact that scholars reject the understanding of the parables as to a
great extent allegorical, and having plural analogies in them, it is clear that our
Lord's explanation is untroubled with any such restrictions. Barclay thought
that "a parable must never be treated as an allegory";[12] but Cranfield noted
that Jesus' interpretation "certainly allegorizes this one."[13] Cranfield also
refuted the view which would make this interpretation, not of Jesus, but of the
early church. The following analogies are in the parable:
The seed is the word of God.
The way side soil is the hardened hearer.
The shallow soil is the unstable hearer.
The thorny ground is the hearer who allows the cares, riches and pleasures of life
to choke out the word.
The good ground is the faithful hearer who bears fruit.
The birds of the air are the evil one.
The sun's heat is persecution and tribulation.
The thorns are the cares, riches, and pleasures of life.
The variable yields are the variable effectiveness of Christians in bearing fruit.
49

50. The sudden sprouting of seed on the rocky ground stands for the ease with which
the unstable are converted.
The sower stands for God.SIZE>
There are interlocking triple portions in the parable.
There are three types of unproductive soil; the thorns are the cares, riches and
pleasures; and the productive soil has three gradations of 30-fold, 60-fold, and
100-fold. For further discussion of this parable, see the Commentary on
Matthew, (Matthew 13:18-23) pp. 190-192.
May see and not perceive ... lest ... they should turn and be forgiven ... The whole
of Mark 4:12 is taken from Isaiah 6:9,10, a passage Matthew quoted in this
context. This appeal to Isaiah is important for a number of reasons. It shows that
Jesus' speaking in parables was a fulfillment of the prophecy, and that the
reason many in Israel would be unable to understand was their own self-caused
hardening, confirmed by the judicial hardening from the Father. They are
wrong who find in the parables the cause of Israel's failure to understand.
"Their eyes they have closed" (Matthew 13:15) is the true reason why they could
not see. It is an inaccurate reading of what Mark here recorded to make it mean
that Jesus spoke in parables in order to prevent some people from being saved.
In this place, as throughout the entire New Testament, the truth is not fully
discernible from a single passage; but life and understanding come from the
soul's reception of "all that the prophets have spoken" (Luke 24:25), "every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4), and of the
essential truth that every passage of God's word must be understood in the light
of the principle laid down by Jesus Christ that "again it is written" (Matthew
4:7). The exegesis practiced by many of the critical scholars of postulating what
they call "truth" upon this or that isolated passage in one gospel or another is
nothing but a somewhat more sophisticated employment of the "proof-text"
method so readily condemned in others.
It is neither in the proof-text method, nor in the proof-passage method, nor in the
proof-gospel method (as in the Markan priority theory) that God's truth may be
fully learned. This fact is implicit in the fact that even the Son of God himself
refused to accept the Scriptures quoted by the devil, except in the light of what
was "again written" elsewhere. If our Saviour and head of our holy religion
relied upon the consensus of ALL that the sacred writers had written, how may
his servants hope to achieve true knowledge by any other device? (Matthew
4:1-7).
[6] Henry E. Turlington, The Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville:
Broadman Press, 1946), p. 298.
[7] C. E. B. Cranfield, op. cit., p. 153.
[8] Ibid., p. 155.
50

51. [9] Ibid., p. 156.
[10] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 89.
[11] C. E. B. Cranfield, op. cit., p. 158.
[12] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 86.
[13] C. E. B. Cranfield, op. cit., p. 158.
MACLAREN, "FOUR SOILS FOR ONE SEED
Dean Stanley and others have pointed out how the natural features of the land round
the lake of Gennesaret are reflected in the parable of the sower. But we must go
deeper than that to find its occasion. It was not because Jesus may have seen a sower
in a field which had these three varieties of soil that He spoke, but because He saw
the frivolous crowd gathered to hear His words. The sad, grave description of the
threefold kinds of vainly-sown ground is the transcript of His clear and sorrowful
insight into the real worth of the enthusiasm of the eager listeners on the beach. He
was under no illusions about it; and, in this parable, He seeks to warn His disciples
against expecting much from it, and to bring its subjects to a soberer estimate of
what His word required of them. The full force and pathos of the parable is felt only
when it is regarded as the expression of our Lord’s keen consciousness of His wasted
words. This passage falls into two parts-Christ’s explanation of the reasons for His
use of parables, and His interpretation of the parable itself.
I. Christ was the centre of three circles:
The outermost consisting of the fluctuating masses of merely curious hearers; the
second, of true but somewhat loosely attached disciples, whom Mark here calls ‘they
that were about Him’; and the innermost, the twelve. The two latter appear, in our
first verse, as asking further instruction as to ‘the parable,’ a phrase which includes
both parts of Christ’s answer. The statement of His reason for the use of parables is
startling. It sounds as if those who needed light most were to get least of it, and as if
the parabolic form was deliberately adopted for the express purpose of hiding the
truth. No wonder that men have shrunk from such a thought, and tried to soften
down the terrible words. Inasmuch as a parable is the presentation of some spiritual
truth under the guise of an incident belonging to the material sphere, it follows, from
its very nature, that it may either reveal or hide the truth, and that it will do the
former to susceptible, and the latter to unsusceptible, souls. The eye may either dwell
upon the coloured glass or on the light that streams through it; and, as is the case
with all revelations of spiritual realities through sensuous mediums, gross and
earthly hearts will not rise above the medium, which to them, by their own fault,
becomes a medium of obscuration, not of revelation. This double aspect belongs to
all revelation, which is both a ‘savour of life unto life and of death unto death.’ It is
most conspicuous in the parable, which careless listeners may take for a mere story,
and which those who feel and see more deeply will apprehend in its depth. These
twofold effects are certain, and must therefore be embraced in Christ’s purpose; for
we cannot suppose that issues of His teaching escaped His foresight; and all must be
regarded as part of His design. But may we not draw a distinction between design
and desire? The primary purpose of all revelation is to reveal. If the only intention
were to hide, silence would secure that, and the parable were needless. But if the
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52. twofold operation is intended, we can understand how mercy and righteous
retribution both preside over the use of parables; how the thin veil hides that it may
reveal, and how the very obscurity may draw some grosser souls to a longer gaze, and
so may lead to a perception of the truth, which, in its purer form, they are neither
worthy nor capable of receiving. No doubt, our Lord here announces a very solemn
law, which runs through all the divine dealings, ‘To him that hath shall be given; and
from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath.’
II. We turn to the exposition of the parable of the sower, or rather of the
fourfold soils in which he sows the seed.
A sentence at the beginning disposes of the personality of the sower, which in Mark’s
version does not refer exclusively to Christ, but includes all who carry the word to
men. The likening of ‘the word’ to seed needs no explanation. The tiny, living nucleus
of force, which is thrown broadcast, and must sink underground in order to grow,
which does grow, and comes to light again in a form which fills the whole field where
it is sown, and nourishes life as well as supplies material for another sowing, is the
truest symbol of the truth in its working on the spirit. The threefold causes of failure
are arranged in progressive order. At every stage of growth there are enemies. The
first sowing never gets into the ground at all; the second grows a little, but its
greenness soon withers; the third has a longer life, and a yet sadder failure, because a
nearer approach to fertility. The types of character represented are unreceptive
carelessness, emotional facility of acceptance, and earthly-mindedness, scotched, but
not killed, by the word. The dangers which assault, but too successfully, the seed are
the personal activity of Satan, opposition from without, and conflicting desires
within. On all the soils the seed has been sown by hand; for drills are modern
inventions; and sowing broadcast is the only right husbandry in Christ’s field with
Christ’s seed. He is a poor workman, and an unfaithful one, who wants to pick his
ground. Sow everywhere; ‘Thou canst not tell which shall prosper, whether this or
that.’ The character of the soil is not irrevocably fixed; but the trodden path may be
broken up to softness, and the stony heart changed, and the soul filled with cares and
lusts be cleared, and any soil may become good ground. So the seed is to be flung out
broadcast; and prayer for seed and soil will often turn the weeping sower into the
joyous reaper.
The seed sown on the trodden footpath running across the field never sinks below the
surface. It lies there, and has no real contact, nor any chance of growth. It must be in,
not on, the ground, if its mysterious power is to be put forth. A pebble is as likely to
grow as a seed, if both lie side by side, on the surface. Is not this the description of a
mournfully large proportion of hearers of God’s truth? It never gets deeper than their
ears, or, at the most, effects a shallow lodgment on the surface of their minds. So
many feet pass along the path, and beat it into hardness, that the truth has no chance
to take root. Habitual indifference to the gospel, masked by an utterly unmeaning
and unreal acceptance of it, and by equally habitual decorous attendance on its
preaching, is the condition of a dreadfully large proportion of church-goers. Their
very familiarity with the truth robs it of all penetrating power. They know all about it,
as they suppose; and so they listen to it as they would to the clank of a mill-wheel to
which they were accustomed, missing its noise if it stops, and liking to be sent to
sleep by its hum. Familiar truth often lies ‘bedridden in the dormitory of the soul,
beside exploded errors.’
And what comes of this idle hearing, without acceptance or obedience? Truth which
is common, and which a man supposes himself to believe, without having ever
reflected on it, or let it influence conduct, is sure to die out. If we do not turn our
beliefs into practice they will not long be our beliefs. Neglected impressions fade; the
seed is only safe when it is buried. There are flocks of hungry, sharp-eyed, quick-
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53. flying thieves ready to pounce down on every exposed grain. So Mark uses here again
his favourite ‘straightway’ to express the swift disappearance of the seed. As soon as
the preacher’s voice is silent, or the book closed, the words are forgotten. The
impression of a gliding keel on a smooth lake is not more evanescent.
The distinct reference to Satan as the agent in removing the seed is not to be passed
by lightly. Christ’s words about demons have been emptied of meaning by the
allegation that He was only accommodating Himself to the superstition of the times,
but no explanation of that sort will do in this case. He surely commits Himself here to
the assertion of the existence and agency of Satan; and surely those who profess to
receive His words as the truth ought not to make light of them, in reference to so
solemn and awe-inspiring a revelation.
The seed gets rather farther on the road to fruit in the second case. A thin surface of
mould above a shelf of rock is like a forcing-house in hot countries. The stone keeps
the heat and stimulates growth. The very thing that prevents deep rooting facilitates
rapid shooting. The green spikelets will be above ground there long before they show
in deeper soil. There would be many such hearers in the ‘very great multitude’ on the
shore, who were attracted, they scarcely knew why, and were the more enthusiastic
the less they understood the real scope of Christ’s teaching. The disciple who pressed
forward with his excited and unasked ‘Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou
goest!’ was one of such-well-meaning, perfectly sincere, warmly affected, and
completely unreliable. Lightly come is lightly go. When such people forsake their
fervent purposes, and turn their backs on what they have been so eagerly pursuing,
they are quite consistent; for they are obeying the uppermost impulse in both cases,
and, as they were easily drawn to follow without consideration, they are easily driven
back with as little. The first taste of supposed good secured their giddy-pated
adhesion; the first taste of trouble ensures their desertion. They are the same men
acting in the same fashion at both times. Two things are marked by our Lord as
suspicious in such easily won discipleship-its suddenness and its joyfulness. Feelings
which are so easily stirred are superficial. A puff of wind sets a shallow pond in
wavelets. Quick maturity means brief life and swift decay, as every ‘revival’ shows.
The more earnestly we believe in the possibility of sudden conversions, the more we
should remember this warning, and make sure that, if they are sudden, they shall be
thorough, which they may be. The swiftness is not so suspicious if it be not
accompanied with the other doubtful characteristic-namely, immediate joy. Joy is
the result of true acceptance of the gospel; but not the first result. Without
consciousness of sin and apprehension of judgment there is no conversion. We lay
down no rules as to depth or duration of the ‘godly sorrow’ which precedes all well-
grounded ‘joy in the Lord’; but the Christianity which has taken a flying leap over the
valley of humiliation will scarcely reach a firm standing on the rock. He who
‘straightway with joy’ receives the word, will straightway, with equal precipitation,
cast it away when the difficulties and oppositions which meet all true discipleship
begin to develop themselves. Fair-weather crews will desert when storms begin to
blow.
The third sort of soil brings things still farther on before failure comes. The seed is
not only covered and germinating, but has actually begun to be fruitful. The thorns
are supposed to have been cut down, but their roots have been left, and they grow
faster than the wheat. They take the ‘goodness’ out of the ground, and block out sun
and air; and so the stalks, which promised well, begin to get pale and droop, and the
half-formed ear comes to nothing, or, as the other version of the parable has it,
brings ‘forth no fruit to perfection.’ There are two crops fighting for the upper hand
on the one ground, and the earlier possessor wins. The ‘struggle for existence’ ends
with the ‘survival of the fittest’; that is, of the worst, to which the natural bent of the
53

54. desires and inclinations of the unrenewed man is more congenial. The ‘cares of this
world’ and the ‘deceitfulness of riches’ are but two sides of one thing. The poor man
has cares; the rich man has the illusions of his wealth. Both men agree in thinking
that this world’s good is most desirable. The one is anxious because he has not
enough of it, or fears to lose what he has; the other man is full of foolish confidence
because he has much. Eager desires after creatural good are common to both; and,
what with the anxiety lest they lose, and the self-satisfaction because they have, and
the mouths watering for the world’s good, there is no force of will, nor warmth of
love, nor clearness of vision, left for better things. That is the history of the fall of
many a professing Christian, who never apostatises, and keeps up a reputable
appearance of godliness to the end; but the old worldliness, which was cut down for a
while, has sprung again in his heart, and, by slow degrees, the word is ‘choked’-a
most expressive picture of the silent, gradual dying-out of its power for want of sun
and air-and ‘he’ or ‘it’ ‘becometh unfruitful,’ relapsing from a previous condition of
fruit-bearing into sterility. No heart can mature two crops. We must choose between
God and Mammon-between the word and the world.
There is nothing fixed or necessary in the faults of these three classes, and they are
not so much the characteristics of separate types of men as evils common to all
hearers, against which all have to guard. They depend upon the will and affections
much more than on anything in temperament fixed and not to be got rid of. So there
is no reason why any one of the three should not become ‘good soil’: and it is to be
noted that the characteristic of that soil is simply that it receives and grows the seed.
Any heart that will, can do that; and that is all that is needed. But to do it, there will
have to be diligent care, lest we fall into any of the evils pointed at in the preceding
parts of the parable, which are ever waiting to entrap us. The true ‘accepting’ of the
word requires that we shall not let it lie on the surface of our minds, as in the case of
the first; nor be satisfied with its penetrating a little deeper and striking root in our
emotions, like the second, of whom it is said with such profound truth, that they
‘have no root in themselves,’ their roots being only in the superficial part of their
being, and never going down to the true central self; nor let competing desires grow
up unchecked, like the third; but cherish the ‘word of the truth of the gospel’ in our
deepest hearts, guard it against foes, let it rule there, and mould all our conduct in
conformity with its blessed principles. The true Christian is he who can truly say,
‘Thy word have I hid in mine heart.’ If we do, we shall be fruitful, because it will bear
fruit in us. No man is obliged, by temperament or circumstances, to be ‘wayside,’ or
‘stony,’ or ‘thorny’ ground. Wherever a heart opens to receive the gospel, and keeps it
fast, there the increase will be realised-not in equal measure in all, but in each
according to faithfulness and diligence. Mark arranges the various yields in
ascending scale, as if to teach our hopes and aims a growing largeness, while
Matthew orders them in the opposite fashion, as if to teach that, while the
hundredfold, which is possible for all, is best, the smaller yield is accepted by the
great Lord of the harvest, who Himself not only sows the seed, but gives it its vitality,
blesses its springing, and rejoices to gather the wheat into His barn.
11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of
God has been given to you. But to those on the
outside everything is said in parables
54

55. CLARKE, "Unto you it is given to know - Γνωναι, to know, is omitted by
ABKL, ten others, the Coptic, and one of the Itala. The omission of this word makes a
material alteration in the sense; for without it the passage may be read thus: - To you
the mystery of the kingdom of God is given; but all these things are transacted in
parables to those without. Griesbach leaves it doubtful. And Professor White says,
probabiliter delendum. I should be inclined to omit it, were it not found in the
parallel passages in Matthew and Luke, in neither of whom it is omitted by any MS.
or version. See the dissertation on parabolical writing at the end of Mat_13:58.
GILL, "And he said unto them,.... His disciples;
unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; or the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, the secrets of the Gospel dispensation, the
mysterious doctrines of grace; See Gill on Mat_13:11,
but unto them that are without; "to strangers", as the Syriac and Arabic versions
render it, who were not the disciples of Christ, nor admitted to any intimacy with
him; who came only to amuse themselves with the sight of his person and miracles:
all these things are done in parables; are wrapped up in dark sayings, and
figurative expressions, the sound of which they heard, and might be pleased with the
pretty similes made use of, but understood not the spiritual meaning of them.
HENRY, "II. The way of expounding that he used with his disciples; When he
was alone by himself, not only the twelve, but others that were about him with the
twelve, took the opportunity to ask him the meaning of the parables, Mar_4:10. They
found it good to be about Christ; the nearer him the better; good to be with the
twelve, to be conversant with those that are intimate with him. And he told them
what a distinguishing favour it was to them, that they were made acquainted with the
mystery of the kingdom of God, Mar_4:11. The secret of the Lord was with them.
That instructed them, which others were only amused with, and they were made to
increase in knowledge by every parable, and understood more of the way and method
in which Christ designed to set up his kingdom in the world, while others were
dismissed, never the wiser. Note, Those who know the mystery of the kingdom of
heaven, must acknowledge that it is given to them; they receive both the light and
the sight from Jesus Christ, who, after his resurrection, both opened the scriptures,
and opened the understanding, Luk_24:27, Luk_24:45.
In particular, we have here,
1. The parable of the sower, as we had it, Mat_13:3, etc. He begins (Mar_4:3), with,
Hearken, and concludes (Mar_4:9) with, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Note, The words of Christ demand attention, and those who speak from him, may
command it, and should stir it up; even that which as yet we do not thoroughly
understand, or not rightly, we must carefully attend to, believing it to be both
intelligible and weighty, that at length we may understand it; we shall find more in
Christ's sayings than at first there seemed to be.
55

56. JAMIESON, "Mar_4:11, Mar_4:12, Mar_4:21-25. Reason for teaching in
parables.
And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the
kingdom of God: but unto them, etc. — See on Mat_13:10-17.
PULPIT, "Mark 4:11, Mark 4:12
To know the mystery. The Greek verb γνῶναι, to know, is not found in the best
manuscripts, in which the words are ( ὑμῖν τὸ μυστὴριον δέδοται), unto you is
given the mystery of the kingdom of God. Our Lord here explains why he spake
to the mixed multitude in parables; namely, because most of them were as yet
incapable of receiving the gospel: some would not believe it, others reviled it.
Therefore our Lord here encourages his own disciples to search out his words
spoken in parables, and humbly to inquire into their full meaning, that so they
might become able ministers and efficient preachers of the gospel. Moreover, by
this he shows that this efficiency cannot be obtained by our own strength, but
must be humbly sought for from God. For it is his own gift which he bestows on
the disciples of Christ, and denies to others, whom he leaves to the blindness of
their own hearts. It is as though he said, "To you, my disciples, my apostles, it is
given, since you believe in me as the Messiah, to have continually more clear
revelations from me of the mysteries of God and of heaven, by which you shall
day by day increase in the knowledge and love of him. But from the scribes and
others, because they will not believe in me as their own Messiah, God will take
away even that small knowledge which they have of him and of his kingdom.
Yea, he will deprive them of all the special privileges which they have hitherto
possessed." But the words are not limited in their application to those who were
living on the earth when Christ sojourned here. He says to all in every age who
come within the reach of his gospel, "Those who come to me with a sincere heart
and a simple desire to know the truth, as you, my apostles, are doing, to them I
will reveal the mysteries of my kingdom, and I will help them onwards in the
path of holiness, by which they may at length attain to the heavenly kingdom.
But they who have not this pure desire of truth, but indulge their own lusts and
errors, from them that little knowledge of God and of Divine things will by
degrees be taken away, and they will become altogether blind." Observe the
expression ( ἐκείνοις δὲ τοῖς ἔξω), but unto them that are without. There were
then, just as there are now, those who were outside the realm of spiritual things;
not caring for, not understanding, not desirous of spiritual truth. Lest at any
time they should be converted ( μήποτε ἐπιστρέψωσι)—lest haply they should
turn again (the verb is active) and their sins should be forgiven them. According
to the best reading, τὰ ἁμαρτήματα is omitted; so it runs, and it should be
forgiven them. The use of the active verb brings out the sinner's responsibility
with respect to his own conversion.
COKE, "Mark 4:11-12. Unto them that were without— Τοις εξω, the people out
of the vessel,—the multitude on the shore. See εξω, used in a similar sense in the
history of Peter's denial of his Master, Matthew 26:69. The following words at
first sight seem to import, that Jesus spoke to the people obscurely, in parables,
on purpose that they might not understand what he said, for fear they should
have been converted and pardoned. Nevertheless it is evident from St. Mark
56

57. himself, that this was not our Lord's meaning; for at the conclusion of the whole
he says expressly, with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they
were able to hear it; but if Jesus spake to the people in parables as they were able
to hear, his answer to the disciples, here recorded by St. Mark, who makes this
observation on his preaching, cannot reasonably be understood in any sense
inconsistent therewith. The true interpretation of the passage depends on a just
view of St. Mark's scope, which our translators seem to have missed; for,
remembering that in the parallel passage, Matthew 13:14 the words of Isaiah
6:9-10 are quoted, and finding some of the phrases of that prophesy in St. Mark,
they never doubted but Isaiah was cited there likewise, and interpreted the
passage accordingly; for they gave the Greek μηποτε the signification of the
Hebrew ‫פן‬ pen, in the prophesy, supposing it to be the corresponding word; and
by that means made St. Mark contradict what he himself has told us in Mark
4:33. Nevertheless, if it shall be found that there is no citation here, properly
speaking, but only an allusion to a citation which our Lord made in the
beginning of his discourse, and which a preceding historian had recorded, we
may allow, that though ‫פן‬ pen in the prophesy signifies lest, yet μηποτε, in our
Lord's answer recorded by St. Mark, may have a different, but equally natural,
signification; viz. If it be so,—if peradventure, agreeably to its use in other
passages. (See Luke 3:15. 2 Timothy 2:25.) That Isaiah is not cited in the branch
of Christ's answer recorded by St. Mark, is evident, because there is not the least
hint of any citation. Besides, the slightest comparison of the passages themselves
will shew them to bedifferent. In the prophesy, God orders Isaiah to declare
concerning the Jews in after-times, that they would hear the Messiah preach, but
not understand him; and see his miracles, but not conceive a just idea of the
power whereby they were performed; and to prophesy of them, that they would
harden their hearts, and deafen their ears, and close their eyes, lest they should
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,and understand with their hearts,
and be converted and healed. In St. Matthew, our Lord assigns the completion of
that prophesy as the reason why he spake to the people in parables. They were
become so stupid and wicked, that they could not endure to hear the doctrines of
the Gospel plainly preached to them. In St. Mark he added, that because this was
the state of their minds, he wrapped up his doctrine in parables, with an
intention that they might see as much of it as they were able to receive, but not
perceive the offensive particulars, which would have made them reject both him
and his doctrines; and that they might hear as much as they were able to hear,
but not understand any thing to irritate them against him; and all with a design
to promote their conversion and salvation. From our Lord's using two or three of
the prophet's phrases in these verses, we cannot conclude that he cited him, or
even that he used those phrases in the prophet's sense of them. He had cited him
in the beginning of his discourse, and therefore, though he affixed a different
sense to his words, he might use them by way of allusion, to insinuate that it was
the wickedness of the Jews, predicted by Isaiah, which had rendered this kind of
teaching the only probable method of converting them. Upon the whole, the
expressions ascribed to Jesus in St. Mark's Gospel are by no means the same
with those found in St. Matthew; but they contain an additional sentiment on the
same subject, by way of further illustration. It is true, Christ's teaching the
Gospel by parables, placed in this light, appears to have been a favour, rather
than a judicial stroke; notwithstanding it appears from our Lord's own words,
57

58. that it was of the latter kind; but the answer is, that this manner of teaching,
withoutdoubt,impliedthehighestblameintheJews, whose wickedness had
rendered it necessary, and conveyed an idea of punishment on the part of Christ,
who for their wickedness deprived them of better means of instruction; so that it
was really a punishment: at the same time it was a favour likewise, as it was a
less punishment than theydeserved, and a punishment in order to reclaim them. I
acknowledge, that if our Lord had not spoken in answer to the disciples, who
desired to know the reason of his conduct, what he said on this occasion might
have been compared with other texts; in which, according to the genius of the
Hebrew language, the words lead us to think of the intention of the agent, while
in the mean time nothing but the effect of his action is described. See Matthew
10:34-35. Nevertheless, the circumstances of the passage under consideration
forbid this method of interpretation. To conclude, this sense appears to me for
another reason much the most probable, because when our Lord taught men, he
never did it but with a view to instruct them, and to promote their salvation; so
far was he from forming his discourses darkly, on purpose to keep them in
ignorance, and hinder their conversion. For it is beyond the power of the most
captious disputant to deny, that the great end of all Christ's labours was the
illumination, conversion, and salvation of mankind. Instead of done in parables,
we may read, delivered in parables
LIGHTFOOT, "[Unto them that are without.] Those without, in Jewish speech,
were the Gentiles; a phrase taken hence, that they called all lands and countries
besides their own without the land. Would you have an exact instance of this
distinction? "A tree, half of which grows within the land of Israel, and half
without the land, the fruits of it which are to be tithed, and the common fruits
are confounded: they are the words of Rabba. But Rabban Simeon Ben Gamaliel
saith, 'That part which grows within the place, that is bound to tithing" [that is,
within the land of Israel], "is to be tithed: that which grows in the place free
from tithing" (that is, without the land) "is free.'" The Gloss is, "For if the roots
of the tree are without the land, it is free, although the tree itself extends itself
sixteen cubits within the land."
Hence books that are without, are heathen books: extraneous books of Greek
wisdom.
This is the common signification of the phrase. And, certainly it foretells
dreadful things, when our blessed Saviour stigmatizeth the Jewish nation with
that very name that they were wont to call the heathens by.
The word those without, occurs also in the Talmudists, when it signifies the Jews
themselves; that is, some of the Jewish nation. Here the Karaites, who rejected
traditions, there those without, are opposed to the wise men: "He that puts his
phylacteries on his forehead, or in the palm of his hand, behold! he follows the
custom of the Karaites. And he that overlays one of them with gold, and puts it
upon his garment which is at his hand, behold! he follows the custom of those
that are without." Where the Gloss, "those without are men who follow their
own will, and not the judgment of the wise men." They are supposed to wear
phylacteries, and to be Jews; but when they do according to their pleasure, and
58

59. despise the rules of the wise men, they are esteemed as those that are without, or
heathens. So was the whole Jewish nation according to Christ's censure, which
despised the evangelical wisdom.
[All things are done in parables.] I. How much is the Jewish nation deceived
concerning the times of the Messias! They think his forerunner Elias will explain
all difficulties, resolve scruples, and will render all things plain; so that when the
Messias shall come after him, there shall be nothing obscure or dark in the law
and in religion. Hence these expressions, and the like to them: "One found a bill
of contracts in his keeping, and knew not what it meant, Let it be laid up till
Elias shall come." And more in the same tract, concerning things found, when it
is not known to whom they are to be restored, "Let them be laid up till Elias
come." "That passage, (Eze 14:18,19 where a burnt offering is called a sacrifice
for sin) Elias will unfold." Infinite examples of that sort occur.
II. How those words have wracked interpreters, "Is a candle put under a
bushel," &c.; and, "There is nothing hidden," &c.: you may see also without a
candle. A very easy sense of them is gathered from the context. When Christ
speaks in parables, "A light is put under a bushel": but "the light (saith he) is
not come for this end," that it should be so hidden; nor, indeed, were it fit so to
hide it, but that the divine justice would have it so, that they who will not see the
light should not enjoy the light. But "there is nothing hid" which shall not be
made manifest by the brightness of the doctrine of the gospel, so there be eyes
that do not refuse the light, nor voluntarily become purblind. Therefore, take
you heed how you hear, lest ye be like them, and divine justice mete to you by the
same measure as is measured to them; namely, that they shall never hear,
because they will not hear.
12 so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’[a]”
GILL, "That seeing they may see,.... Which the end and reason of his speaking
to them in parables. The passage referred to is in Isa_6:9. See Gill on Mat_13:14. See
Gill on Mat_13:15.
CALVIN, "Mark 4:12.That seeing, they may see, and not perceive. Here it may
suffice to state briefly what has already been fully explained, that the doctrine is
not, strictly speaking, or by itself, or in its own nature, but by accident, the cause
59

60. of blindness. When persons of a weak sight come out into sunshine, their eyes
become dimmer than before, and that defect is in no way attributed to the sun,
but to their eyes. In like manner, when the word of God blinds and hardens the
reprobate, as this takes place through their own depravity, it belongs truly and
naturally to themselves, but is accidental, as respects the word.
Lest at any time they should be converted. This clause points out the advantage
that is gained by seeing and understanding It is, that men, having been converted
to God, are restored to his favor, and, being reconciled to him, enjoy prosperity
and happiness. The true end for which
God desires that his word should be preached is, to reconcile men to himself by
renewing their minds and hearts. With respect to the reprobate, on the other
hand, Isaiah here declares that the stony hardness remains in them, so that they
do not obtain mercy, and that the word fails to produce its effect upon them, so
as to soften their minds to repentance.
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you
understand this parable? How then will you
understand any parable?
BARNES, "Know ye not this parable? - This which is so plain and obvious.
How then will ye know all parables? - Those which are more difficult and
obscure. As they were themselves to be “teachers,” it was important that they should
be acquainted with the whole system of religion - of much more importance for them
at that time than for the mass of the people.
CLARKE, "Know ye not this parable? - The scope and design of which is so
very obvious.
How then will ye know all parables? - Of which mode of teaching ye should
be perfect masters, in order that ye may be able successfully to teach others. This
verse is not found in any of the other evangelists.
GILL, "And he saith unto them, know ye not this parable?.... So easy to be
understood, taken from things common, and which fall under every one's
observation:
and how then will you know all parables? if not this single one, and which is so
plain, how will ye be able to understand the numerous parables hereafter to be
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61. related, and which will be much more difficult?
HENRY, "2. The exposition of it to the disciples. Here is a question Christ put to
them before he expounded it, which we had not in Matthew (Mar_4:13); “Know ye
not this parable? Know ye not the meaning of it? How then will ye know all
parables?” (1.) “If ye know not this, which is so plain, how will ye understand other
parables, which will be more dark and obscure? If ye are gravelled and run aground
with this, which bespeaks so plainly the different success of the word preached upon
those that hear it, which ye yourselves may see easily, how will ye understand the
parables which hereafter will speak of the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the
Gentiles, which is a thing ye have no idea of?” Note, This should quicken us both to
prayer and pains that we may get knowledge, that there are a great many things
which we are concerned to know; and if we understand not the plain truths of the
gospel, how shall we master those that are more difficult? Vita brevis, ars longa -
Life is short, art is long. If we have run with the footmen, and they have wearied us,
and run us down, then how shall we contend with horses? Jer_12:5. (2.) “If ye know
not this, which is intended for your direction in hearing the word, that ye may profit
by it; how shall ye profit by what ye are further to hear? This parable is to teach you
to be attentive to the word, and affected with it, that you may understand it. If ye
receive not this, ye will not know how to use the key by which ye must be let into all
the rest.” If we understand not the rules we are to observe in order to our profiting by
the word, how shall we profit by any other rule? Observe, Before Christ expounds the
parable, [1.] He shows them how sad their case was, who were not let into the
meaning of the doctrine of Christ; To you it is given, but not to them. Note, It will
help us to put a value upon the privileges we enjoy as disciples of Christ, to consider
the deplorable state of those who want such privileges, especially that they are out of
the ordinary way of conversion; lest they should be converted, and their sins should
be forgiven them. Mar_4:12. Those only who are converted, have their sins forgiven
them: and it is the misery of unconverted souls, that they lie under unpardoned guilt.
[2.] He shows them what a shame it was, that they needed such particular
explanations of the word they heard, and did not apprehend it at first. Those that
would improve in knowledge, must be made sensible of their ignorance.
JAMIESON, "Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all
parables? — Probably this was said not so much in the spirit of rebuke, as to call
their attention to the exposition of it which He was about to give, and so train them
to the right apprehension of His future parables. As in the parables which we have
endeavored to explain in Mat_13:1-58., we shall take this parable and the Lord’s own
exposition of the different parts of it together.
BARCLAY, "THE HARVEST IS SURE (Mark 4:13-20)
4:13-20 "Don't you understand this parable?" he said to them. "How then will
you understand all the parables? What the sower is sowing is the word. The kind
of people represented by the case in which the seed fell by the side of the road,
are those in whose case the word is sown, and whenever they hear it, immediately
Satan comes, and snatches away the word that was sown into them. Just so, the
kind of people represented by the case in which the seed was sown on the rocky
ground, are those, who, whenever they hear the word, immediately gladly
welcome it. They have no root in themselves, but they are quite impermanent;
and then, when trouble or persecution happens because of the word, they
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62. immediately stumble and collapse. Then there are the others who are
represented by the case in which the seed was sown among thorns. These are the
people who hear the word, but the anxieties of this world and the deceptive
attraction of wealth and the desires for other things enter into them and choke
the life out of the word, and it never gets a chance to bear fruit. The kind of
people who are represented by the case in which the seed fell on good ground are
such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit, thirty and sixty and a
hundredfold."
Every detail of this parable would be real to its hearers because every detail
came from everyday life. Four kinds of ground are mentioned.
(i) There was the hard ground at the side of the road. The seed might fall on this
kind of ground in two ways. The fields in Palestine were in the form of long,
narrow strips; these strips were divided by little grass paths, which were rights
of way; the result was that they became beaten as hard as stone by the feet of
those who used them. As the sower scattered his seed some might well fall there;
and there it had not a chance to grow.
But there was another way of sowing. Sometimes a sack of seed was put on the
back of an ass; a hole was cut in the corner of the sack; and then the beast was
led up and down as the seed flowed out. Inevitably as the ass was brought along
the road to the field some of the seed fell on the road; and just as inevitably the
birds swooped on it and gobbled it up.
There are some people into whose hearts Christian truth can find no entry. This
is due to the hearer's lack of interest; and that lack of interest comes from a
failure to realize how important the Christian decision is. Christianity fails to
make an impact on so many people, not because they are hostile to it, but because
they are indifferent. They think that it is irrelevant to life and that they can get
on well enough without it. That might be true if life was always an easy way
where there were neither tensions nor tears; but in fact there comes to every man
a time when he needs a power not his own. It is the tragedy of life that so many
discover that too late.
(ii) There was the rocky ground. This was not ground full of stones; it was a
narrow skin of earth over a shelf of limestone rock. Much of Galilee was like
that. In many fields the outcrop of the rock through the shallow soil could be
seen. Seed which fell there germinated all right; but because the soil was so
shallow and held so little nourishment and moisture, the heat of the sun soon
withered the sprouting seed and it died.
It is always easier to begin a thing than to finish it. A certain famous evangelist
said: "We have learned that it takes about five per cent. effort to win a man to
Christ, and ninety-five per cent to keep him in Christ and growing into maturity
in the church." Many a man begins the Christian way only to fall out by the
wayside.
There are two troubles which cause this collapse. One is the failure to think the
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63. thing out and to think it through, the failure to realize what it means and what it
costs before the start is made. The other is the fact that there are thousands of
people who are attracted by Christianity but who never let it get beyond the
surface of their lives. The fact is that with Christianity it is a case of all or
nothing. A man is safe only when he has given himself in total commitment to
Christ:
"Is there a thing beneath the sun,
That strives with thee my heart to share?
Ah! tear it thence, and reign alone,
The Lord of every motion there."
(iii) There was the ground that was full of thorns. The Palestinian farmer was
lazy. He cut off the top of the fibrous rooted weeds; he even burned off the top;
and the field might look clean; but below the surface the roots were still there;
and in due time the weeds revived in all their strength. They grew with such
rapidity and such virulence that they choked the life out of the seed.
It is easy to pack life with such a multiplicity of interests that there is no time left
for Christ. As the poet said, the cares of life can be like the clogging dust until
"we forget because we must and not because we will." The more complicated life
becomes, the more necessity there is to see that our priorities are right, for there
are so many things which seek to shoulder Christ from out the topmost niche.
(iv) There was the good, clean, deep soil in which the seed flourished.
If we are really to benefit by the Christian message the parable tells us that we
must do three things. (a) We must hear it; and we cannot hear unless we listen. It
is characteristic of so many of us that we are so busy talking that we have no
time to hear, so engaged in arguing that we have no time to listen, so occupied in
advancing our own opinions that we have no time to attend to the opinions of
Christ, so much on the move that we have no time for the essential stillness.
(b) We must receive it. When we hear the Christian message we must really take
it into our minds. The human mind is an odd and dangerous machine. We are so
constructed, in the wise providence of creation, that, whenever a foreign body
threatens to enter the eye, the eye automatically closes. That is an instinctive,
reflex action. Whenever the mind hears something that it does not want to hear it
automatically closes its door. There are times when truth can hurt; but
sometimes a distasteful drug or an unpleasant treatment must be accepted if
health is to be preserved. To shut the mind to truth we do not want to hear is the
straight road to disaster and to tragedy.
(c) We must put it into action. The yield in the parable was thirty, sixty and a
hundredfold. That is a large yield but the volcanic soil of Galilee was famous for
its crops. Christian truth must always emerge in action. In the last analysis the
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64. Christian is challenged, not to speculate, but to act.
All that is the meaning of this parable when we sit down and study it at leisure.
But it is quite impossible that all that would flash upon men's minds as they
heard it for the first time. What, then, would be the one thing which flashed out
on the crowd who heard it for the first time beside the Sea of Galilee? Surely
this--that, although part of the seed never grew, the fact remained that at the end
of the day there was a splendid harvest. This is the parable to end despair. It
may seem that much of our effort achieves no result; it may seem that much of
our labour is wasted. That is how the disciples were feeling, when they saw Jesus
banished from the synagogue and regarded with suspicion. In many places his
message seemed to have failed, and they were discouraged and down-hearted.
But this parable said to them, and says to us, "Patience! Do your work. Sow the
seed. Leave the rest to God. The harvest is sure."
14 The farmer sows the word.
GILL, "The sower soweth the word. Though our Lord thought fit to give the
above gentle rebuke to his disciples for their dulness; yet he condescends to favour
them with an interpretation of the above parable, which here begins: by this it
appears, that the seed in the parable, before delivered, and which fell on different
sorts of ground, is the word of God, which was preached to hearers of different
dispositions: the word is the word of life and truth; the word of peace and
reconciliation; the word of faith and righteousness; the word of salvation; the word
which publishes and declares all these to be in and by Jesus Christ.
HENRY, "Having thus prepared them for it, he gives them the interpretation of
the parable of the sower, as we had it before in Matthew. Let us only observe here,
First, That in the great field of the church, the word of God is dispensed to all
promiscuously; The sower soweth the word (Mar_4:14), sows it at a venture, beside
all waters, upon all sorts of ground (Isa_32:20), not knowing where it will light, or
what fruit it will bring forth. He scatters it, in order to the increase of it. Christ was
awhile sowing himself, when he went about teaching and preaching; now he sends
his ministers, and sows by their hand. Ministers are sowers; they have need of the
skill and discretion of the husbandman (Isa_28:24-26); they must not observe winds
and clouds (Ecc_11:4, Ecc_11:6), and must look up to God, who gives seed to the
sower, 2Co_9:10.
Secondly, That of the many that hear the word of the gospel, and read it, and are
conversant with it, there are, comparatively, but few that receive it, so as to bring
forth the fruits of it; here is but one in four, that comes to good. It is sad to think,
how much of the precious seed of the word of God is lost, and sown in vain; but
there is a day coming when lost sermons must be accounted for. Many that have
heard Christ himself preach in their streets, will hereafter be bidden to depart from
him; those therefore who place all their religion in hearing, as if that alone would
save them, do but deceive themselves, and build their hope upon the sand, Jam_
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65. 1:22.
Thirdly, Many are much affected with the word for the present, who yet receive no
abiding benefit by it. The motions of soul they have, answerable to what they hear,
are but a mere flash, like the crackling of thorns under a pot. We read of hypocrites,
that they delight to know God's ways (Isa_58:2); of Herod, that he heard John
gladly (Mar_6:20); of others, that they rejoiced in his light (Joh_5:35); of those to
whom Ezekiel was a lovely song (Eze_33:32); and those represented here by the
stony ground, received the word with gladness, and yet came to nothing.
Fourthly, The reason why the word doth not leave commanding, abiding,
impressions upon the minds of the people, is, because their hearts are not duly
disposed and prepared to receive it; the fault is in themselves, not in the word; some
are careless forgetful hearers, and these get no good at all by the word; it comes in at
one ear, and goes out at the other; others have their convictions overpowered by their
corruptions, and they lose the good impressions the word has made upon them, so
that they get no abiding good by it.
Fifthly, The devil is very busy about loose, careless hearers, as the fowls of the air
go about the seed that lies above ground; when the heart, like the highway, is
unploughed, unhumbled, when it lies common, to be trodden on by every passenger,
as theirs that are great company-keepers, then the devil is like the fowls; he comes
swiftly, and carries away the word ere we are aware. When therefore these fowls
come down upon the sacrifices, we should take care, as Abram did, to drive them
away (Gen_15:11); that, though we cannot keep them from hovering over our heads,
we may not let them nestle in our hearts.
Sixthly, Many that are not openly scandalized, so as to throw off their profession,
as they on the stony ground did, yet have the efficacy of it secretly choked and stifled,
so that it comes to nothing; they continue in a barren, hypocritical profession, which
brings nothing to pass, and so go down as certainly, though more plausibly, to hell.
Seventhly, Impressions that are not keep, will not be durable, but will wear off in
suffering, trying times; like footsteps on the sand of the sea, which are gone the next
high tide of persecution; when that iniquity doth abound, the love of many to the
ways of God waxeth cold; many that keep their profession in fair days, lose it in a
storm; and do as those that go to sea only for pleasure, come back again when the
wind arises. It is the ruin of hypocrites, that they have no root; they do not act from a
living fixed principle; they do not mind heart-work, and without that religion is
nothing; for he is the Christian, that is one inwardly.
Eighthly, Many are hindered from profiting by the word of God, by their
abundance of the world. Many a good lesson of humility, charity, self-denial, and
heavenly-mindedness, is choked and lost by that prevailing complacency in the
world, which they are apt to have, on whom it smiles. Thus many professors, that
otherwise might have come to something, prove like Pharaoh's lean kine and thin
ears.
Ninthly, Those that are not encumbered with the cares of the world, and the
deceitfulness of riches, may yet lose the benefit of their profession by the lusts of
other things; this is added here in Mark; by the desires which are about other things
(so Dr. Hammond), an inordinate appetite toward those things that are pleasing to
sense or to the fancy. Those that have but little of the world, may yet be ruined by an
indulgence of the body.
Tenthly, Fruit is the thing that God expects and requires from those that enjoy the
gospel: fruit according to the seed; a temper of mind, and a course of life, agreeable
to the gospel; Christian graces daily exercised, Christian duties duly performed. This
is fruit, and it will abound to our account.
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66. Lastly, No good fruit is to be expected but from good seed. If the seed be sown on
good ground, if the heart be humble, and holy, and heavenly, there will be good fruit,
and it will abound sometimes even to a hundred fold, such a crop as Isaac reaped,
Gen_26:12.
JAMIESON, "The sower soweth the word — or, as in Luke (Luk_8:11), “Now
the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.” But who is “the sower?” This is not
expressed here because if “the word of God” be the seed, every scatterer of that
precious seed must be regarded as a sower. It is true that in the parable of the tares it
is said, “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man,” as “He that soweth the
tares is the devil” (Mat_13:37, Mat_13:38). But these are only the great unseen
parties, struggling in this world for the possession of man. Each of these has his
agents among men themselves; and Christ’s agents in the sowing of the good seed are
the preachers of the word. Thus, as in all the cases about to be described, the sower is
the same, and the seed is the same; while the result is entirely different, the whole
difference must lie in the soils, which mean the different states of the human heart.
And so, the great general lesson held forth in this parable of the sower is, that
however faithful the preacher, and how pure soever his message, the effect of the
preaching of the word depends upon the state of the hearer’s heart. Now follow the
cases. See on Mar_4:4.
15 Some people are like seed along the path,
where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it,
Satan comes and takes away the word that was
sown in them.
CLARKE, "These are they - Probably our Lord here refers to the people to
whom he had just now preached, and who, it is likely, did not profit by the word
spoken.
Where the word is sown - Instead of this clause, four copies of the Itala read
the place thus - They who are sown by the way side, are they Who Receive The Word
Negligently. There are thousands of this stamp in the Christian world. Reader, art
thou one of them?
GILL, "And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown,....
Such hearers are represented by the way side, in which the seed fell; who, coming
where the Gospel is preached, stop awhile and hear it, and so are only casual and
accidental hearers of it:
but when they have heard; and indeed whilst they are hearing, and before they
are well got out of the place of hearing,
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67. Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in
their hearts. The devil, signified by the fowl, or fowls of the air, immediately takes
notice of such hearers, and is very busy with them; filling their minds with other
things suitable to their dispositions, and setting before them other objects, whereby
their minds are, at once, taken off from what they have been hearing; so that all that
they have observed, and laid up in their memories, is lost at once, and never thought
of any more.
JAMIESON, "And these are they by the wayside, where the word is
sown; but, when they have heard, etc. — or, more fully (Mat_13:19), “When
any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the
wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.” The great truth
here taught is, that hearts all unbroken and hard are no fit soil for saving truth.
They apprehend it not (Mat_13:19) as God’s means of restoring them to Himself; it
penetrates not, makes no impression, but lies loosely on the surface of the heart, till
the wicked one - afraid of losing a victim by his “believing to salvation” (Luk_8:12) -
finds some frivolous subject by whose greater attractions to draw off the attention,
and straightway it is gone. Of how many hearers of the word is this the graphic but
painful history!
PULPIT, "Straightway cometh Satan. St. Matthew (Matthew 13:19) says, "then
cometh ( ὁ πονηρὸς) the evil one;" the same expression which our Lord uses in
the Lord's Prayer, and which helps to justify the English rendering in the
Revised Version there. As the seed failing by the wayside is refused by the hard
and well-trodden ground, and so is readily picked up by the birds; in like
manner, the seed of God's Word, falling upon a heart rendered callous by the
custom of sinning, is straightway snatched away by "the evil one," urging the
heart again to its accustomed sins. Well may we pray to be delivered from this
"evil one."
PULPIT 15-20, "Mark 4:15-20
The perils and the prospects of the good seed of the kingdom.
The importance of the parable of the sower is shown by the prominence given to
it by the evangelists, and by the question of our Lord in the thirteenth verse,
"Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?" In some
respects it was the basis of similar teaching, while the key to its interpretation,
given by the Lord himself, opens the door of other mysteries. The illustration is
an analogy, going deeper than many suppose. Husbandry was the appointment
of God when man dwelt in the bliss of paradise, before the Divine order had been
interfered with by human sin and self-will. Even in man's unfallen state, seed
had to be sown and cared for, while the blessing of heaven was always essential
to its productiveness. He who made the first Adam a sower in things natural,
made the second Adam a Sower in what was spiritual. Our Lord referred to
himself and to all who follow him in his work when he said, "Behold, the sower
went forth to sow." Now, soil and seed are essential to each other. Many a man
has the "honest and good heart;" but he must not be content with that, for, as
the richest soil will remain empty unless seed be in it, so even such a heart will be
unproductive of spiritual results without Christ, the true and living Word. While
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68. the soil is thus useless without the seed, the seed is unproductive without the soil.
Hence Christ urged men to receive him, and hence he said of his teaching, "He
that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Christian truth may be intellectually
known and propagated, but the world is only the richer for it as it becomes the
inspiration of human hearts. Christ's words must be translated into men's lives,
that they may be read as "living epistles." In a sense, the Lord himself must
become incarnate in each of his followers (Colossians 1:27). For the world's sake,
as well as our own, may we receive the seed of the kingdom! This parable speaks
of—
I. THE PERILS WHICH THREATEN THE GOOD SEED. Let us seek to
recognize them in the various thoughts which contend for the mastery with
Christ's truth.
1. Evil thoughts. They come through companions, from books, etc., but find their
source in Satan (Mark 4:15). Often we find that they are most intrusive just after
or during our holiest hours. They are like the birds of prey which swooped down
on Abraham's sacrifice when he was making his covenant with God (Genesis
15:1-21.). Like him, we must seek by constant watching and effort to drive them
away.
2. Vacant thoughts. The foolish habit of letting thoughts wander as they list,
settling nowhere on what is definite or dignified, is a characteristic of the shallow
characters represented by the rocky soil. Earnest conviction and the abiding
stability which follows it cannot belong to these. Well is it when each can say, "I
hate vain thoughts, but thy Law do I love."
3. Anxious thoughts. "The cares of this world" (Mark 4:19) are destructive of the
serenity and rest which Christ's true disciples should always rejoice in.
Therefore our Lord so urgently warns us against them (Matthew 6:25-34). St.
Paul says, "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God," and then "the
peace of God... shall keep your hearts."
4. Adverse thoughts. "The lusts of other things "so absorb some that their minds
are like a soil full of growing thorns. "If any man love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him." Judas Iscariot was a terrible example of this. It would be
useless to point out such perils as these if it were not that our hearts are not like
the soil, which is destitute of will, of effort, and of a voice to cry to Heaven. Our
condition largely depends upon our choice, or rather on the prayer which is the
outcome of it; so that it is not in vain that we have guarded ourselves against the
perils which beset the seed. From them let us turn to consider—
II. THE PROGRESS WHICH AWAITS THE SEED in various hearts.
1. Swiftly gone, devoured by the birds, i.e. dissipated or destroyed by other
thoughts. Warn against the flippancy and worldliness of much conversation in
Christian homes on the Lord's day, and point out the injury which young people
may thus receive.
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69. 2. Springing soon, withering soon. This is specially seen in sentimental natures.
There is a shallowness in thought and experience from which we should
earnestly pray for deliverance. It is well when such underlying rock is broken up
by the plough of affliction.
3. Growing, not fruit-bearing. This is the condition of many professed
Christians, whose homes witness to unconquered tempers and whose Churches
mourn unattempted service.
4. Producing fruit and increase. All do not bring forth the same fruit, either in
kind or in degree. Still we see the "thirtyfold," the "sixty-fold," and the
"hundredfold," according to the gift and capacity of each. God only expects of us
according to that which we have, and not according to that which we have not.
The different talents entrusted to the servants (Matthew 25:1-46.) remind us of
this; yet that every one of them could win the reward of him who had been "good
and faithful." Allude to various examples of fruit-bearing among Christians, e.g.
the quiet ministrations in the home, of which no one outside it hears; the
steadfast adherence to Christian principle when slight swerving from it would
bring an advantage, which as a keen man he is quick to see, but as a devout man
is swift to spurn; the privilege of writing words which go forth to unseen
multitudes, stirring in them loftier thoughts of God and of his Word and works;
the pleasantness of the gentle girl who at school or at home thinks of every one
before herself; the influence of the brave lad whose "wholesome tongue is a tree
of life," etc. Each of these bears fruit, and that fruit is the new seed from which
future harvests spring.—A.R.
16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear
the word and at once receive it with joy.
GILL, "And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground,....
Such sort of hearers of the word are signified by the stony ground, on which the seed
were sown, who are constant hearers of the word, and have some understanding of it,
and some sort of affection for it, and yet their hearts are not truly broken by it; they
are not brought to a thorough sight and sense of sin, and of their need of Christ, and
salvation by him; their stony hearts are not taken away, and hearts of flesh given
them:
who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with
gladness; seem highly pleased, and greatly delighted with it, as being a well
connected scheme things; and which declares things, as heaven and eternal
happiness, which they, from a principle of self love, are desirous of enjoying.
JAMIESON, "And these are they likewise which are sown on stony
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70. ground, etc. — “Immediately” the seed in such a case “springs up” - all the quicker
from the shallowness of the soil - “because it has no depth of earth.” But the sun,
beating on it, as quickly scorches and withers it up, “because it has no root” (Mar_
4:6), and “lacks moisture” (Luk_8:6). The great truth here taught is that hearts
superficially impressed are apt to receive the truth with readiness, and even with
joy (Luk_8:13); but the heat of tribulation or persecution because of the word, or the
trials which their new profession brings upon them quickly dries up their relish for
the truth, and withers all the hasty promise of fruit which they showed. Such
disappointing issues of a faithful and awakening ministry - alas, how frequent are
they!
PULPIT, "Mark 4:16, Mark 4:17
And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground. This sentence
would be better rendered, And these in like manner are they that are sown upon
the rocky places, where the words "likewise," or "in like manner," mean "by a
similar mode of interpretation." This is the second condition of soil on which the
seed is sown—a better condition than the former; for the former plainly refused
the seed, but this, having some soil layout. able to the germination of the seed,
receives it, and the seed springs up, though but for a little while. So the rocky
ground is like the heart of that hearer who hears the Word of God, and receives
it with joy. He is delighted with its beauty, its justice, its purity; and he breaks
forth with holy affections. But alas he has more of the rock than of the good soil
in his heart. Hence the Word of God cannot strike a deep root into his soul. He is
not constant in the faith. He endures but for a time, and in the hour of
temptation he falls away.
COFFMAN, "In like manner ... indicates that the analogy of the seed as the word
is to be continued and that the various soils are classes of hearers.
Receive it with joy ... The joyful reception of the great promises of the gospel by
souls which are essentially "shallow" and superficial in their thinking is a well
known phenomenon. The easier the convert is to convince, the greater the
likelihood of his falling away. This fact derives from the truth that the gospel is
not a matter of merely receiving great promises; but it is also a matter of denying
self, acknowledging Jesus as Lord, and of deliberately choosing a way of life that
is opposed to much that is found in every society. The joyful, fast, and ready
receivers of the word are here compared to shallow soil on a ledge of stone which
germinates seed quickly but cannot sustain their growth.
BI 16-17, "And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth.
The seed upon stony ground
I. A brief biography of certain professors in religion. They heard the Word. They
received the Word. They received it immediately. They received it with gladness.
They made rapid progress. In duo time came trial. Immediately they were offended.
II. Their radical defect. It lay in an unbroken heart. This led to want of depth. They
lacked moisture.
III. The lessons of the text. Be deeply in earnest. Watch the effect of your own daily
trials. Constantly examine yourself. Let all this show us how necessary it is that we
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71. cast all the stress and burden of our salvation entirely upon the Lord Jesus Christ. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
The character of enthusiastic hearers considered
I. With the character of these hearers previous to their hearing the Word. They are
compared to stony or rocky ground, which is unfavourable to cultivation; but yet has
a little mould or earth cast over it, suited to receive seed, and in which it may lodge
awhile, and disseminate itself. So that this ground is partly bad and partly good. And
thus are very aptly described, the miserably perverse and depraved state of the will
on the one hand, and the warmth and liveliness of the natural passions on the other.
These qualities often meet in one and the same person, and bear a different aspect to
religion, the one being un-favourable and the other favourable to it.
1. It is true of these hearers that their will is wretchedly depraved. Stone is a
figure used in Scripture to signify the obstinate aversion of the mind to what is
holy and good. So Ezekiel speaks of a stony heart in opposition to a heart of flesh;
and Paul, of the living epistles of Christ being written, not on tables of stone, but
fleshly tables of the heart. And yet, with all this depravity of the will, they have-
2. Warm and lively passions; a circumstance in itself not a little favourable to
religion. This is admirably expressed by the earth or mould said to be cast over
the rock, which was of a nature so rich and luxuriant, that the seed instantly
mingled with it, and expanding, sprung up, and created a beautiful verdure which
promised great fruitfulness. Nothing was wanting to produce the desired effect
but a sufficient depth of earth, tied the ground at bottom been properly cultivated
this fine mould cast upon it would have assisted and forwarded vegetation; but
that remaining hard and rocky, this had only a temporary effect, and served little
other purpose than to deceive the expectation of the husbandman. Such is truly
the case in the matter before us. The heart, like the stony ground, is indisposed to
what is good; and the affections, like the earth cast over it, are warm and lively;
wherefore, the Word not entering into the former, and yet mingling with the
latter, produces no real fruit, but only the gay and splendid appearance of an
external profession. And here it is further to be remarked, that however the
passions are of excellent use in religion, if the heart be right with God; yet, this
not being the case, their influence is rather pernicious than salutary: indeed, the
more eager and impetuous the natural temper, the greater evil is in this case to be
apprehended from it, both to the man himself, and to those with whom he is
connected. As to himself mistaking the warm efforts of mere passion for real
religion, he instantly concludes, that he is without doubt a real Christian, and so
is essentially injured by the imposition he puts upon himself. But it will be
proper, before we pass on, to examine more particularly the character of the
enthusiast. He has a lively imagination, but no judgment to correct it; and warm
feelings, but neither wisdom nor resolution to control them. Struck with
appearances, he instantly admits the reality of things, without allowing himself
time to inquire into their nature, evidence and tendency. And impressions thus
received, whether from objects presented to the senses, or representations made
to the fancy, produce a mighty and instantaneous effect on his passions. These
agitate his whole frame, and precipitate him into action, without any intervening
consideration, reflection, or prospect. And his actions, under the impulse of
heated imagination, are either right or wrong, useful or pernicious, just as the
notions he has thus hastily adopted happen to be conformable to truth or error.
So we shall see the countenance of a man of this complexion kindling into rapture
and ecstasy at the idea of something new and marvellous; a flood of tears
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72. streaming down his cheeks at the representation of some moving scene of
distress; his face turning pale, and his limbs trembling, at the apprehension of
some impending danger; his whole frame distorted with rage at the hearing of
some instance of cruelty; and his eye sparkling with joy in the prospect of some
fancied bliss. Nor is it to be wondered, that one who is wholly at the mercy of
these passions, without the guidance of a sober understanding, and the control of
a well-disposed heart, should, as is often the case, break out into loud and
clamorous language, assume the most frantic gestures, and be guilty of the most
strange and extravagant actions.
1. He receives the Word. Receiving is a figurative term, and may here be
explained of what is the consequence of admitting any doctrine to be true, that is,
the professing it. It is used in Scripture to signify faith itself (Joh_1:12). Now, as
faith has the promise of salvation, and some believe who yet are not saved, a
distinction becomes necessary; and the common one of historical and Divine
faith is easy and natural. Or if the faith is genuine, yet his notion of the gospel has
a great deal of error mingled with it. And then he receives it not upon the Divine
testimony, or a clear perception of the internal and external evidence of it; but
upon the confident assertions of others, whose eagerness and zeal, expressed by
their loud voice and violent gesture, have a mighty effect upon that credulity we
spoke of under the former head. Further, his faith is not cordial; it has not the
hearty approbation of his judgment and will. Nor does it produce the kindly and
acceptable fruits of love and obedience. Yet it is not without its effects, for being
of that enthusiastic turn of mind before described, his imagination and passions
have a great influence on his profession. Whence those strong appearances of
sincerity, earnestness, and zeal, whereby he imposes upon himself and others.
Now he loudly affirms he believes, scarcely admitting that man to be a Christian
who at all hesitates. Then he treats cool reasoning, and calm reflection, as
inimical to religion.
2. He receives the Word immediately. The seed is said in the text to spring up
forthwith, and so the idea may respect the quickness of the vegetation. It is true
both of the reception and operation of the Word. He receives it not circuitously,
but directly. It is no sooner spoken than admitted to be true. He is not
embarrassed with doubt, and does not hesitate, reflect, or compare what he has
heard with the Scriptures. So without either his judgment being informed, or his
will renewed, he is impetuously carried away with a mere sound.
3. His receiving the Word with joy. Joy is a pleasing elevation of the spirits,
excited by the possession of some present, or the expectation of some future,
good. Now, the gospel is good news, and so adapted to give pleasure to the mind.
He therefore who receives it with joy, receives it as it ought to be received. But the
man our Saviour here describes is not a real Christian, his icy therefore must
have something in it, or in the circumstances accompanying it, distinguishable
from that of a genuine believer. Of Herod it is said that “he heard John gladly:”
and from the story it clearly appears Herod remained, notwithstanding, the same
profligate man he was before.
How, then, is the joy of the one to be distinguished from that of the other?
1. Let us consider what precedes it. The real Christian, previous to his enjoying
solid peace, is usually much depressed and cast down. Nor is his dejection the
effect of bodily disorder, or an ill-temperature of the animal spirits, or of
something he can give no rational account of. It is an anxiety occasioned by a
sense of sin. But it stands to reason that the joy the heart feels must bear some
proportion to the anxiety it has suffered.
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73. 2. Let us inquire what it is that excites this joy. The causes of that elevation of the
spirits which we commonly call joy are various. In some instances it is the Word
itself, the mere sound, without any idea affixed to it, that creates joy. The effect is
instantly and mechanically produced by the tone and cadence of the voice,
accompanied by an appearance, attitude, and gesture, that happen to please. In
other instances, it is not the sound only, but the sense, that affects. We may easily
conceive how a pleasing kind of sensation, excited in the breast by a pathetic
description of misery, particularly the sufferings of Christ, may be mistaken for
religion. We are next to consider
(3) what are the effects of it? The joy a real Christian feels, is sober, rational,
well-grounded, and will admit of the most pleasing reflections. He possesses
himself; he can calmly reason upon the state of his mind and those great
truths and objects, the contemplation of which makes him happy; and he can
recollect the pleasures he has enjoyed on some special occasions with
composure and satisfaction. It humbles him. The higher he ascends the
mount of communion with God, the less he appears in his own eyes. Those
beams of the sun of righteousness which gladden his heart, throw a light upon
his follies and sins. With Job, “he abhors himself, and repents in dust and
ashes.” And, as the apostle expresses it, “thinks soberly of himself as he ought
to think.” His joy inspires him with meekness, candour, and benevolence. It
allays, if not entirely extinguishes, the rage of violent passion, fans the flame
of fervent charity, and puts the soul into a temper, to unite cordially with all
good men, to pity the bad, and to forgive its bitterest enemies. His joy, in a
word, makes him watchful and holy. He rejoices with trembling, is upon his
guard against everything that may disturb the tranquillity of his mind, holds
sin at a distance as his greatest enemy, and aspires with growing ardour to the
likeness of the ever-blessed God. On the contrary, who that contemplates the
character of the credulous, self-deceived enthusiast, but must see what has
been said of the real Christian awfully reversed in his temper and conduct? Is
he sober, prudent and self-collected? Ah! no. He is little better than a
madman, or one drunk with wine wherein is excess. His heaven is a fool’s
paradise, and his account of it as unintelligible as the frantic talk of one in a
delirium. Is he humble? Far from it. The pride of religious frenzy swells him
into importance. Imagining himself a favourite of heaven, he looks down
upon his fellow mortals with an air of indifference, if not contempt-“Stand at
a distance, I am holier than thou.” Is he meek, candid, and benevolent? So
much the reverse, that the very names of these virtues sound harshly in his
ear, and stand for little else, in his opinion, than pusillanimity, formality, and
hypocrisy. Is he conscientious and circumspect in his deportment? No.
Boasting of his freedom, he can take liberties that border on immorality, and
treat the scruples of a weak believer as indicating a legal spirit.
II. To consider the lamentable apostasy of these deluded men. The seed that fell
upon stony places, and forthwith sprung up, in a little time “withered away.”
1. The term of his profession is short. Enthusiastic zeal, like inflammable air,
quickly evaporates. The sources of that pleasure which gives existence to a
spurious religion, and an equivocal devotion, are soon exhausted. The
imagination tires, the senses are palled, and the passions, for want of novelty and
variety to keep them alive, sink away into a languid, unfeeling, torpid state.
2. In what manner does he renounce his profession? He either silently quits it, or
publicly disavows it. He is offended, stumbles, falls, falls away.
III. The cause of these men’s apostasy. This our Saviour explains with admirable
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74. precision, by teaching us that it is partly owing to the want of something within,
essentially important to religion, and partly to a concurrence of circumstances from
without unfavourable to the profession of it.
1. Something is wanting within. The parable says: “The seed forthwith sprung up,
because it had no deepness of earth;” “and it withered away because it had no
root,” as Mark has it; “and lacked moisture,” as is expressed in Luke. For want of
a sufficient quantity of earth the seed did not sink deep enough into the ground,
and through the luxuriance of the mould it too quickly disseminated and sprung
up. So that having taken root, there was no source whence the tender glass might
be supplied with nourishment; and of consequence it must necessarily in a little
time wither and die. Agreeably therefore to the figure, our Lord, in His
explanation of the parable, speaks of these hearers as “having no root in
themselves.” And such precisely is the case of the sort of professors we are
discoursing of. They have no principle of religion in their hearts. Their notions
are not properly digested, they do not disseminate themselves in the mind, take
fast hold on the conscience, and incorporate, if I may so express myself, with the
practical powers of the soul. “The Word preached does not profit them, not being
mixed with faith;” or, as perhaps it might be rendered, because they are not
united by faith to the word.
2. To a concurrence of circumstances from without unfavourable to the
profession of religion. These, in the parable, are all comprehended under the idea
of the sun’s scorching the springing grass; and, in our Saviour’s exposition of it,
are described by the terms tribulation, persecution, affliction, and temptation, all
which arise because of the word, or are occasioned by it.
Religion, however, is not to be blamed for these evils, of which it is no way the cause,
though it may be the occasion; they are to be set down to the account of a fatal, but
too frequent combination of a depraved heart, with an impetuous natural temper.
1. What a striking picture has our Saviour here given us of human nature.
2. Of what importance is it to study ourselves, and to keep a guard upon our
passions!
3. We see what kind of preaching is to be coveted, and what avoided.
4. Our Lord, by the instruction given us in our text, has enabled us to reply to an
objection often urged against the doctrine of the saints’ final perseverance. We
are frequently reminded of persons whose profession for a time was fair and
splendid, but who in the end renounced it. And no doubt this has been the fact in
too many sad instances. Yet what does it prove? No more than that these men
were either designing hypocrites, or else hastily took upon them a profession of
what, they did not rightly understand, truly believe, and cordially approve.
5. And lastly, let not the mournful subject we have been considering create any
discouragement in the breast of the truly humble but weak Christian. (S.
Stennett, D. D.)
Rapid growth means rapid decay
Precocity and rapid growth are everywhere the forerunners of rapid decay. The oak
that is to stand a thousand years does not shoot up like the hop or the creeper. (M.
Dods, D. D.)
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75. Excited but not converted
The short and pathetic history of some who are called revival converts. They are
charmed but not changed; much excites, but not truly converted. These are they that
“have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time” (Mar_4:17). Their root is
in the crowd, the fine music, the lively stir, the hearty companionships of the gospel
meeting. The Moravians every Sabbath offer up this prayer, “From light-minded
swarming, deliver us, good God.” (J. Wells.)
Perfect too soon
Most Christians are perfect too soon, which is the reason they are never perfect. (A.
Farindon.)
Fair-weather Christians
Some fresh-water sailor, standing upon the shore on a fair day, and beholding the
ship’s top and top-gallant sail in all their bravery, riding safely at anchor, thinks it a
brave thing to go to sea, and will by all means aboard; but being out a league or two
from the harbour, and feeling by the rocking of the ship his stomach begin to work,
and his soul even to abhor all manner of meat-or otherwise a storm to arise, the wind
and the sea as it were conspiring the sinking of the vessel-forthwith repents his folly,
and makes vows that if he but once be set ashore again he will bid an eternal farewell
to all such voyages. And thus there be many faint-hearted Christians to be found
amongst us, who, in calm days of peace, when religion is not overclouded by the
times, will needs join themselves to the number of the people of God; they will be as
earnest and as forward as the best, and who but they? Yet, let but a tempest begin to
appear, and the sea to grow rougher than at the first entry, the times alter, troubles
rise, many cross winds of opposition and gainsaying begin to blow, they are weary of
their course, and will to shore again, resolving never to thrust themselves into any
more adventures. Christ they would have by all means, but Christ crucified by no
means. If the way to heaven be by the gates of hell, let who will they will not go that
way; they rather sit down and be quiet. (Spencer.)
Religion genuine in bad times
Many men owe their religion, not to grace, but to the favour of the times; ‘tis in
fashion, they may profess it at a cheap rate, because none contradict it. Indeed, it
shows that they are extremely bad when they may be as good without any loss to
themselves, but it does not show they are good that they are only good in good times.
Dead fish swim with the stream. They do not build upon the rock, but set up a shed
leaning to another man’s house, which costs them nothing; carried with a multitude,
are not able to go alone in a good way; if they be religious, it is for others’ sakes. Then
is integrity discovered, when persons dare be good in bad times, as Noah was said to
be an upright man, because he was perfect in his generation. (T. Manton.)
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76. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a
short time. When trouble or persecution comes
because of the word, they quickly fall away.
GILL, "And have no root in themselves,.... The word has no root in their
hearts, only in their natural affections: nor is the root of grace in them; there is no
heart work, only speculative notions, and flashy affections:
and so endure but for a time: they continue hearers and professors of the Gospel
but for a small season; like the Jews, who rejoiced in the ministry of John the Baptist
for a while, and then left him:
afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake,
immediately they are offended. As soon as any small degree of trouble comes
upon them, and especially when there is a hot persecution of the professors of
religion, because of the Gospel they have embraced; such hearers are stumbled at
these things, and cannot bear the loss of any thing, or endure any thing severe for the
sake of the word they have professed a pleasure in; and therefore, rather than suffer,
they relinquish at once their profession of it.
18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns,
hear the word;
GILL, "And these are they that are sown among thorns,.... Such hearers of
the word are designed by the thorny ground, upon which other seed fell, as it was
sown, who are of worldly dispositions; who are immoderately careful and anxious
about the things of this life, and are bent upon acquiring earthly riches, and
gratifying their carnal and sensual appetites:
such as hear the word; who notwithstanding are prevailed upon through custom,
or the dictates of their consciences, to attend upon the ministry of the word.
SBC, "Mar_4:7, Mar_4:18-19
Prosperity a Trial.
I. The growing occupation of time, although apt to be overlooked, is one of the most
serious clangers of prosperity; for usually money is not made, social circumstances
are not made, influence of any kind is not gotten among our fellow men, without
great efforts. He who seeks these things, as a rule, you may depend upon it, rises
early, sits up late, and eats the bread of carefulness. One of the chief dangers of a
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77. state of general prosperity, especially when that prosperity is in a growing state, is
the constant tendency to the entire occupation of time with merely secular duties,
which may be done in a religious spirit, but which will be done in a religious spirit
with more and still more difficulty if there are not select and express times for the
purpose of refreshing.
II. Is it not very evident that if the time, which rightfully should be devoted to the
care and cultivation of religion expressly, be unwarrantably abridged, and other
subjects and interests, social or what not, engross the attention and fill the heart, is it
not very evident that when the time comes, the inclination and spiritual taste for
religious improvement may be very much abated? Spiritual things prove dim and
hazy; the busy labours of the day are succeeded by the slumbers of the night; and
bargains, and speculations, and gains and losses, will form the subject even of the
man’s dreams and visions in the night. "The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness
of riches, and the lust of other things, entering in, choke the word, and it becometh
unfruitful,"
III. The third danger to be apprehended from a growing prosperity is the increase of
pride.
IV. Closely associated with this danger comes another; that of self-indulgence, an
easy, soft, luxurious temper.
V. Worldly success has a tendency to lead to what we usually understand and I think
fairly describe, without uncharitableness, as a worldly life, that is, a life occupied with
transitory things, a life from which spiritual religion is, to a considerable extent,
excluded altogether, a life without religious hope, a life without God in the world.
A. Raleigh, Penny Pulpit (New series), No. 96.
PULPIT, "And these are they which are sown among thorns. According to the
best authorities, the words are ( καὶ ἄλλοι εἰσιν), and others are they, etc. This
marks a considerable difference between the two classes. This is the third
condition of soft; and it is so much better than the former, inasmuch as the
thorns present less obstacles to the growth of the seed than the rocky ground
does. This similitude indicates the heart of that hearer who is beset with the cares
of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things.
BI 18-19, "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
The character of worldly-minded hearers considered
1. The treatment the Word meets with from these persons. They hear and receive
it.
2. How this salutary operation on his heart is obstructed and defeated.
3. What is the event? These thorns choke the Word.
I. What these things are which obstruct the due operation of God’s word on the
hearts of these men?
1. The cares of the world. By the cares of the world He means criminal anxieties
about secular concerns.
(1) They relate to subsistence. By this we mean the necessaries of life; man
cannot be indifferent to these, but must not distrust the providence of God.
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78. (2) They relate to competence. This is a relative term, and has respect to
capacity and desire. But such as is suited to desires not regulated by religion
and reason, is an equivocal competence; all care about it is criminal. A prince
requires more than his subject; desires directed to this object are
commendable. But even though the object be right, the care about it may
exceed, and unduly engross our attention and time.
(5) They relate to affluence. This also right; but pride, ambition, and the
gratification of vain passions must be offensive to God. Thus these cares, like
thorns in the soil, will stifle every generous sentiment.
2. The deceitfulness of riches. Men are prone to reason mistakenly about riches.
Riches are, in a sense, themselves deceitful. They assume an appearance different
from their real nature and use, and so the unwary observer is imposed upon.
Consider the false reasonings of a depraved heart:
(1) As to wealth itself. Riches may be a blessing. The value of them is chiefly
to be estimated by their use. Here men mistake it. Money will purchase
delicate food, fine mansions, but will it set him beyond the reach of pain,
contempt?
(2) Of the mode of acquiring wealth men reason very mistakenly. They too
often ignore the providence of God, so He blasts their schemes.
(3) Men reason deceitfully concerning the term of enjoying the wealth they
acquire.
3. The pleasures of this life, or “the lusts of other things.” Here we need not be
very particular, for as riches are the means of procuring pleasures, and most
generally coveted with that view, the same folly and criminality we have charged
to the account of the avaricious is, with a little variation of circumstances, to be
imputed likewise to the sensualist. Pleasure indeed, abstractedly considered, is a
real good; the desire of it is congenial with our nature, and cannot be eradicated
without the destruction of our very existence. This is not therefore what our Lord
condemns. He well knew that there ale passions and appetites proper to men as
men, that the moderate gratification of them is necessary to their happiness, and
of consequence that the desire of such gratification is not sinful. But the pleasure
He prohibits is that which results from the indulgence of irregular desires, I mean
such as are directed to wrong objects, and such as are excessive in their degree.
II. To show how they obstruct the due operation of God’s word on the heart.
1. As to these of the first description, the careful. It involves distrust of the
faithfulness and goodness of Divine providence.
2. As to the avaricious. How vain such desires, expectations, and exertions. Will
you suffer such noxious weeds to grow in your heart? Wisdom will give you riches
and honour.
3. As to the voluptuous. It precipitates into extravagances which often prove fatal
to character. There is no profiting by the Word we hear, without duly weighing
and considering it.
There are three things necessary to this:
1. Leisure. Ground choked with briers and thorns affords not room for the seed
cast upon it to expand and grow. In like manner, he whose attention is wholly
taken up with secular affairs has not leisure for consideration. Say, you who are
oppressed with the cares, or absorbed in the pleasures of life, whether this is not
the fact? What is it first catches your imagination when you awake in the
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79. morning? What is it engrosses your attention all the day? What is it goes with you
to your bed, and follows you through the restless hours of night? What is it you
are constantly thinking of at home, abroad, and in the house of God? It is the
world. Oh sad! not a day, not an hour, scarce a moment in reserve, for a
meditation on God, your soul, and an eternal world! And can religion exist where
it is never thought of, or gain ground in a heart where it is but now and then
adverted to? As well might a man expect to live without sustenance, or get strong
without digesting his food. That then, which deprives men of time for
consideration, is essentially injurious to religion.
2. Composure. By composure, I mean that calmness or self-possession, whereby
we are enabled to attend soberly and without interruption to the business we are
about. Consideration implies this in it; for how is it possible that a man should
duly consider a subject, whether civil or religious, coolly reason upon it, and
thoroughly enter into the spirit of it, if his mind is all the while occupied with a
thousand other things, foreign to the matter before him? In order, therefore, to
our doing justice to any question of importance, we must rid our minds of all
impertinent thoughts, be self-collected, and fix our attention steadily to the point.
How difficult this is I need not say. Studious people feel the difficulty; and in
regard of religion, the best of men are sensible of their weakness in this respect,
and deeply lament it. But where the world gains the ascendant, this difficulty is
increased, and, in some instances, becomes almost insuperable. Let me here
describe to you, in a few words, the almost incessant hurry and confusion of their
minds, who answer to the three characters in our text of the careful, the covetous,
and the voluptuous.
So you will clearly see, how impossible it is for persons thus circumstanced to pay the
attention to religious subjects which is necessary in order to their being profited by
them.
1. The case of him who is swallowed up with the anxious cares of life is truly
lamentable. It is not riches the unhappy man aims at, but a competence, or
perhaps a mere subsistence. The dread of being reduced, with his family, to
extreme poverty, harrows up his very soul. The horrid spectres of contempt,
famine, and a prison, haunt his imagination. And how incapable is a man, thus
circumstanced, of coolly thinking on the great things of religion! Does he attempt
in his retirement to fix his attention to some Divine subject? he instantly fails in
the attempt, cares like a wild deluge rush in upon his soul, and break all the
measures he had taken to obtain a little respite from his trouble.
2. The like effect hath an eager desire after riches to disqualify men for
consideration. When on his knees he is still in the world: when he is worshipping
God in his family he is still pursuing his gain. His closet is an accounting house
and his church an exchange.
3. How an eager attention to worldly pleasures must have the like effect, to
render the mind incapable of serious consideration. Scenes of splendour and
sensual delight are before the eyes of men of this character. How is it possible for
a mind thus hurried, dissipated, intoxicated with vain amusements, to cultivate
religion? They not only deprive men of time, composure for serious
consideration-
3. But of all inclination to it. But what I mean, is to show that an eager attention
to the things of this life confirms the habit of inconsideration, and tends, where
there is an aptitude to meditation, to weaken and deprave it. A mind wholly
occupied with the objects of sense, is not only estranged from the great realities
of religion, but averse to them. As it has neither leisure nor calmness for sublime
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80. contemplations, so it has no taste or relish for them. “The carnal mind is enmity
against God.” And the more carnal it grows by incessant commerce with the
world, the more does that prejudice and enmity increase. What violence are such
men obliged to put upon themselves, if at any time, by some extraordinary
circumstance, they are prevailed on to think of the concerns of their souls! The
business is not only awkward, as they are unaccustomed to it, but it is exceeding
irksome and painful. Now if a hearty inclination to any business is necessary to
capacity to pursue it with success, whatever tends to abate that inclination, or to
confirm the opposite aversion, is essentially injurious to such business. In like
manner, cares, riches, and pleasures of the world choke the Word.
III. The bad event of such undue commerce with the world. The unhappy man not
having leisure, calmness, or inclination to attend to the Word.
1. He understands not the Word of the kingdom. He has a speculative
acquaintance with the truths of religion; it cannot be experimental.
2. He does not believe it. He who believes the gospel to the salvation of his soul
must enter into the spirit of it. But how can this be the case with a man whose
heart is possessed by the god of this world?
3. Not rightly understanding or believing the Word of the kingdom, he is not
obedient to it.
4. What is the final issue of all? Why, the man himself, as well as the seed, is
choked (Luk_8:14).
Exhortation:
1. Let the professors of religion have no more to do with the world than duty
clearly requires. “Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind.” “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and
touch not the unclean thing.” “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness.”
2. If thorns before we are aware get in, let us instantly root them out. Exert all the
power of Christian resolution.
3. Receive the good seed. It is not enough that the ground is cleared of noxious
weeds, if it be not sown with the proper grain. Neither is it sufficient to guard
against the corrupt maxims, customs, and manners of the world, if our hearts are
not impregnated with Divine truth.
4. And lastly, look to God for His blessing. “Paul may plant, and Apollos water;
but it is God that giveth the increase.” We may hear, read, meditate, reflect,
watch, and use many good endeavours; but if no regard be had to a superior
influence, all will be vain. (S. Stennett, D. D.)
The Word choked
Robert Burns-who had times of serious reflection, in one of which, as recorded by his
own pen, he beautifully compares himself, in the review of his past life, to a lonely
man walking amid the ruins of a noble temple, where pillars stand dismantled of
their capitals, and elaborate works of purest marble lie on the ground, overgrown by
tall, foul, rank weeds-was once brought, as I have heard, under deep convictions. He
was in great alarm. The seed of the Word had begun to grow. He sought counsel from
one called a minister of the gospel. Alas, that in that crisis of his history he should
have trusted the helm to the hands of such a pilot! This so-called minister laughed at
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81. the poet’s fears-bade him dance them away at balls, drown them in bowls of wine, fly
from these phantoms to the arms of pleasure. Fatal, too pleasant advice! He followed
it; and “the lusts of other things” entering in, choked the word. (T. Guthrie.)
The insinuating destruction of truth in the soul
In the gardens of Hampton Court you will see many trees entirely vanquished and
well-nigh strangled by huge coils of ivy, which are wound about them like the snakes
around the unhappy Laocoon; there is no untwisting the folds, they are too giant-
like, and fast fixed, and every hour the rootlets of the climber are sucking the life out
of the unhappy tree. Yet there was a day when the ivy was a tiny aspirant, only asking
a little aid in climbing; had it been denied then the tree had never become its victim,
but by degrees the humble weakling grew in strength and arrogance, and at last it
assumed the mastery, and the tall tree became the prey of the creeping, insinuating
destroyer. The moral is too obvious. Sorrowfully do we remember many noble
characters which have been ruined little by little by insinuating habits. Covetousness,
drink, the love of pleasure, and pride, have often been the ivy that has wrought the
ruin. (The Sword and Trowel.)
The cares of wealth
An emperor once said to his courtiers: “You gaze on my purple robe and golden
crown, but did you know what cares are under it, you would not take it up from the
ground to have it.” (Brooks.)
Gold a destroyer
When Arates threw his gold into the sea, he cried out, “I will destroy you, lest you
should destroy me.” (Secker.)
Prosperity favourable to deception
The snow covers many a dunghill, and so doth prosperity many a rotten heart. It is
easy to wade in a warm bath and every bird can sing on a sunshiny day. (Brooks.)
Remedies against immoderate care for temporal things
1. Consider the nature of these things: they are vain, transitory, perishing; and
they only minister to our earthly life which will end we know not how soon.
2. By all our care we cannot help or profit ourselves, without God’s blessing on
the means we use.
3. It is a heathenish practice thus to vex and trouble ourselves with immoderate
cares for earthly things: not fit for Christians, who profess faith in God’s
Providence.
4. We are commanded to cast our cares upon God; and He has promised to care
for us, and to provide for us all things necessary for this life, as well as for that
which is to come, if we depend on Him by faith (Psa_55:2; 1Pe_5:7).
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82. 5. Consider how God provides for other creatures, of less value and worth than
ourselves, without their care.
6. Immoderate cares for this life oppress the heart and mind exceedingly, taking
them up so that they cannot be free to meditate on spiritual and heavenly things:
hindering men also from daily preparing themselves for death and judgment
(Luk_21:34).
7. Let our chief care be for heavenly and spiritual things, which concern God’s
glory and the salvation of our souls. This will moderate and slake our care for
temporal things. (G. Petter.)
The difficulty of worldly prosperity
Great skill is required to the governing of a plentiful and prosperous estate, so as it
may be safe and comfortable to the owner, and beneficial to others. Every corporal
may know how to order some few files; but to marshal many troops in a regiment,
many regiments in a whole body of an army, requires the skill of an experienced
general. (Hall.)
Prosperity a trial
Life is a time for the getting of character, and for the trial and perfecting of it. The
world is a moral furnace, in which God searches and tests us. One man He tries by
adversity, another by prosperity. And the latter is the severer of the two.
1. A prosperous man has little time to spare for religion. Every effort is needed to
ensure the continued success of his worldly enterprises. Accordingly, his spiritual
life droops and withers.
2. From want of cultivation his taste for spiritual things abates.
3. Pride is apt to increase.
4. Self-indulgence creeps in, and the lower appetites obtain mastery in the heart.
5. The result is a thoroughly worldly life-a life occupied wholly with transitory
things, a life in which religion has no part. These are some of the chief dangers
which appertain to a state of prosperity. Beware of them in time. They encroach
very gradually; and before you are aware of it, you may be swallowed up. (A.
Raleigh, D. D.)
Ill effects of prosperity
Generally speaking, the sunshine of too much worldly favour weakens and relaxes
our spiritual nerves; as weather, too intensely hot, relaxes those of the body. A degree
of seasonable opposition, like a fine dry frost, strengthens and invigorates and braces
up. (A. M. Toplady.)
Prosperity causes men to forget God
Prosperity most usually makes us proud, insolent, forgetful of God, and of all duties
we owe unto Him. It chokes and extinguishes, or at least cools and abates, the heat
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83. and vigour of all virtue in us. And as the ivy, whilst it embraces the oak, sucks the sap
from the root, and in time makes it rot and perish; so worldly prosperity kills us with
kindness whilst it sucks from us the sap of God’s graces, and so makes our spiritual
growth and strength to decay and languish. Neither do men ever almost suffer an
eclipse of their virtues and good parts, but when they are in the full of worldly
prosperity. (Downame.)
Worldliness defined
It is the spirit of a life, not the objects with which the life is conversant. It is not the
“flesh,” nor the “eye,” nor “life” which are forbidden, but the lust of these. It is not
this earth nor the men who inhabit it, nor the sphere of our legitimate activity, that
we may not love; but it is the way in which the love is given which constitutes
worldliness. (F. W. Robertson.)
Worldliness is the spirit of childhood carried on into manhood
The child lives in the present hour; today to him is everything. The holiday promised
at a distant interval is no holiday at all-it must be either now or never. Natural in the
child, and therefore pardonable, this spirit when carried on into manhood is
worldliness. (F. W. Robertson.)
The deceitfulness of riches: Heathen testimony to this
When Cyrus received intelligence that the Lydians had revolted from him, he told a
friend, with much emotion, that he had almost determined to make them all slaves.
His friend expostulated, begging him to pardon them. “But,” he added, “that they
may no more rebel or be troublesome to you, command them to lay aside their arms,
to wear long vests and buskins, that is, to vie with each other in the elegance and
richness of their dress. Order them to drink, and sing, and play, and you will soon see
their spirits broken, and themselves changed to the effeminacy of women, so that
they will no more rebel, nor give you any further uneasiness.” The advice was
followed, and the result proved how politic it was. While the advice is such as no
good man could consistently follow, the incident shows the deteriorating influence of
luxury in a very striking light.
The lusts of other things
The love of pleasure, of amusements, and sensual gratifications, and even the
cultivation of refined tastes; all which have a tendency to engross the mind, and
induce it quietly to take up with a world which yields it so much satisfaction. (M. F.
Sadler.)
“Entering in:”
Very suggestive expression; teaching us that these cares of the world, and
deceitfulness of riches, may not be present or sensibly felt when the Word first
springs up in the heart; but, when opportunity offers, they may make their
appearance, and grow far faster and more vigorously than the true religious life, and
ultimately destroy it. (M. F. Sadler.)
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84. 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness
of wealth and the desires for other things come
in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
CLARKE, "The deceitfulness of riches - This is variously expressed in
different copies of the Itala: the errors - delights of the world - completely alienated
(abolienati) by the pleasures of the world. The lusts of other things - which have not
been included in the anxious cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches. All,
all, choke the word!
GILL, "And the cares of this world,.... The perplexing and distressing cares of it
to get as much of it as they can, for themselves and families, fill their minds, and
possess their souls even when and while they are hearing the word: and the
deceitfulness of riches; or riches which are deceitful, especially when trusted in, and
being obtained, they do not give the satisfaction they promise: and the lusts of other
things entering in: carnal desires after other objects, which are pleasing to the
sensual mind, entering into their hearts, and gaining, the ascendant there: choke the
word, and it, becometh unfruitful; these being more attended to than the word is,
that is quite lost, and becomes useless, and unprofitable.
JAMIESON, "And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of
riches, and the lusts of other things entering in — or “the pleasures of this
life” (Luk_8:14).
choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful — First, “The cares of this
world” - anxious, unrelaxing attention to the business of this present life; second,
“The deceitfulness of riches” - of those riches which are the fruit of this worldly
“care”; third, “The pleasures of this life,” or “the lusts of other things entering in” -
the enjoyments in themselves may be innocent, which worldly prosperity enables one
to indulge. These “choke” or “smother” the word; drawing off so much of one’s
attention, absorbing so much of one’s interest, and using up so much of one’s time,
that only the dregs of these remain for spiritual things, and a fagged, hurried, and
heartless formalism is at length all the religion of such persons. What a vivid picture
is this of the mournful condition of many, especially in great commercial countries,
who once promised much fruit! “They bring no fruit to perfection” (Luk_8:14);
indicating how much growth there may be, in the early stages of such a case, and
promise of fruit - which after all never ripens.
PULPIT, "The cares of the world ( τοῦ αἰῶνος); literally, of the age; that is,
temporal and secular cares, incident to the age in which our lot is cast, and which
are common to all. These, like thorns, distress and trouble, and often wound the
soul; while, on the other hand, the care of the soul and the thought of heavenly
things compose and establish the mind. The deceitfulness of riches. Riches are
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85. aptly compared to thorns, because, like thorns, they pierce the soul. St. Paul (1
Timothy 6:10) speaks of some who, through the love of riches, "have pierced
themselves through with many sorrows." Riches are deceitful, because they often
seduce the soul from God and from salvation, and are the cause of many sins.
"How hardly," says our Lord, "shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of God
I" They have a tendency to choke the Word of God, and to weaken the power of
religion. "Those are the only true riches," says St. Gregory, "which make us rich
in virtue."
COFFMAN, "In the analogies, the thorns stand for the cares, riches, and lusts of
other things, or, as Luke stated it, "cares, riches, and pleasures of this life"
(Luke 8:14). Are not most of earth's pleasures "lusts" of various kinds? Even the
pursuit of legitimate pleasure if excessive, may become, in fact, a "lust."
For numberless souls, it is just a case of permitting the word of God to be choked
out by other things. Those who correspond to the thorny soil are they who have
not ordered life's priorities. No man can do everything that comes into his mind
as permissible or desirable; and those who attempt to do so will find their lives so
filled up that there is not any time left, not even time to pray. "The more
complicated life becomes, the more necessity there is to see that our priorities are
right."[15]
The fact of Mark's rendering this explanation as "lusts of other things,"
contrasted with Luke's "pleasures of this life," is a pseudocon. Pleasures may be
either sinful or innocent, Luke having reference to innocent pleasures, and Mark
to sinful pleasures. In Jesus' parable, there can be no doubt that both were in
view; thus we have another example of the necessity of taking into account all
that is written in order to know the whole truth. The Christian is not denied the
innocent pleasures of life. As Dorris said:
The phrase "pleasures of this life" does not indicate that the Christian is to have
no pleasure ... It is not sin for the Christian to be happy. Such pleasures as
destroy spirituality
and wean away from Christ are, of course, forbidden.[16]SIZE>
The three classes of thorns stand for distractions which pertain to responsibilities
and duties (cares), the possession or pursuit of wealth (riches), and the pursuit of
pleasure, that is, following any sinful pleasure, or the inordinate pursuit of even
innocent pleasure. (See under Mark 4:21).
[15] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 93.
[16] C. E. W. Dorris, The Gospel according to Mark (Nashville: The Gospel
Advocate Company, 1970), p. 104.
20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the
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86. word, accept it, and produce a crop—some
thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what
was sown.”
GILL, "And these are they which are sown on good ground,.... Such hearers
who are intended by the good ground on which other seed fell, are those who are
made good men by the grace of God; for there is none good naturally, nor that doeth
good, no not one; these are
such who hear the word, and receive it; as the word of God, in whose hearts it
works effectually; who receive it not into their heads only, but into their hearts; and
having received it, hold it fast, and abide by it in the worst of times:
and bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some an hundred;
all bring forth good fruit of the same quality, though not of the same quantity: for a
larger exposition of this explanation of the parable, see the notes on Mat_13:19. See
Gill on Mat_13:19. See Gill on Mat_13:20. See Gill on Mat_13:21. See Gill on Mat_
13:22. See Gill on Mat_13:23.
JAMIESON, "And these are they which are sown on good ground; such
as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred — A heart soft and tender, stirred to its
depths on the great things of eternity, and jealously guarded from worldly
engrossments, such only is the “honest and good heart” (Luk_8:15), which “keeps,”
that is, “retains” the seed of the word, and bears fruit just in proportion as it is such a
heart. Such “bring forth fruit with patience” (Mar_4:15), or continuance, “enduring
to the end”; in contrast with those in whom the word is “choked” and brings no fruit
to perfection. The “thirtyfold” is designed to express the lowest degree of fruitfulness;
the “hundredfold” the highest; and the “sixtyfold” the intermediate degrees of
fruitfulness. As a “hundredfold,” though not unexampled (Gen_26:12), is a rare
return in the natural husbandry, so the highest degrees of spiritual fruitfulness are
too seldom witnessed. The closing words of this introductory parable seem designed
to call attention to the fundamental and universal character of it.
PULPIT, "Those are they that were sown upon the good ground. The good
ground represents the heart which receives the Word of God with joy and desire,
and true devotion of spirit, and which steadfastly retains it, whether in
prosperity or in adversity; and so yields fruit, "sows thirty, some sixty, and some
a hundredfold." St. Jerome remarks that, as of the bad ground there were three
different kinds—the way, side, the rocky, and the thorny ground; so of the good
ground there is a threefold gradation indicated in the amount of its
productiveness. There are differences of conditions in the hearts both of those
who believe and of these who do not believe.
BI, "And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and
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87. increased.
The character of sincere hearers considered
1. That these hearers have honest and good hearts. The ground must be properly
manured and prepared, before the seed can so mingle with it as to produce fruit.
In like manner, the powers of the soul must be renewed by Divine grace, before
the instructions of God’s Word can so incorporate with them as to become
fruitful. Their understanding is illuminated, and a new bent is given to their will.
So,
2. They hear the Word after a different manner, and to a very different purpose
from what others do, and from what they themselves formerly did. They hear it
with attention, candour, meekness, and simplicity; and then-to go on with our
Saviour’s account of these hearers-they,
3. Understand the Word. This is not expressly said, as I remember, of either of
the former characters. Their knowledge is, in short, experimental and practical.
4. They keep the Word. The seed once lodged in the heart remains there. It is not
caught away by the wicked one, it is not destroyed by the scorching beams of
persecution, nor is it choked by the thorns of worldly cares and pleasures. It is
laid up in the understanding, memory, and affections; and guarded with attention
and care, as the most invaluable treasure. And, indeed, how is it imaginable that
the man who has received the truth in the love of it, has ventured his everlasting
all on it, and has no other ground of hope whatever, should be willing to part with
this good Word of the grace of God! sooner would he renounce his dearest
temporal enjoyments, yea, even life itself. Again,
5. They bring forth fruit. The seed springs up, looks green, and promises a fair
harvest. They profess the Christian name, and live answerable to it. Their external
conduct is sober, useful, and honourable; and their temper is pious, benevolent,
and holy. The fruit they bear is of the same nature with the seed whence it
springs.
6. They bring forth fruit with patience. It is a considerable time before the seed
disseminates, rises into the stalk and the ear, and ripens into fruit (Jas_5:7).
7. And lastly. They bring forth fruit in different degrees, “some thirty, some sixty,
and some an hundred fold.” And now, in order to the fully discussing this
argument, we shall-
I. Show the necessity of the heart’s being made honest and good, in order to men’s
duly receiving the word and keeping it; this will clearly appear on a little reflection. I
suppose it will scarce be denied that the will and affections have a considerable
influence on the operations of the understanding and judgment. To a mind,
therefore, under the tyranny of pride and pleasure, positions that are hostile to these
passions will not easily gain admission. Their first appearance will create prejudice.
And if that prejudice does not instantly preclude all consideration, it will yet throw
insuperable obstructions in the way of impartial inquiry. If it does not absolutely put
out the eye of reason, it will yet raise such dust before it as will effectually prevent its
perceiving the object. What men do not care to believe, they will take pains to
persuade themselves is not true. When once a new bias is given to the will and
affections, and a man, from a proud, becomes a humble man, from a lover of this
world, a lover of God, his prejudices against the gospel will instantly subside. The
thick vapours exhaled from a sensual heart, which had obscured his understanding,
will disperse; and the light of Divine truth shine in upon him with commanding
evidence. He will receive the truth in the love of it. How important, then, is
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88. regeneration! This leads us-
II. To describe the kind of fruit which such persons will bear. It is good fruit-fruit of
the same nature with the seed whence it grows, and the soil with which it is
incorporated: of the same nature with the gospel itself which is received in faith, and
with those holy principles which are infused by the blessed Spirit. Here let us dwell a
little more particularly on the nature and tendency of the gospel. “God is in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them.” O how
inflexible the justice, how venerable the holiness, and how boundless the goodness of
God! And if this be the gospel, who can hesitate a moment upon the question
respecting its natural and proper tendency? How can piety languish and die amidst
this scene of wonders? How can the heart, occupied with these sentiments, remain
unsusceptible to the feelings of justice, truth, humanity, and benevolence? How can a
man believe himself to be that guilty, depraved, helpless wretch which this gospel
supposes him to be, and not be humble? How can he behold the Creator of the world
expiring in agonies on the cross, and follow Him thence a pale, breathless corpse to
the tomb, and not feel a sovereign contempt for the pomps and vanities of this
transitory state? But to bring the matter more fully home to the point before us, what
kind of a man is the real Christian? Let us contemplate his character, and consider
what is the general course of his life. Instructed in this Divine doctrine, and having
his heart made honest and good, he will be a man of piety, integrity, and purity. “The
grace of God, which bringeth salvation, will teach him to deny ungodliness, and
worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world” (Tit_
2:11-12). As to piety. A due regard to the authority of the blessed God will have a
commanding influence upon his temper and practice. As to social duties. His conduct
will be governed by the rule his Divine Master has laid down, of doing to others as he
would have them do to him. As to personal duties. He will use the comforts of life,
which he enjoys as the fruits of Divine benevolence, with temperance and
moderation. Such are the fruits which they bring forth, who hear the Word in the
manner our Saviour describes, and who keep it in good and honest hearts (Eph_4:1;
Php_1:27; Gal_5:22-23). But it is not meant by this description of the Christian to
raise him above the rank of humanity, or to give a colouring to the picture which it
will not bear. He is still a man, not an angel. To fix the standard of real religion at a
mark to which none can arrive, is to do an injury to religion itself, as well as to
discourage the hearts of its best friends. But though perfection, in the strict sense of
the term, is not to be admitted, yet the fruit which every real Christian bears is good
fruit.
1. How gracious is that influence which the blessed God exerts, to make the heart
honest and good, and so dispose it to receive the Word, and profit by it!
2. From the nature and tendency of the gospel, which has been just delineated,
we derive a strong presumptive evidence of its truth.
3. Of what importance is it that we converse intimately with the gospel, in order
to our bringing forth the fruits of holiness!
4. And lastly, How vain a thing is mere speculation in religion! We have
discoursed on the two first heads, and proceed now-
III. To consider the great variety there is among Christians in regard of degrees of
fruitfulness and the reasons of it. First, as to the fact that there are degrees of
fruitfulness, a little observation will sufficiently prove it. Fruitfulness may be
considered in regard both of the devout affections of the heart, and the external
actions of the life; in each of which views it will admit of degrees. The variety is
prodigious. What multitudes live harmless, sober, and regular lives. Their obedience
is rather negative than positive. They bring no dishonour on their profession, nor yet
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89. are they very ornamental and exemplary. Others are strictly conscientious and
circumspect in their walk, far removed from all appearance of gaiety and dissipation,
and remarkably serious and constant in their attendance upon religious duties; but,
for want of sweetness of temper, or of that sprightliness and freedom which a lively
faith inspires, the fruit they bear is but slender, and of an unpleasant flavour. There
are those, further, in whom seriousness and cheerfulness are happily united, and
whose conduct is amiable in the view of all around them; but then, moving in a
narrow sphere, and possessing no great zeal or resolution, their lives are
distinguished by few remarkable exertions for the glory of God, and the good of
others. And again, there are a number whose bosoms, glowing with flaming zeal and
ardent love, are rich in good works, never weary in well-doing, and full of the fruits of
righteousness, to the praise and the glory of God. In the garden of God there are trees
of different growth. Some newly planted, of slender stature and feeble make, which
yet bring forth good, though but little, fruit. And here and there you see one that out-
tops all the rest, whose roots spread far and wide, and whose boughs are laden in
autumn with rich and large fruit. Such variety is there among Christians. And variety
there is; too, in the different species of good works. Some are eminent in this virtue,
and some in that; while perhaps a few abound in every good word and work.
Whoever consults the history of religion in the Bible will see all that has been said
exemplified in the characters and lives of a long scroll of pious men. Not to speak
here of the particular excellences that distinguished these men of God from each
other, it is enough to observe that some vastly outshone others. The proportions of a
hundred, sixty, and thirty fold might be applied to patriarchs, prophets, judges,
kings, apostles, and the Christians of the primitive church. Between, for instance, an
Abraham that offered up his only son, and a righteous Lot, that lingered at the call of
an angel. Secondly, inquire into the grounds and reasons of this disparity among
Christians respecting the fruits of holiness. These are of very different consideration.
Many of them will be found to have no connection at all with the inward temper of
the mind; a reflection, therefore, upon them will give energy to what has been said in
regard of the charity we ought to exercise in judging of others. Let us begin, then-
1. With men’s worldly circumstances. The affluent Christian you will see pouring
his bounty on all around him. But the poor Christian can render few, if any, of
these services to his fellow creatures.
2. Opportunity is another ground of distinction among Christians in regard of
fruitfulness. By opportunity I mean occasions of usefulness, which arise under
the particular and immediate direction of Divine Providence. A Daniel shall have
such easy access to the presence of a mighty tyrant as shall enable him to whisper
the most beneficial counsels in his ear; and an apostle, by being brought in chains
before a no less powerful prince, shall have an opportunity of defending the cause
of his Divine Master in the most essential manner.
3. Mental abilities have a considerable influence in this matter. What shining
talents do some good men possess! They have extensive learning, great
knowledge of mankind, much sagacity and penetration, singular fortitude, a
happy manner of address, flowing language, and a remarkable sweetness of
temper.
4. The different means of religion that good men enjoy are another occasion of
their different degrees of fruitfulness.
5. That the comparative different state of religion in one Christian and another is
the more immediate and direct cause of their different fruitfulness. But this plain
general truth we may affirm, leaving everyone to apply it to himself, that, in
proportion as religion is on the advance or decline in a man’s heart, so will his
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90. external conduct be more or less exemplary.
6. And lastly, the greater or less effusion of Divine influences.
IV. The blessedness of those who, hearing the word, and keeping it in honest and
good hearts, bring forth the fruits of holiness.
1. As to the pleasure that accompanies ingenuous obedience. “Great peace have
they,” says David, “who love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them” (Psa_
119:165).
2. Fruitfulness affords a noble proof of a man’s uprightness, and so tends
indirectly, as well as directly, to promote his happiness.
3. The esteem, too, in which he is held among his fellow Christians must
contribute not a little to his comfort.
4. How glorious will be the rewards which the fruitful Christian will receive at the
hands of the Great Husbandman on the day of harvest! That day is approaching.
“Mark the perfect man; behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.”
Going down to death like a shock of corn fully ripe, the precious grain shall lie
secure in the bosom of the earth; angels shall keep their vigils about it: while the
immortal spirit, acquiring its highest degree of perfection, shall join the company
of the blessed above. (S. Stennett, D. D.)
“Some thirty fold”
Everyone has observed the difference between those who may be called good
Christians, in the matter of their good works-how some seem to produce twice or
thrice the fruit that others do. Some are, compared with others, three times more
careful in all the trilling matters which make up so much of life; three times more
self-denying, three times more liberal, three times more humble, subdued, and
thankful. Does not the Lord recognize this difference in the parable of the pounds-
when the nobleman, in leaving, gives a pound to each of his servants; and one servant
makes it ten pounds, and another five; and he commends both, but gives to the more
industrious worker twice the reward? (M. F. Sadler.)
Patience
Patience is power. With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes satin. (Eastern
Proverb.)
Never think that God’s delays are God’s denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out:
Patience is genius. (Buffon.)
Meditation
Meditation is partly a passive, partly an active state. Whoever has pondered long over
a plan which he is anxious to accomplish, without distinctly seeing at first the way,
knows what meditation is. The subject itself presents itself in leisure moments
spontaneously: but then all this sets the mind at work-contriving, imagining,
rejecting, modifying. It is in this way that one of the greatest of English engineers, a
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91. man uncouth and unaccustomed to regular discipline of mind, is said to have
accomplished his most marvellous triumphs. He threw bridges over almost
impracticable torrents, and pierced the eternal mountains for his viaducts.
Sometimes a difficulty brought all the work to a pause; then he would shut himself
up in his room, eat nothing, speak to no one, abandon himself intensely to the
contemplation of that on which his heart was set; and at the end of two or three days,
would come forth serene and calm, walk to the spot, and quietly give orders which
seemed the result of superhuman intuition. This was meditation. (F. W. Robertson.)
The numerical relations of good and evil
In the parable of the four sorts of ground whereon the seed was sown, the last alone
proved fruitful. There the bad were more than the good. But amongst the servants,
two improved their talents, or pounds, and one only buried them. Here the good
were more than the bad. Again, amongst the ten virgins, five were wise and five were
foolish. There the good and bad were equal. I see, that concerning the number of the
saints in comparison to the reprobates, no certainty can be collected from these
parables. Good reason, for it is not their principal purpose to meddle with that point.
Grant that I may never rack a Scripture simile beyond the true intent thereof.
(Thomas Fuller.)
Favourable moral conditions
A great deal of fire falleth upon a stone and it burneth not, but a dry chip soon taketh
fire. (T. Maclaren.)
A Lamp on a Stand
21 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to
put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you
put it on its stand?
BARNES, "Is a candle brought ... - A candle is not lit up to be put immediately
under a measure or a bed, where it can give no light. Its design is to give light. So my
preaching by parables is not designed to obscure the truth, but to throw light on it.
You should understand those parables, and, understanding them, should impart the
truth to others also, as a candle throws its beams upon a dark world.
Bushel - The word here used in the original means a measure for grain containing
about 12 quarts.
Bed - A couch, either to sleep on at night or to recline on at their meals. Probably
the latter is here meant, and is equivalent to our saying a candle is not brought to be
put “under” the table, but “on” it. See the notes at Mat_23:6.
91

92. CLARKE, "Is a candle - put under a bushel! - The design of my preaching is
to enlighten men; my parables not being designed to hide the truth, but to make it
more manifest.
GILL, "And he said unto them,.... At the same time, after he had explained the
parable of the sower; for though the following parabolical and proverbial expressions
were delivered by Christ at other, and different times, and some of them twice, as
related by other evangelists; yet they might be all of them expressed or repeated at
this time, by our Lord, showing why he explained the above parable to his disciples;
and that though he delivered the mysteries of the Gospel in parables to them that
were without, yet it was not his design that these things should be always kept a
secret, and that from all men: for as the Gospel might be compared to seed, so
likewise to a candle, the design and use of which is to give light to men: wherefore he
asks,
is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not to
be set on a candlestick? when a candle is brought into a room, in the night, where
company are together, to converse, or read, or work; is it proper that it should be
covered with a bushel, or any other hollow vessel? or when brought into a
bedchamber, is it right to put it under the bed? is it not most fitting and convenient,
that it should be set in a candlestick, and then it will be of use to all in the room? so
the Gospel, which is the candle of the Lord, he had lighted up in the evening of the
Jewish world, in the land of Judea; it was not his will that it should be always, and
altogether, and from all men, covered with parables, and dark sayings, without any
explanation of them; but that the light of it should be communicated, especially to
them his; disciples, who were to be the lights of the world, and which were to shine
openly before men, for their good, and the glory of his heavenly Father; see Mat_
5:14.
HENRY, "The lessons which our Saviour designs to teach us here by parables and
figurative expressions are these: -
I. That those who are good ought to consider the obligations they are under to do
good; that is, as in the parable before, to bring forth fruit. God expects a grateful
return of his gifts to us, and a useful improvement of his gifts in us; for (Mar_4:21),
Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? No, but that it may be
set on a candlestick. The apostles were ordained, to receive the gospel, not for
themselves only, but for the good of others, to communicate it to them. All
Christians, as they have received the gift, must minister the same. Note, 1. Gifts and
graces make a man as a candle; the candle of the Lord (Pro_20:27), lighted by the
Father of lights; the most eminent are but candles, poor lights, compared with the
Sun of righteousness. A candle gives light but a little way, and but a little while, and
is easily blown out, and continually burning down and wasting. 2. Many who are
lighted as candles, put themselves under a bed, or under a bushel: they do not
manifest grace themselves, nor minister grace to others; they have estates, and do no
good with them; have their limbs and senses, wit and learning perhaps, but nobody is
the better for them; they have spiritual gifts, but do not use them; like a taper in an
urn, they burn to themselves. 3. Those who are lighted as candles, should set
themselves on a candlestick; that is, should improve all opportunities of doing good,
as those that were made for the glory of God, and the service of the communities they
are members of; we are not born for ourselves.
92

93. JAMIESON, "And he said unto them, Is a candle — or “lamp”
brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a
candlestick? — “that they which enter in may see the light” (Luk_8:16). See on
Mat_5:15, of which this is nearly a repetition.
PULPIT, "Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, etc.? The Greek is ὁ
λύχνος, and is better rendered the lamp. The figure is recorded by St. Matthew
(Matthew 5:15) as used by our Lord in his sermon on the mount. It is evident
that he repeated his sayings, and used them sometimes in a different connection.
The lamp is here the light of Divine truth, shining in the person of Christ. Is the
lamp brought to be put under the bushel? It comes to us. The light in our souls is
not of our own kindling; it comes to us from God, that we may manifest it for his
glory. "The bushel" ( μόδιος), from the Latin medias, a measure containing
flour, was the flour-bin, a part of the furniture of every house, as was the tall
lampstand with its single light. St, Luke (Luke 8:16) calls it "a vessel" ( καλύπτει
αὐτὸν σκεύει). The light is to be set on "a lamp-stand," and in like manner the
light which we have received is to shine before men. As Christians, we are
Christ's light-bearers. By this illustration our Lord teaches that he was unwilling
that the mysteries of this great parable of the sower and of other parables should
be concealed, but that his disciples should unfold these things to others as he had
to them, although at present they might not be able to receive them.
COFFMAN, "This verse and through Mark 4:25 make up a paragraph of
disconnected sayings of Christ, brought together here in a remarkable
application in a new context, indicating that the sacred Scriptures have a vitality
and meaning of their own, even out of context. Jesus did here exactly what Paul
did in Romans 10:8, where he quoted Deuteronomy 30:11-14 with an application
not found in Deuteronomy. Both Richard A. Batey[17] and John Locke[18] have
commented on this, which is actually one of the most important prerequisites for
truly understanding Scripture. It is precisely the lack of the insight into this
phenomenon which cripples much of the exegesis coming out of the critical
schools.
The truth of Mark 4:21 has a double meaning: (a) that which is inherent in it,
and (b) that which it denotes in context. Is such a characteristic of the word of
God what is meant by its being "a two-edged sword"? (Hebrews 4:12). It is
obvious that Jesus used "the same sayings in different contexts,"[19] saying "the
same things over and over";[20] and "It is evident that he repeated his sayings,
and used them sometimes in a different connection."[21] To this evident, obvious
truth should be added the equally evident fact that he did not repeat sayings
verbatim, but varied his terminology. Therefore, we shall study this verse both
ways, inherently, and in context.
In (this) context: Jesus had just emphasized the concealment of his teachings
through the use of parables; but this reference to the lamp shows that the
concealment will end. As Cranfield interpreted it:
No one in his right senses would carry a lighted lamp into a house simply in
93

94. order to hide it ... No more must it be supposed that God's whole purpose in
sending Jesus is that he should be concealed.[22]
Inherently: Christ warned against hiding the lighted lamp (a) under a vessel
(Luke 8:16), (b) under a bushel (Mark 4:21), (c) under a bed (Mark 4:21;
Matthew 5:15), or (d) in a cellar (that is, "in a secret place")[23] (Luke 11:33).
Notice the remarkable correspondence between these things which hide the light
and the thorns which choke out the word (Mark 4:19): (a) stands for cares (the
vessel), (b) stands for riches (the bushel), with (c) and (d) standing for wicked
pleasures associated with both the bed and the sacred place. The proximity of
this verse to Mark 4:19 strongly suggests that the thought connects there rather
than with Mark 4:12 as suggested by Cranfield.
On the stand ... In all the references in the above paragraph, the "stand" is
conspicuously mentioned as the place for the lighted lamp. An apostle made this
to be a congregation of the Lord's church (Revelation 1:20), indicating still
another application of this mighty one-sentence parable. In this application, the
lighted lamp is the Christian, and his lamp should be displayed on the stand, that
is in the church or congregation.
[17] Richard A. Batey, The Letter of Paul to the Romans (Austin: R. B. Sweet
Co., 1969), p. 134.
[18] John Locke, Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul (Boston, 1832),
p. 347.
[19] W. N. Clarke, op. cit., p. 62.
[20] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 95.
[21] E. Bickersteth, op. cit., p. 158.
[22] C. E. B. Cranfield, op. cit., p. 164.
[23] Nestle Greek Text (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House,
1972).
BARCLAY, "THE LIGHT WHICH MUST BE SEEN (Mark 4:21)
4:21 This was one of Jesus' sayings: "Surely a lamp is not brought in to be put
under a peck measure or under the bed? It is not brought in to be set upon a
lamp stand?"
Mark 4:21-25 are interesting because they show the problems that confronted
the writers of the gospels. These verses give us four different sayings of Jesus. In
Mark 4:21 there is the saying about the lamp. In Mark 4:22 there is the saying
about the revealing of secret things. In Mark 4:24 there is the saying which lays
it down that we shall receive back with the same measure as we have given. In
Mark 4:25 there is the saying that to him who has still more will be given. In
Mark these verses come one after another in immediate succession. But Mark
4:21 is repeated in Matthew 5:15; Mark 4:22 is repeated in Matthew 10:26;
94

95. Mark 4:24 is repeated in Matthew 7:2; and Mark 4:25 is repeated in Matthew
13:12 and also in Matthew 25:29. The four consecutive verses in Mark are
scattered all over Matthew. One practical thing emerges for our study. We must
not try to find any connection between them. Clearly they are quite disconnected
and we must take them one by one.
How did it come about that these sayings of Jesus are given by Mark one after
another and scattered by Matthew all over his gospel? The reason is just this.
Jesus had a unique command of language. He could say the most vivid and pithy
things. He could say things that stuck in the memory and refused to be forgotten.
Further, he must have said many of these things far more than once. He was
moving from place to place and from audience to audience; and he must have
repeated much of his teaching wherever he went. The consequence was that men
remembered the things that Jesus said--they were said with such vividness that
they could not be forgotten--but they forgot the occasion on which they were
said. The result was a great many of what one might call "orphan" sayings of
Jesus. A saying was embedded in men's minds and remembered for ever, but the
context and the occasion were forgotten. So then we have to take these vivid
sayings individually and examine them.
The first was that men do not light a lamp and put it under a peck measure,
which would be like putting a bowl on the top of it, nor do they put it under a
bed. A lamp is meant to be seen and to make men able to see; and it is put in a
place where it will be visible to all. From this saying we may learn two things.
(i) Truth is meant to be seen; it is not meant to be concealed. There may be times
when it is dangerous to tell the truth; there may be times when to tell the truth is
the quickest way to persecution and to trouble. But the true man and the true
Christian will stand by the truth in face of all.
When Luther decided to take up his stand against the Roman Catholic Church
he decided first of all to attack indulgences. Indulgences were to all intents and
purposes remissions of sins while a man could buy from a priest at a price. He
drew up ninety-five theses against these indulgences. And what did he do with
his ninety-five theses? There was a church in Wittenberg called the Church of
All Saints. It was closely connected with the University; on its door University
notices were posted, and the subject of academic debates displayed. There was no
more public notice-board in the town. To that door Luther affixed his theses.
When did he do it? The day when the largest congregation came to the church
was All Saints' Day, the first of November. It happened to be the anniversary of
the founding of that church and many services were held and crowds came. It
was on All Saints' Day that Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the church
door. If he had been a prudent man he would not have drawn up his ninety-five
theses at all. If he had been a man with an eye on safety he would never have
nailed them to the church door. And, if he must nail them to the door, with any
thought of personal safety he would never have chosen All Saints' Day to make
his declaration. But Luther felt that he had discovered the truth; and his one
thought was to display the truth and to align his life with it.
95

96. In every walk of life there are times when we know quite well what the truth
demands, what is the right thing to do, what a Christian man ought to do. In
every walk of life there are times when we fail to do it, because it would be to
court unpopularity and perhaps worse. We ought to remember that the lamp of
truth is something to be held aloft and not concealed in the interests of a
cowardly safety.
(ii) Our Christianity is meant to be seen. In the early church sometimes to show
one's Christianity meant death. The Roman Empire was as-vast-as the world. In
order to get some sort of binding unity into that vast empire Emperor worship
was started. The Emperor was the embodiment of the state and he was
worshipped as a god. On certain stated days it was demanded that everyone
should come and sacrifice to the godhead of the Emperor. It was really a test of
political loyalty. After a man had done so he got a certificate to say he had done
so; and, having got that certificate, he could go away and worship any god he
liked.
We still have many of these certificates. They run like this:
To those who have been put in charge of the sacrifices from
Inareus Akeus from the village of Theoxenis, together with his
children Alas and Hera, who stay in the village of Theadelpheia.
We sacrifice regularly to the gods and now in your presence, as
the regulations demand, we have sacrificed and poured our
libation and have tasted the offerings, and we ask you to give us
the required certificate. May you fare well.
Then there follows the attestation.
We, Serenas and Hermas, have witnessed your sacrificing.
All a Christian had to do was to go through that formal act, receive the
certificate, and he was safe. And the fact of history is that thousands of
Christians died rather than do so. They could have concealed the fact that they
were Christians with the greatest of ease; they could have gone on being
Christians, as it were, privately, with no trouble at all. But to them their
Christianity was something which had to be attested and witnessed to in
presence of all men. They were proud that all should know where they stood. To
such we owe our Christian faith to-day.
It is often easier to keep quiet the fact that we belong to Christ and his Church;
but our Christianity should always be like the lamp that can be seen of all men.
96

97. COKE, "Mark 4:21-22. Is a candle brought, &c. candlestick?— Is a lamp, &c.—
stand. Campbell. When Jesus had ended his interpretation of the parable of the
sower, he did not direct his discourse to the people, but continued speaking to the
apostles, shewing them, by the similitude of a lighted lamp, the use that they
were to make of this, and ofall the instructions which he should give them. As
lamps are kindled to give light unto those who are in a house; so the
understandings of the apostles were illuminated, that they might fill the world
with the light of truth. He told them further, that though some of the doctrinesof
the Gospel were then concealed from the people, on account of their prejudices,
he had revealed them to his apostles, that they might all in due time be preached
openly and plainly through the world; for which reason it became his apostles, to
whom God had given both a capacity and an opportunity of hearing these
doctrines, to listen to them with attention
MACLAREN, "LAMPS AND BUSHELS
The furniture of a very humble Eastern home is brought before us in this saying. In
the original, each of the nouns has the definite article attached to it, and so suggests
that in the house there was but one of each article; one lamp, a flat saucer with a wick
swimming in oil; one measure for corn and the like; one bed, raised slightly, but
sufficiently to admit of a flat vessel being put under it without danger, if for any
reason it were desired to shade the light; and one lampstand.
The saying appeals to common-sense. A man does not light a lamp and then smother
it. The act of lighting implies the purpose of illumination, and, with everybody who
acts logically, its sequel is to put the lamp on a stand, where it may be visible. All is
part of the nightly routine of every Jewish household. Jesus had often watched it;
and, commonplace as it is, it had mirrored to Him large truths. If our eyes were
opened to the suggestions of common life, we should find in them many parables and
reminders of high matters.
Now this saying is a favourite and familiar one of our Lord, occurring four times in
the Gospels. It is interesting to notice that He, too, like other teachers, had His
favourite maxims, which He turned round in all sorts of ways, and presented as
reflecting light at different angles and suggesting different thoughts. The four
occurrences of the saying are these. In my text, and in the parallel in Luke’s Gospel, it
is appended to the Parable of the Sower, and forms the basis of the exhortation, ‘Take
heed how ye hear.’ In another place in Luke’s Gospel it is appended to our Lord’s
words about ‘the sign of the prophet Jonah,’ which is explained to be the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, and it forms the basis of the exhortation to cultivate the single eye
which is receptive of the light. In the Sermon on the Mount it is appended to the
declaration that the disciples are the lights of the world, and forms the basis of the
exhortation, ‘Let your light so shine before men.’ I have thought that it may be
interesting and instructive if in this sermon we throw together these three
applications of this one saying, and try to study the threefold lessons which it yields,
and the weighty duties which it enforces.
I. So, then, I have to ask you, first, to consider that we have a lesson as to
the apparent obscurities of revelation and of our duty concerning them.
That is the connection in which the words occur in our text, and in the other place in
Luke’s Gospel, to which I have referred. Our Lord has just been speaking the Parable
of the Sower. The disciples’ curiosity has been excited as to its significance. They ask
Him for an explanation, which He gives minutely point by point. Then he passes to
97

98. this general lesson of the purpose of the apparent veil which He had cast round the
truth, by throwing it into a parabolic form. In effect He says: If I had meant to hide
My teaching by the form into which I cast it, I should have been acting as absurdly
and as contradictorily as a man would do who should light a lamp and immediately
obscure it.’ True, there is the veil of parable, but the purpose of that relative
concealment is not hiding, but revelation. ‘There is nothing covered but that it should
be made known.’ The veil sharpens attention, stimulates curiosity, quickens effort,
and so becomes positively subsidiary to the great purpose of revelation for which the
parable is spoken. The existence of this veil of sensuous representation carries with it
the obligation, ‘Take heed how ye hear.’
Now all these thoughts have a far wider application than in reference to our Lord’s
parables. And I may suggest one or two of the considerations that flow from the
wider reference of the words before us.
‘Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed and not upon a
candlestick?’ There are no gratuitous and dark places in anything that God says to us.
His revelation is absolutely clear. We may be sure of that if we consider the purpose
for which He spoke at all. True, there are dark places; true, there are great gaps; true,
we sometimes think, ‘Oh! it would have been so easy for Him to have said one word
more; and the one word more would have been so infinitely precious to bleeding
hearts or wounded consciences or puzzled understandings.’ But ‘is a candle brought
to be set under a bushel?’ Do you think that if He took the trouble to light it He would
immediately smother it, or arbitrarily conceal anything that the very fact of the
revelation declares His intention to make known? His own great word remains true,
‘I have never spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth.’ If there be, as there are,
obscurities, there are none there that would have been better away.
For the intention of all God’s hiding-which hiding is an integral part of his revealing-
is not to conceal, but to reveal. Sometimes the best way of making a thing known to
men is to veil it in a measure, in order that the very obscurity, like the morning mists
which prophesy a blazing sun in a clear sky by noonday, may demand search and
quicken curiosity and spur to effort. He is not a wise teacher who makes things too
easy. It is good that there should be difficulties; for difficulties are like the veins of
quartz in the soil, which may turn the edge of the ploughshare or the spade, but
prophesy that there is gold there for the man who comes with fitting tools. Wherever,
in the broad land of God’s word to us, there lie dark places, there are assurances of
future illumination. God’s hiding is in order to revelation, even as the prophet of old,
when he was describing the great Theophany which flashed in light from the one side
of the heaven to the other, exclaimed, ‘There was the hiding of His power.’
‘He hides the purpose of His grace
To make it better known.’
And the end of all the concealments, and apparent and real obscurities, that hang
about His word, is that for many of them patient and diligent attention and docile
obedience should unfold them here, and for the rest, ‘the day shall declare them.’ The
lamp is the light for the night-time, and it leaves many a corner in dark shadow; but,
when ‘night’s candles are burnt out, and day sits jocund on the misty mountain-tops,’
much will be plain that cannot be made plain now.
Therefore, for us the lesson from this assurance that God will not stultify Himself by
giving to us a revelation that does not reveal, is, ‘Take heed how ye hear.’ The effort
will not be in vain. Patient attention will ever be rewarded. The desire to learn will
not be frustrated. In this school truth lightly won is truth loosely held; and only the
attentive scholar is the receptive and retaining disciple. A great man once said, and
98

99. said, too, presumptuously and proudly, that he had rather have the search after truth
than truth. But yet there is a sense in which the saying may be modifiedly accepted;
for, precious as is all the revelation of God, not the least precious effect that it is
meant to produce upon us is the consciousness that in it there are unscaled heights
above, and unplumbed depths beneath, and untraversed spaces all around it; and
that for us that Word is like the pillar of cloud and fire that moved before Israel,
blends light and darkness with the single office of guidance, and gleams ever before
us to draw desires and feet after it. The lamp is set upon a stand. ‘Take heed how ye
hear.’
II. Secondly, the saying, in another application on our Lord’s lips, gives
us a lesson as to Himself and our attitude to Him.
I have already pointed out the other instance in Luke’s Gospel in which this saying
occurs, in the 11th chapter, where it is brought into immediate connection with our
Lord’s declaration that the sign to be given to His generation was ‘the sign of the
prophet Jonah,’ which sign He explains as being reproduced in His own case in His
Resurrection. And then he adds the word of our text, and immediately passes on to
speak about the light in us which perceives the lamp, and the need of cultivating the
single eye.
So, then, we have, in the figure thus applied, the thought that the earthly life of Jesus
Christ necessarily implies a subsequent elevation from which He shines down upon
all the world. God lit that lamp, and it is not going to be quenched in the darkness of
the grave. He is not going to stultify Himself by sending the Light of the World, and
then letting the endless shades of death muffle and obscure it. But, just as the
conclusion of the process which is begun in the kindling of the light is setting it on
high on the stand, that it may beam over all the chamber, so the resurrection and
ascension of Jesus Christ, His exaltation to the supremacy from which He shall draw
all men unto Him, are the necessary and, if I may so say, the logical result of the facts
of His incarnation and death.
Then from this there follows what our Lord dwells upon at greater length. Having
declared that the beginning of His course involved the completion of it in His
exaltation to glory, He then goes on to say to us, ‘You have an organ that corresponds
to Me. I am the kindled lamp; you have the seeing eye.’ ‘If the eye were not sunlike,’
says the great German thinker, ‘how could it see the sun?’ If there were not in me that
which corresponds to Jesus Christ, He would be no Light of the World, and no light
to me. My reason, my affection, my conscience, my will, the whole of my spiritual
being, answer to Him, as the eye does to the light, and for everything that is in Christ
there is in humanity something that is receptive of, and that needs, Him.
So, then, that being so, He being our light, just because He fits our needs, answers
our desires, satisfies our cravings, fills the clefts of our hearts, and brings the
response to all the questions of our understandings-that being the case, if the lamp is
lit and blazing on the lampstand, and you and I have eyes to behold it, let us take
heed that we cultivate the single eye which apprehends Christ. Concentration of
purpose, simplicity and sincerity of aim, a heart centred upon Him, a mind drawn to
contemplate unfalteringly and without distraction of crosslights His beauty, His
supremacy, His completeness, and a soul utterly devoted to Him-these are the
conditions to which that light will ever manifest itself, and illumine the whole man.
But if we come with divided hearts, with distracted aims, giving Him fragments of
ourselves, and seeking Him by spasms and at intervals, and having a dozen other
deities in our Pantheon, beside the calm form of the Christ of Nazareth, what wonder
is there that we see in Him ‘no beauty that we should desire Him’? ‘Unite my heart to
fear Thy name.’ Oh I if that were our prayer, and if the effort to secure its answer
99

100. were honestly the effort of our lives, all His loveliness, His sweetness, His adaptation
to our whole being, would manifest themselves to us. The eye must be ‘single,’
directed to Him, if the heart is to rejoice in His light.
I need not do more than remind you of the blessed consequence which our Lord
represents as flowing from this union of the seeing heart and the revealing light-viz.,
‘Thy whole body shall be full of light.’ In every eye that beholds the flame of the lamp
there is a little lamp-flame mirrored and manifested. And just as what we see makes
its image on the seeing organ of the body, so the Christ beheld is a Christ embodied
in us; and we, gazing upon Him, are ‘changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit.’ Light that remains without us does not
illuminate; light that passes into us is the light by which we see, and the Christ
beheld is the Christ ensphered in our hearts.
III. So, lastly, this great saying gives us a lesson as to the duties of
Christian men as lights in the world.
I pointed out that another instance of the occurrence of the saying is in the Sermon
on the Mount, where it is transferred from the revelation of God in His written word,
and in His Incarnate Word, to the relation of Christian men to the world in which
they dwell. I need not remind you how frequently that same metaphor occurs in
Scripture; how in the early Jewish ritual the great seven-branched lampstand which
stood at first in the Tabernacle was the emblem of Israel’s office in the whole world,
as it rayed out its light through the curtains of the Tabernacle into the darkness of the
desert. Nor need I remind you how our Lord bare witness to His forerunner by the
praise that ‘He was a burning and a shining light,’ nor how He commanded His
disciples to have their ‘loins girt and their lamps burning,’ nor how He spoke the
Parable of the Ten Virgins with their lamps.
From all these there follows the same general thought that Christian men, not so
much by specific effort, nor by words, nor by definite proclamation, as by the raying
out from them in life and conduct of a Christlike spirit, are set for the illumination of
the world. The bearing of our text in reference to that subject is just this-our
obligation as Christians to show forth the glories of Him who hath ‘called us out of
darkness into His marvellous light’ is rested upon His very purpose in drawing us to
Himself, and receiving us into the number of his people. If God in Christ, by
communicating to us ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of
Jesus Christ,’ has made us lights of the world, it is not done in order that the light
may be smothered incontinently, but His act of lighting indicates His purpose of
illumination. What are you a Christian for? That you may go to Heaven? Certainly.
That your sins may be forgiven? No doubt. But is that the only end? Are you such a
very great being as that your happiness and well-being can legitimately be the
ultimate purpose of God’s dealings with you? Are you so isolated from all mankind as
that any gift which He bestows on you is to be treated by you as a morsel that you can
take into your corner and devour, like a grudging dog, by yourselves? By no means.
‘God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts
in order that’ we might impart the light to others. Or, as Shakespeare has it, in words
perhaps suggested by the Scripture metaphor,
‘Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,
Not light them for themselves.’
He gave you His Son that you may give the gospel to others, and you stultify His
purpose in your salvation unless you become ministers of His grace and manifesters
of His light.
Then take from this emblem, too, a homely suggestion as to the hindrances that
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101. stand in the way of our fulfilling the Divine intention in our salvation. It is, perhaps, a
piece of fancy, but still it may point a lesson. The lamp is not hid ‘under a bushel,’
which is the emblem of commerce or business, and is meant for the measurement of
material wealth and sustenance, or ‘under a bed’-the place where people take their
ease and repose. These two loves-the undue love of the bushel and the corn that is in
it, and the undue love of the bed and the leisurely ease that you may enjoy there-are
large factors in preventing Christian men from fulfilling God’s purpose in their
salvation.
Then take a hint as to the means by which such a purpose can be fulfilled by
Christian souls. They are suggested in the two of the other uses of this emblem by our
Lord Himself. The first is when He said, ‘Let your loins be girded’-they are not so,
when you are in bed-’and your lamps burning.’ Your light will not shine in a naughty
world without your strenuous effort, and ungirt loins will very shortly lead to
extinguished lamps. The other means to this manifestation of visible Christlikeness
lies in that tragical story of the foolish virgins who took no oil in their vessels. If light
expresses the outward Christian life, oil, in accordance with the whole tenor of
Scripture symbolism, expresses the inward gift of the Divine Spirit. And where that
gift is neglected, where it is not earnestly sought and carefully treasured, there may
be a kind of smoky illuminations, which, in the dark, may pass for bright lights, but,
when the Lord comes, shudder into extinction, and, to the astonishment of the
witless five who carried them, are found to be ‘going out.’ Brethren, only He who
does not quench the smoking flax but tends it to a flame, will help us to keep our
lamps bright.
First of all, then, let us gaze upon the light in Him, until we become ‘light in the
Lord.’ And then let us see to it that, by girt loins and continual reception of the
illuminating principle of the Divine Spirit’s oil, we fill our lamps with ‘deeds of
odorous light, and hopes that breed not shame.’ Then,
‘When the Bridegroom, with his feastful friends,
Passes to bliss on the mid-hour of night,’
we shall have ‘gained our entrance’ among the ‘virgins wise and pure.’
BI, "Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed?
The extension of the kingdom
The kingdom, as it appeared in its beginning, is like the little grains of wheat cast into
the damp soil in the chilly days of spring. To the mature Christian of today it is like
the city which John saw, filling all his vision, let down out of heaven from God,
glowing with strange opaline light, so that neither sun nor moon were longer needed,
with jasper walls and pavements of transparent gold, and great gates, each a single
pearl, and at each gate a glorious angel. This parable teaches us that one of the
agencies bringing about this result is man’s work in the kingdom.
1. To make known its character and the conditions of entrance into it. Even the
smallest taper is lighted in order that it may give light. The youngest disciple is to
shine for the guidance of others. The rays of one little lamp, piercing through
miles of gloom, have saved noble ships from destruction, with all their precious
living freight. It may have been only such a lamp as lights one little room; but it
was surrounded by powerful reflectors, which sent its rays afar, and multiplied its
influence a hundredfold.
2. To give his mind and heart to increase his knowledge and experience of the
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102. truth by which the kingdom grows. The lighted lamp must have oil to feed upon.
We cannot be making known the character of the kingdom unless our knowledge
of it is growing. Alas for him before whose eyes the vision of the heavenly city,
once seen, is allowed to fade and disappear! On the other hand, the more brightly
we shine, the more eagerly we seek and the more fully we receive that which
keeps the light burning. The more generously we give to others what we know of
the gospel, the more clearly it will be revealed to us. (A. E. Dunning.)
The Word not to be hidden
This reproves those who hide their knowledge of the Word, and keep it to themselves
only, shutting up this light within their own breast, as it were, as in a close and
private place, that it cannot be seen of others, and so as others have no benefit by it.
They do not shine to others by the light of that knowledge which is in them; they
show forth no fruits of it in a holy conversation; neither are they careful to
communicate their knowledge to others by instruction of them in the ways of God.
What is this but hiding the candle under a bushel, or setting it under a bed, when it
should be set upon a candlestick, that the light of it might be plainly seen by those in
the house? Let such consider how great a sin it is to hide the spiritual gifts bestowed
on us by God, and not to employ them well to the glory of God and the good of our
brethren. If thou hast never so much knowledge in the Word, and yet dost hide it
only in thine own breast, and in thine own head, and dost not shine to others by the
light of it, then thy knowledge is no sanctified and saving knowledge; for if it were, it
could not thus lie hid and buried in thee, but it would manifest itself toward others
for their good: it would not only enlighten thy mind, but also thy whole outward life
and conversation, causing thee to shine as a light or candle unto others. (G. Petter.)
Sharing our light
It might seem a superfluous thing to urge the communication of gospel hopes and
comforts, but there is none more needed. For one person who puts the candle on a
candlestick, there are twenty that put it under a bushel-a dull wooden measure that
keeps in all the light. There are many sorts of bushels.
1. One very bad one, and much employed to cover the light, is modesty (falsely so
called). Modesty pretends to be not good enough or wise enough to speak, and
turns the soul into a dark lantern.
2. Selfishness is another bushel for the light; forbidding men to take the trouble
to shed it.
3. Indolence.
4. Fearfulness.
5. Despair of people heeding.
6. A narrow doctrine of salvation.
7. Sometimes a little scientific knowledge, creating conceit, makes a bushel; men
being so anxious to mix the earthly with the heavenly light that the grave, sweet
light of godly knowledge cannot get though the mistiness of the earthly mixture.
(R. Glover.)
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103. 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be
disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to
be brought out into the open.
CLARKE, "For there is nothing hid, etc. - Probably our Lord means, that all
that had hitherto been secret, relative to the salvation of a lost world, or only
obscurely pointed out by types and sacrifices, shall now be uncovered and made plain
by the everlasting Gospel. See on Mat_5:15 (note); Mat_10:26 (note).
GILL, "For there is nothing hid,.... In these parables, and figurative expressions
used by Christ,
which shall not be manifested, sooner or later, to his disciples:
neither was any thing kept secret; any doctrine of the Gospel, or mystery of the
kingdom:
but that it should come abroad; it was designed to be published in all Judea, and
afterwards, throughout the whole world, for the benefit of God's chosen ones, to their
conversion, comfort, and edification: wherefore it becomes the ministers of the
Gospel to keep back nothing that may be profitable to the churches, nor shun to
declare the whole counsel of God; but faithfully dispense the mysteries of grace, and
commend the truth to every man's conscience, without any fear of men, or dreading
the effects and consequences of things: since nothing is declared in the word, or
made known, but with a design to be published to others, to answer some divine end
and purpose; See Gill on Mat_10:26.
HENRY, "The reason given for this, is, because there is nothing hid, which shall
not be manifested, which should not be made manifest (so it might better be read),
Mar_4:22. There is no treasure of gifts and graces lodged in any but with design to be
communicated; nor was the gospel made a secret to the apostles, to be concealed, but
that it should come abroad, and be divulged to all the world. Though Christ
expounded the parables to his disciples privately, yet it was with design to make
them the more publicly useful; they were taught, that they might teach; and it is a
general rule, that the ministration of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal,
not himself only, but others also.
JAMIESON, "For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested,
etc. — See on Mat_10:26, Mat_10:27; but the connection there and here is slightly
different. Here the idea seems to be this - “I have privately expounded to you these
great truths, but only that ye may proclaim them publicly; and if ye will not, others
will. For these are not designed for secrecy. They are imparted to be diffused abroad,
and they shall be so; yea, a time is coming when the most hidden things shall be
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104. brought to light.”
SBC, "The Manifestation of Hidden Things.
I. We all know that such is necessarily the imperfectness of human legislation, that a
great deal of crime passes undiscovered, and that what is discovered often goes
unpunished; and whilst an active system of government represses or prevents much
wickedness, its unavoidable incapacity of finding out all crime and fastening it upon
the perpetrator, encourages many to commit it with the hope of impunity. There is
hardly anything so widely powerful in the encouragement to sin as the expectation of
concealment. It is virtually this which produces the chief mass of wrong-doing.
II. There is not one of us who would not be thoroughly shocked at having what passes
through his mind in a single day laid bare for public inspection. And yet there is
nothing hid that shall not be revealed—revealed either as ground of accusation
against those brought to Christ’s bar, or as material of vindication of the sentences
which have been passed. In either case, what hope have you of escape. Look on the
right hand, look on the left; what is to hide you from wrath, when the disclosed
impurity of a thought is all that is needed to provoke its visitation. No living man can
endure such a scrutiny, unless he have applied to his conscience that blood which
"cleanseth from all sin"; and surely therefore there is no one who can be easy in the
prospect of such a scrutiny, until he has prepared for it by making Christ his
Advocate with the Father.
III. All of you can understand and appreciate the motive to right doing, which we
thus fetch from the sublime scenes of the last great assize. If the certainty of being
found out would keep you from crime, if the shame of being detected in anything vile
and dishonourable help to make you shun what would forfeit good opinion, then
believe and remember, that when the Lord cometh, He will both bring to light the
hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1,096.
PULPIT, "For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested. The Greek of
the latter part of this sentence, according to the best authorities, runs thus: ἐὰν
μὴ ἵνα φανερωθῇ; so the true rendering of the words is, there is nothing hid save
that it should be manifested; that is, there is nothing now hid, but in order that it
may be made known. There is a great principle of the Divine operations here
announced by our Lord. Much, very much, is now hidden from us, in nature, in
providence, and in grace. But it will not always be hidden. In natural things
more and more is revealed as science advances, and in providence and in grace
the mysteries of the kingdom will one day, and at the fitting time, be laid open to
all. "What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light" (Matthew 10:27).
COFFMAN, "The same idea in different words is in Matthew 10:26.
Dummelow's understanding of Jesus' repetition of this maxim here seems to be
correct:
Our Lord corrects a false impression which might have arisen from the mention
of a mystery (Mark 4:11). If the gospel was for a moment treated as a secret, it
was so only because this temporary secrecy was essential to its successful
proclamation after the ascension.[24]
Inherently: This saying of our Lord also has meaning far beyond its application
104

105. in context, as explained by Dummelow. The secrets of all men shall be made
manifest at the judgment of the great day.
ENDNOTE:
[24] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 726.
BARCLAY, "THE TRUTH WHICH CANNOT BE SUPPRESSED (Mark
4:22-23)
4:22-23 For there is nothing secret that will not be brought into the open;
nothing is done that it should be hidden away, but that it should lie open for all
to see. If a man has ears to hear let him hear.
It was Jesus' certain conviction that the truth cannot ultimately be hidden. This
saying applies in two directions.
(i) It applies to truth itself. There is something about the truth which is
indestructible. Men may refuse to face it; they may try to suppress it; they may
even try to obliterate it; they may refuse to accept it but "great is the truth and
in the end it will prevail."
In the early sixteenth century an astronomer called Copernicus made the
discovery that the earth is not the centre of the universe, that in fact the earth
goes round the sun and not the sun round the earth. He was a cautious man and
for thirty years he kept this discovery to himself. Then in 1543, when death's
breath was on him, he persuaded a terrified printer to print his great work,
Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies. Soon Copernicus died but others inherited the
storm.
In the early seventeenth century Galileo accepted the theory of Copernicus and
stated publicly his belief in it. In 1616 he was summoned to the inquisition in
Rome and his beliefs were condemned. Judgment was passed. "The first
proposition that the sun is the centre and does not revolve about the earth, is
foolish, absurd, false in theology, and heretical because contrary to Holy
Scripture.... The second proposition, that the earth is not the centre, but revolves
about the sun, is absurd, false in philosophy, and from a theological point of view
at least, opposed to the true faith." Galileo gave in. It was easier to conform than
to die; and for years he remained silent.
A new pope came to the papal throne and Galileo thought that Urban the Eighth
was a man of wider sympathy and greater culture than his predecessor, so once
again he came out into the open with his theory. He was mistaken in his hopes.
This time he had to sign a recantation or undergo torture. He signed. "I, Galileo,
being in my seventieth year, being a prisoner and on my knees, and before your
Eminences, having before my eyes the Holy Gospel, which I touch with my
hands, abjure, curse and detest the error and the heresy of the movement of the
earth." His recantation saved him from death but not from prison. And in the
end he was even denied burial in the family tomb.
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106. It was not only the Roman Catholic Church which tried to avoid the truth.
Luther wrote: "People gave ear to an upstart astrologer (he meant Copernicus)
who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the
sun and the moon.... This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy;
but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and
not the earth."
But time goes on. You can threaten to torture a man for discovering the truth;
you can call him a fool and try to laugh him out of court; but that does not alter
the truth. "It lies not in your power," said Andrew Melville, "to hang or exile the
truth." Truth may be attacked, delayed, suppressed, mocked at; but time brings
in its revenges and in the end truth prevails. A man must have a care that he is
not fighting against the truth.
(ii) It applies to ourselves and to our own life and conduct. When a man does a
wrong thing his first instinct is to hide. That is what Adam and Eve did when
they broke the commandment of God (Genesis 3:8). But truth has a way of
emerging. In the last analysis no man can hide the truth from himself, and the
man with a secret is never a happy man. The web of deception is never a
permanent concealment. And, when it comes to ultimate things. no man can have
any secrets from God. In the end it is literally true that there is nothing which
will not be revealed in the presence of God. When we remember that, we are
bound to be filled with the desire to make life such that all men may look on it
and God survey it without shame to ourselves.
BI, "For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested.
Immediate revelation not always desirable
Here our Lord is justifying the parabolic form of teaching, which often serves to veil
the truth, on the ground that immediate revelation is not always desirable. Many
things are concealed, both in nature and by art, though the concealment is by no
means designed to be permanent. What striking illustrations of this principle are
furnished in geology! Look at the almost measureless beds of coal, hidden for ages in
the bowels of the earth, but designed by Providence to be revealed when necessity
should arise. The precise time for the unveiling it is not always easy to decide,
because man’s knowledge is finite, but we rest assured that it will coincide with the
need for its use. It is a principle worth bearing in mind when human efforts fail; for it
is encouraging to know that such a result may be due simply to the fact that we have
tried unconsciously to anticipate the fore-appointed time. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
Things brought to light sooner or later
The doctrine of Jesus Christ has nothing in it which fears the light; it is itself the light
which must enlighten the world. Everything is brought to light sooner or later. The
humble person conceals his virtue in this life, but God will disclose it at the day of
eternity. The hypocrite hides his wickedness here, but he shall suffer an eternal
confusion for it in the sight of heaven and earth. (Quesnel.)
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107. Secret sin comes out at the judgment
One day Thomas Edwards, the Scottish naturalist, went out on one of his expeditions
to search for insects. He had on, as usual on such occasions, an old coat with many
pockets, and each pocket held a goodly store of chip boxes wherein to place the
various specimens of the insect tribe which he might find. He had a most successful
day; met with many curious and rare insects, all of which he duly deposited each in
its own little box, And now he was returning home laden with the spoils, every box
and every pocket full, when suddenly he was overtaken by a tremendous storm. The
thunder roared, the lightning blazed around him, the rain came down in torrents,
like water from a bucket, and he was soon drenched and wet to the skin. Espying a
farmhouse at a short distance, he made for it, and begged leave to shelter himself
from the storm. To this the gudewife readily assented, made up a blazing fire, threw
on a log, and told him to draw near and dry himself, whilst she went on with her
household duties. Accordingly he did so, and soon his benumbed limbs began to feel
the pleasant warmth of the fire. Presently the housewife returned, uttered a loud cry
of horror and disgust, caught up a broomstick, and, deaf to all entreaties, drove him
forth again into the pitiless storm. He now looked at himself, and soon perceived the
cause of this strange treatment, for he was covered from head to foot with his beloved
insects, so abhorred by others. The soaking rain had loosed and destroyed the boxes,
and set their inhabitants at liberty, and they remained unseen in his pockets till the
warmth of the fire brought them out. So will it be in the day of judgment: men’s
darling sins will come forth to light, and cover the sinner with horror and confusion
as with a cloak. The fire of that day will bring them forth, and then the sinner will be
driven out by the Judge into the fierce tempest of God’s wrath.
23 If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”
GILL, "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. What is now delivered,
being very momentous and important; see Mat_11:15.
HENRY, "II. It concerns those who hear the word of the gospel, to mark what
they hear, and to make a good use of it, because their weal or woe depends upon it;
what he had said before he saith again, If any man have ears to hear, let him hear,
Mar_4:23. Let him give the gospel of Christ a fair hearing; but that is not enough, it
is added (Mar_4:24), Take heed what ye hear, and give a due regard to that which ye
do hear; Consider what ye hear, so Dr. Hammond reads it. Note, What we hear, doth
us no good, unless we consider it; those especially that are to teach others must
themselves be very observant of the things of God; must take notice of the message
they are to deliver, that they may be exact. We must likewise take heed what we
hear, by proving all things, that we may hold fast that which is good. We must be
cautious, and stand upon our guard, lest we be imposed upon. To enforce this
caution, consider,
1. As we deal with God, God will deal with us, so Dr. Hammond explains these
words, “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you. If ye be faithful
servants to him, he will be a faithful Master to you: with the upright he will show
himself upright.”
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108. JAMIESON, "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear — This for the
second time on the same subject (see on Mar_4:9).
BI 23-24, "Take heed what ye hear.
Instruction from the Lord to hearers
In these days we have many instructions as to preaching; but our Lord principally
gave directions as to hearing. The art of attention is quite as difficult as that of
homiletics. The text may be viewed as a note of discrimination. Hear the truth, and
the truth only. Be not indifferent as to your spiritual meat, but use discernment, We
shall use it as a note of arousing. When you do hear the truth, give it such attention
as it deserves. Give good heed to it.
I. Hear is a precept: “Take heed what ye hear.”
1. Hear with discrimination, shunning false doctrine (Joh_10:5).
2. Hear with attention; really and earnestly hearing (Mat_13:23).
3. Hear for yourself, with personal application (1Sa_3:9).
4. Hear retentively, endeavouring to remember the truth.
5. Hear desiringly, praying that the Word may be blessed to you.
6. Hear practically, obeying the exhortation which has come to you.
Note-this hearing is to be given, not to a favourite set of doctrines, but to the whole of
the Word of God (Psa_119:128).
II. Here is a proverb: “with what measure,” etc. In proportion as you give yourself to
hearing, you shall gain by hearing.
1. Those who have no interest in the Word find it uninteresting.
2. Those who desire to find fault, find faults enough.
3. Those who seek solid truth, learn it from any faithful ministry.
4. Those who hunger find food.
5. Those who bring faith, receive assurance.
6. Those who come joyfully are made glad.
But no man finds blessing by hearing error; nor by careless, forgetful, cavilling
hearing of the truth.
III. Here is a promise: “Unto you that hear,” etc. You that hear shall have-
1. More desire to hear.
2. More understanding of what ye hear.
3. More convincement of its truth.
4. More personal possession of the blessings of which you hear.
5. More delight in hearing.
6. More practical benefit from it. God gives more to those who value what they
have. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
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109. The gospel demands and deserves attention
I. Here is implied the authority of the speaker.
1. He had all the authority which is derived from knowledge. Religion was the
subject He came to teach. He knew the whole perfectly.
2. He had the authority which is derived from unimpeachable rectitude.
3. He had the authority flowing from “miracles, as wonders and signs.”
4. Consider His incalculable dominion. There is no place where His voice does
not reach.
5. Consider the dignity of His character-“Where the word of a king is there is
power.”
6. And does He not stand in relations the most intimate and affecting? Shall such
an authority be despised?
II. The importance of the subject. Jesus Christ is not afraid to awaken attention; He
knows that He can more than repay it. His instructions are important. But in order to
this, they must be true. How pleasing is truth. Whether we consider the gospel with
regard to man in his individual or social existence, it demands attention.
III. It is an appeal to impartial consideration. The demand supposes the subject to
be accessible. In heathenism there were many mysteries from a knowledge of which
the common people were excluded. Error needs disguise. Trash glories in exposure.
Be sure that it is the gospel you are conveying, and not any corruptions which have
blended with it. Nothing is more adverse to this demand than dissipation. Attention
is necessary. But it is of little use to apply a mind already biassed. Impatience
disqualifies us from religious investigation. So does pride. Examine the character
given by the sacred writers of God.
IV. He demands a practical improvement of his word.
1. The danger of delusion.
2. The precarious tenure of the privileges.
3. The happiness of those who receive the gospel in power.
4. These means unimproved will be found injurious. (W. Jay.)
Light by hearing
The increase of spiritual knowledge is dependent upon the temper in which we
approach the study of Christian truth. According to the measure of our faithfulness
and diligence as hearers and students we shall receive illumination.
1. There must be intellectual preparedness. This is often wanting in those who
listen to the teachings of Christianity.
(1) Sometimes the world and its cares fill the mind and prevent illumination
(Luk_12:13).
(2) Sometimes our intellectual tastes unfit us for the reception of spiritual
truth. This is an age of study and reading; but much of our reading unfits us
for the reception of Divine light. Thousands cannot get at the truth because of
the fiction, the heresy, the jest book, which is so constantly in their hand.
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110. Amid the “Vanity Fair” of the mind, with its leerings, jesters, and scorners,
the voice of love, truth, purity, cannot be heard. To “him that hath”
seriousness, sympathy, expectation, “it shall be given.”
2. There must be moral preparedness. Men fail to receive truth because of the
impurity of their hearts. (W. L. Watkinson.)
A worldly spirit hinders the saving power of the gospel
Preachers are often blamed because their discourse fails to impress, but the great
Preacher Himself failed to impress secularized minds! A lay preacher, some short
time ago, dreamed a dream, which was much more than a dream. He fancied himself
in the pulpit before a large congregation, and, opening the Bible to give out his text,
found, to his dismay, that it was not the Bible, but his ledger, that he had brought
with him in mistake; in confusion, he looked round, and seized what seemed the
genuine book, but it was his stock book; once more he found another book on the
desk, but on opening it, to his horror, found it was his cash book, and awoke to find it
was not altogether a dream. Is it not often true that we cannot get at the gospel, and
its saving truths, because of worldly thoughts and sympathies? The Hebrews are
rebuked because they “were dull of hearing;” and the apostle indicates that they had
become worldly in heart and practice, and so were the less able to comprehend and
receive the highest truth. (W. L. Watkinson.)
A spirit susceptible to saving truth
The grace and light of God come where there is a preparedness for them. In nature
the dew only distils where it is useful-the stones are dry, the plants are wet; and so
He, “who is as the dew unto Israel,” grants His truth and love to susceptible minds
and hearts-to those only which are ripe to profit. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The pure heart the hearing heart
There is an old church in Germany with which a singular legend is connected. In this
church, at certain times, a mighty treasure is said to become visible to mortal eyes.
Gold and silver vessels, of great magnificence and in great abundance, are disclosed;
but only he who is free from sin can hope to secure the precious vessels. This legend
shadows a great truth. In the temple of God, in the Word of God, are riches beyond
gem or gold; but only the sincere, the pure in purpose, can hope to realize the Divine
treasure. There must be in the truth seeker a moral susceptibility and passion for the
light. Someone has said that when he goes to church he “lies back and thinks of
nothing,” and this saying has been eulogized as representing the true attitude of a
hearer. It is not the true attitude. He who lies back and thinks of nothing would most
probably go to sleep if Jesus Christ were in the pulpit. Joh_7:16-17, teaches us that
he who is willing, desirous, anxious to do God’s will, shall know the doctrine that is
Divine. Whosoever “willeth to do the will of God, shall know the doctrine that it is of
God.” The bent of the will, the purity of the purpose, are the conditions of
illumination. To the determined lover of sin, to the indifferent, the truth is hidden
from their eyes.
Feel the vast obligation of hearing
It is a serious thing to preach. Robertson said that “he would rather lead a forlorn
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111. hope than mount the pulpit stairs.” Is it not a solemn thing to hear? Is not the pew as
terrible as the pulpit? The scientist tells us that no substance can be subjected to the
sun’s rays without undergoing an entire chemical change; and it is equally true that
no heart can be subjected to the action of the truth without undergoing a profound
moral change. It is, indeed, the “savour of life unto life, or of death unto death.”
Take heed what ye hear
Listen for the voice of God. In many places we are chiefly interested in the form and
expression of things, the subject is quite secondary. If we listen to a great orator, the
subject is comparatively immaterial; the voice, the elocution, the rhetoric, the
presentment of the subject is everything. So, in music, we are chiefly occupied with
the style, composition, execution, giving hardly a thought to the theme. So, in
painting, it is the drawing, colouring, grouping which monopolize attention. The
aesthetical form, sound, colour, engage attention in the music hall or chamber of
arts. But not thus should it be in the temple. There the subject is everything, modes
of presentment little indeed. Ceremonies, preachers, buildings, stay not with these;
listen for the undertone of God, and however dull your senses, however dull the
preacher, you shall hear that still small whisper which is the light and life of all who
hear it.
Take heed how ye hear
Upon the how depends the what. Listen for God’s voice in Christ; listen with
meekness, with sincerity of purpose, with practical designs to do as you gain in
knowledge, and you shall hear the voice which is full alike of majesty and mercy.
Light shall enter into your soul; that light shall ever brighten, until all the darkness is
gone, and we find ourselves in that land of which God Himself is sun and moon. (W.
L. Watkinson.)
Light by obeying
the increase of our spiritual light is dependent upon the measure of our practical
faithfulness. If we consider the world about us, we discover the importance of action
as a source of knowledge. Men do not expect a fulness of light before they proceed to
action; but, with a little knowledge, they apply themselves to action, and with action
light increases and problems are solved. And it is this testing and developing ideas by
action which distinguishes between the grand benefactors of our race, and the mere
dreamers of dreams of progress. Such men as Arkwright, Watt, Stephenson, applied
their knowledge; ever verified, corrected, developed it by actual experiment and use,
and so became light centres to their own and after generations. Action kept pace with
speculation in these great discoverers, and so they pushed out the borders of science,
and enriched society with a thousand blessings; whilst men of large speculation and
little or no action pass away, their splendid dreamings being as barren as splendid.
The world of knowledge has become wider, clearer, richer beyond all precedent, in
these modern times, because men have learned that knowledge must be applied if it
is to be increased. And this is the order in the moral universe. The Scriptures
associate knowledge with action (Col_1:9-10; Psa_34:8; Pro_1:7; Joh_7:17). The
examples of Scripture are to the same effect. Men acted on the little light they had
and received more (Act_18:24-28). Observe:
1. It is only through obedience that we get knowledge. It is only in obedience that
light passes into knowledge; otherwise our light is opinion, imagination,
speculation, sentiment. In action-perception, contemplation, speculation-become
that real, solid, influential treasure we call knowledge. Anyone can easily realize
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112. the truth of this who passes from the circle of speculative and controversial
writers to listen to the confessions of the members of the Christian Church. In the
merely literary world what universal uncertainty! Philosophers and speculative
theologians are as men “who beat the air.” It is cloudland, and any breath of wind
changes the entire aspect of the misty imagery; there is no fixity, no solidity, no
assurance. Listen to the sincere, earnest, practical members of the Church, and
they speak that which “they do know.” There is a definitiveness, depth, certainty,
and power in their convictions. “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” etc. “I know in
whom I have believed, and am persuaded,” etc. “One thing I know, that whereas I
was blind, now I see.” “We know that if this earthly house of our tabernacle were
dissolved,” etc. This depth, and fulness, and blessedness of persuasion can only
be realized through obedience. Do, and you shall know.
2. It is only through obedience that we retain knowledge. Not to act out what we
know is to lose it, as men forget a language they cease to speak. The Apostle
recognizes this: “Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered (to
be comprehended), seeing ye are (have become) dull of hearing.” They were
deficient in quickness of spiritual apprehension, and lost their hold upon high
spiritual truth, and this was the result of their backsliding life. We hold the light
on the condition of using it; and neglecting to use it, the “light within us becomes
darkness,” and of all darkness that darkness is the most intense and hopeless.
3. It is only through obedience that we increase spiritual knowledge. The dawn of
truth will pass to the noon, only whilst we do the work God gives us to do. Do you
wish to comprehend more clearly the love of God in dying for men? You will not
gain the light you covet by merely studying the various theories of the Atonement.
Believe in God’s love as declared in the cross; imitate the principle in your own
life, and you “shall comprehend with all saints the length, and breadth, and
depth, and height, and know the love of God which passeth knowledge.” Do you
wish for more light on the question of the Divine element in the Scriptures?
Commune with their doctrines in your heart, act out their precepts, and you shall
find what you seek better than by reading a thousand philosophical treatises on
inspiration. Do you wish to understand more fully the essential nature of
morality? Be moral. Be truthful, honest, just, pure, and your practical goodness
will shed most light on the true theory of virtue. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Light by Evangelizing
Some of the old philosophers taught that from the earth continually ascended
invisible exhalations, and these vapours, they affirmed, fed the sun and stars, and
kept them ever bright and burning. According to this theory, what the earth gave to
the sky, the sky gave back again to the earth in light and beauty. Wrong in science,
but a beautiful parable of the law of life-what we give to the world around us comes
back to our own bosom again in sevenfold brightness and preciousness. To this law
Christ refers in the text: “Give, and it shall be given unto you again.” According to
your bounty in communicating light shall be the measure of light shed on your own
path. Teach, instruct, give forth illumination, and as you do so your own brain shall
be the clearer, your own knowledge the more full and certain. Light comes through
evangelistic work. Evangelistic work is necessary-
I. To the preservation of the truth. If we do not communicate the light we lose it. If
we seek to keep the truth to ourselves we lose our perception of it, our hold upon it-
our candle goes out in the confined air. Thus Moses to Israel: “Only take heed to
thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have
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113. seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but teach them thy
sons, and thy son’s sons” (Deu_4:9). If you are not to forget-if you are not to lose the
truth-you must teach it. Truth unspoken “spoils, like bales unopened to the sun.” To
seek light in intellectual pursuits to the neglect of evangelistic work is to commit a
vital error. The Church needs thinkers and scholars, but it needs, with a more
imperative necessity, preachers, teachers, visitors, missionaries, otherwise the
intellectualists would soon ruin it. A merely speculative, literary, philosophizing
Church would soon lose the truth as it is in Jesus, and substitute the unsubstantial
and fantastic shapes of dreamland. If a Church thinks and works, it shall be well with
it; its actions shall correct and chasten its thinking, and thus it shall be saved from
rationalism on the one side, and mysticism on the other. Unduly exalt intellectual
work, and the Church is forthwith afflicted with all kinds of theological vagaries; give
the first and largest place to the practical work of saving the souls of men in the field
of the world, and the pure gospel shall be conserved, a light and a salvation. We only
keep the light whilst we spread it, and this is true alike of Churches and of
individuals. Evangelistic work is necessary-
II. To the realization of the truth. In active service the truth is defined and realized.
Earnestly striving to save the souls of men, the haziness of mere opinion passes into
well-defined and strongly-held knowledge and conviction. Some scientific men say
that the sun is a dark body, and that it is only when its dark radiations touch our
atmosphere that it realizes itself-only then that it flashes out a globe of glory, only
then that its beams become luminous and vital. So it is when the thinker leaves his
solitude and speculation, and comes into contact with society, seeking to profit and
bless, that his knowledge realizes itself, that it becomes defined, and bright, and vital.
A working Church knows, as no merely literary Church can know. A working
Christian knows as no mere idealist can know. The “full assurance” for which we cry,
comes through the constant application of gospel truth to the world’s wants and
woes, through constantly beholding the practical triumphs of the gospel in the
hearts, lives, and homes of the people. Livingstone having recorded in his diary how
vividly and powerfully he had recognized some commonplace truth, the editor of his
“Last Journals” justly observes: “Men, in the midst of their hard earnest toil, perceive
great truths with a sharpness of outline and a depth of conviction which is denied to
the mere idle theorist.” Evangelistic work is necessary-
III. To the development of the truth. Working for God in the salvation of men, we
shall see the truth more clearly, and further discoveries of it shall be granted. Luther,
speaking of the truth, declared that he would not “have the eagle put in a sack.” And
ever since he gave freedom to the truth, and insisted on its being freely and fully
enforced the world over, the “Eagle” has spread a more majestic wing, its golden
feathers have shone with a rarer glory, and its eye has kindled into a sublimer fire.
The truth spoken, enforced, has grown. More light has shone from God’s holy Word.
If we wish to know more we must teach more, work more. The men who gave us the
Epistles were not students, but workers and preachers, and light came from their
work as the wheel kindles as it turns. Our missionaries teach the same lesson. What
light they have poured on many great and obscure questions! The missionaries
diffusing the light, working to compass the salvation of men, have poured far more
light on a score dark problems than they could possibly have done had they remained
to ponder in studies and cloisters. Teaching the pagan, we have in turn been taught.
The light we communicated to them comes back to us as from a polished reflector.
“We are debtors both to the wise and the unwise, to the Greek and to the barbarian.”
There are abounding proofs that love to others, leading us to instruct and serve them,
is a precious but much neglected source of illumination. A heart full of pure and
practical charity is the east window in the temple of human life, whilst dim and
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114. uncertain is the light which filters through a cold and selfish brain. You will not find
truth through thinking for thinking’s sake; nay, you will not find truth through
seeking for it directly. Truth, like happiness, is “found of them that seek it not”
directly and selfishly, but who find it, when scarcely thinking of it, in the paths of
charity and duty. Stirred by a glorious discontent we seek to know more, and ever
more. Plants turn toward the light, and stretch their branches to reach it; the
migration of birds, naturalists tell us, is the result of an intense longing for the light.
And so the same instinct, in its highest manifestation, works in man, and he yearns
towards the “Day spring.” Hear, with a true heart; do, with a sincere and loyal heart;
give, with a loving heart as you have freely received; and the “light of the moon shall
be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven fold, as the light of
seven days.” (W. L. Watkinson.)
Hearing but not heeding
What care I to see a man run after a sermon, if he cozens and cheats as soon as he
comes home? (John Selden.)
Heart-memory needed
A heart memory is better than a head memory. It were better to carry away a little of
the life of God in our souls, than if we were able to repeat every word of every sermon
we ever heard. (De Sales.)
Attention given more to worldly than spiritual things
Alas, the place of hearing is the place of sleeping with many a fine professor! I have
often observed that those who keep shops can briskly attend upon a two penny
customer, but when they come themselves to God’s market, they spend their time too
much in letting their thoughts wander from God’s commandments, or in a nasty,
drowsy way. The head, also, and heart of most hearers are to the Word as the sieve is
to water; they can hold no sermons, remember no texts, bring home no proof,
produce none of the sermon to the edification and profit of others. (John Bunyan.)
Eclectic hearers
Some can be content to hear all pleasant things, as the promises and mercies of God,
but judgments and reproofs, threats and checks, these they cannot brook; like unto
those who, in medicine, care only for a pleasant smell or appearance in the remedy,
as pills rolled in gold, but have no regard for the efficacy of the physic. Some can
willingly hear that which concerns other men and their sins, their lives and manners,
but nothing touching themselves or their own sins; as men can willingly abide to hear
of other men’s deaths, but cannot abide to think of their own. (R. Stock.)
Whom to hear
Ebenezer Blackwell was a rich hanker, a zealous Methodist, and a great friend of the
Wesleys. “Are you going to hear Mr. Wesley preach?” he was asked one day. “No,” he
replied, “I am going to hear God; I listen to Him, whoever preaches; otherwise I lose
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115. all my labour.”
Take heed what ye hear
I. Faith cometh by hearing. This means-
1. Faith comes from knowledge, i.e., there can be no faith without knowledge.
“How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?”
2. It means that the living preacher, as opposed to mere instruction out of books,
is the great means of producing faith. This does not mean
(1) That God does not employ His written Word, etc;
(2) Nor that the proclamation of the gospel is the only method of making the
gospel heard, and thus of producing faith.
3. It means that the instruction by the ear, as coming from a living preacher, is
the ordinary method of salvation. Proof from Scripture and experience.
II. Why is hearing or the living preacher necessary? Why may not books and Bibles
answer for the conversion of men?
1. The sufficient answer to the question is the Divine appointment.
2. Because from the constitution of our nature, what is addressed to the ear has
more power in arousing attention, in producing conviction, and exciting feeling,
than what is addressed to the eye.
3. There is a law of propagation of Divine life analogous to the propagation of
vegetable and animal life. So in the Church it is the general law that the spiritual
life is communicated through and by living members of the Church.
III. Two inferences flow from this truth.
1. That we should hear for ourselves, and cause others to hear, the gospel, not
being content in either case with books, to the neglect of the living teacher.
2. That we should be careful what we hear and how we hear.
(1) The object of hearing, viz., salvation, spiritual edification must be kept in
view, and be our governing motive, not pleasure, not criticism.
(2) The mind must be prepared for the reception of the truth. The Scripture
tells us how (1Pe_2:1; Jas_1:21). This with prayer includes our duty as to
hearing. With this will be connected laying the truth up in our hearts, and
practising it in our lives. (C. Hodge, D. D.)
24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he
continued. “With the measure you use, it will be
measured to you—and even more.
BARNES, "Take heed what ye hear - Or, consider well what you hear. Make a
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116. good improvement of it.
With what measure ye mete ... - You shall be treated according to the use you
make of your opportunities of learning. If you consider it well, and make a good
improvement of what you hear, you shall be well rewarded. If not, your reward shall
be small. This is a proverbial expression. See it explained in the notes at Mat_7:1-2.
Mete - Measure. With what measure ye measure.
Unto you that hear - To you who are “attentive,” and who improve what you
hear.
CLARKE, "And unto you that hear shall more be given - This clause is
wanting in DG, Coptic, and four copies of the Itala; and in others, where it is extant,
it is variously written. Griesbach has left it out of the text, and supposes it to be a
gloss, Whosoever hath, to him shall be given.
GILL, "And he said unto them,.... At the same time, though he had said what
follows at another time, still continuing his discourse with his disciples:
take heed what you hear: diligently attend to it, seek to understand it, and lay it
up in your minds and memories, that it may be of use to you in time to come, and you
may be useful in communicating it to others:
with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you; a common
proverb among the Jews, used on various occasions, and to different purposes; See
Gill on Mat_7:2. Here it seems to intimate, that if the disciples carefully hearkened to
what they heard from Christ, and studiously laboured to understand it, and faithfully
dispensed it to others, in return, a larger measure, and greater degree of spiritual
knowledge, would be bestowed upon them: for it follows, and
unto you that hear, shall more be given; that is, that hear so as to understand,
keep, and make a good use of what they hear, more shall be communicated to them;
they shall have an increase of knowledge in the doctrines of grace, and mysteries of
the Gospel.
JAMIESON, "And he saith unto them, Take heed what ye hear — In Luke
(Luk_8:18) it is, “Take heed how ye hear.” The one implies the other, but both
precepts are very weighty.
with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you — See on Mat_
7:2.
and unto you that hear — that is, thankfully, teachably, profitably.
shall more be given.
PULPIT, "Take heed what ye hear. Attend, that is, to these words which ye hear
from me, that ye may understand them, and commit them to memory, and so be
able to communicate them effectually to others. Let none of my words escape
you. Our Lord bids us to pay the greatest attention to his words, and so to digest
them that we may be able to teach them to others. With what measure ye mete it
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117. shall be measured unto you: and more shall be given unto you. Our Lord's
meaning is clearly this: If you freely and plentifully communicate and preach my
doctrine to others, you shall receive a corresponding reward. Nay, you shall have
a return in far more abundant measure. For thus the fountains, the more water
they pour out below, so much the more do they receive from above. Here, then, is
great encouragement to all faithful teachers of the Word, of whatever kind; that
by how much they give to others in teaching them, by so much the more shall
they receive of wisdom and grace from Christ; according to those words of the
apostle, "He that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully" (2 Corinthians
9:6).
BARCLAY, "THE BALANCE OF LIFE (Mark 4:24)
4:24 This was another of Jesus' sayings: "Pay attention to what you hear! What
you get depends on what you give. What you give you will get back, only more
so."
In life there is always a balance. A man's getting will be determined by his
giving.
(i) This is true of study. The more study a man is prepared to give to any subject,
the more he will get from it. The ancient nation of the Parthians would never
give their young men a meal until they had broken sweat. They had to work
before they ate. All subjects of study are like that. They give pleasure and
satisfaction in proportion to the effort that we are prepared to spend upon them.
It is specially so in regard to the study of the Bible. We may sometimes feel that
there are certain parts of the Bible with which we are out of sympathy; if we
study these parts they will often be the very parts which end by giving us the
richest harvest. A superficial study of a subject will often leave us quite
uninterested whereas a really intensive study will leave us thrilled and
fascinated.
(ii) It is true of worship. The more we bring to the worship of God's house the
more we will get from it. When we come to worship in the house of God, there
are three wrong ways in which we may come.
(a) We may come entirely to get. If we come in such a way the likelihood is that
we will criticize the organist and the choir and find fault with the minister's
preaching. We will regard the whole service as a performance laid on for our
special entertainment. We must come prepared to give; we must remember that
worship is a corporate act, and that each of us can contribute something to it. If
we ask, not, "What can I get out of this service?" but, "What can I contribute to
this service?" we will in the end get far more out of it than if we simply came to
take.
(b) We may come without expectation. Our coming may be the result of habit
and routine. It may be simply part of the time-table into which we have divided
the week. But, after all, we should be coming to meet God, and when we meet
him anything may happen.
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118. (c) We may come without preparation. It is so easy to leave for the worship of
God's house with no preparation of mind or heart at all because often it is a rush
to get there at all. But it would make all the difference in the world, if, before we
came, we were for a moment or two still and quiet and companied with God in
prayer. As the Jewish Rabbis told their disciples: "They pray best together who
first pray alone."
(iii) It is true of personal relationships. One of the great facts of life is that we see
our reflection in other people. If we are cross and irritable and bad-tempered, we
will probably find other people equally unpleasant. If we are critical and fault-
finding, the chances are that we will find other people the same. If we are
suspicious and distrustful, the likelihood is that others will be so to us. If we wish
others to love us, we must first love them. The man who would have friends must
show himself friendly. It was because Jesus believed in men that men believed in
him.
25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever
does not have, even what they have will be taken
from them.”
BARNES, "For he that hath ... - See the notes at Mat_13:12. The meaning here
seems to be, he that diligently attends to my words shall increase more and more in
the knowledge of the truth; but he that neglects them and is inattentive shall become
more ignorant; the few things which he had learned he will forget, and his trifling
knowledge will be diminished.
Hath not - Does not improve what he possessed, or does not make proper use of
his means of learning.
That which he hath - That which he had already learned. By this we are taught
the indispensable necessity of giving attention to the means of instruction. The
attention must be “continued.” It is not sufficient that we have learned some things,
or appear to have learned much. All will be in vain unless we go forward, and
improve every opportunity of learning the will of God and the way of salvation. So
what children are taught will be of little use unless they follow it up and endeavor to
improve themselves.
GILL, "For he that hath, to him shall be given,.... He that has Gospel light and
knowledge, and makes a proper use of it, he shall have more; his path shall be as the
path of the just, which shines more and more to the perfect day; the means of grace
and knowledge shall be blessed, to him, he attending constantly thereon, that he shall
arrive to such a knowledge of the Son of God as to be a perfect man in comparison of
others, who are in a lower class; and shall come to the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ, shall grow up to maturity, and be a man in understanding: and he
that has the truth of grace, though its beginning is but small, yet that making and
keeping him humble, as it always does, he shall have more grace, or that he has shall
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119. open and enlarge in its actings and exercises; his faith shall grow exceedingly, he
shall abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost; and his love to God, and
Christ, and to the saints, shall be greater and greater; and he shall increase in
humility, patience, self-denial, &c. and so he that has gifts for public usefulness, and
does not neglect them, but stirs them up for the profit of others, he shall have an
increase of them; he shall shine as a star in Christ's right hand, and appear brighter
and brighter in the firmament of the church:
and he that hath not, from him shall be taken, even that which he hath; or
seemed to have, or thought he had, Luk_8:18, a saying often used by Christ, both
with respect to the ignorant Jews, and professing Christians, and even, as here, to the
disciples themselves, respect perhaps being had to Judas. He that has only a
speculative notion of the Gospel, and is without any experience and practice of it, in
course of time his candle is put out; his light becomes darkness; he drops and denies
the truths he held, and relinquishes the profession of them: and he that has only
counterfeit grace, a feigned faith, a false hope, and a dissembled love, in due time
these will be discovered, and the name of them, and the character he bore, on
account of them, will be taken from him: for true grace is never taken away, nor lost;
it is a solid, permanent thing, and is inseparable to everlasting glory and happiness:
but bare notions of the Gospel, and a mere show of grace, are unstable and transient
things; as also are the greatest gifts without the grace of God. Judas had doubtless all
the appearance of a true Christian; he had the Gospel committed to him, and the
knowledge of it, and gifts qualifying him to preach it, and a commission from Christ
for it, yea, even a power of working miracles to confirm what he preached; and yet
not having true grace, all was taken away from him, and were of no use unto him in
the business of salvation: and so sometimes it is, that even in this life the idle and
worthless shepherd has his right arm clean dried up, and his right eye utterly
darkened; his ministerial light and abilities are taken away from him; these being
either not used at all by him, or used to bad purposes; see Mat_12:12.
HENRY, "2. As we improve the talents we are entrusted with, we shall increase
them; if we make use of the knowledge we have, for the glory of God and the benefit
of others, it shall sensibly grow, as stock in trade doth by being turned; Unto you that
hear, shall more be given; to you that have, it shall be given, Mar_4:25. If the
disciples deliver that to the church, which they have received of the Lord, they shall
be led more into the secret of the Lord. Gifts and graces multiply by being exercised;
and God has promised to bless the hand of the diligent.
3. If we do not use, we lose, what we have; From him that hath not, that doeth no
good with what he hath, and so hath it in vain, is as if he had it not, shall be taken
even that which he hath. Burying a talent is the betraying of a trust, and amounts to a
forfeiture; and gifts and graces rust for want of wearing.
JAMIESON, "For he that hath, to him shall be given; and he that hath
not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath — or “seemeth to
have,” or “thinketh he hath.” (See on Mat_13:12). This “having” and “thinking he
hath” are not different; for when it hangs loosely upon him, and is not appropriated
to its proper ends and uses, it both is and is not his.
BARCLAY, "THE LAW OF INCREASE (Mark 4:25)
4:25 To him who already has still more will be given: and from him who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.
119

120. This may seem a hard saying; but the whole lesson of life is that it is inevitably
and profoundly true.
(i) It is true of knowledge. The more a man knows the more he is capable of
knowing. A man cannot enter into the riches of Greek literature before he has
ploughed his way through Greek grammar. When he has the basic grammar still
more will be given to him. A man cannot really get the best out of music until he
learns something of the structure of a symphony. But when he possesses that
knowledge still more and more loveliness will be given to him. It is equally true
that unless a man is consistently bent on the task of increasing his knowledge
such knowledge as he has will in the end be taken away from him. Many a man
in his youth had a working knowledge of French at school and has now forgotten
even the little that he knew because he made no attempt to develop it.
The more knowledge a man has the more he can acquire. And, if he is not always
out to increase it, such knowledge as he has will soon slip from his grasp. The
Jewish teachers had an oddly expressive saying. They said that the scholar
should be treated like a young heifer--because every day a little heavier burden
should be laid upon him. In knowledge we cannot stand still; we are gaining or
losing it all the time.
(ii) It is true of effort. The more physical strength a man has, the more, within
the limits of his body frame, he can acquire. The more he trains his body, the
more his body will be able to do. On the other hand, if he allows his physical
frame to grow slack and flabby and soft he will end by losing even the fitness
that he had. We would sometimes do well to remember that our bodies belong to
God as much as our souls. Many a man has been hindered from doing the work
he might do because he has made himself physically unfit to do it.
(iii) It is so with any skill or craft. The more a man develops the skill of his hand,
or eye, or mind, the more he is able to develop it. If he is content to drift along,
never trying anything new, never adopting any new technique, he remains stuck
in the one job with no progress. If he neglects his particular skill he will find in
the end that he has lost it altogether.
(iv) It is so with the ability to bear responsibility. The more responsibility a man
shoulders the more he can shoulder; the more decisions he compels himself to
take the better he is able to take them. But if a man shirks his responsibilities, if
he evades his decisions and vacillates all the time, in the end he will become a
flabby, spineless creature totally unfitted for responsibility and totally unable to
come to any decision at all. Again and again in his parables Jesus goes on the
assumption that the reward of good work is still more work to do. It is one of the
essential laws of life, a law which a man forgets at his peril, that the more he has
won the more he can win, and that, if he will not make the effort, he will lose
even that which once he had won.
BI, "For he that hath, to him shall be given.
The law of increase
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121. The good use of knowledge and grace draws down more: the ill use leads to blindness
and hardness of heart. The one is an effect of grace itself; the other, an effect of a
depraved will. A faithful soul has a great treasure. The riches which it heaps up have
scarce any bounds, because it puts none to its fidelity. A base and slothful soul grows
poorer every day, until it is stripped of all. Who can tell the prodigious stock which is
acquired by an evangelical labourer, a zealous missionary, who crosses the seas on
purpose to seek souls whom he may convert, and is intent on nothing but the
salvation of sinners! The greater his grace is, the more it increases by labour. O how
happy and holy is this usury of a faithful soul! (Quesnel.)
“Having” helps the “getting”
Having one language helps the gaining of another. Having mathematics helps the
getting of science. Capital tends to gather more wealth. “Nothing succeeds like
success.” One victory leads the way to another. The knowledge of one truth ever
opens the mind for perception of another. Grace to do one good act opens the heart
to admit grace to do another. If but a beginning is made, it is an immense assistance
to attainment. If converted, do not undervalue the infinite importance of the
beginning thus made. But remember, at the same time, that none can keep grace
except on the condition that he employs it. Whatever knowledge of truth, whatever
feeling, whatever power of obedience you possess, you will lose unless you employ it.
(R. Glover.)
The duty of faithfully hearing the Word of God
What ye hear heed. Not without purpose our Lord spoke of hearing. All success on
the part of the teacher depends upon attention on the part of the hearer. Though
Noah, Moses, Paul, or even Jesus speak, no benefit to careless hearer. Whoso has a
great truth to impart has a right to claim a hearing-how much more He who is the
Truth. Consider-
I. The especial evils against which men must guard in hearing the Word are three:-
1. Losing the Word before faith has made it fruitful (Luk_8:11). The peril is, it
may be lost before it is fruitful. It may be taken out of the heart.
2. A merely temporary faith.
3. Fruitlessness of Word through cares, deceit of riches, lust of other things
(Mar_4:18-19; Luk_8:14).
II. The reward of faithful hearing (Mar_4:20-25; Luk_8:15). The lot of the seed
describes the lot of him who receives it. “Let him that hath”-as the fruit of his using-
this his own increase; “shall more be given”-this the Lord’s increase (cf. parable of
talents). Every attainment of truth a condition of meetness to gain other and deeper
truth. So in all study and acquisition. Truth grows to its perfection in the “good”
“honest.”
III. Condemnation of him who heareth not to profit. “Him that hath not”-hath
nothing more than was first given to him. From him shall even that be taken. Anyone
can “have” what is given; only the diligent have more.
1. The condemnation assumes the form of a removal of truth (Mat_13:13-15). It is
naturally forgotten by him who does not use his understanding upon it.
Disregarded truth (and duty) becomes disliked truth.
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122. 2. In carelessness he puts it away from him. His measure is small; he metes it to
himself. The eye not trained to see beauties and harmonies of form fails to see
them: so the ear music, and the hand skilfulness.
3. To hear is a duty; to neglect duty brings God’s condemnation.
4. He who does not receive the kingdom of heaven is ipso facto in the kingdom of
evil. Continued departures from truth and duty leave the man farther from God,
truth, heaven.
5. All truth is in parables. History the parable of Providence. Ordinances the
parables of grace. The attentive see not only the parable, but the “things” also; the
inattentive see only the parable, not the things (Joh_10:6).
6. Even Christ and His work and His gospel may be mere parables, outward
things. Men seeing see not, their hearts being gross, their ears dull of hearing,
and their eyes closed.
We see-
1. The terrible and to be dreaded consequence of not heeding the Word: it
becomes a parable, a dark saying, a riddle.
2. But the mercifulness of Him who would hide truth in a beautiful parable, to
tempt if possible the careless to inquire, that they may be saved. (Studies.)
The law and the gospel
The tendency of gifts, powers, possessions to accumulate in some hands and dwindle
in others is a common fact of observation. And it often appears, too, that when
accumulation begins it goes on by a momentum of its own; that the farther it goes the
faster it goes; and on the other hand that losses follow the same law; disaster breeds
disaster, and misfortune multiplies by a geometrical law.
I. We see the workings of this law in the conditions of our physical lives. Health and
vigour have a tendency to increase. The food we eat builds up the body; active
exercise confirms its strength; the cold increases its power of endurance; the summer
heat nourishes its vitality. Nature brings constant revenues to the healthy man; all
things work together for his good. On the other hand disease and physical feebleness
have a tendency to increase. The food that ought to nourish the system irritates and
oppresses it; exertion brings to the body fatigue and enervation; cold benumbs it;
heat debilitates it; nature seems to be the foe of feebleness; all things work together
to prevent the recovery of health when once it is lost; often it is only by the greatest
vigilance and patience that it can be regained.
II. The law that we are considering is fulfilled in the facts of the social order. The
man who has station or influence or wealth or reputation finds the current flowing in
his favour; the man who has none of these things soon learns that he must stem the
current. Popularity always follows this law. It is often remarkable how small a saying
will awaken the enthusiasm of the crowd when spoken by a man who is a recognized
favourite: and how many great and wise utterances fail of producing any effect
whatever when he who speaks them is comparatively unknown. It is almost
impossible for one who has gained the reputation of being a wit to say anything at
which his auditory will not laugh. His most sober and commonplace speeches will
often be greeted as great witticisms. On the other hand the purest wit and the
choicest humour, if it happen to fall from the lips of a plain, matter-of-fact
individual, will often be received with funereal gravity by all who hear it. Men are apt
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123. to bestow their help as well as their applause most freely on those who need it least.
Those who have gifts to bestow often give them to those who do not want them,
passing by those who are suffering for the lack of them. “The destruction of the
poor,” the wise man says, “is his poverty.” Because he is poor he cannot get the
credit, the privilege, the favour that he could get if he were rich. The narrowness of
his resources cramps him. The church that has the rich people is likely to attract the
rich people; the weak churches are often left to their own destruction, while those
that are strong financially are strengthened by constant accessions. What is this law
that we are studying? It is nothing else than what some philosophers call the law of
natural selection-the law of the survival of the fittest; that is, in most cases, the
strongest. When a tree is cut down in the forest a number of sprouts frequently
spring up from the stump, and these grow together for a while until they begin to
crowd one another. There is not room for a dozen trees on the ground where one tree
stood; there is only room for one. But it is generally the case that one of these shoots
growing from the root of the old tree is a little larger than the rest, and this one
gradually overshadows the rest, takes from the air and the light more nourishment
than they can get-takes that which belongs to them, so that they dwindle and die
beneath its shadow while its roots reach out for a firmer footing in the soil and its
branches stretch forth with loftier pride and ampler shade. Nature selects the
strongest shoot for preservation, and destroys the others that it may live. We know
that man adopts this method of selection in all his agricultural operations; in the
cornfield and in the fruit nursery it is the likeliest growths that are chosen and
cultivated; the others are weeded out to make room for them. But some of you are
asking, “Is this law of natural selection God’s law?” To this question there is but one
answer. If the law of natural selection is the law of nature, then it is God’s law. This
law of natural selection is a natural law, and not a moral law. We speak of it as a law
in the sense in which we speak of the law of heredity, or the law of gravitation, or the
law of supply and demand. This law is announced by Christ but it is not enjoined by
Him. “This,” He says, “is the way things are: this is the course things uniformly take.”
This law of natural selection is a law of nature, ordained by God. It is the law under
which rewards and penalties are administered; it is a retributive law, for the
sanctions of the moral law are found in the natural order. But some of you are
protesting that this cannot be true. “How is it,” you ask, “that the natural law of the
survival of the strongest tends to the rewarding of the good or the punishing of the
bad? By this law it is the strong, rather than the good that are rewarded. It is to those
that have, rather than to those that deserve, that abundance is given.” True; but this
is only an illustration of the fact that a dispensation of law always works hardship.
Law makes nothing perfect; it hurts some that need help and it helps some that do
not deserve it. Law must be uniform and inflexible; it cannot adapt itself to differing
conditions and abilities. Gravitation is a good law, but it kills thousands of innocent
people every year. Yet it would not do to have it less uniform and inflexible than it is.
The universe is built on the basis of universal righteousness and health: its laws are
all adapted to that condition of things, and they ought to be. If all men were good and
wise and strong, then this law would only tend to increase the virtue and the wisdom
and the vigour of all men. It would be seen, then, that this is a good law. But sin has
entered to enfeeble and deprave many, and the result is that the law which ought to
be a savour of life unto life to them becomes a savour of death unto death. The same
forces that ought to build them up tend to destroy them. So it often is that when the
law enters offences abound, and hardships are suffered; under its severe and
inflexible rule more is given to those who have abundance already, while those who
have but little are stripped of what they have. Thus we see that the natural law, which
is the instrument of retribution, inflicts suffering and loss not only upon the sinful,
but upon the weak, the unfortunate, the helpless; upon those who have fallen behind
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124. in the race of life. That is the way the law works. But remember also that there is
something better and diviner then law in the tidings that He has brought us. What
the law could not do He came to do. It was for the deliverance and the relief of those
who are being pushed to the wall by the operation of these retributive forces that He
came. His life proves this. He did not fall into that social order that we have seen
prevailing. He did not bestow His praise upon the famous, nor His friendship on the
popular, nor His benefactions on the rich. His words of applause greeted the saints
who in obscurity tried to live virtuously; He was the Friend of publicans and sinners;
He was the constant helper of the poor. It was not to those who had abundance that
He gave, but to those who had nothing. “They that be whole,” He says, “need not a
physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance.” Nature is against them; their own natures are infirm and corrupt; their
appetites entice them; their selfish desires mislead them; but He assures them that
by faith in Him they may be made partakers of the Divine nature, and thus be
reinforced and invigorated for conflict with the evil. And, mark you, in doing all this
He does not destroy but fulfils the law. And what Christ does is to give the real good
of life, the moral strength and soundness which are the source of all life’s real good,
to those who have nothing-who are so reduced in moral vigour that they are
practically destitute; to restore to them that which they have lost, so that they shall
have; and then this law is a minister of good to them as God meant it to be to all.
Here is a vine that has fallen from its trellis, and that is being choked by the weeds
that have overgrown it, as it lies prostrate on the earth. The law of nature, the law of
vegetable growth, is only operating to destroy it so long as it remains in this
condition; for the sun and the showers nourish the weeds, and they overshadow the
vine more and more, preventing its growth, and drawing away the strength from the
soil. But the gardener lifts up the vine and fastens it to the trellis, and pulls up the
weeds that are stealing its nutriment, and than the laws of nature promote the
growth of the vine; the same laws under which its life was being destroyed now
configure its life and increase its growth. Some such service as this Christ renders to
all those who are morally weak and helpless; by the communication to them of His
own life He lifts them out of their helplessness into a condition in which all things
that were working together against them shall work together for their good. It will be
well for us all to remember that if we are Christians, we are co-workers with Christ,
and that our business, therefore, is not to add force to the law whose severities bear
so heavily upon many of our fellow men, but to counteract the severities of the law by
ministries of sympathy and tenderness and help. (W. Gladden.)
Addition easy
And it is always easier to get the addition than it was to get the unit. When the
current is fairly turned in our direction, the stream keeps running. It has been said
that it is harder for a man to get his first thousand dollars, than any subsequent
thousand. The more wealth a man has, the easier it is for him to increase it. So of
knowledge; so of influence; so of affection. So also of spiritual gifts.
The Parable of the Growing Seed
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125. 26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of
God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.
BARNES, "So is the kingdom of God - The gospel, or religion in the soul, may
be compared to this. See the notes at Mat_3:2. This parable is recorded only by
Mark.
CLARKE, "So is the kingdom of God - This parable is mentioned only by
Mark, a proof that Mark did not abridge Matthew. Whitby supposes it to refer to the
good ground spoken of before, and paraphrases is thus: - “What I have said of the
seed sown upon good ground, may be illustrated by this parable. The doctrine of the
kingdom, received in a good and honest heart, is like seed sown by a man in his
ground, properly prepared to receive it; for when he hath sown it, he sleeps and
wakes day after day, and, looking on it, he sees it spring and grow up through the
virtue of the earth in which it is sown, though he knows not how it doth so; and when
he finds it ripe, he reaps it, and so receives the benefit of the sown seed. So is it here:
the seed sown in the good and honest heart brings forth fruit with patience; and this
fruit daily increaseth, though we know not how the Word and Spirit work that
increase; and then Christ the husbandman, at the time of the harvest, gathers in this
good seed into the kingdom of heaven.” I see no necessity of inquiring how Christ
may be said to sleep and rise night and day; Christ being like to this husbandman
only in sowing and reaping the seed.
GILL, "And he said,.... He went on saying the following parable, which was
delivered at the same time that the parable of the sower was, though omitted by
Matthew; and is here placed between that, and the other concerning the grain of
mustard seed; which shows the time when it was spoken. The design of it is to set
forth the nature of the word, and the ministration of it; the conduct of the ministers
of the Gospel, when they have dispensed it; the imperceptibleness of its springing
and growth; the fruitfulness of it, when it has taken root, without the help of man;
the gradual increase of grace under the instrumentality of the word; and the
gathering of gracious souls, when grace is brought to maturity:
so is the kingdom of God; such is the nature of the Gospel dispensation; and such
are the things that are done in it, as may fitly be represented by the following;
as if a man should cast seed into the ground: by "the man", is not meant
Christ, for he sleeps not; and besides, he knows how the seed springs and grows; but
any Gospel minister, who is sent forth by Christ, bearing precious seed: and by seed
is intended, not gracious persons, the children of the kingdom, as in the parable of
the tares; nor the grace of God in them, though that is an incorruptible and an
abiding seed; but the word of God, or Gospel of Christ, so called for its smallness, the
diminutive character it bears, and contempt it is had in by some; and for its
choiceness and excellency in itself, and in the account of others; and for its generative
virtue under a divine influence: for the Gospel is like the manna, which was a small
round thing, as a coriander seed; and as that was contemptible in the eyes of the
Israelites, so the preaching of the Gospel is, to them that perish, foolishness; and yet
it is choice and precious seed in itself, and to those who know the value of it, by
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126. whom it is preferred to thousands of gold and silver; and, as worthless and
unpromising as it may seem to be, it has a divine virtue put into it; and, under the
influence of powerful and efficacious grace, it is the means of regenerating souls, and
produces fruit in them, which will remain unto everlasting life: though, as the seed is
of no use this way, unless it is sown in the earth, and covered there; so is the Gospel
of no use for regeneration, unless it is by the power of God let into the heart, and
received there, where, through that power, it works effectually. By "casting" it into
the earth, the preaching of the word is designed; which, like casting seed into the
earth, is done with the same sort of seed only, and not with different sorts, with
plenty of it, and at the proper time, whatever discouragements there may be, and
with great skill and judgment, committing it to God to raise it up again: for the
faithful dispensers of the word do not spread divers and strange doctrines; their
ministry is all of apiece; they always sow the same like precious seed, without any
mixture of the tares of error and heresy; and they do not deal it out in a narrow and
niggardly way; they do not restrain and conceal any part of truth, but plentifully
distribute it, and declare the whole counsel of God; and though there may be many
discouragements attend them, many temptations arise to put off from sowing the
word; the weather bad, storms and tempests arise, reproaches and persecutions
come thick and fast, still they go on; using all that heavenly skill, prudence, and
discretion God has given them, preaching the word in season, and out of season; and
when they have done, they leave their work with the Lord, knowing that Paul may
plant, and Apollos water, but it is God only that gives the increase: and by the
"ground", into which it is cast, As meant the hearers of the word, who are of different
sorts; some like the way side, others like the stony ground, and others like the thorny
earth, and some like good ground, as here; whose hearts are broke up by the Spirit of
God, the stoniness of them taken away, and they made susceptive of the good word.
HENRY, "III. The good seed of the gospel sown in the world, and sown in the
heart, doth by degrees produce wonderful effects, but without noise (Mar_4:26, etc.);
So is the kingdom of God; so is the gospel, when it is sown, and received, as seed in
good ground.
1. It will come up; though it seem lost and buried under the clods, it will find or
make its way through them. The seed cast into the ground will spring. Let but the
word of Christ have the place it ought to have in a soul, and it will show itself, as the
wisdom from above doth in a good conversation. After a field is sown with corn, how
soon is the surface of it altered! How gay and pleasant doth it look, when it is covered
with green!
JAMIESON, "Mar_4:26-29. Parable of the seed growing we know not how.
This beautiful parable is peculiar to Mark. Its design is to teach the Imperceptible
Growth of the word sown in the heart, from its earliest stage of development to the
ripest fruits of practical righteousness.
So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;
and should sleep, and rise night and day — go about his other ordinary
occupations, leaving it to the well-known laws of vegetation under the genial
influences of heaven. This is the sense of “the earth bringing forth fruit of herself,” in
Mar_4:27.
CALVIN, "Mark 4:26.So is the kingdom of God. Though this comparison has
the same object with the two immediately preceding, yet Christ appears to direct
his discourse purposely to the ministers of the word, that they may not grow
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127. indifferent about the discharge of their duty, because the fruit of their labor does
not immediately appear. He holds out for their imitation the example of
husbandmen, who throw seed into the ground with the expectation of reaping,
and do not torment themselves with uneasiness and anxiety, but go to bed and
rise again; or, in other words, pursue their ordinary and daily toil, till the corn
arrive at maturity in due season. In like manner, though the seed of the word be
concealed and choked for a time, Christ enjoins pious teachers to be of good
courage, and not to allow their alacrity to be slackened through distrust.
PULPIT, "This parable is recorded by St. Mark alone. It differs greatly from the
parable of the sower, although both of them are founded upon the imagery of the
seed cast into the ground. In both cases the seed represents the doctrine of the
gospel; the field represents the hearers; the harvest the end of the world, or
perhaps the death of each individual hearer. So is the kingdom of God, in its
progress from its establishment to its completion. The sower casts seed upon the
earth, not without careful preparation of the soil, but without further sowing.
And then he pursues his ordinary business. He sleeps by night; he rises by day;
he has leisure for other employment; his work as a sower is finished. Meanwhile
the seed germinates and grows by its own hidden virtues, assisted by the earth,
the sun, and the air, the sower knowing nothing of the mysterious process. First
comes the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. Such is the preaching
of the gospel. Here, therefore, the sower represents human responsibility in the
work. The vitality of the seed is independent of his labour. The earth develops
the plant from the seed by those natural but mysterious processes through which
the Creator is ever working. So in spiritual things, the sower commences the
work, and the grace of God perfects it in the heart which receives these
influences. The earth beareth fruit of herself. In like manner, by degrees, the
faith of Christ increases through the preaching of the gospel; and the Church
grows and expands. And what is true of the Church collectively is true also of
each individual member of the Church. For the heart of each faithful Christian
produces first the blade, when it conceives good desires and begins to put them
into action; then the ear, when it brings them to good effect; and lastly the full
corn in the ear, when it brings them to their full maturity and perfection. Hence
our Lord in this parable intimates that they who labour for the conversion of
souls ought, with much patience, to wait for the fruit of 'their labour, as the
husbandman waits with much patience for the precious fruits of the earth.
COKE, "Mark 4:26-29. So is the kingdom of God,— In this parable we are
informed, that as the husbandman does not, by any efficacy of his own, cause the
seed to grow, but leaves it to be nourished by the soil and sun; so Jesus and his
apostles, having taught men the doctrines of true religion, were not by any
miraculous force to constrain their wills; far less were they by the terrors of fire
and sword to interpose visibly for the furthering thereof; but would suffer it to
spread by the secret influences of the Spirit, till at length it should obtain its full
effect in faithful souls. Moreover, as the husbandman cannot, by the most
diligent observation, perceive the corn in his field extending its dimensions as it
grows, so the ministers of Christ cannot see the operations of the Gospel upon
the minds of men. The effects, however, of its operation, when these are
produced, they can discern just as the husbandman can discern when the corn is
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128. fully grown, and fit for reaping. In the mean time, the design of the parable, is
not tolead the ministers of Christ, to imagine that religion will flourish without
due pains taken about it. It was formed to teach the Jews in particular, that
neither the Messiah nor his servants would subdue men by the force of arms, as
they supposed he would have done; and also to prevent the apostles from being
dispirited, when they did not see immediate success following their labours. See
Dr. Watts's Philosophical Essays, Numbers 9 sect. 2. Instead of when the fruit is
brought forth, Mark 4:29 we may read, as soon as the grain is ripe. See
Campbell.
SIMEON, "THE SPRINGING FIELD
Mark 4:26-29. And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast
seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed
should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth
fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because
the harvest is come.
THERE is a rich variety in the parables delivered by our Lord. Almost every
thing around him was made a vehicle of divine knowledge. Agriculture in
particular afforded him many illustrations of his doctrines. He dwelt on that
subject the more, because it was so adapted to his hearers. In the passage before
us he compares the kingdom of God to seed springing up in the field. This
comparison is applicable to the erection of his visible Church in the world; but
we shall consider it rather in reference to a work of grace in the soul.
There is a resemblance between seed in a field, and grace in the heart,
I. In the manner of their growth—
In the parable of the Sower, our Lord comprehends those characters who receive
not the word aright. In this he confines himself to those characters that are truly
upright. The growth of grace in their hearts resembles that of corn in a field, in
that it is,
1. Spontaneous—
[Seed, when harrowed into the earth, is left wholly to itself. The husbandman
“sleeps by night,” and prosecutes his labours “by day,” without attempting to
assist the corn in the work of vegetation; whatever solicitude he may feel, he
abstains from such fruitless endeavours. “The earth must bring forth the fruit of
itself,” or not at all. There is a principle of life in the corn which causes it to
vegetate; nor is it indebted to any thing but the kindly influences of the heavens
[Note: 1 Corinthians 15:38.]: thus it is with divine grace when sown in the heart
of man. We do not mean that any man naturally and of his own will, lives to
God; this is contradicted by the whole tenour of Scripture [Note: Romans 8:7.]:
but grace is a seed which has within it a principle of life [Note: 1 Peter 1:23.
Hence Christ, from whose fulness we receive that grace, is said to live in us, and
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129. to be our life. Galatians 2:20. Colossians 3:4.]; it operates by a power inherent in
itself, and is dependent only on Him who gave it that power [Note: 1 Corinthians
15:10.]: the exertions of ministers, however unremitted, cannot make it grow
[Note: 1 Corinthians 3:6-7.]; it must be left to the operation of its own native
energy [Note: John 4:14.]; it will then put forth its virtue, through the
invigorating beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and the refreshing showers of
the Spirit of God.]
2. Gradual—
[Seed does not instantly spring up in a state fit for the sickle. It passes through
many different stages before it arrives at maturity. Thus also, in a work of grace,
“the blade, the ear, and the full corn,” arise in regular succession. A Christian in
his earliest attainments wears a different appearance from what he ever did
before; he is not less altered than a grain of wheat when it puts forth “the
blade;” he feels himself a sinful, helpless, and undone creature; he cleaves to
Christ as a suitable and all-sufficient Saviour, and shews by his whole
deportment that he has been quickened from the dead: but still he is prone to
entertain self-righteous hopes, and too often yields to unbelieving fears. Hence,
though sincere at heart, his attainments are but small [Note: Hebrews 5:13.]. In
process of time he shews himself solid and hopeful as “the ear:” his knowledge of
self is more deep, and his views of Christ more precious; his dependence on the
power and grace of Christ is more simple and firm. Hence, though his conflicts
may be more severe, he is more able to sustain them; nor is there any part of his
conversation wherein his profiting doth not appear [Note: To this effect is St.
John’s description of the young men who are in an intermediate state between
children and fathers. 1 John 2:13-14.]. After much experience, both of good and
evil [Note: Hebrews 5:14.], he becomes like “full corn in the ear.” Though his
views of himself are more humiliating than ever, he is not discouraged by them;
he only takes occasion from them to live more entirely by faith on Christ: there is
an evident ripeness in all the fruit that he brings forth. Above all, he lives in a
nearer expectation of “the harvest.” He sits loose to all the concerns of this
present life, and longs for the season when he shall be treasured up in the garner
[Note: 1 Corinthians 1:7, 2 Corinthians 5:1-4.].]
3. Inexplicable—
[The most acute philosopher “knoweth not how” the grain vegetates. That it
should die before it springs up [Note: 1 Corinthians 15:36.], and then so change
its appearance as to put forth the blade, &c. is a mystery that none can explain:
thus the operations of grace in the soul of man are also inexplicable. We know
not how the Spirit of God acts on the powers of our mind; we discover that he
does so by the effects; but how, we cannot tell. In this view our Lord compares
the Spirit’s agency to the wind, the precise point of whose rise or destination we
are unable to ascertain [Note: John 3:8.]: nor is the mysteriousness of these
changes, which we see in the natural world, ever made a reason for disbelieving
them; neither should the difficulty of comprehending some things in a work of
grace render us doubtful of its reality.]
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130. This resemblance, already so striking, may be further seen,
II. In the end for which they grow—
The seed grows up in the field in order to the harvest—
[The husbandman in every part of his labour has the harvest in view; he
manures, and ploughs, and sows his ground, in hopes of reaping at last. In every
successive state of the corn he looks forward to the crop [Note: James 5:7.], and
“when the harvest is come,” he “immediately puts in the sickle.”]
Thus also grace springs up in the souls of men to prepare them for glory—
[God, having from the beginning chosen his people to salvation, orders every the
minutest incident for the accomplishment of his own purpose [Note: 2
Thessalonians 2:13-14. Romans 8:28.]. All the dispensations of his providence
concur for this end; all the operations of his grace are adjusted with the same
view. The first infusion of a principle of life into our souls is in order to our
eternal happiness. All the ordinances, whereby that life is preserved, are for the
same end: for this, the word distils as the dew, and the clouds drop fatness; for
this, the very things which seem for a time to retard its growth, are permitted:
the gloomy chilling influences of temptation and desertion, are overruled for its
final good. When the soul is ripe for glory, “immediately will the sickle be put
in:” when we are fully meet for the mansion prepared for us, God will receive us
to it. Then will Christ, the great husbandman, rejoice in the fruit of his labours
[Note: Isaiah 53:11.]; the ministers also, who laboured under him, will rejoice
together with him [Note: 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20.]; and that promise which our
Lord has given us shall be fulfilled [Note: John 4:36.]—.]
This is a rich source of comfort to ministers, and of encouragement to their
people—
[Ministers, like the husbandman, are scattering the seeds of God’s words; but,
through impatience, are often ready to complain that they have laboured in vain.
They forget that the seed lies long under the clods before it vegetates, and that
much of their seed may spring up, when they have ceased from their labours:
they are often discouraged too by the drooping aspect of their people: they would
wish them to grow up to a state of perfection at once, and to attain to ripeness
without the changes of succeeding seasons; but it is by such changes that they are
brought to maturity [Note: Romans 5:3-5.]. Well therefore may ministers
prosecute their work with cheerfulness. Leaving events to God, they should
follow the direction given them in the word [Note: Ecclesiastes 11:5-6.]— and
expect that the promised success shall in due time attend their labours [Note:
Isaiah 55:10-11.]—. People also, of every description, may receive much
encouragement. They often are ready to doubt whether “the root of the matter
be indeed in them:” because their progress is not so rapid as they could wish,
they are apt to despond. It is right indeed to examine whether we be really
endued with life; nor should we rest contented with low degrees of growth.
Whatever joy we feel in seeing the blade, we should grieve if it made no progress.
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131. Thus we should never be satisfied without going on unto perfection. But let us
wait with patience for the former and the latter rain. Let us expect a variety of
seasons as well in the spiritual as the natural world: let us commit ourselves to
God, that he may perfect us in his own way. Thus in due season shall we be fit
for the granary of heaven [Note: Job 5:26.]; the sickle shall then separate us from
all our earthly connexions; and we shall be carried in triumph to our appointed
rest.]
PULPIT 26-29, "Mark 4:26-29
Spiritual growth.
There are common truths and a common interpretation underlying this and
several other parables. In all this group the seed is the Word of God, the soil is
the heart of man, the life is the spiritual history and development, the fruit is
Christian character, and the harvest is eternal result and retribution. But the
peculiar lesson of this parable is the nature of spiritual growth. It this case it is
presumed that the seed is sown in good soil.
I. IT IS HIDDEN, AND CANNOT BE TRACED AND WATCHED. Until it is
deposited in the ground, seed may be beheld and examined by the eye. But then
it is covered up and concealed, and germinates and begins to grow beneath the
surface. In like manner you may see the truth as written, you may hear it as
spoken; but when once it gets into the heart, germinates, and goes to its work, the
preacher and teacher fail to follow it, and altogether lose sight of it. In the silent
soul the Divine seed works in secret, lives, strives, moves, grows. Probably those
reared in Christian homes cannot recollect when the truth, quickened by the
Spirit, first began to live in them. Certainly you can only very dimly follow the
process of growth in others. Years pass; the youth grows into the man, goes
about daily duty, takes nightly rest, and all the while the hidden seed is living
and developing slowly or swiftly, but unperceived even by those who planted it.
How little, in some instances, preachers and teachers and parents can follow the
Word, as it does its work within the hearts of those for whom they care! Yet "the
kingdom of God comes without observation." Convictions of their own spiritual
nature and immortal destiny, of the character and government of God, of the
love and reign of Christ, are all forming within, becoming part of the spiritual
being. And the vital growth, though unperceived, is giving signs of its reality.
II. IT IS MYSTERIOUS AND NOT TO BE UNDERSTOOD. The husbandman,
the gardener, "knoweth not how." Even the scientific observer cannot explain
the mystery of life and growth. There is no caprice; all is reason and law, yet the
process baffles our understanding. So in the working of God's kingdom within,
there is much that is mysterious. How can Divine truth, naturally so unpalatable,
gain a hold upon the heart? How can it overmaster other principles so that it
shall flourish as they fade? And, looking to the external, how can we account for
it, that the kingdom of God, so unworldly, can advance to universal victory? The
power of life must be that of the holy Spirit, acting like the sunlight and the
genial warmth, the frequent showers and the morning dew. It is the Lord's
doing, invisible, incomprehensible, admirable, adorable, Divine!
131

132. III. IT IS ACCORDING TO ITS OWN LAWS, NOT OURS. In dealing with
vegetation, there is much which we can do if we work with nature. We can till
the soil, expose the seed to moisture and warmth, protect it from unfavourable
conditions. But we cannot work against laws of nature; we cannot make pebbles
grow, acorns produce elm trees, or barley yield a crop of wheat; we cannot grow
the produce of the tropics at the poles. Providence has imposed laws upon
nature, and with regard to life some things are possible, and others impossible.
So spiritual life follows laws which we cannot change, and much of our
interference has no influence or but little. The seed grows "of itself," i.e. as God
appoints for it. The truth of God is not trammelled by our notions or fancies; the
Spirit of God is not hampered by our rules. Men prove their own pettiness when
they attempt to prescribe how the Divine seed shall grow. The Giver of the seed
and Lord of the harvest does his work in his own way and time. He carries on a
heavenly process in the conscience and the heart, in the bosom of human society.
Vain is our fancy that we can rule the life. "Paul plants, Apollos waters, and God
gives the increase."
IV. THE PROCESS IS USUALLY GRADUAL AND PROGRESSIVE. There is
a regular law of development, "first the blade," etc. We never get the fruit first,
the blade last. Everything in its season. So in the spiritual kingdom of God. In
the child or the young convert, we look first for signs of life—the blade which
proves that the seed has germinated. By Christian nurture, scriptural
instruction, and Divine discipline, gradual and sure progress is made. The
promise is partly realized when the ear is formed; it is the time of vigor and
manifest growth. Then with the long and profitable years comes the full corn—
the ripeness of Christian knowledge, experience, and service. A few favorable
years bring the seedling to the sapling, and the sapling to the stalwart tree; a few
months cover the broad brown tilth with the golden shocks. So in the Church of
Christ we see the gradual unfolding of character, the gentle ripening of
experience, one stage of growth left behind in making way for that which
succeeds.
V. THE HARVEST IS THE END AND THE RECOMPENSE OF ALL. If the
growth is unobtrusive, the harvest is conspicuous. The secret working has
prepared for the open result. Life ends in fruit. It is so in the spiritual field.
When there is ripeness, then the time has come for the sickle to be put in. The
harvest is gathered, and the garner of God is filled with golden grain. Fruit is
yielded upon earth; and the richest crop is reaped hereafter.
APPLICATION.
1. The Christian sower and labourer may learn to think humbly of himself,
highly of his work.
2. There is encouragement for the "babes in Christ;" their stage of experience is
the necessary preparation for the more complete fulfillment of the high purposes
of God.
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133. 3. The glory must be given to God when life is vigorous and when fruit is ripe.
PULPIT, "Mark 4:26-29
The progress of Divine life in the soul.
Mark alone records this parable. It occupies the position of the parable of the
tares in Matthew 13:1-58, following "the sower," preceding "the mustard seed,"
but is not to be identified with it. It teaches us that Divine life, like ordinary seed,
requires time for its development, that its growth is unnoticed and but little
dependent upon human interference, and that it will have a glorious
consummation.
I. THE GROWTH OF THE DIVINE LIFE.
1. It is secret (Matthew 13:27). Man "knoweth not how" the seed springs. Our
"natural laws" are little more than generalizations of observed facts, and afford
no adequate explanation of the nature of life and growth. While we are busy or
are resting the seed is quietly growing up under the care of God. We know but
little more of the Divine life, even in ourselves. We know that we have it and that
it produces certain effects, but of its essential nature our keenest analysis
discovers but little. Still less do we know of the Divine life in others; and, as
Christian teachers or parents, we must neither intrude upon it, as a child will do
on growing seed, nor be over-anxious about it, as a foolish husbandman may be.
With faith in God, leave it prayerfully to him, and "in due season we shall reap,
if we faint not."
2. It is independent (Matthew 13:28). The meaning of the phrase, "The earth
bringeth forth fruit of herself," is this, that she has powers of developing life
which exclude our agency, though they include God's agency. After sowing his
seed, man may sleep or rise, leaving it to natural influences. We are not taught to
be idle, but are reminded that we can do but little after sowing. In religious work
we must never try to force growth by unnatural methods. First religious feelings
are too sacred and delicate to be treated as they sometimes are. Intrusive and
over-anxious teachers may sometimes do harm, not least in the confessional. The
principle applies to our own life also. A morbid brooding over our own spiritual
condition, a petty and constant measurement of our own feelings, is injurious.
"He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall
not reap."
II. THE MANIFESTATION OF THE DIVINE LIFE. True seed, under
favorable conditions, cannot keep hidden beneath the soil. It must grow, and, if it
grows, it must ultimately be seen. Nor can we keep our spiritual life a secret from
others if it be true; for in holy influence and loving deeds and devout life it must
appear. This parable describes its gradual progress, representing it in three
stages, which correspond with those represented by St. John (1 John 2:1-29.) in
his references to "children," "young men," and "fathers."
1. The blade represents the "little children" in grace, "whose sins are forgiven
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134. for his Name's sake." A wise husbandman never despises the blades of corn. He
knows their value, their tenderness, their possibilities. God has provided for
their safety. When the wind sweeps over the fields they bend before it and are
uninjured, though much that is stronger is swept away. So young Christians,
though in some respects weak, give promise of the future, have a special grace
and beauty of their own, and, amidst temptations under which those older fall,
abide and appear more fresh and fair.
2. The ear represents the "young men," who have "overcome the wicked one."
Here there is a loss of freshness, but a gain in strength. There is less enthusiasm,
but more principle. The showers of adversity as well as the sunlight of prosperity
are necessary to this. Speak of some who in special circumstances of temptation
have proved the power of the grace of God.
3. The full corn in the ear. The "fathers," who have "known him that is from the
beginning," are like the full-grown wheat, bending its head under the weight of
the rich grain it bears, ready to be cut down and carried home. Such a one has a
fulfillment of the promise, "Thou shalt come to thy grave in a good old age, like
as a shock of corn cometh in in his season."
III. THE CONSUMMATION OF THE DIVINE LIFE. (Verse 29.) Here the
reference is to its earthly consummation only, for when the ripe corn is carried
home, though it no longer adorns the field in which it grew, it is only beginning
to fulfill its true destiny. The moment of death is the time when the reaper puts
in the sickle, because the harvest is come; and the same sickle which destroys one
life gives new energy to another and Higher life. Mortality is swallowed up of
life. The outcome of time shall be the seed of eternity.—A.R.
BARCLAY, "THE UNSEEN GROWTH AND THE CERTAIN END (Mark
4:26-29)
4:26-29 He said to them: "This is what the Kingdom of God is like. It is like what
happens when a man casts seed upon the earth. He sleeps and he wakes night
and day, and the seed sprouts and grows--and he does not know how it does it.
The earth produces fruit with help from no one, first the shoot, then the ear, then
the full corn in the ear. When the time allows it, immediately he despatches the
sickle, for the time to harvest has come."
This is the only parable which Mark alone relates to us. The Kingdom of God
really means the reign of God; it means the day when God's will will be done as
perfectly in earth as it is in heaven. That is the goal of God for the whole
universe. This parable is short but it is filled with unmistakable truths.
(i) It tells us of the helplessness of man. The farmer does not make the seed grow.
In the last analysis he does not even understand how it grows. It has the secret of
life and of growth within itself. No man has ever possessed the secret of life; no
man has ever created anything in the full sense of the term. Man can discover
things; he can rearrange them; he can develop them; but create them he cannot.
We do not create the Kingdom of God; the Kingdom is God's. It is true that we
can frustrate it and hinder it; or we can make a situation in the world where it is
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135. given the opportunity to come more fully and more speedily. But behind all
things is God and the power and will of God.
(ii) It tells us something about the Kingdom. It is a notable fact that Jesus so
often uses illustrations from the growth of nature to describe the coming of the
Kingdom of God.
(a) Nature's growth is often imperceptible. If we see a plant every day we cannot
see its growth taking place. It is only when we see it, and then see it again after
an interval of time that we notice the difference. It is so with the Kingdom. There
is not the slightest doubt that the Kingdom is on the way if we compare, not to-
day with yesterday, but this century with the century which went before.
When Elizabeth Fry went to Newgate Prison in 1817 she found in the women's
quarters three hundred women and numberless children crammed into two
small wards. They lived and cooked and ate and slept on the floor. The only
attendants were one old man and his son. They crowded, half naked, almost like
beasts, begging for money which they spent on drink at a bar in the prison itself.
She found there a boy of nine who was waiting to be hanged for poking a stick
through a window and stealing paints valued at twopence. In 1853 the Weavers
of Bolton were striking for a pay of 7 1/2 d. a day; and the miners of Stafford
were striking for a pay of 2 shillings 6 d. per week.
Nowadays things like that are unthinkable. Why? Because the Kingdom is on the
way. The growth of the Kingdom may, like that of the plant, be imperceptible
from day to day; but over the years it is plain.
(b) Nature's growth is constant. Night and day, while man sleeps, growth goes
on. There is nothing spasmodic about God. The great trouble about human
effort and human goodness is that they are spasmodic. One day we take one step
forward; the next day we take two steps back. But the work of God goes on
quietly; unceasingly God unfolds his plan.
"God is working his purpose out, as year succeeds to year:
God is working his purpose out, and the time is drawing near--
Nearer and nearer draws the time--the time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the
waters cover the sea."
(c) Nature's growth is inevitable. There is nothing so powerful as growth. A tree
can split a concrete pavement with the power of its growth. A weed can push its
green head through an asphalt path. Nothing can stop growth. It is so with the
Kingdom. In spite of man's rebellion and disobedience, God's work goes on; and
nothing in the end can stop the purposes of God.
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136. (iii) It tells us that there is a consummation. There is a day when the harvest
comes. Inevitably when the harvest comes two things happen--which are opposite
sides of the same thing. The good fruit is gathered in, and the weeds and the
tares are destroyed. Harvest and judgment go hand in hand. When we think of
this coming day three things are laid upon us.
(a) It is a summons to patience. We are creatures of the moment and inevitably
we think in terms of the moment. God has all eternity in which to work. "A
thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past or as a watch in
the night." (Psalms 90:4.) Instead of our petulant, fretful, irritable human
hastiness we should cultivate in our souls the patience which has learned to wait
on God.
(b) It is a summons to hope. We are living to-day in an atmosphere of despair.
People despair of the church; they despair of the world; they look with
shuddering dread on the future. "Man," said H. G. Wells, "who began in a eave
behind a windbreak will end in the disease-soaked ruins of a slum." Between the
wars Sir Philip Gibbs wrote a book in which he looked forward, thinking of the
possibility of a war of poison gas. He said something like this. "If I smell poison
gas in High Street, Kensington, I am not going to put on a gas-mask. I am going
to go out and breathe deeply of it, because I will know that the game is up." So
many people feel that for humanity the game is up. Now no man can think like
that and believe in God. If God is the God we believe him to be there is no room
for pessimism. There may be remorse, regret; there may be penitence, contrition;
there may be heart-searching, the realization of failure and of sin; but there can
never be despair.
"Workman of God! O lose not heart,
But learn what God is like,
And, in the darkest battle-field,
Thou shalt know where to strike.
"For right is right, since God is God,
And right the day must win:
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter would be sin."
(c) It is a summons to preparedness. If there comes the consummation we must
be ready for it. It is too late to prepare for it when it is upon us. We have literally
to prepare to meet our God.
If we live in patience which cannot be defeated, in hope which cannot despair,
and in preparation which ever sees life in the light of eternity, we shall, by the
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137. grace of God, be ready for his consummation when it comes.
PULPIT 26-34, "Mark 4:26-34
The kingdom of God further illustrated by parables.
No single parable holds the entire truth in itself; therefore, by "many such
parables" Jesus "spake the Word unto the multitude." Of those spoken at this
time, St. Mark selects only two others besides that of the sower, and both of
them, as was the first, are drawn from seeds. How suitable a simile of that
kingdom, whose inherent, vital, self-expanding force is one of its most
distinguishing features! These two parables stand related: the one leading us to
think of the part "the earth" plays in bearing "fruit"—the power, as before we
saw the duty, of the human heart to receive and to nourish the seed, to yield its
due results; the other teaching the history of the little seed when received into
suitable soil. This parable, the only one peculiar to St. Mark, is simple and very
beautiful, and full of rich teaching. It embraces all the history of the seed in the
heart, from its sowing, through its stages of growth, to its ripeness and
ingathering, it may be summarized
I. THE LAW OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
1. The human heart is the suitable "earth" for the heavenly seed. But one kind of
seed," the Word," is named. From this alone the kingdom grows. Yet the seed is
not always sufficiently winnowed. The same hand sometimes scatters darnel with
the wheat, or the gaudy, bright, but useless poppy. But seeds, bad and good, will
grow together in the same field. What will not grow in the human heart! He who
made the warm soil suitable for the growth of the useful herb for the service of
man, and adapted the seed to the earth, has made the heart so that the best and
highest truths will grow therein. There, what would otherwise be a dead truth—
a hard seed—may find the suitable conditions for its nourishment and growth.
There it is quickened. Every holy truth may find a home in the heart of man; the
richest, ripest, most wholesome, most abundant fruit may be gathered in that
Eden.
2. The needful committal of the seed to the earth has its parallel in Christ's
committal of his kingdom to the fruit-bearing heart. There it grows, "we know
not how," though we know so much. There is but one true Sower to whom the
field belongs, and who provided the one basket of seed. But many sow in his
Name and by his direction—preachers, parents, teachers, writers, friends. But
the truth once sown in the heart must be left to Heaven's own influence. Days
and nights follow. Patient waiting is needed, for the growth of good principles is
slow and the perfect fruitfulness not immediate. And the lesson of patience is
silently hidden in the words of the parable. He who causes the seeds of the earth
to swell and burst and die, and out of the hidden germ a new life to spring up,
brings the truth to the remembrance, awakens dormant thought, stirs the
indolent conscience, carries conviction deep within, whence springs faith, to be
followed by all holiness. The growth retains its own distinctive character, being
nevertheless affected by the nature of the soil—"the earth which beareth fruit of
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138. herself."
3. The progression of the spiritual life is as the growth of the field. The truth
quickly works its way. The first signs are found in a slightly changed manner of
life, as it submits to the restraining and guiding truth; the tint on the face of the
field is slightly altered: a delicate tinge of spring green blades mingles with the
russet-brown of the soil. All is immature and feeble, but beautiful, as the field in
the first days of spring; and it is full of promise. A longer space follows ere the
ear appears. It is the time of growth. The responsibility of the sower is
transferred to the earth, save that he may guard it from being trampled by the
rude, rough hoof of stray cattle, or from being ploughed up wrongfully by
careless hands. Now the sower must "sleep and rise night and day." He cannot
hurry the growth. This is the time of trial, exposure, and danger. It is the needful
time for Christian culture, for the gradual acquisition of strength and wisdom,
and the slow building up of character: And what is true of the individual growth
is true also of the great wide field which is the world, where all good, and alas!
all evil, may grow, and whose prolonged history goes on slowly towards the great
harvest. "The full corn in the ear" points to the matured Christian character, the
trained, subdued, chastened spirit. Sunshine and shadow, calm and storm,
darkness and light, have all passed over the field; all helpful, each in its own
way, in promoting the growth, strength, and fruitfulness, alike in the less or the
greater field; and all tending towards that moment "when the fruit is ripe."
Then, and not until then, "he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is
come." So is it with every believer—every varied growth in the wide field; so is it
with the entire history which tends towards that "harvest" which "is the end of
the world." Hence from this parable, which is one long teaching, we learn the
wisdom and duty:
1. Of thankfully receiving the Word into our hearts.
2. Of faithfully cherishing it.
3. Of patiently waiting for its full fruits.—G.
COFFMAN, "THE PARABLE OF THE SEED GROWING SECRETLY
Trench was in a great quandary between applying this parable to earthly
preachers of the word or to Christ (God) the sower as in the parable of the
sower. He resolved the difficulty by applying it "to Christ, though not
exclusively."[29] Many opinions have been advocated as to the meaning of the
harvest. Barclay thought "It means the day when all the world will accept the
will of God"[30] Cranfield understood it to mean that the present ambiguity of
the kingdom of God will reach a harvest by being "succeeded by its glorious
manifestation."[31] Barnes, with reservations, made it the death of Christians:
"As soon as he is prepared for heaven, he is taken there."[32] McMillan viewed
the harvest as then present at the time Christ spoke: "Harvest has come. The
seed which God planted in Israel many generations past has now come to full
fruit and is waiting to be gathered."[33] "With the concentration of twentieth-
century theologians on eschatology,"[34] it has been very popular to name this
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139. parable "Seedtime and Harvest," with almost exclusive emphasis on the harvest;
and "The main idea then becomes that the kingdom will soon break in upon
us!"[35]
This interpreter suggests a different approach to this parable, as indicated in
these analogies:
The man sowing seed is the teacher or preacher of truth.
His sleeping and rising night and day indicate that human effort is not the cause
of the growth of the seed.
His knowing not how the seed grows stresses the ignorance of men in both
physical and spiritual areas.
His knowing when to put in the sickle, despite his ignorance of "how" it came
about, answers to the ability of men to reap spiritual results without full
knowledge of just "how" they are produced (John 3:5ff).
The harvest is the gathering of souls into the kingdom of Christ in this present
age.
The earth bringing forth fruit of herself answers to the adaptability of human
nature to the word of God.SIZE>
If a man should cast seed upon the earth ... refers to human proclaimers of the
gospel, and not to Christ. If God (or Christ) had been meant, he would have been
proclaimed as "the sower," and not "a man." Further, the fact of sleeping and
rising night and day and that of his not knowing "how" point to man and not to
God.
He knoweth not how ... is perhaps the key word in the parable. Nicodemus
stumbled in regard to "how can these things be?" and here is the answer to
Nicodemus' question: one does not have to know how!
The earth beareth fruit of herself ... The ancients were certainly correct in seeing
here the principal weight of the parable. The earth into which the seed falls is the
moral and spiritual nature of man. The seed of Christianity will grow because
the soil into which it will fall is suitable to nourish it. As Dummelow noted: "The
human soul is naturally Christian (Tertullian), and Christianity is the `natural
religion.' Christianity therefore can propagate itself without human effort, and
often does so."[36] God destined every man ever born on earth to be a Christian.
See full discussion of this in the Commentary on Romans, p. 318.
The blade, the ear, the full grain ... These emphasize the gradual growth of the
word of God in human hearts.
The harvest is come ... We agree with Clarke that "This is not the gathering of
saints to glory, but the gathering of men to Christ."[37] Likewise with Trench,
"When the soul is ripe for his kingdom, and he gathers it to himself, this is the
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140. harvest."[38] In the sense that what Christ's servants (his gospel ministers) do is
also done by Christ, the gathering into the kingdom or church may be expressed
either way, as being done by Christ or by his servants.
[29] Richard C. Trench, Notes on the Parables (Old Tappan, New Jersey:
Fleming H. Revell Co.), p. 292.
[30] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 104.
[31] C. E. B. Cranfield, op. cit., p. 168.
[32] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Baker Book House, 1955), Mark-Luke, p. 344.
[33] Earle McMillan, The Gospel according to Mark (Austin: R. B. Sweet
Publishing Company, 1973), p. 61.
[34] Henry E. Turlington, The Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville:
Broadman, Press, 1946), p. 302.
[35] Ibid.
[36] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 726.
[37] W. N. Clarke, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 63.
[38] Richard C. Trench, op. cit., p. 294.
SBC, "Mysterious growth.
We little think how much is always going on in what we may call the underground of
life; and how much more we have to do with those secret processes which underlie
everything, than might at first sight appear.
I. For we are all, whether we realize it or not, always casting seeds, and those seeds,
dead though they look, are always alive. Every word we say, every act we do, goes
down into somebody’s mind, and lives there; and there it has its influence. To what
an awful consideration this might turn.
II. You look at a man today, and you see nothing in him. You may look at him
tomorrow, and there is a change in that man, evident, palpable. The bud may be
either just peeping, or the fruit may be full burst, just as God pleases. But it will come
in its time; it will come out in a distinct view; it will be as the stars wake up at even; it
will be as Jesus rose unseen from His grave. If you begin to ask the when and the
where and the why and the how, I can only say, "So is the kingdom of God, as if a
man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and
the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth
forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." It
is very kind of God to give us this wide margin of thought, seeing His own work in the
heart is such a long hidden thing. And who can tell where, at this moment, it may be
going on, under the most unlikely surface. It is a good thing to have a faith in every
one’s salvation, and so to regard and treat everybody hopefully, honourably. Who
knows, if the process be so very far out of sight, whether it is not going on in any one
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141. at this moment. Fathers and mothers, who have cast the early seed, you have slept
for very sorrow, and many a day, and many a night, you have risen up to see what has
come of all your sowing in your child’s heart. But you see nothing. Wait on. It may be
all there. And the springing and the growing will be you know not where, and you
know not how.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 1865, No. 33.
References: Mar_4:26-27.—J. Burton, Christian Life and Truth, p. 293;
Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ix., p. 185. Mar_4:26, Mar_4:27.—J. Vaughan, Fifty
Sermons, 6th series, p. 68.
Mark 4:26-29
We have in this parable:
I. A most simple, yet striking representation of the business, and, at the same time,
the helplessness of the spiritual husbandman. To the ministers of the Gospel, who
are the great moral labourers in the field of the world, there is entrusted the task of
preparing the soil and casting in the seed. And if they bring to the task all the fidelity
and all the diligence of intent and single-eyed labourers, if by a faithful publication of
the grand truths of the Gospel they throw in the seed of the Word, why, they have
reached the boundary of their office, and the boundary also of their strength, and are
to the full as powerless in the making the seed germinate, as the husbandman in the
causing the valley to stand thick with corn. "It springeth and groweth up, he knoweth
not how."
II. But if we are ignorant of the mode, we are well acquainted with the result. "The
earth bringeth forth fruit of herself,"—not through the skill of the tiller, but through
the virtues wherewith God has endowed her—"first the blade, then the ear, and after
that the full corn in the ear." You have here an account of the successive stages of
long experience. (1) There is first the convert in the young days of his godliness—the
green blades just breaking through the soil, and giving witness to the germination of
the seed. This is ordinarily a season of great promise. We have not, and we look not
for, the rich fruit of a matured well-disciplined piety, but we have the glow of verdant
profession, everything looks fresh. (2) Next comes the ear; this is a season of
weariness and of watching. Sometimes there will be long intervals without any
perceptible growth; sometimes the corn will look sickly, as though blasted by the
mildew; sometimes the storm will rush over it and almost level it with the earth. All
this takes place in the experience of the Christian. (3) "When the fruit is brought
forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle." When we look on aged believers, who
appear to have been long ago fitted to depart hence and to be with the Lord, we
almost marvel that they have not been called home, and that God still exercises them
by the discipline of affliction. But of this we may be sure—the ear is not full,
otherwise it would be plucked.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1,988.
The Seed growing secretly.
I. The work of sowing and the joy of reaping advance simultaneously on the spiritual
field. The labour of the husbandman in the natural sphere is all and only sowing at
one season, all and only reaping at another; the seed of the Word affords a difference
of experience; in the kingdom of God there is no period of the year when you must
not sow or may not reap. These two processes are in experience very closely linked
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142. together. They become alternately and reciprocally cause and effect; if we were not
permitted at an early period to reap a little, the work of sowing would proceed
languidly, or altogether cease; on the other hand, if we cease to sow, we shall not long
continue to reap. When the workmen are introduced into this circle, it carries them
continuously round.
II. In any given spot in the field there may be sowing in spring, and yet no reaping in
harvest. If there is not sowing, there will be no reaping, but the converse does not
hold good; you cannot say, wherever there has been sowing it will be followed by a
reaping. The seed may be carried away by wild birds, or wither on stony ground, or
be choked by thorns.
III. The growth of the sown seed is secret; secret also is its failure. It is quite true,
there may be grace in the heart of a neighbour unseen, unsuspected by me; but the
heart of my neighbour may be graceless, while I am in its earlier stages ignorant of
the fact.
IV. Though the sower is helpless after he has cast the seed into the ground, he should
not be hopeless; we know that the seed is a living thing, and will grow except where it
is impeded by extraneous obstacles.
V. In every case the harvest, in one sense, will come; on every spot of all the field
there will be a reaping. If one set of ministers do not reap there, another will. Where
there is not conversion, there will be condemnation. The regeneration is one harvest;
the judgment is another. The angels are not sowers, but they are reapers.
W. Arnot, The Parables of our Lord, p. 312.
I. Though the sower sleep after his labour, yet the process of germination goes on
night and day.
II. Simple beginnings and practical results may be connected by mysterious
processes: "he knoweth not how." There is a point in Christian work where
knowledge must yield to mystery.
III. As the work of the sower is assisted by natural processes, so the seed of truth is
aided by the natural conscience and aspiration which God has given to all men.
IV. The mysteriousness of processes ought not to deter from reaping the harvest. The
spiritual labourer may learn from the husbandman.
Parker, City Temple, 1871, p. 81.
References: Mar_4:26-29.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1603; H. M.
Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man, p. 84; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p.
186; W. M. Taylor, Parables of our Saviour, p. 196; A. B. Bruce, Parabolic
Teaching of Christ, p. 117.
Mark 4:26-33
Christ’s Idea of Christianity.
I. The kingdom of God, or the beginning of a truly religious life in the soul of a man,
may be obscure, imperceptible and unconscious. When a man is building a house he
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143. sees it as it goes on. That is an outside matter. A man goes into his garden and plants
seed. He may sit up all night with spectacles and a lantern, but he will not see
anything going on; and yet there is something going on which is vitally connected
with the whole operation of vegetable development. So is it with the spiritual life. The
work of God in the human soul is gradual. Further, the working of religion in the
human soul is not scattering, accidental, promiscuous, just as it may happen. It has
its regular stages, and one will not precede the other except in the order of these
stages. First the blade, then the ear, then the kernel in the ear, and you cannot make
one of them anticipate the others so that they will not follow in that sequence.
II. Conversion is often an imperceptible condition. That is, when a man is converted
in the old-fashioned understanding of that word, when he has passed from death to
life, when the balance is struck, and it is for purity, for holiness, for obedience to
God, for love; he may not know it. Unconscious piety is simply this, the being trained
from your cradle by your surrounding circumstances into those very moods and into
that very purpose of life which conversion means. It is being inwardly changed, away
from animal toward spiritual life; away from the law of selfishness toward the law of
a true love. The moment a man can have the testimony of himself that that is his
purpose, though not his attainment, then he is converted, though he may not know
it.
H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, p. 120.
27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up,
the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not
know how.
BARNES, "And should sleep, and rise night and day - Should sleep in the
night and rise by day, for so the expression is to be understood. That is, should live in
his usual way, without exerting any influence over the growing grain. By this we are
not to infer that men are to use no diligence in the obtaining and in the growth of
piety; but the illustration shows only that as we cannot tell how grain grows, so we
cannot tell the mode in which piety increases in the heart.
He knoweth not how - This is still true. After all the researches of philosophers,
no one has been able to tell the way in which grain grows. They can observe one fact
after another; they can see the changes; they can see the necessity of rains and suns,
of care and shelter, but beyond this they cannot go. So in religion. We can mark the
change; we can see the need of prayer, and self-examination, and searching the
Scriptures, and the ordinances of religion, but we cannot tell in what way the
religious principle is developed and strengthened. As God unseen, yet by the use of
proper means, makes the grass to flourish, so God unseen, but by proper means,
nourishes the soul, and the plants of piety spring up, and bloom, and bear fruit.
Compare the notes at Joh_3:8.
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144. CLARKE, "And should sleep and rise night and day - That is, he should
sleep by night, and rise by day; for so the words are obviously to be understood.
He knoweth not how - How a plant grows is a mystery in nature, which the
wisest philosopher in the universe cannot fully explain.
GILL, "And should sleep,.... That is, the man that casts in the seed, who
represents the ministers of the Gospel: and, as applied to them, is not to be
understood of natural sleep, and indulging themselves in that; much less of spiritual
sloth and indolence, as if they cared not what became of the seed sown, whether it
sprung up, and came to any thing, or not; for neither of these belong to the
characters of the true ministers of the word: for though bodily sleep in them, as in
other men, is necessary for the support of nature, and to put them in a capacity of
discharging their work; yet perhaps none have less of it than studious and laborious
preachers of the Gospel; and much less do they indulge a spiritual sleep and
slothfulness; though this may sometimes attend them, as well as others: but then,
whilst they sleep, in this sense, tares are sown, and they spring up, and not the good
seed of the word, as in this parable; besides, as they labour in the word and doctrine,
by studying and preaching it, so they follow their ministrations with incessant
prayers that they be succeeded to the conversion of sinners, and comfort of saints;
nor can they be easy, unless they have some seals of their ministry: but rather, this
may be understood of the sleep of death; for so it often is, that the seed sown by them
does not appear in the fruits of it to the churches of Christ, among whom they have
ministered, until after they are fallen asleep in Jesus: though it seems best to
understand it of their holy security, confidence, and satisfaction in their own minds,
that it will turn to profit and advantage, both to the good of souls, and glory of God,
not despairing of success; but having left their work with their Lord, they sit down
easy and satisfied, believing that the word shall prosper to the thing whereunto it is
sent:
and rise night and day; which shows their diligence and laboriousness, and their
constant attendance to other parts of their work, rising up early, and sitting up late,
to prepare for, and discharge their ministerial work; and their continued expectation
of the springing-up of the seed sown, which accordingly does in proper time:
and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how; it is a
mystery in nature, how the seed under the clods, where it dies before it is quickened,
should spring and grow up, and bring forth fruit; and so it is in grace, how the word
of God first operates on a sinner's heart, and becomes the ingrafted word there; the
time when, and much less the manner how, grace, by this means, is implanted in the
heart, are not known to a soul itself, and still less to the ministers of the word, who
sometimes never know any thing of it; and when they do, not till some time after: this
work is done secretly, and powerfully, under the influence of divine grace, without
their knowledge, though by them as instruments; so that though the sowing and
planting are theirs, all the increase is God's: this may encourage attendance on the
ministry of the word, and teach us to ascribe the work of conversion entirely to the
power and grace of God.
HENRY, "2. The husbandman cannot describe how it comes up; it is one of the
mysteries of nature; It springs and grows up, he knows not how, Mar_4:27. He sees
it has grown, but he cannot tell in what manner it grew, or what was the cause and
method of its growth. Thus we know not how the Spirit by the word makes a change
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145. in the heart, any more than we can account for the blowing of the wind, which we
hear the sound of, but cannot tell whence it comes, or whither it goes. Without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness; how God manifested in the flesh came
to be believed on in the world, 1Ti_3:16.
3. The husbandman, when he hath sown the seed, doth nothing toward the
springing of it up; He sleeps, and rises, night and day; goes to sleep at night, gets up
in the morning, and perhaps never so much as thinks of the corn he hath sown, or
ever looks upon it, but follows his pleasures or other business, and yet the earth
brings forth fruit of itself, according to the ordinary course of nature, and by the
concurring power of the God of nature. Thus the word of grace, when it is received in
faith, is in the heart a work of grace, and the preachers contribute nothing to it. The
Spirit of God is carrying it on when they sleep, and can do no business (Job_33:15,
Job_33:16), or when they rise to go about other business. The prophets do not live
for ever; but the word which they preached, is doing its work, when they are in their
graves, Zec_1:5, Zec_1:6. The dew by which the seed is brought up tarrieth not for
man, nor waiteth for the sons of men, Mic_5:7.
28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the
stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the
head.
BARNES, "For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself - That is, it is done
without the power of man. It is done while man is engaged in other things. The scope
of this passage does not require us to suppose that our Saviour meant to say that the
earth had any productive power of itself, but only that it produced its fruits not by
the “power of man.” God gives it its power. It has no power of its own. So religion in
the heart is not by the power of man. It grows he cannot tell how, and of course he
cannot without divine aid, control it. It is by the power of God. At the same time, as
without industry man would have no harvest, so without active effort he would have
no religion. Both are connected with his effort; both are to be measured commonly
by his effort Phi_2:12; both grow he cannot tell how; both increase when the proper
means are used, and both depend on God for increase.
First the blade - The green, tender shoot, that first starts out of the earth before
the stalk is formed.
Then the ear - The original means the stalk or spire of wheat or barley, as well as
the ear.
The full corn - The ripe wheat. The grain swollen to its proper size. By this is
denoted, undoubtedly, that grace or religion in the heart is of gradual growth. It is at
first tender, feeble, perhaps almost imperceptible, like the first shootings of the grain
in the earth. Perhaps also, like grain, it often lies long in the earth before there are
signs of life. Like the tender grain, also, it needs care, kindness, and culture. A frost, a
cold storm, or a burning sun alike injure it. So tender piety in the heart needs care,
kindness, culture. It needs shelter from the frosts and storms of a cold, unfeeling
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146. world. It needs the genial dews and mild suns of heaven; in other words, it needs
instruction, prayer, and friendly counsel from parents, teachers, ministers, and
experienced Christians, that it may grow, and bring forth the full fruits of holiness.
Like the grain, also, in due time it will grow strong; it will produce its appropriate
fruit - a full and rich harvest - to the praise of God.
CLARKE, "Bringeth forth - of herself - Αυτοµατη. By its own energy, without
either the influence or industry of man. Similar to this is the expression of the poet: -
Namque aliae, Nullis Homlnum Cogentibus, ipsae
Sponte Sua veniunt.
Virg. Geor. l. ii. v. 10
“Some (trees) grow of their own accord, without the labor of man.”
All the endlessly varied herbage of the field is produced in this way.
The full corn - Πληρη σιτον, Full wheat; the perfect, full-grown, or ripe corn.
Lucian uses κενος καρπος, Empty fruit, for imperfect, or unripe fruit. See Kypke.
The kingdom of God, which is generated in the soul by the word of life, under the
influence of the Holy Spirit, is first very small; there is only a blade, but this is full of
promise, for a good blade shows there is a good seed at bottom, and that the soil in
which it is sown is good also. Then the ear - the strong stalk grows up, and the ear is
formed at the top; the faith and love of the believing soul increase abundantly; it is
justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ; it has the ear which is
shortly to be filled with the ripe grain, the outlines of the whole image of God. Then
the full corn. The soul is purified from all unrighteousness; and, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world, it is made a partaker of the Divine nature, and is filled
with all the fullness of God.
GILL, "For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself,.... Without any further
help, or cultivation from the husbandman; though under the influence of the sun,
dews, and showers of rain from heaven: this is said, not to denote that man of
himself, upon hearing the word, can bring forth the fruit of grace in himself; he
cannot regenerate himself, nor quicken, nor convert himself; he cannot believe in
Christ, nor love the Lord of himself; nor repent of his sin, nor begin, or carry on the
good work; he can neither sanctify his heart, nor mortify the deeds of the body; or
even bring forth the fruits of good works, when converted. For all these things are
owing to the Spirit, power, and grace of God: men are regenerated according to the
abundant mercy of God, of water and of the Spirit, by the word of truth, through the
sovereign will and pleasure of God; and they are quickened, who before were dead in
trespasses and sins, and were as dry bones, by the Spirit of God breathing upon
them: conversion in the first production, is the Lord's work; "turn thou me, and I
shall be turned": faith in Christ is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God; and so is
repentance unto life; love is one of the fruits of the Spirit, and in short, the whole
work of grace is not by might, nor by power of man, but by the Spirit of the Lord of
hosts; who begins and carries on, and performs it until the day of Christ: the work of
sanctification, is therefore called the sanctification of the Spirit; and it is through him
the deeds of the body are mortified: and indeed, without Christ, believers themselves
can do nothing at all; even cannot perform good works, or do any action that is truly
and spiritually good. But the design is to show, that as the earth without human
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147. power, without the husbandman, under the influence of the heavens, brings forth
fruit; so without human power, without the Gospel minister, the word having taken
root under divine influence, through the sun of righteousness, the dews of divine
grace, and operations of the blessed Spirit, it rises up and brings forth fruit:
first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear; which, as it
very aptly describes the progress of the seed from first to last; so it very beautifully
represents the gradual increase of the work of grace, under the instrumentality of the
word, accompanied with the Spirit and power of God. Grace at first appearance is
very small, like the small green spire, when it first shoots out of the earth: light into a
man's self, his heart, his state and condition, in the knowledge of Christ, and the
doctrines of the Gospel, is but very small; he is one of little faith, and weak in the
exercise of it: faith is but at first a small glimmering view of Christ, a venture upon
him, a peradventure there may be life and salvation for such an one in him; it comes
at length to a reliance and leaning upon him; and it is some time before the soul can
walk alone by faith on him: its experience of the love of God is but small, but in
process of time there is a growth and an increase; light increases, which shines more
and more unto the perfect day; faith grows stronger and stronger; experience of the
love of God is enlarged; and the believer wades in these waters of the sanctuary; not
only as at first up to the ankles, but to the knees and loins; when at length they are a
broad river to swim in, and which cannot be passed over.
HENRY, "It grows gradually; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn
in the ear, Mar_4:28. When it is sprung up, it will go forward; nature will have its
course, and so will grace. Christ's interest, both in the world and in the heart, is, and
will be, a growing interest; and though the beginning be small, the latter end will
greatly increase. Though thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, yet
God will give to every seed its own body; though at first it is but a tender blade,
which the frost may nip, or the foot may crush, yet it will increase to the ear, to the
full corn in the ear. Natura nil facit per saltum - Nature does nothing abruptly. God
carries on his work insensibly and without noise, but insuperably and without fail.
JAMIESON, "For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the
blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear — beautiful allusion to
the succession of similar stages, though not definitely marked periods, in the
Christian life, and generally in the kingdom of God.
29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle
to it, because the harvest has come.”
BARNES, "Immediately he putteth in the sickle - This is the way with the
farmer. As soon as the grain is ripe it is cut down. So it is often with the Christian. As
soon as he is prepared for heaven he is taken there. But we are not to press this part
of the parable, as if it meant that all are removed as soon as they are fit for heaven.
Every parable contains circumstances thrown in to fill up the story, which cannot be
literally interpreted. In this, the circumstance of sleeping and rising cannot be
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148. applied to Christ; and in like manner, the harvest, I suppose, is not to be literally
interpreted. Perhaps the whole parable may be differently interpreted. The seed sown
may mean the gospel which he was preaching. In Judea its beginnings were small;
yet he would leave it, commit it to his disciples, and return to his Father. The gospel,
in the meantime, left by him, would take root, spring up, and produce an abundant
harvest. In due time he would return, send forth the angels, and gather in the
harvest, and save his people forever. Compare the notes at Mat_13:31-33.
CLARKE, "He putteth in the sickle - Απο̣ελλει, he sendeth out the sickle, i.e.
the reapers; the instrument, by a metonomy, being put for the persons who use it.
This is a common figure. It has been supposed that our Lord intimates here that, as
soon as a soul is made completely holy, it is taken into the kingdom of God. But
certainly the parable does not say so. When the corn is ripe, it is reaped for the
benefit of him who sowed it; for it can be of little or no use till it be ripe: so when a
soul is saved from all sin, it is capable of being fully employed in the work of the
Lord: it is then, and not till then, fully fitted for the Master’s use. God saves men to
the uttermost, that they may here perfectly love him, and worthily magnify his name.
To take them away the moment they are capable of doing this, would be, so far, to
deprive the world and the Church of the manifestation of the glory of his grace. “But
the text says, he immediately sendeth out the sickle; and this means that the person
dies, and is taken into glory, as soon as he is fit for it.” No, for there may be millions
of cases, where, though to die would be gain, yet to live may be far better for the
Church, and for an increase of the life of Christ to the soul. See Phi_1:21, Phi_1:24.
Besides, if we attempt to make the parable speak here what seems to be implied in
the letter, then we may say, with equal propriety, that Christ sleeps and wakes
alternately; and that his own grace grows, he knows not how, in the heart in which he
has planted it.
On these two parables we may remark: -
1. That a preacher is a person employed by God, and sent out to sow the good
seed of his kingdom in the souls of men.
2. That it is a sin against God to stay in the field and not sow.
3. That it is a sin to pretend to sow, when a man is not furnished by the keeper of
the granary with any more seed.
4. That it is a high offense against God to change the Master’s seed, to mix it, or to
sow bad seed in the place of it.
5. That he is not a seeds-man of God who desires to sow by the way side, etc., and
not on the proper ground, i.e. he who loves to preach only to genteel
congregations, to people of sense and fashion, and feels it a pain and a cross to
labor among the poor and the ignorant.
6. That he who sows with a simple, upright heart, the seed of his Master, shall
(though some may be unfruitful) see the seed take deep root; and,
notwithstanding the unfaithfulness and sloth of many of his hearers, he shall
doubtless come with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. See Quesnel.
GILL, "But when the fruit is brought forth,.... Unto perfection, and is fully
ripe; signifying that when grace is brought to maturity, and faith is performed with
power, and the good work begun is perfected; then, as the husbandman,
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149. immediately he putteth the sickle; and cuts it down, and gathers it in;
because the harvest is come; at death or at the end of the world, which the
harvest represents: when all the elect of God are called by grace, and grace in them is
brought to its perfection, and they have brought forth all the fruit they were ordained
to bear, they will then be all gathered in; either by Christ himself who comes into his
garden, and gathers his lilies by death; or by the angels, the reapers, at the close of
time, who will gather the elect from the four winds; or the ministers of the Gospel,
who shall come again with joy, bringing their sheaves with them; being able to
observe with pleasure a greater increase, and more fruit of their labours, than they
knew of, or expected.
HENRY, "5. It comes to perfection at last (Mar_4:29); When the fruit is brought
forth, that is, when it is ripe, and ready to be delivered into the owner's hand; then he
puts in the sickle. This intimates, (1.) That Christ now accepts the services which are
done to him by an honest heart from a good principle; from the fruit of the gospel
taking place and working in the soul, Christ gathers in a harvest of honour to
himself. See Joh_4:35. (2.) That he will reward them in eternal life. When those that
receive the gospel aright, have finished their course, the harvest comes, when they
shall be gathered as wheat into God's barn (Mat_13:30), as a shock of corn in his
season.
JAMIESON, "But when the fruit is brought forth — to maturity
immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come — This
charmingly points to the transition from the earthly to the heavenly condition of the
Christian and the Church.
PULPIT, "But when the fruit is ripe ( ὅταν δὲ παραδῷ ὁ καρπὸς). The verb here
is active; it might be rendered delivereth up, or alloweth. It is a peculiar
expression, though evidently meaning "when the fruit is ready." He putteth forth
the sickle, because the harvest is come. As soon as Christ's work is completed,
whether in the Church or in the individual, "immediately" the sickle is sent
forth. As soon as a Christian is ready for heaven, God calls him away; and
therefore we may infer that it is unwise, if not sinful, for a Christian, pressed it
may be with sickness or trouble, to be eager in wishing to leave this world. "It is
one thing to be willing to go when God pleases; it is another thing to speak as
though we wished to hasten our departure." "When the fruit is ripe,
immediately he putteth forth the sickle." If therefore, the sickle is not yet sent
forth, it is because the fruit is not yet fully ripe. The afflictions of the faithful are
God's means to ripen them for heaven. They are the dressing which the Lord of
the vineyard employs to make the tree more fruitful, to make the Christian more
fruitful in grace, and more ripe for glory.
BI, "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground.
The religion of Christ
I. The religion of Christ is a reign. It is not a creed, or a sentiment, or a ritualism, but
a regal force, a power that holds sway over intellect, heart, and will. As a reign it is-
1. Spiritual. Its throne is within.
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150. 2. Free.
3. Constant.
II. It is a Divine reign. This is proved by-
1. Its congruity with human nature. It accords with reason, conscience, and the
profoundest cravings of the soul.
2. Its influence on human life. It makes men righteous, loving, peaceful, godlike.
III. It is a growing reign. It grows in the individual soul, and in the increase of its
subjects.
1. This growth is silent. It does not advance as the reign of human monarchs, by
noise and bluster, by social convulsion and bloody wars. It works in the mind and
spreads through society, silent as the distilling dew or the morning beam.
2. Gradual.
3. Secret.
IV. Christ’s religion may be promoted by human agency. Whilst man cannot in
nature create the crop, no crop would come without his agency; so Christ has left the
extension of His religion to depend in some measure on man.
V. Human effort is founded on confidence in Divine laws. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The kingdom in the heart
I. The first lesson taught us here is, that progress in personal religion is vital and not
mechanical (Mar_4:26).
1. The “seed” contains in itself the germ of all the future growth. Hence, all
expectation must actually begin and end with the grain which is sown. If the
initial impartation of Divine grace in the truth through the Holy Ghost be not
received, it will do no good whatsoever to watch and hope and encourage
ourselves. (See Joh_6:65.)
2. The “ground” develops the germ. The human life and experience which the
seed falls into has to be prepared, and, of course, needs to be cultivated; then God
sends His celestial benediction of the sunshine and the showers. But the fruit “the
earth bringeth forth of herself.” This union of human fidelity with Divine grace
constitutes the cooperation with which the mysterious work goes on. We are to
“add” to our attainments, “giving all diligence” (2Pe_1:5). We are to “work out”
our own salvation “with fear and trembling” (Php_2:12-13).
3. The “man” casts the seed. God gives it, and the germ of salvation is in what
God gives. But a free-willed man must let it sink into his heart and life. There are
“means of grace;” human beings must put themselves in the way of them. The
first step in the new life is displayed in the willingness to take every other step.
(See 2Co_3:18, in the New Revision.)
II. Our next lesson from the figure which Christ uses is this: progress in personal
religion is constant and not spasmodic. (See verses 26, 27.)
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151. 1. Observe here that the growth of the seed is continued through the “night and
day.” One little brilliant touch of imagination does great service in this picture.
The man rests; he has done his duty. God, the unseen, is silently keeping His
promise. And while we rejoice in the sweet helpful sunshine, and thank Him for
it, we ought to thank Him too for these heavy moist nights of gloom, which
surprise us often with their darkness, and then surprise us more afterwards with
the extraordinary progress they have brought. (See Heb_12:11.)
2. Hence also we observe that even hindrances help sometimes. Those are the
hardiest plants which have been oftenest shadowed; and those are the most
stable trees which have been oftenest writhed and tossed by the blasts as they
blustered around them.
3. So, above everything else, we observe that here we are taught the necessity of
trust. No one thing in nature is more pathetically beautiful than the behaviour of
certain sensitive plants we all are acquainted with, as the nightfall approaches.
They tranquilly fold up their leaves, as if they were living beings, and now knew
that from the evening to the morning again they would have to live just by faith in
the Supreme Hand which made them. We must make up our minds that there
can be never any healthy growth which undertakes to move forward by frantic
leaps or spasms of progress. We must trust God; and He neither dwarfs nor
forces. Hothouse shoots are proverbially feeble, and almost always it has been
found that conservatory oranges are the bitterest sort of fruit.
III. Once more: let us learn from the figure which our Lord uses, that progress in
personal religion is spiritual and not conspicuous. The seed grows, but the man
“knows not how.”
1. The man cannot possibly “know how.” Our Saviour, in another place, gives the
full reasons for that (Luk_17:20-21). When He declares “the kingdom of God
cometh not with observation,” He adds at once His sufficient explanation; “for,
behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” We are unable to become in any case
thoroughly acquainted with each other. We are often mistaken about ourselves.
The most we can hope to understand is to be found in grand results, and not in
the processes.
2. The man does not need to “know how.” He needs only to keep growing, and all
will be right in the end. Christians are not called knowers, but “believers.” The old
promise is that “the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.” And the
singularity of the palm tree is that it is an inside grower; it is always adding its
woody layers underneath the bark, and enlarging itself from the centre out of
sight. Botanically speaking, man is “endogenous.” Our best attainments, like
Moses’ shining face, axe always gained unconsciously, and others see them first.
3. Many men make mistakes in trying to “know how.” The religious life of a
genuine Christian cannot be dealt with from the outside without injury. It is
harmed when we attempt to make it showy. You will kill the strongest trees if you
seek to keep them varnished. All penances and pilgrimages, all mere rituals and
rubrics, all legislations and reforms, are as powerless to save the soul as so many
carvings and statues and cornices on the exterior of a house would be to give
health to a sick man within. Time is wasted in efforts to help men savingly in any
other way than by teaching them to “grow up in all things into Christ, which is the
head” (Eph_4:14-16).
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152. IV. Let us learn, in the fourth place, from the figure our Lord uses, that progress in
personal religion is natural and not artistic. (See verse 28.)
1. Our Lord Himself was entirely unconventional.
2. Hence, a conventional religion cannot be Christian. For it is not possible that
“a man in Christ” should be artistic. Fancy forms of devoteeism are simply
grotesque.
3. The “beauty of holiness” will not stand much millinery of adornment.
Naturalness is the first element of loveliness.
4. Meantime, let us remember that all Christ seems to desire of His followers is
just themselves. Timothy was not set to find some extraordinary attainment, but
to “stir up the gift” which was “in him.” Jesus praised the misjudged woman
because she had “done what she could.”
V. Finally, we may learn from the figure which our Lord uses, that progress in
personal religion is garnered at last, and not lost. (See Mar_4:29.)
1. The “fruit” is what is wanted. And the gains of the growth are all conserved in
the fruit. Growth is for the sake of more fruit. Some might say, “The seed that we
cast into the ground is quite lost.” No; the seed will be found inside of every fruit.
Others might say, “The increase in size and strength is certainly all lost.” No; the
increase is ten or a hundred fold inside of the fruit. There is a whole field-full of
living germs in the matured fruit of each honest life for God.
2. The “harvest” fixes the final date of the ingathering. There does not appear to
be anything like caprice in God’s plan. “He hath made everything beautiful in His
time.” And in the harvest time, surely, the fields of ripened grain are loveliest.
3. For it is the ripeness of the fruit which announces the harvest. That must be
the force here of the fine and welcome word “immediately.” When the believer is
ready to go to his home, the Lord is ready to receive him. (C. S. Robinson.)
God’s work in the kingdom
I. In its beginnings. God permits us to cooperate with Him; but the great work is His.
We learn the truth by prayer, and study, and obedience. We make it known. He gives
its life. As the farmer can only sow the seed he has obtained, and must depend on the
life within it, and the earth which brings forth fruit of herself, so we can only make
known the truth we have received, and must trust entirely to God to make it effective.
II. In its growth God advances this new life according to its own laws. We need not
be impatient, nor attempt to force unnatural growth, nor dig it up to see if it is
growing. But we must make the utmost of our own powers to aid those that are
beyond us. As it requires a whole man to make a successful farmer, so all the energies
of character, study, and devotion are needed to make a successful sower of the seed
of the kingdom.
III. In its perfection. There is a harvest time. God completes the work He has begun
in each soul; but He has made us so interdependent that its completion calls for our
watchful activity. We are not responsible for the laws of spiritual growth; but we are
commanded to be at hand to watch the blade as it appears, to welcome the ear and
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153. the full fruit. (A. E. Dunning.)
Human agency likened to a growing plant
I. Man’s knowledge and power, in matter and in mind, are small, yet requisite.
II. Natural powers are made to do much for him, but secretly and slowly.
III. He has to wait in patience, and then to take possession. (J. H. Godwin.)
The growth of the spiritual life
I. Spiritual goodness is a growth. It springs and grows up. Cut the stone and carve it,
so it remains; cut the tree, lop off its branches, and then it will sprout. Man can
impart motion, and make automata, but he cannot give life. The test of real life is
growth.
II. Spiritual goodness is an independent growth. Not a hot house plant. Needs no
petting. Ministers need not torment themselves about the issue of the work: God
gives the increase.
III. Spiritual goodness is a mysterious growth. The law of development is hidden,
though real.
IV. Spiritual goodness is a constant growth. Our souls do not rest.
V. Spiritual goodness is a progressive growth. The blade is the mark of tenderness;
the ear is the mark of full vigour; the full corn in the ear is the mark of maturity. (F.
W. Robertson, M. A.)
The power of growth inherent in things divine
The husbandman has only two functions with regard to the seed-to sow it, and to
reap. All the rest the seed can manage for itself. So in spiritual things, we need only
take care that we sow good seed-seed of truth, seed of good example, seed of loving
sympathy. We need not too curiously inquire as to the exact attitude of the hearts on
which we scatter the seed, nor ask every hour as to the appreciation which the seed
receives, nor use a microscope to measure its daily growth, nor keep piling on the
simple seed undue efforts to secure its fruitfulness. (R. Glover.)
The seed growing mysteriously
Remarkable correspondence between history of Church and spiritual life of
individual Christians. Consider in this connection:
I. The growth and fruitfulness of the Divine Word in the entire history of the Church.
1. The certain growth of the truth through this dispensation. Christianity is
always spreading.
2. The orderly development of the truth. Providence continually brings into view
long-hidden meanings and applications of the gospel.
3. The mystery of the gospel’s extension and development. Even the wisest are far
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154. from understanding the true reason and mode of its growth.
II. The growth and fruitfulness of the Divine Word in individual lives.
1. They who hear the gospel should consider the consequences of their conduct in
relation to it. The honest reception of it is the beginning of a life of holy
fruitfulness to the glory of God. The rejection involves a state worse than
barrenness.
2. This parable should teach cheerful confidence to all who sow the good seed-
ministers, teachers-all who speak a word for Christ. The result is beyond their
power or knowledge, but it is sure.
3. It should produce joy in all Christian hearts by the prospect which it opens.
The glorious issue of each Christian life. The blessed consummation of the
world’s history. The final rejoicing of all who labour in the gospel. Above all, the
harvest gladness of the Lord. (E. Heath.)
The kingdoms of grace and glory
These two kingdoms differ not specifically, but gradually; they differ not in nature,
but only in degree. The kingdom of grace is nothing but the inchoation or beginning
of the kingdom of glory; the kingdom of grace is glory in the seed, and the kingdom
of glory is grace in the flower; the kingdom of grace is glory in the daybreak, and the
kingdom of glory is grace in the full meridian; the kingdom of grace is glory militant,
and the kingdom of glory is grace triumphant. There is such an inseparable
connection between these two kingdoms, that there is no passing into the one but by
the other. At Athens there were two temples-a temple of virtue and a temple of
honour; and there was no going into the temple of honour but through the temple of
virtue. So the kingdoms of grace and glory are so joined together, that we cannot go
into the kingdom of glory but through the kingdom of grace. Many people aspire
after the kingdom of glory, but never look after grace; but these two, which God hath
joined together, may not be put asunder. The kingdom of grace leads to the kingdom
of glory. (T. Watson.)
The seed in the heart
The ascendency and growth of true religion.
1. External agencies. We are not passive and powerless recipients of heavenly
influences; we are required to use diligently all the appliances of the
husbandman, leaving the rest to Him who disposes all things. The eye of God
marks what becomes of each grain of seed: how one lies disregarded on the
surface of the worldly heart, and another sinks no deeper than the first stratum of
fitful impulse piety; how the young choke the seed with pleasures, the middle-
aged destroy it with worldly ambitions, and the old stifle it with corroding cares;
yet, dead as this seed may seem, it springeth up, ay, and will spring up in another
world, if not in this, and bear its testimony against all who neglect or despise the
message of God.
2. The invisible methods of its succeeding processes. There is no discovering of
the subtle law, by which the preaching of the self-same Word becomes powerless
here, and effectual there. An unperceived influence is brought to bear on a man’s
heart, constraining but not compelling him, causing principles and desires and
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155. feelings to spring up “he knows not how.” It is for him to yield to this influence.
3. The certain progressiveness of true religion. No standing still. All religion is a
spreading and an advancing thing. God leads on the converted soul step by step;
He restores the features of our lost spiritual image little by little; He destroys the
dominant passions of the old man one by one; and so leads us on from strength
to strength, till in the perfect righteousness of Christ we appear before Him in
Zion. To continue babes in Christ, would be like saying that we have the leaven of
God within us, and yet that it is not affecting the surrounding mass; that the fire
of God is within our hearts, without burning up the dross and stubble; that, aged
trees as we are, we put forth nothing but the tender shoot, and patriarchs as we
should be in spiritual things, we are but as infants of a day old.
4. The end: the final gathering of the ripe sheaves into the garner of life. Here our
progress may be slow; there is an infinitude of holy attainment beyond. (Daniel
Moore, M. A.)
The soul’s restoration is gradual
It is one of the severest trials of our faith, to go on day after day in the same struggle
against sin and self; and it is a sore temptation to many-because they do not see any
striking proofs of restoration, any rapid growth in grace, any marked progress in the
heavenward journey-to doubt whether progress has been made. It is Satan who
makes this suggestion to them, to daunt and to destroy; but it is a lie which can
deceive those only who forget or distrust their God. The farmer who goes every day to
his fields, though he knows that in due season he shall reap, does not notice the
development which is going on in his wheat; but they who pass by at longer intervals
observe and admire. It is so with the true Christian: he does not see his character
change, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation unto him; but, slowly and
surely, silently as the sap rises in the trees, as the leaves unroll and the blossom
bursts, and lo! the fruit is there; so goes on the restoration of grace-imperceptibly, as
the light will soon fade into darkness, or rather, as the morning shineth more and
more unto the perfect day. A soul can no more be restored and sanctified for heaven
at once, than a tree can bear fruit without the blossom, or a church be restored
without cost and toil. Only they who learn to labour and to wait, will have wages from
the Lord of the vineyard, when the even of the world is come, and to him that
overcometh He shall give the beautiful crown. (S. R. Hole, M. A.)
The patience of hope
I. Do not worry yourself about the growth of grace in others. Do not press too hardly
for evidence of growth in your children. Confine your care to the seed you sow, and,
calm and hopeful, leave the rest to God.
II. Be not too anxious about the work of grace in your own soul. It grows like the
corn; like the corn you cannot see it growing. Take care of your action, and your
nature will take care of itself. Harbour no thoughts of despair.
III. Be patient with yourself. Plants that are meant to live long grow slowly. A
mushroom grows swiftly, and passes away swiftly. The oak grows slow to stand long.
Grace is meant to live forever, and grows, therefore, slowly. Each good act helps it a
little, but you cannot trace the help. If God has patience with you, have patience with
yourself; and make not your grace less by worrying because it is not more. (R.
Glover.)
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156. Spiritual growth
In form and imagery this parable is exquisitely simple; in principle and meaning it is
very profound. To be able to put great truths in simple language is a note of true
power. Christ was a master of this art. His disciples do not seem to have ever
attempted it. The parable was too Divine a thing for them to touch. The idea in this
parable is distinct and beautiful. The seed once sown, grows according to its own
nature; it has life in itself; and when once fairly deposited in congenial soil, and
subjected to the quickening influences of heavenly sunshine and shower, it silently
and mysteriously develops the life that is in it, according to the ordinary principles of
growth. It has an inherent vitality, a growth power, which springs up “we know not
how;” we only see that it grows. The brown clod of the field is first tinged with virgin
green; then covered as with a carpet; then waves, in yielding beauty to the wind, like
a summer sea, and rustles in ripening music, like a forest. So is the kingdom of God;
the field of the heart, the field of the world, are thus covered with gracious fruit.
I. This great law of spiritual growth is not always recognized, nor are men always
contented with it. We are eager for quick results; we have not the patience to wait for
the slow development from seed to fruit.
II. But this is God’s plan in all things. He produces nothing by great leaps and
transitions; all His great works are quiet processes. Light and darkness melt into
each other; the seasons change by gradual transition; all life, vegetable and animal,
grows from a germ; and the higher and nobler the type of life, the slower and more
gradual is the process of growth. The oak attains to maturity more slowly than the
flower; man than the lower animals; the mind than the body; the soul than the mind.
III. Application to the character and course of the Christian life.
1. Its beginning. Only a blade, hardly to be discerned above the soil, or
distinguished from common grass. We may often confound the real beginnings of
religion with ordinary human virtues.
2. Its progress. We look for the formation of the ear, and for the full corn in the
ear. A child of God, always a babe, is a deformity.
3. Its consummation. How fruitful and beautiful it should be, not with the
verdant beauty of the blade, but with the golden beauty of the ripe corn. (Henry
Allon.)
The blade, the ear, the fall corn
The seed in the ground. The kingdom of God, or religion in the heart, is secret in its
beginnings. This is suggested by the parable. A man casts seed into the ground, and
then leaves it to Nature-that is, to God. Such is the silence and secrecy of the Divine
life in the heart. We have the truth of God as seed. Compared with natural or
scientific truth (which yet we would not disparage) it may well be called, as in one of
the Psalms, “precious seed,” and the sowers of it may well go forth “weeping”-i.e.
with intensity of will, with all their sensibilities stirred to the sowing of it; and yet let
them know-it is well for us all to know-that a sower can only sow. He cannot
decompose the grain. He cannot vitalize the inward germ. He must leave the seed
with God. Attempts are made, sometimes, in times of religious revival and
excitement, to force the living process, and even to have essential power and action in
it; to make it begin at certain times and in certain ways; but the success of these
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157. efforts is but small. Very often the result of such intrusive violence is simply this, that
Nature is made to look like grace for a little while, only to sink back into Nature
again. We are only sowers. We “cast the seed into the ground,” we “sleep and rise
night and day.” We go about our customary avocations and know nothing for certain
of what has become of the seed for a time. By and by we shall know by the appearing
of the blade above the soil, by the growing and by the ripening; but at first we knew
nothing. The blade.
Not only is there secrecy at the beginning, but even after life is begun the
manifestations of it are very slender and even dubious. Life must appear in some
way, else we cannot apprehend it. We know life, not in its very substance, but only in
its attributes and fruits. The first appearance of life is therefore a time of great
interest; we watch it as the farmer watches the blade when it first shows above the
soil. It does not then look at all like the corn it ultimately becomes. “First the blade.”
Take it when it is just visible above the soil-tender, pale, hardly green as yet-and
compare that with the treasures of the threshing floor. What a difference! and how
wonderful it seems that those should come from that! Not only is the first appearance
small and slender, but to the unskilled eye it is very dubious and uncertain. Even so!
The springing of the precious seed of Divine truth out of the secret soul into the
visible life, is known at first often by manifestations very slender and sensitive. The
begun life is so feeble that you can hardly say “It is there.” A flush on the cheek or a
gleam of the eye betokens some unusual inward feeling. Something is done, or
something is left undone, and that is all! A Bible is kept in the room, and sometimes
read in the morning or the evening. A new walk is taken that a certain person may be
met, or missed. A letter has a sentence or two with the slightest touch of a new tone
in it. Or there is some other faint suggestion of a change of mind and view. And if one
should come with a high standard and a strict measuring line he might, of course,
say, “Is that all?” Do you expect that to endure the conflicts and tests of life, and
overcome its difficulties? Do you look for golden harvest only out of that? And yet
that young, tender, trembling soul will grow in grace, and will be at last as ripe and
mellow and ready for the garner as the other. “Then the ear.”-God’s day of revelation.
Everyone knows corn in the ear-all dubiety is over when we look on the ear of corn.
In the spike that holds the grain, as in a protective loving embrace, we know,
although we do not see it, that the corn is enfolded. And when the spike expands with
the force of vegetation, and the seeds of corn appear, no one can deny or doubt their
existence. So there is a revealing or declaring time in the spiritual life. Life, hidden
beyond the proper time of manifestation, will die. The corn in the ear cannot be
preserved; it must grow on, or perish. “The full corn in the ear.”-The work of grace
perfected. As the result of the growing comes the ripening, or what is here called “the
full corn in the ear.” How little there is of man! How much of God! Man throws the
seed into the ground, as one might throw a handful of pebbles into the sea! and
months afterwards he comes, and carries away, by reaping and harvesting, thirty fold
or sixty fold. He throws in one and carries away thirty, as it were direct from the
hand of God. It is God who has been working during all these silent months. He
never leaves the field. Down beneath the red mould He has His laboratory. He
kindles there ten thousand invisible fires. He carries on and completes in
unreckonable instances that process of transmutation which is the most wonderful
that takes place beneath the sun. He opens in every field ten thousand times ten
thousand fountains of life, and out of these living fountains spring the visible forms,
blade, and sheath, and ear, and ripened corn. And after God has been thus working,
then again comes the man, with his baskets, with his empty garners, and God fills
them. Now the chief lesson-the very teaching of the parable-is this: that the human
agency is no more in proportion and degree within the “kingdom of God” than it is in
the field of corn. “So is the kingdom of God.” The spiritual life is as much and as
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158. constantly under God’s care as, in the natural world, is the field of growing corn.
Indeed, we may say the spiritual life has more of His care. For, while the man has the
sowing and the reaping in the natural field, in the spiritual field he has the sowing
but not the reaping. “The angels are the reapers.” Souls ripened for heaven are not
reaped by men on the earth. The practical uses of the great truth taught in the
parable are such as these. It teaches us a lesson of diligence. We can only sow,
therefore let us sow. A lesson of reverence. What wonders are being wrought very
near to us in silence! The Spirit of God is striving with human spirits! A lesson of
abstinence. Having sown the seed, leave it with God. Think-“It has passed now from
my care into a more sacred department, and into far higher hands. With Him let me
leave it.” Finally, a lesson of trust. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
The different stages in the growth of Christian life
I. Let us attend to the words before us, by observing briefly the stages of Christian
life as presented to us by them. A thing of events must have stages; a thing of time
must also have its stages; so must all things of growth and advancement Christian life
is a thing of events, of time, and of growth; as such, it has its stages of development
and maturity.
1. There is the blade stage. Human life, in all its forms, has its blade form and
condition, as well as the plant.
(1) It is the first expression of life to human sense. It is not the first stage of
life in fact, but it is so in appearance and visible evidence.
(2) The blade is a result of some unseen power behind what appears to sense.
The blade is a production, produced by some unseen power of vitality outside
itself as to origin and law. Christian life, as well as the blade, is the result of
vital power higher and apart from itself.
(3) The blade form is a stage of tenderness. As yet it is not hardened in its
fibre, and consolidated in its root. The smallest force can crush it, the faintest
blight can destroy it. Its slenderness may have one advantage-there is only a
small quantity of the storm that can be brought to bear upon it compared
with what would be if it were broader, taller, and more massive.
(4) It is hopeful as to future prospects. As days and nights revolve it will take
deeper root, and spread its offshoots on every hand. Its appearance is a
promise, and its feebleness, with careful attention to the order of its life, will
gain strength and tallness. Take care of the convictions, the aspirations, the
promises, and the small expressions of goodness and godliness in life; they
are the blades of true and Christian life.
2. Then the ear. This is the middle stage of Christian life.
(1) This shows a life partially developed. It has not reached its intended
ultimate end, but has made considerable progress towards it. The dangers
which surround the beginning of life are overcome.
(2) It is a life partly consolidated in strength and maturity. It is not so strong
as to be out of danger, it is not so complete as to be perfect; yet it is beyond
the reach of many of the smaller forces which once threatened its life and
growth, and is also in a fair way of reaching the higher perfection which it
aspires after.
(3) It is a life of greater testedness than that of the blade. It has stood the test
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159. of storms and frosty nights; and in the midst and through them all it has
grown, and stands fair for a brighter and richer future still.
(4) It is a life in active progress. It is a life of history. It is a life of experience.
3. The full corn in the ear.
(1) It is a condition of substantial possession. It is not a life of uncertain
promise, which may never be fulfilled, but of reality and substance. It is not a
matter of outward form, but one of precious value-the ear is full of corn. It is a
life of weight, of value and of fitness.
(2) It is a stage of maturity. The organs are fully developed, and the end is
fully obtained. It comes up to the expectation of the proprietor.
(3) It is a state of triumph. All inherent weakness has been conquered, and a
mature life has been gained. Such a life is worth the aim and effort; it is the
end of all agents and means of God’s grace and providence.
4. It is intended to show us a life having answered its right end. The end of all toil
and culture was to make it full and rich in the ear; that period has arrived without
a failure, and all rejoice in the fact. Such a life is the highest thing possible, for
there is nothing better for us than to answer the end of the Divine plan of wisdom
and goodness.
II. The progress of Christian life. Divine order is one of progress. Among finite
imperfect beings, this is a necessity in law, and a kindness in provision. We are born
infants, and we gain strength and knowledge by gradual progression.
1. It is a progress by events. Sometimes there is a discovery made which reveals
more in an hour than otherwise in an age. We on a sudden rise to the top of some
sunny mountain, and see more by that event than all the travel in the valley below
would have shown us all our life-the haziness is removed from the vision in one
moment by the relation of events, and we become truer, stronger, and happier, as
by the magic of lightning. The peeping of the blade through the earth, the
forming of the ear, and the filling of the ear, are events in the plant which show
its advancement, as well as being the means of its progress. Birth, in our natural
life, is an event of amazing progress; so is the quickening of our moral sentiments
in our religious life; and often the reading of a book, the intercourse with a
superior friend, or entrance into a school, become the greatest possible events in
our mental life. Nature is full of events, so is religion. They break the monotony of
life, and give freshness and force to the general and common in existence, so as to
make them varied and attractive. Let us not think that they are not of Divine
ordination by reason that they are only rare and occasional; they have their class,
laws, and work, as much as the common in every day’s transaction.
2. It is a progress of law and order. Progress is only possible by law; the thing
that does not advance by law is a retrogression. We may not be able to
understand all in the law of life, but we can follow it, for that is both our duty and
privilege alike. The law of progress is within the reach of the babe; by submitting
to it he advances into true manhood. It is the fixing of the soul upon high objects,
using all means given us for that end, and unyielding perseverance in the
application.
3. It is a progress through opposing forces and difficulties. Nothing escapes the
opposing powers of life. If the little blade could give us the history of days and
nights, oh! what a story of difficulties and dangers would it tell us! Can sinful man
expect to advance more easily than the beautiful flower or the innocent blade?
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160. Human nature is weedy and thorny, a very uncongenial soil for the seed of life.
4. It is a progress in itself imperceivable in its actual process. The growth of the
blade is not seen in itself, it is only seen at different epochs.
5. It is a progress hidden in mystery. We speak of things as if we knew them,
whereas we know very little more than their existence and their names. No
physiologist can explain all the laws of life and growth in the plant; and it can be
no amazement if we know as little in the greater thing of spiritual life in the soul.
6. It is a progress of gradual, slow development. The plant does not reach its
maturity in one hour, but it is the growth of different seasons, treatment night
and day, weeks and months. Good culture can only bring it forward more rapidly,
and produce a better quality; it cannot alter the law of gradual advancement.
Slow and gradual development of Christian life in our heart and practice
corresponds with our powers to bear and to do. If it were all at once, we could not
bear it; also its educational power over our patience and hope would be of little
value, as well as the perpetual enjoyment which it throws over the whole period
of gradual growth. It is dependent upon our activity, and if we acted more
earnestly it would be much faster in growth than it is: but if we acted to the top of
our strength, used all means, and failed in nothing, it would be still an
advancement by degrees. If we are slow in the climbing, we have time to reflect
and gain wisdom as we proceed; if it is gradual and tedious, we get more
consolidated in the growth and soil. Let us not be discouraged; this is not an
exception in our spiritual life, it is the law in other matters much the same. The
organs of our bodies, the powers of our minds, reach their full height and
maturity little by little. The great building is reared by slow and gradual
advancement, and the tall and broad oak reaches its climax maturity through very
slow degrees. We have no reason to be discouraged; law is safe and sure; it is as
faithful in the slow process as it is in the event of the faster advancement. We
have nothing to fear apart from ourselves; enough for us to know that it will be
finished in due time if we fail not to give all diligence to secure the happy result.
III. The conditional laws of Christian life, required in every stage of its advancement
and involved even in the fact of its existence.
1. One condition in the life and growth of the plant is, there must be vital seed.
No one with experience thinks of planting lifeless particles, for experience and
reason unite to proclaim it hopeless and useless. A mere form or appearance of
life is not sufficient; it must be real in the heart of the seed to give life to the plant.
Christian truth in its right relation is life, and thus planted and cultivated,
produces life in the believing mind and heart that receives it.
2. Another condition in the order of law is, there must be a proper soil to receive
the seed. To receive the seed of life, there is a fit soil required in our mind, heart,
and conscience.
3. Another law in the growth of the plant is the one of means. The plant you must
cultivate, or it will decline into feebleness, and will die. You must water its root,
remove destructive weeds from communion with it, take away the thing that
shades it, and sometimes you must prop it; these are the means of law and life,
and you never say they are hard and unreasonable; you think yourself sufficiently
rewarded for all in being able to preserve the life of the plant. Think not that
spiritual life requires less at your hands than that of the plant.
4. Another law in the advancement of life, both of the plant and Christian, is
variety in unity of operation. Before a little plant can live and grow, you must
have combination of elements operating in beautiful harmony for the purpose.
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161. The wind must blow, the rain must fall; light, heat, and gases must meet in nice
equality and harmonious activity. The absence of one would make the process
imperfect; even an inequality would impair the total result of the whole. The law
applicable to the plant is analogically the same in Christian life. As in the life of
the plant, so there are various elements and agencies required to sustain and
carry on the process of Christian life to its full beauty and perfection. Light, faith,
love, hope, patience, action, communion, perseverance, and sacrifice, must be
united in the delicate and important work of the building up of Christian life.
5. Another law in the economy of life is active exercise. Life is an active thing; it is
preserved and advanced by unceasing activity. To preserve Christian life in full
and healthy vigour, the whole soul must be in full exercise.
6. Another condition I shall just name-something supernatural, and above and
behind life, is required for its existence and growth. Life in the plant, as well as in
the heart, is incapable of producing itself, and the source of it must be above and
independent of the means which produce and sustain it. (T. Hughes.)
What the farm labourers can do and what they cannot do
I. We shall, first, learn from our text what we can do and what we cannot do. “So is
the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground:” this the gracious
worker can do. “And the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how:” this
is what he cannot do: seed once sown is beyond human jurisdiction, and man can
neither make it spring nor grow. Notice, then, that we can sow. Any man who has
received the knowledge of the grace of God in his heart can teach others. We need
never quarrel with God because we cannot do everything, if He only permits us to do
this one thing; for sowing the good seed is a work which will need all our wit, our
strength, our love, our care. Still, wise sowers discover favourable opportunities for
sowing, and gladly seize upon them. This seed should be sown often, for many are the
foes of the wheat, and if you repeat not your sowing you may never see a harvest. The
seed must be sown everywhere, too, for there are no choice corners of the world that
you can afford to let alone, in the hope that they will he self-productive. You may not
leave the rich and intelligent under the notion that surely the gospel will be found
among them, for it is not so: the pride of life leads them away from God. You may not
leave the poor and illiterate, and say, “Surely they will of themselves feel their need of
Christ.” I have heard that Captain Cook, the celebrated circumnavigator, in whatever
part of the earth he landed, took with him a little packet of English seeds, and
scattered them in suitable places. He mould leave the boat and wander up from the
shore. He said nothing, but quietly scattered the seeds wherever he went, so that he
belted the world with the flowers and herbs of his native land. Imitate him wherever
you go; sow spiritual seed in every place that your foot shall tread upon. Let us now
think of what you cannot do. You cannot, after the seed has left your hand, cause it to
put forth life. I am sure you cannot make it grow, for you do not know how it grows.
The text saith, “And the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.” That
which is beyond the range of our knowledge is certainly beyond the reach of our
power. Can you make a seed germinate? Certainly this is true of the rise and progress
of the life of God in the heart. It enters the soul and roots itself we know not how.
Naturally men hate the Word, but it enters and it changes their hearts, so that they
come to love it; yet we know not how. Their whole nature is renewed, so that instead
of producing sin it yields repentance, faith, and love; but we know not how. How the
Spirit of God deals with the mind of man, how He creates the new heart and the right
spirit, how we are begotten again unto a lively hope, we cannot tell.
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162. II. Our second head is like unto the first, and consists of what we can know and what
we cannot know. First, what we can know. We can know when we have sown the
good seed of the Word that it will grow; for God has promised that it shall do so.
Moreover, the earth, which is here the type of the man, “bringeth forth fruit of
herself.” We must mind what we are at in expounding this, for human hearts do not
produce faith of themselves; they are as hard rock on which the seed perishes. But it
means this-that as the earth under the blessing of the dew and the rain is, by God’s
secret working upon it, made to take up and embrace the seed, so the heart of man is
made ready to receive and enfold the gospel of Jesus Christ within itself. Man’s
awakened heart wants exactly what the Word of God supplies. Moved by a divine
influence the soul embraces the truth, and is embraced by it, and so the truth lives in
the heart, and is quickened by it. Man’s love accepts the love of God; man’s faith
wrought in him by the Spirit of God believes the truth of God; man’s hope wrought in
him by the Holy Ghost lays hold upon the things revealed, and so the heavenly seed
grows in the soil of the soul. The life comes not from you who preach the Word, but it
is placed within the Word which you preach by the Holy Spirit. The life is not in your
hand, but in the heart which is led to take hold upon the truth by the Spirit of God.
Salvation comes not from the personal authority of the preacher, but through the
personal conviction, personal faith, and personal love of the hearer. So much as this
we may know, and is it not enough for all practical purposes? Still, there is a
something which we cannot know, a secret into which we cannot pry. I repeat what I
have said before: you cannot look into men’s inward parts and see exactly how the
truth takes hold upon the heart, or the heart takes hold upon the truth. Many have
watched their own feelings till they have become blind with despondency, and others
have watched the feelings of the young till they have done them rather harm than
good by their rigorous supervision. In God’s work there is more room for faith than
for sight. The heavenly seed grows secretly.
III. Thirdly, our text tells us what we may expect if we work for God and what we
may not expect. According to this parable we may expect to see fruit. But we may not
expect to see all the seed which we sow spring up the moment we sow it. We are also
to expect to see the good seed grow, but not always after our fashion. Like children
we are apt to be impatient. Your little boy sowed mustard and cress yesterday in his
garden. This afternoon Johnny will be turning over the ground to see if the seed is
growing. There is no probability that his mustard and cress will come to anything, for
he will not let it alone long enough for it to grow. So is it with hasty workers; they
must see the result of the gospel directly, or else they distrust the blessed Word.
Certain preachers are in such a hurry that they will allow no time for thought, no
space for counting the cost, no opportunity for men to consider their ways and turn
to the Lord with fall purpose of heart. All other seeds take time to grow, but the seed
of the Word must grow before the speaker’s eyes like magic, or he thinks nothing has
been done. Such good brethren are so eager to produce blade and ear there and then,
that they roast their seed in the fire of fanaticism, and it perishes. We may expect also
to see the seed ripen. Our works will by God’s grace lead up to real faith in those He
hath wrought upon by his Word and Spirit; but we must not expect to see it perfect at
first. How many mistakes have been made here. Here is a young person under
impression, and some good, sound brother talks with the trembling beginner, and
asks profound questions. He shakes his experienced head, and knits his furrowed
brows. He goes into the cornfield to see how the crops are prospering, and though it
is early in the year, he laments that he cannot see an ear of corn; indeed, he perceives
nothing but mere grass. “I cannot see a trace of corn,” says he. No, brother, of course
you cannot; for you will not be satisfied with the blade as an evidence of life, but must
insist upon seeing everything at full growth at once. If you had looked for the blade
you would have found it; and it would have encouraged you. For my own part, I am
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163. glad even to perceive a faint desire, a feeble longing, a degree of uneasiness, or a
measure of weariness of sin, or a craving after mercy. Will it not be wise for you, also,
to allow things to begin at the beginning, and to be satisfied with their being small at
the first? See the blade of desire, and then watch for more. Soon you shall see a little
more than desire; for there shall be conviction and resolve, and after that a feeble
faith, small as a mustard seed, but bound to grow. Do not despise the day of small
things.
IV. Under the last head we shall consider what sleep workers may take and what they
may not take; for it is said of this sowing man, that he sleeps and rises night and day,
and the seed springs and grows up he knoweth not how. But how may a good
workman for Christ lawfully go to sleep? I answer, first, he may sleep the sleep of
restfulness born of confidence. Also take that sleep of joyful expectancy which leads
to a happy waking. Take your rest because you have consciously resigned your work
into God’s hands. But do not sleep the sleep of unwatchfulness. A farmer sows his
seed, but he does not therefore forget it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
On the analogies which obtain between the natural and the spiritual
husbandry
A man may be qualified for practically carrying forward a process, of whose hidden
steps and of whose internal workings he is most profoundly ignorant. This is true in
manufactures. It is true in the business of agriculture. And it holds eminently true in
the business of education. How many are the efficient artizans, for example, in whose
hands you may at all times count on a right and prosperous result; but who are
utterly in the dark as to the principles of that chemistry in their respective arts by the
operation of which the result is arrived at. And how many a ploughman, who knows
best how to prepare the ground, and who knows best how to deposit the seed for the
object of a coming harvest; and yet, if questioned upon the arcana of physiology, or of
those secret and intermediate changes by which the grain in the progress of vegetable
growth is transformed into a complete plant ripened and ready for the use of man,
would reply, in the language of my text, that he knoweth not how. And, in like
manner, there is many a vigorous and successful educationist, who does come at the
result of good scholarship, whether in Christianity or in common learning-and that
without ever theorizing on the latent and elementary principles of the subject upon
which he operates-without so much as casting one glance at the science of
metaphysics-a science more inscrutable still than that of physiology; and which, by
probing into the mysteries of the human spirit, would fain discover how it is that a
truth is first deposited there by communication, and then takes root in the memory,
and then warms into an impression, and then forms into a sentiment, and then
ripens into a purpose, and then comes out to visible observation in an effect or a deed
or a habit of actual performance. There are thousands who, in the language of our
text, know not how all this comes about, and yet have, in point of fact and of real
business, set the process of it effectively agoing. We cannot afford at present to trace
all the analogies which obtain between a plant from the germination of its seed, and a
Christian from the infancy of his first principles. We shall, in the first place, confine
ourselves to one or two of these analogies; and, secondly, endeavour to show how
some of what may be called the larger operations of Christian philanthropy admit of
having a certain measure of light thrown upon them, by the comparison which is laid
before us in this parable between the work of a teacher and the work of a
husbandman.
I. In the agricultural process there is much that is left to be done by nature and in a
way that the workman knoweth not how; nor is it at all necessary that he should. He
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164. puts forth his hand and sets a mechanism ageing-the principles of which he, with his
head, is wholly unable to comprehend. The doing of his part is indispensable, but his
knowledge of the way in which Nature doeth her part is not indispensable. Now, it is
even so in the work of spiritual husbandry. There is an obvious part of it that is done
by the agency of man; and there is a hidden part of it which is independent of that
agency. What more settled and reposing than the faith which a husbandman has in
the constancy of Nature. He knows not how it is; but, on the strength of a gross and
general experience, he knows that so it is. And it were well in a Christian teacher to
imitate this confidence. There is in it both the wisdom of experience and the sublime
wisdom of piety. But, again, it is the work of the husbandman to cast the seed into
the ground. It is not his work to manufacture the seed. This were wholly above him
and beyond him. In like manner, to excogitate and to systematize the truths which we
are afterwards to deposit in the minds of those who are submitted to our instruction,
were a task beyond the faculties of man. These truths, therefore, are provided to his
hand. What his eye could not see, nor his ear hear, has been brought within his reach
by a communication from heaven; and to him nothing is left but a simple
acquiescence in his Bible, and a faithful exposition of it. Our writers upon education
may have done something. They may have scattered a few superficial elegancies over
the face of society, and taught the lovely daughters of accomplishment how to walk in
gracefulness their little hour over a paltry and perishable scene. But it is only in as far
as they deal in the truths and lessons of the Bible that they rear any plants for
heaven, or can carry forward a single pupil to the bloom and the vigour of
immortality. And as we have not to manufacture a seed for the operations of our
spiritual husbandry, so neither have we to mend it. It is not fit that the wisdom of
God should thus be intermeddled with by the wisdom of man. But again-we do not
lose sight of the analogy which there is between the work of a spiritual and that of a
natural husbandman-when, after having affirmed the indispensableness of casting
into the ground of the human heart the pure and the simple Word, we further affirm
the indispensableness and the efficacy of prayer. Even after that, in the business of
agriculture, man hath performed his handiwork by depositing the seed in the earth-
he should acknowledge the handiwork of God, in those high and hidden processes,
whether of the atmosphere above or of the vegetable kingdom below, which he can
neither control nor comprehend. By the work of diligence which he does with his
hand, he fulfils man’s parts of the operation. By the prayer of dependence which
arises from his heart, he does homage and recognition to God’s part of it. And we are
not to imagine that prayer is without effect, even in the processes of the natural
economy. The same God who framed and who organized our great mundane system
has never so left it to the play and the impulses of its own mechanism as to have
resigned even for one moment that mastery over it which belongs to Him; but He
knows when to give that mysterious touch, by which He both answers prayer, and
disturbs not the harmony of the universe which He has formed. It is when man
aspires upwards after fellowship with God, and looks and longs for the
communications of light and of power from the sanctuary-it is then that God looks
with loudest complacency upon man, and lets willingly downward all the treasures of
grace upon his soul. It is said of Elijah that, when he prayed, the heaven gave rain
and the earth brought forth her fruit.
II. We now come to the second thing proposed, which was to show how some of
what may be called the larger operations of Christian philanthropy admit of a certain
measure of light being thrown upon them by the comparison made in this parable
between the work of a Christian teacher and the work of a husbandman. And first, it
may evince to us the efficacy of that Christian teaching, which is sometimes
undertaken by men in humble life and of the most ordinary scholarship. Let them
have but understanding enough for the great and obvious simplicities of the Bible,
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165. and let them have grace enough for devout and depending prayer; and, on the
strength of these two properties, they are both wise unto salvation for themselves,
and may become the instruments of winning the souls of others also. It is well for the
families of our land that the lessons of eternity can fall with effect even from the lips
of the cottage patriarch. But this brings us to the last of those analogies between the
natural and the spiritual husbandry which we shall at present be able to overtake-an
analogy not certainly suggested by the text, but still close enough for the illustration
of all which we can now afford to say in defence of those parochial establishments
which have done so much, we think, both for the Christianity and the scholarship of
our people. A territorial division of the country into parishes, each of which is
assigned to at least one minister as the distinct and definite field of his spiritual
cultivation-this we have long thought does for Christianity what is often done in
agriculture by a system of irrigation. You are aware what is meant by this. Its use is
for the conveyance and the distribution of water, that indispensable aliment to all
vegetation over the surface of the land. It is thus, for example, that by the
establishment of duets of conveyance the waters of the Nile are made to overspread
the farms of Egypt-the country through which it passes. This irrigation, you will
observe, does not supply the water. It only conveys it. It does not bring down the
liquid nourishment from heaven. It only spreads it abroad upon the earth. Were
there no descent of water from above, causing the river to overflow its banks, there is
nothing in the irrigation, with its then dry and deserted furrows, which could avail
the earth that is below. On the other hand, were there no irrigation, many would be
the tracts of country that should have no agriculture and could bang no produce. Let
not, therefore, our dependence on the Spirit lead us to despise the machinery of a
territorial establishment, and neither let our confidence in machinery lead us to
neglect prayer for the descent of living water from on high. (Dr. Chalmers.)
Mysterious growth
We little think how much is always going on in what we may call the underground of
life; and how much more we have to do with those secret processes which underlie
everything, than might, at first sight, appear. We are all casting live seeds. Every
word, act, look, goes down into somebody’s mind, and lives there. You said
something-it was false. You said it lightly. But someone heard it, and it lodged in his
mind; it was a seed to him. It found something in that man’s mind that was congenial
to it; and so it struck a root; it ramified; it fructified. It led on to other thoughts; then
it became a word or an action in that man’s life; and his word and act did to another
heart just what yours did to him. This is the dark side of a grand truth. Now read the
bright side. “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed,” etc. The sower
of this seed is properly the Lord Jesus Christ; but He uses men. The truth in a man’s
heart propagates-but secretly. We are to believe in the independent power that there
is in God’s Word to do its own work in a man’s heart. There is something kindred
between a particular word and some affection or thought in a man’s mind before it
can take effect. Perhaps the word will incline a man to give up some sin he has
previously indulged; may awaken a sense of dissatisfaction with the world; may beget
a painful sense of sin. However it be, there will be a great deal passing in the mind
which does not meet the eye. Fathers and mothers, who have cast the early seed, you
have slept for very sorrow. You see nothing. Wait on. The springing and the growing
will be you know not where, and you know not how. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The seed growing secretly
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166. 1. God does His work silently.
2. God does His work slowly.
3. God does His work surely Underneath all apparent disasters His kingdom
comes.
I. In expounding this parable observe that this law of God supposes human effort.
II. It supposes human confidence quite as much as human effort. (W. G. Barrett.)
Progressive religion
I. God carries on His work of grace by the instrumentality of men-“As if a man
should cast seed.”
II. This work of grace is often for some time unperceived. Thus the seed of Divine
grace sown in the heart is frequently there when not discerned. It is often concealed
owing to the gradual and imperceptible manner in which it is produced; by the
privacy of a man’s situation, and because of the natural timidity of his temper. It
should excite the prayer, “Let Thy work appear unto Thy servant,” etc.
III. Where this work of grace exists it must sooner or later appear-“Springeth and
groweth up.”
IV. It is gradual in its growth-“First the blade,” etc. For some time knowledge, faith,
love, hope, joy, are small and feeble. But gradually the believer gathers strength. He
grows in knowledge and hatred of sin. But let not the weakest be discouraged; the
tenderness of Jesus is a strong consolation.
V. The work of grace is beneficial in its present effects-“When the fruit is brought
forth.” The fruit of piety towards God and of usefulness to men.
VI. This work of grace is glorious in its final result-“Immediately he putteth in the
sickle, because the harvest is come.” The gathering of saints to heaven is God’s
harvest. The value which God attaches to His own people, and the tender care which
He exercises over them. When this work is done they are gathered into heaven.
1. Has the Word of God been sown in your hearts? You have it in your Bibles, but
have you received it?
2. You that seem to receive the Word, what evidence have you of its growth?
3. What prospect have you of this glorious result? (T. Kidd.)
Changes incident to Christian growth
1. The law of growth is one of the necessary laws of life. All life must be actually
growing.
2. That growth in Christian life involves change. Our views of God may be
expected to change and grow; of the relationship between God and Christ; of the
relative importance and the proportions of different doctrines; our views of God’s
Word will change. But as these changes pass over the growing Christian he is
often greatly distressed. Be humble, but do not fear. Some of the changes incident
to Christian growth will affect our views, of religious duties and the religious life.
As we grow we form a different estimate of the active and passive, of the working
and waiting. (R. Tuck, B. A.)
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167. Growth through change
And this is the peculiarity of growth in animal life-it is growth through change. Think
of the silkworm. It is first a little egg; within it life is developing; presently the worm
comes creeping forth; again and again it casts its skin, changing until it passes into a
state like death, changing once more into a winged form, full of beauty. These
growings by change have been illustrated from the peculiarities of the ride by railway
into the City of Edinburgh. Sometimes the train passes through fiat, well-populated
country. Sometimes it hurries through the busy towns, over which the dark smoke
hangs. Sometimes it passes amid the hills, up winding valleys, and along the
murmuring shores, and the travellers are enchanted with varying scenes of natural
beauty, presently it nears its destination, and rushes screaming into the dark tunnel,
which shuts out all light and beauty. That is the last change, and soon it comes forth
into the North Loch, and all the full glory of that city of monuments and mansions
breaks upon the view. Ever advancing, through changings and growings, we, too,
shall come through the valley of the shadow to the city of the great King, and the full
glory of holiness and the smile of God. (R. Tuck, B. A.)
Soul life and growth imperceptible
When a man is building a house he can see it as it goes on. That is an outside matter.
There is seam after seam, row after row of stone or brick. Gradually the form of the
window or the door rises. The second story, the third story, the building up to the
roof appears. He can see it day by day. A man goes into his garden and plants, for
spring, the early lettuce, or radish, or whatever it may be. He may sit up all night with
spectacles and a lantern, but he will not see anything going on; and yet there is
something going on which is vitally connected with the whole operation of vegetable
development. The seed has not been in the ground an hour before it feels its outward
husk swelling by imbibing moisture. It has not been for ten hours in the warm soil
before it begins to feel that the material in the seed itself is chemically affected,
changed. Many a seed has not been twenty-four hours in the ground before there is
an impulse in it at one end to thrust down a root, and at the other end to thrust up a
plumule, or the beginning of a visible stalk; but it makes no noise. It is like Solomon’s
Temple; it is a structure that is built without the sound of a hammer; and whatever it
may come to, all the earlier processes of germination and development are invisible
and are silent; for if you take it out into the light it will not grow. The seed needs
warmth, moisture, and luminous darkness-that is to say, considerable darkness, and
yet a little invisible light. So it is with the spiritual life. (H. W. Beecher.)
Christian life long invisible
I knew a young man in Boston, whose father was rich. He had genius, particularly in
the formative, sculptural art; and his amusement was in making busts and little clay
statues. One lucky day, the father lost all his property, and the young man was
thrown out of business, and had to work for his own livelihood. He had already made
the busts of friends, and when the motives to indolence were taken away from him,
when the golden chair was broken, and he had to get up and go to work, he said to
himself, “What can I do for a living better than this?” Well, he has come to the artist
state already, unconsciously, not expecting to be a professional artist, simply
following his taste; but the moment he puts out his sign, showing that he would like
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168. to have custom for the sake of self-support, then everybody says, “He has become an
artist.” He has been an artist a good while, but it is just being developed before the
public. The roots of the thing were in him long ago. (H. W. Beecher.)
Moral changes sometimes unconsciously wrought
When I travelled in Italy I knew the line between Italy and Austria. We all had to go
out and have our trunks examined and our passports vised. We were all of us hurried
out suspiciously, as if we were contrabands. Then we went over, and I knew I was in
Austria. But in America you can go from one State to another, as there is no Custom
House, thank God, on the lines; as there are no passports required; as there is
nothing to interrupt the journey. You glide into the State of New York from
Connecticut, from New York into Pennsylvania, and from Pennsylvania into Ohio,
and you do not think you have made any change in the State, though you have really.
You bring a person up in Christian nurture, and in the admonition of the Lord, in the
household, and he is gaining more light; he is adapting the light which he has; and he
comes into that state of mind in which all he wants in order to realize that he is a
Christian is to wake up into consciousness. (H. W. Beecher.)
The helplessness of the spiritual husbandman
We have in this a most simple, yet striking, representation of the business and, at the
same time, of the helplessness of the spiritual husbandman. Unto the ministers of the
gospel, who are the great moral labourers in the field of the world, there is entrusted
the task of preparing the soil and of casting in the seed. And if they bring to this task
all the fidelity and all the diligence of intent and single-eyed labourers; if they strive
to make ready the ground by leading men to clear away the weeds of an unrighteous
practice, and to apply the spade and ploughshare of a resistance to evil, and a striving
after good; and if, then, by a faithful publication of the grand truths of the gospel,
they throw in the seed of the Word, they have reached the boundary of their office
and also of their strength; and are to the full as powerless to the making the seed
germinate, and send forth a harvest, as the husbandman to the causing the valleys to
stand thick with corn. And indeed, in the spiritual agriculture, the power of the
husbandman is even more circumscribed than in the natural. With all the pains with
which a minister of Christ may ply at the duties of his office, he can never be sure
that the ground is fit for receiving the grain: he must just do always, what the tiller of
the natural soil is never reduced to do, run the risk of casting the seed upon the rock,
or of leaving it to be devoured by the fowls of the air. (H. Melvill.)
Seed growing though unrecognized
Ministers require to be very cautious in judging as to the influence of the truth
among their hearers. Amidst much that is externally unfavourable, and even hostile,
that truth may be operating, producing conviction, checking long-cherished sins, and
subduing the pride of the corrupt heart. It is a very agreeable and self-flattering thing
for a man to say that because religion does not manifest itself in other men in the
same way it does in him, therefore these people have no religion. This is very
common, and is in reality but a branch of that master sin of intolerance, which has so
often been crushing all the charities of our nature; and even amidst the solemnity of
devotional exercises, despising and invading the conventional decencies of life. Often,
when we do not see it, religion is at work; often, when we never suspected it, it has
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169. made considerable progress. Its influence is sweet, makes no noise, and has no
ostentatious signs. We must not forget the mistake of Elijah, a mistake into which
ministers and others have not unfrequently fallen. When he supposed himself to
stand alone the defender of the truth, there were seven thousand in Israel doing daily
homage to it. If he had been told seventy, it would have been remarkable-if seven
hundred, more so; but seven thousand was altogether astonishing. “The kingdom of
God cometh not with observation.” In obscure places, in noiseless retirements, and
without one arresting sign, the truth takes effect. The minister is not thinking of it.
The very members of the family are not thinking of it. Daily companions and friends
are not thinking of it. There is no profession, no controversy, no street shouts, no
exclusiveness, no badges of partizanship; but nevertheless, on the unseen arena of
thought, the truth is establishing its power, achieving its triumphs, subduing desire
after desire, purpose after purpose, and will at last yield peace and joy unspeakable.
(Archibald Bennie.)
Growth unexplained
Who shall scrutinize the agency by which the Word is applied to the conscience? Who
shall explain how, after weeks, it may be, or months, or years, during which the seed
has been buried, there will often unexpectedly come a moment when the preached
Word shall rise up in the memory, and a single text, long ago heard, and to all
appearance forgotten, overspread the soul with the big thoughts of eternity? It is a
mystery which far transcends all our powers of investigation, how spirit acts upon
spirit, so that whilst there are no outward tokens of an applied machinery, there is
going on a mighty operation, even the effecting a moral achievement which far
surpasses the stretch of all finite ability. We are so accustomed to that change which
takes place in a sinner’s conversion that we do not ascribe to it in right measure its
characteristic of wonderful. Yet wonderful, most wonderful it is-wonderful in the
secrecy of the process, wonderful in the nature of the result! I can understand a
change wrought on matter; I have no difficulty in perceiving that the same substance
may be presented in quite a different aspect, and that mechanical and chemical
power may make it pass through a long series of transformations; but where is the
mechanism which shall root from the heart the love of sin? where the chemistry
which shall so sublimate the affections, that they will mount towards God? It is the
eternal revolution which I have no power of scrutinizing, except in its effect. (H.
Melvill.)
Seed never idle
Though it is very slow and imperceptible in its growth, still the seed never really lies
idle. From the moment of its first start to its final ripening, it is always on its way; it
never once stops, far less does it ever go backward. It can never return into the blade
out of which it originally sprang; it cannot even stand for long together without
exhibiting decided signs of its growth. Now and then, perhaps, the weather may be
very much against it, still it keeps waiting for the first favourable change; and as soon
as ever this appears, it takes immediate advantage of it, and starts forward again on
its way. And so, too, it is with the good seed in the heart. Trials and temptations may
check its growth there for a while; but it is only for a while; and at the first removals
or lessening of these, it again goes on its way as before. It never goes back any more
than the ear goes back into the blade out of which it has sprung. It has but one way of
growing, and that is heavenwards. (H. Harris.)
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170. Growth of seed mysterious
In saying that the seed groweth up we “know not how,” the mysterious nature and
working of grace is hinted at. It is not regulated by natural laws, though they afford
many illustrative analogies. It cannot be reduced to a science, like agriculture or
mechanics. There is no philosophy of the Holy Ghost. Regeneration is not the result
of any forces which human reason defines and gauges, much less controls; and the
Divine life which is breathed into the soul by the mysterious visitation of the Spirit,
blowing like the wind, of which we cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth,
is afterwards maintained by supernatural supplies from the same invisible source,
and is “hid with Christ in God.” (Josiah D. Smith.)
The truth is God’s seed
The one great consideration to be kept in view is, that the truth is God’s seed. It is no
theory or set of maxims of man’s devising-adapted in the short-sighted calculations
of human reason to certain ends; but it is God’s selected instrument, and in that very
fact we have at once obligation and encouragement to use it. That moral world where
its effects are produced is His, as well as the firmament of heaven, or the green fields
of the earth-naked to His eye, and subject to His control. He has adapted it to the end
which He has in view-He who poised the stars in their spheres, and so skilfully
adjusted the exquisite mechanism of man, beast, and bird. Besides, he has annexed a
Divine, ever-active, ever-present agency to the use of it. It is not left to force its way
amidst obstructions; but, while Providence often appears to pioneer its way into the
hearts of men, that gracious Spirit which moved of old on the face of the waters, goes
forth with it, gives to its brief sentences the power of thunder, and to its appeals the
withering force of the lightning flash, and makes it to revolutionize and transform the
whole inner world of thought and desire. Hence the rapid and extraordinary
triumphs with which it has glorified the annals of the Church; the temples of idolatry
shaken to their foundations; ancient prejudices melted like wax; proud passions
crushed and eradicated; superstition, pleasure, philosophy, all put to flight. The
power of opinion is not unfrequently greatly extolled, and it is wonderful. A single
truth, clearly announced, troubles a continent. A small thought goes forth from one
man’s breast, and achieves victories denied to armed hosts and costly expeditions.
But all the triumphs of opinion are a mere trifle compared with the triumphs of the
truth of God; truth, whose banners have been planted upon the domes of heathen
temples, bare waved above the ruins of thrones, and have been borne in bloodless
fame to the ends of the earth. This is the true seed, of which the harvest is eternal life.
(Archibald Bennie.)
Conversion gradual
Is there not a great deal too much anxiety to recognize in conversion something
sudden and surprising, some word or thing arresting or transfixing the soul? It is
possible by electricity to make seeds suddenly germinate and prematurely grow, but
this is not healthy, fruitful life. People want something like this in conversion; they
can hardly believe in a new life unless it begins thus. Conviction must come like
lightning-a blaze in the midst of a great darkness. Is it not better to come like
sunlight-a gradual, illuminating, diffusive thing? If it do come like lightning, let us be
thankful that God does so break in upon the darkness of our day. Hardened, immoral
men are sometimes thus smitten to the earth. More commonly and more naturally it
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171. comes like light “shining more and more unto the perfect day.” The pious nurture of
infancy and childhood deepening the religious heart, and developing the religious
life-“first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.” But let it begin as it
may, the process is one of continuous growth, innocence maturing into holiness,
passion deepening into principle, struggle developing strength, laborious act
becomes easy habit; a gracious mellowing influence permeating and glorifying the
entire life; the life of the soul growing, not as a fragile succulent gourd, but as a close-
grained tree, every day and every experience adding growth and strength. (H. Allen.)
The order of growth
Not only does the corn always go on growing, but it always observes the same order
and succession in its growth; “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in
the ear.” This is an order which is never reversed or altered; it is always the full corn
in the ear which is the last to show itself. And so it is with the heart. First, it is always
repentance and sorrow for sin; then, faith in Jesus Christ; then, without losing these,
any more than the grain loses the protection of the blade and the ear, it goes on to
holiness of life, and a sure hope in God’s promises; and last of all to love, love the
ripened corn, the fulfilling of the ear. (H. Harris.)
Hope in spite of sight
This is a parable of hope. It teaches us to be hopeful when nothing hopeful is seen.
The earth which seems the grave is really the cradle of the seed, and its death is its
life. Except it fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. It is God’s seed, it suits
the soil, the sunshine and the shower favour it, ever so many mysteries too great for
me to grasp are on its side, and God has promised the harvest. Why lose heart then?
The reaping time shall come by and by. What though it seems unlikely? Look at that
bare, brown field in spring. What more unlikely than that it shall wave with golden
grain? Every harvest is a perfect miracle. You see a foolish, wicked boy, into whose
heart a praying mother has dropped the good seed. All seems lost; but wait, and he
becomes a great Christian like John Newton, like thousands whose biographies are
the best commentaries upon this parable. (J. Wells, M. A.)
The young convert
There is first the convert in the young days of his godliness-the green blades just
breaking through the soil, and giving witness to the germination of the seed. This is
ordinarily a season of great promise. We have not, and we look not for the rich fruit
of a matured, well-disciplined piety, but we have the glow of verdant profession-
everything looks fresh. The young believer scarcely calculates on any interruption,
and as though there were no blighting winds, and no nipping frosts, and no sweeping
hail to be expected, in the spiritual agriculture, the tender shoot rises from the
ground, and glistens in the sunshine. (H. Melvill.)
The anxieties of growth in the ear
Next comes the ear; and this is a season of weariness and of watching. Sometimes
there will be long intervals without any perceptible growth; sometimes the corn will
look sickly, as though blasted by the mildew; sometimes the storm will rush over it,
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172. and almost level it with the earth. All this takes place in the experience of the
Christian. The spiritual husbandman and the natural know the like anxieties in
observing the ear of which they have sown the seed. How slow is sometimes the
growth in grace! how slight are the tokens of life! how yellow and how drooping the
corn! The sudden gust of temptation, the fatal blight of worldly association, the
corroding worm of indwelling corruption,-all these may tell powerfully and
perniciously on the rising crop, and cause that often there shall scarcely seem reason
to hope that any fruit will eventually be yielded. Who would recognize in the
lukewarm, the half-and-half professor, the ardent, the active, and resolute convert?
Who would know, in the stunted shrivelled ear, the green blade which had come up
like an emerald shoot? We do not indeed say, that in every case there will be these
various interruptions and declensions. You may find instances wherein godliness
grows uniformly, and piety advances steadily, and even rapidly, towards perfection.
The Christian will sometimes ripen for heaven, as though, in place of being exposed
to cold air, and wind, and rain, he had been treated as an exotic, and had always been
kept under shelter. But, generally, even with those who maintain the most consistent
profession, the Christian life is the scene of anxiety and uncertainty; and if it were not
that there are gracious promises assuring them that “the bruised reed shall not be
broken, nor the smoking flax quenched,” often must the spiritual husbandman
mourn bitterly over the apparent disappointment of all his best hopes, and surrender
himself to the fear, that when the great day of harvest breaks on this creation, the
field which had once worn that lovely enamel which gave such promise of an
abundant ingathering, will yield nothing to the reaper but the dry and parched stalks,
fit only to be bound in bundles for the burning. (H. Melvill.)
Suffering Christians spared: “Immediately he putteth in the sickle”
We must dwell a moment longer upon this; it is a matter full of interest and
instruction. It seems often, as we have said, to excite surprise both in the sufferer
himself and in others, when a Christian, who has long been eminent for piety, and
whose faith had been conspicuous in his works, lingers for months, perhaps even
years, in wearisome sickness, as though, notwithstanding the preparation of a
righteous life, he needed protracted trial to fit him for the presence of God. But there
is, we believe, altogether a mistake in the view which is commonly taken of old age
and lingering sickness. Because a man is confined to his room or his bed, the idea
seems to be that he is altogether useless. In the ordinary phrase, he is “quite laid by,”
as though he had no duties to perform when he could no longer perform those of
more active life. Was there ever a greater mistake? The sick room, the sick bed, has
its special, its appropriate duties, duties to the full as difficult, as honourable, as
remunerative, as any which devolve on the Christian whilst yet in his unbroken
strength. They are not precisely the same duties as belong to him in health, but they
differ only by such difference as a change in outward circumstances and position will
always introduce. The piety which he has to cultivate, the resignation which he has to
exhibit, the faith which he has to exercise, the example which he has to set-oh, talk
not of the sick man as of a man laid by! Harder duties, it may be, ay, deeds of more
extensive usefulness, are required from him who lingers on the couch, than from the
man of health in the highest and most laborious of Christian undertakings. Is there,
then, any cause for surprise if a Christian be left to linger in sickness, to wear away
tedious months in racking pain and slow decay? Is it at all in contradiction to the
saying that “so soon as the fruit is ripe, immediately he putteth in the sickle”? Not so!
The fruit is not necessarily ripe; the man’s work is not necessarily done, because he is
what you call “laid by,” and can take no part in the weightier bustle of life. It is they
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173. who turn many to righteousness that are “to shine as stars in the firmament;” and is
there no sermon from the sick bed? Has the sick bed nothing to do with publishing
and adorning the gospel? Yea, I think, then, an awful and perilous trust is committed
to the sick Christian-friends, children, neighbours, the church at large, look to him
for some practical exhibition of the worth of Christianity. If he be fretful, or
impatient, or full of doubts and fears, they will say-Is this all that the gospel can do
for a man in a season of extremity? If, on the other hand, he be meek and resigned,
and able to testify to God’s faithfulness to his word, they will be taught-and nothing
teaches like example-that Christianity can make good its pretensions; that it is a
sustaining, an elevating, a death-conquering religion. And who shall calculate what
may be wrought through such practical exhibitions of the power and preciousness of
the gospel? I, for one, will not dare to affirm that more is done towards converting
the careless, confirming the wavering, and comforting the desponding, by the bold
champions who labour publicly in the making Christ known; than by many a worn-
down invalid, who preaches to a household or a neighbourhood by simple
unquestioning dependence on God: I, for one, can believe that he who dies the death
of trial, passing almost visibly, whilst yet in the exercise of every energy, from a high
post of usefulness to the kingdom of glory, may have fewer at the judgment to
witness to the success of his labours, than many a bedridden Christian, who, by a
beautiful submission, waited, year after year, his summons to depart. (H. Melvill.)
Originality in character
We observe the sacredness of individual character-of originality. It bears fruit of
itself in its own individual development. The process is never exactly repeated. Life is
no mechanical thing. It is everywhere alike, yet different. Count the leaves and grains,
measure the height of the trees, examine the leaves of an oak. So in the Christian life.
No two men think the same, or believe the same. It is always so in the highest life,
and in national character. There is ever a beautiful diversity. (F. W. Robertson.)
Life expansion
Real life is that which has in it a principle of expansion. It “springs and grows up.”
Moreover, it is not only growth, but tendency ever towards a higher life. Life has
innate energy, and will unfold itself according to the law of its own being. Its law is
progress towards its own possible completeness: such completeness as its nature
admits of. By this we distinguish real life from seeming life. As you cut the stone and
carve it, so it remains. But cut a tree; lop off its branches, strip it; it will shoot and
sprout. Only deadness remains unaltered. Trees in winter all seem alike. Spring
detects life. Man can impart motion, and make automatons. Growth and power he
cannot give. This is the principle of all life. And in the higher life especially there is
not only expansion but progress. The limpet on the rock only increases in volume.
The plant develops into the flower. The insect develops from the egg into the
caterpillar, grows, spins itself a coffin, and becomes hard and shelly. But the life goes
on, and it emerges a brilliant butterfly. (F. W. Robertson.)
Hardihood of character
Real life is that which has individual, independent energy: it “bears fruit of itself.”
Observe its hardihood. It needs no petting. It is no hot house plant. Let the wild
winds of heaven blow upon it, with frost, scorching sun, and storms. Religion is not
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174. for a cloister, but for life, real hardy life. Observe Christ’s religion, and compare it
with the fanciful religion of cloistered men. Religious books which speak of
fastidious, retiring, feeble delicacy. The best Christianity grows up in exposure. The
life of Christ Himself is an illustration of this. So too that of the apostles in the world,
and that of a Christian in the army. Again, it can be left to itself safely. It will grow.
Ministers need not torment themselves about the issue of their work, for God gives
the increase. It can be left: for it is God in the soul. When once the farmer has sown,
he can do little more except weed. (F. W. Robertson.)
The ear
The ear. Marked by vigour and beauty. Vigour: erect, with decision, fixed principles,
and views. Beauty. Describe the flowering petals, etc. Solemn season. What remiss!
What thoughtfulness. Yet blight is more frequent now-prostration. (F. W.
Robertson.)
Moral ripeness
Full corn in the ear. Marked by maturity and ripeness. It has no further stage of
development on earth. It must die and sprout again. But its present work is done.
What is ripeness? Completeness, all powers equally cultivated. It is the completion of
the principles, feelings, and tempers. This period is also marked by humility and by
joy. By humility; the head hangs gracefully down in token of ripeness; always so with
men of great attainments. “I am but a little child,” said Newton, “picking up pebbles
on the shore of the vast ocean of truth.” By joy; the happy aspect of waving corn! But
its beauty is chiefly felt by the thoughtful man. It is the calm deep joy of the harvest
being safe, and famine impossible. The food of a nation waves before him. (F. W.
Robertson.)
Growth in the natural and in the spiritual world
The analogy between growth in the natural world and growth in the spiritual world
must be maintained in its integrity, with regard at once to spontaneity, slowness, and
gradation. Growth in the spiritual world as in the natural is spontaneous, in the sense
that it is subject to definite laws of the spirit over which man’s will has small control.
The fact is one to be recognized with humility and thankfulness. With humility, for it
teaches dependence on God; a habit of mind which brings along with it
prayerfulness, and which, as honouring to God, is more likely to insure ultimate
success than a self-reliant zeal. With thankfulness, for it relieves the heart of the too
heavy burden of an undefined, unlimited responsibility, and makes it possible for the
minister of the Word to do his work cheerfully, in the morning sowing the seed, in
the evening withholding not his hand; then retiring to rest to enjoy the sound sleep of
the labouring man, while the seed sown springs and grows apace, he knoweth not
how. Growth in the spiritual world, as in the natural, is, further, a process which
demands time and gives ample occasion for the exercise of patience. Time must
elapse even between the sowing and the brairding; a fact to be laid to heart by
parents and teachers, lest they commit the folly of insisting on seeing the blade at
once, to the probable spiritual hurt of the young intrusted to their care. Much longer
time must elapse between the brairding and the ripening. That a speedy
sanctification is impossible we do not affirm; but it is, we believe, so exceptional that
it may be left altogether out of account in discussing the theory of Christian
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175. experience. Once more, growth in the spiritual world, as in the natural, is graduated;
in that region as in this there is a blade, a green ear, and a ripe ear. (A. B. Bruce, D.
D.)
Imperceptible growth
You tell your child that this pine tree out here in the sandy field is one day going to be
as large as that great sonorous pine that sings to every wind in the wood. The child,
incredulous, determines to watch and see whether the field pine really does grow and
become as large as you say it will. So, the next morning, he goes out and takes a look
at it, and comes back and says, “It has not grown a bit.” The next week he goes out
and looks at it again, and comes back and says, “It has not grown yet. Father said it
would be as large as the pine tree in the wood, but I do not see any likelihood of its
becoming so.” How long did it take the pine tree in the wood to grow? Two hundred
years. Then men who lived when it began to grow have been buried, and generations
besides have come and gone since then. And do you suppose that God’s kingdom is
going to grow so that you can look at it, and see that it has grown during any
particular day? You cannot see it grow. All around you are things that are growing,
but that you cannot see grow. And if it is so with trees, and things that spring out of
the ground, how much more is it so with the kingdom of God? That kingdom is
advancing surely, though it advances slowly, and though it is invisible to us … You
cannot see it, even if you watch for it; but there it is; and if, after a while, you go and
look at it, you will be convinced that it has been advancing, by the results produced.
You will find that things have been done, though you could not see them done. Men
are becoming better the world over, though you cannot trace the process by which
they are becoming better. Christ’s kingdom goes forward from age to age, though you
cannot discern the steps by which it is going forward. While men, as individuals, pass
off from the stage of life, God’s work does not stop. (H. W. Beecher.)
The law of growth in the kingdom of God
I. In the first place, we shall see that we ought never to be discouraged in a true
Christian work, of whatever kind, by what seems a slow growth.
II. We may see that we are never to be discouraged in our efforts for Christ’s
kingdom by adverse circumstances; nor by any unexpected combination of these, and
their prolonged operation.
III. Let us remember that good influences are linked to good issues in this world, as
the seed to its fruitage; and that so every effort for the good of mankind, through the
kingdom of Christ, shall have its meet result.
IV. Let us remember, too, as a thing which illustrates all the rest, that God is within
and behind all forces that tend to enlarge and perfect His kingdom, as He is beneath
the physical forces which bring harvest in its season, and set on the springing seed its
coronal. He never forsakes a true work for Himself, and is certain to carry it to
ultimate success.
V. Let us remember what the glory of the harvest shall be in this developing kingdom
of God; and in view of that let us constantly labour with more than fidelity, with an
eager enthusiasm that surpasses all obstacles, makes duty a privilege, and
transmutes toil into joy! (R. S. Storrs, D. D.)
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176. The unfolding seed
What a wonderful thing is the germination of a seed! What scalpel so keen as to lay
bare, what microscope so searching as to detect, that subtle force hidden in the
elementary initial cell, which we vaguely call the principle of life? Yet there it is, lying
in solemn mystery, ready to burst forth into vigour whenever the conditions of life
are fulfilled. To the thoughtful man there is something inexpressively marvellous in
this quickening of the seed. This is why botany is a more wonderful science than
astronomy, the violet a sublimer thing than Alcyone. All that the scientist can do is to
trace sequences; he cannot explain the initial force. He can describe the plant; he
cannot expound the plant. The seed springeth up and groweth, he knoweth not how.
If he could explain it, he would be a philosopher indeed. In this particular, at least,
the parable in Mar_4:26-29 is fitly styled, “The parable of the seed growing secretly.”
Again: Not the least wonderful of the phenomena of plant growth is this: it is, at least
apparently, automatic. “The earth yieldeth fruit of herself.” It is the echo of the divine
dixit on the third day of the creative week: “Let the earth bring forth plants; and the
earth brought forth plants.” Not that the soil is the source of vegetation-it is only the
sphere of vegetation; not that the soil is the sire of the plant-it is only, so to speak, the
matrix of the plant. Nevertheless, so far as appearances go, it does seem as though
the soil were a thing of life, bringing forth fruit of herself. There lies the seed buried
in the ground. It needs no one to come and touch its pent-up potentialities. It springs
up independently of man. True, it is for man to plant the seed, and supply conditions
of growth. But it is not for man to cause the seed to germinate or to fructify. The
process, so far as man is concerned, is strictly automatic. Verily, the plant does seem
to be a living person, self-conscious and self-regulating. But the processes of
vegetation are not only mysterious and automatic, they are also gradual. The kernel
does not become the full corn in the ear in an instant. In the case of cereals, months
intervene between the sowing and the reaping; in the case of fruit trees, years
intervene between the planting and the gathering. Nature, at least in the sphere of life
and growth, does nothing by leaps. The processes of vegetation are also as orderly as
they are gradual. They follow each other in due and regular succession: first the
blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the car. The kernel does not become the
plump golden corn except by way of the blade. And all these processes issue in fruit.
The harvest is but the unfolded seed, unfolding in orderly succession along the axis of
growth; and the axis has as its purpose fruit. It is the very nature of the growth, the
very law of the seed, to unfold and culminate in crop. And now our farmer comes
again into view. Having sown the seed, he went away, confidently leaving it to its own
inherent forces. But now that the fruit has ripened, he reappears, and, putting in his
sickle, he shouts: “Harvest home!” Such is the parable of the unfolding seed. And
now let us ponder the meaning of the parable. In other words, let us trace some of the
analogies between the unfolding seed and the unfolding kingdom of God and
Christianity.
I. The growth of Christianity is mysterious. As the seed springs up and grows, we
know not how, so it is with the kingdom of God. Take, for example, the very
beginning of Christianity, the miraculous conception in Nazareth. Who is there that
can understand it? Incomparably more mysterious is it than the germination of any
seed. Or take the problem of the growth of Christianity-I mean the genuine, original
Christianity, truth as it is in Jesus. Once, like a grain of mustard seed, it was the
smallest of seeds; but now it has become the largest of herbs, overshadowing with its
blessed canopy that tallest portion of the world which we fondly call Christendom.
But how came it thus to spread? Because the doctrine of the cross has been preached.
And the doctrine of the cross is to the wise men of this world, in an eminent sense,
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177. foolishness. Who will explain this mystery, namely, that the foolishness of God is
wiser than the wisdom of man, the weakness of God stronger than the strength of
men? How elaborately the solution of this problem has been undertaken, and how
wretched the failure, is strikingly seen in the famous fifteenth chapter of Gibbon’s
“Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” Or take the growth of Christianity in the
case of any individual soul. How secret and underground is the process! How subtle
the workings of the Divine life within! The Christian is a mystery even to himself. His
life is a life hid with Christ in God.
II. Again: As the seed grows automatically, the earth yielding fruit of herself, so
grows the kingdom of God. Christianity is in its own inherent nature self-vital and
self-evolving. See how like a thing of life it is. Behold its wondrously absorbing
power, subsidizing to its own purposes, and assimilating into its own growing
structure, whatever there is of worth in learning, or wealth or influence, or
statesmanship, or sect, or providences.
III. The kingdom of God, like the seed which grows gradually, stage by stage, does
not burst forth full-grown, like panoplied Minerva from the cloven brow of Jove. See
how slow has been the growth of Christendom, taken as a matter of geography.
Nearly two millenniums have rolled away since the heavenly Sower declared that His
field was the world; and yet by far the larger part of that field is still heathen, never as
yet sown with the heavenly seed. Again: See how gradual has been the growth in
respect to the moral character of Christendom. More than eighteen centuries have
swept away since the Lord of the kingdom pronounced His Beatitudes, and yet there
are still in His Church the proud, and the censorious, and the avaricious, and the
quarrelsome, and the revengeful. Nevertheless, for let us be just, there has been real
growth. We have seen idolatry shaken, slavery abolished, intemperance checked,
monopoly curbed, woman emancipated, brotherhood asserted, war preparing to go
into perpetual exile. But how tedious has been the growth. In like manner, how slow
is the growth in the case of each individual Christian. How slow this unfolding along
the axis of Christ’s character! In this is seen the immense advantage of early piety, for
it takes a long, long time to unfold into the full-grown man, even the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ.
IV. Just as the seed does not leap instantly or whimsically into the fruit, but unfolds
itself in orderly succession-first the tender blade, then the swelling ear, then the ripe
grain in the ear-so it is with the seed of the kingdom, or God’s truth. This is true in
respect to doctrine. First Athanasius, the exponent of the doctrine of Christ; then
Augustine, the exponent of the doctrine of Man; then Anselm, the exponent of the
doctrine of Grace; then Luther, the exponent of the doctrine of Faith; even faith in
that Divine Christ whose grace saves sinful man. Nor has the growth, or advancing
order of due succession, ceased. The problem of this present age is the doctrine of the
Church, or what constitutes the true body of Christ. And even now we see faint
glimmers of the final doctrine-the parousia, or the doctrine of last things. And all this
is in due succession; advancing from the Christ who saves to the heaven which is the
issue of His saving. And this law of orderly unfolding is equally true in respect to
personal character. Do not be so unphilosophical, then, as to look for the full-
bearded grain of saintliness preceding the blade of youthful piety; the ripe fruits of
the Spirit clustered around the subterranean root. First little children; then young
men; then fathers. But there is one more likeness of the kingdom of God to the seed.
V. As the unfolding seed has fruit for its issue, so it is with the seed of the kingdom,
or truth as it is in Jesus. When the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the
sickle, because the harvest is come. Christianity means something more than sowing:
it also means reaping. Do not be over-anxious. Christian responsibility does have its
limits. Beware of Uzziah’s sin of distrust. Plant faithfully the seed, and then go
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178. trustfully away. (G. D. Boardman, D. D.)
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 Again he said, “What shall we say the
kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we
use to describe it?
BARNES, "Whereunto shall we liken ... - This shows the great solicitude
which Jesus had to adapt his instructions to the capacity of his disciples. He sought
out the most plain and striking illustrations - an example which should be followed
by all the ministers of the gospel. At the same time that the instructions of the pulpit
should be dignified as our Saviour’s always were they should be adapted to the
capacity of the audience and easily understood. To do this the following things are
necessary in a minister:
1.“Humility.” A freedom from a desire to shine, and to astonish the world by the
splendor of his talents, and by his learning and eloquence.
2. “Good sense.” A satisfaction in being understood.
3. Acquaintance with the habits of thought and manner of speaking among the
people. To do this, frequent contact with them is necessary.
4. “A good sound education.” It is the people of ignorance, with some smattering
of learning, and with a desire to confound and astonish people by the use of
unintelligible words. and by the introduction of matter that is wholly
unconnected with the subject, that most often shoot over the heads of the
people. Preachers of humility, good sense, and education are content with
being understood, and free from the affectation of saying things to amaze and
confound their auditors.
The kingdom of God - See the notes at Mat_3:2.
CLARKE, "Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? - How amiable
is this carefulness of Jesus! How instructive to the preachers of his word! He is not
solicitous to seek fine turns of eloquence to charm the minds of his auditors, nor to
draw such descriptions and comparisons as may surprise them: but studies only to
make himself understood; to instruct to advantage; to give true ideas of faith and
holiness; and to find out such expressions as may render necessary truths easy and
intelligible to the meanest capacities. The very wisdom of God seems to be at a loss to
find out expressions low enough for the slow apprehensions of men.
How dull and stupid is the creature! How wise and good the Creator! And how
foolish the preacher who uses fine and hard words in his preaching, which, though
admired by the shallow, convey no instruction to the multitude.
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179. GILL, "And he said,.... Still continuing his discourse on this subject, and in order
to convey to the minds of his disciples clearer ideas of the Gospel dispensation, the
success of the Gospel, and the usefulness of their ministration of it, for their
encouragement, how unpromising soever things might then be:
whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God, or with what comparison
shall we compare it? It was usual with the Jewish doctors, when about to
illustrate anything in a parabolical way to begin with such like questions; as, ‫הדבר‬ ‫למה‬
‫,דומה‬ "to what is this thing like" (d)? when the answer is to such or such thing, as
here.
HENRY, "IV. The work of grace is small in its beginnings, but comes to be great
and considerable at last (Mar_4:30-32); “Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of
God, as now to be set up by the Messiah? How shall I make you to understand the
designed method of it?” Christ speaks as one considering and consulting with
himself, how to illustrate it with an apt similitude; With what comparison shall we
compare it? Shall we fetch it from the motions of the sun, or the revolutions of the
moon? No, the comparison is borrowed from this earth, it is like a grain of mustard-
seed; he had compared it before to seed sown, here to that seed, intending thereby to
show,
1. That the beginnings of the gospel kingdom would be very small, like that which
is one of the least of all seeds. When a Christian church was sown in the earth for
God, it was all contained in one room, and the number of the names was but one
hundred and twenty (Act_1:15), as the children of Israel, when they went down into
Egypt, were but seventy souls. The work of grace in the soul, is, at first, but the day of
small things; a cloud no bigger than a man's hand. Never were there such great
things undertaken by such an inconsiderable handful, as that of the discipling of the
nations by the ministry of the apostles; nor a work that was to end in such great
glory, as the work of grace raised from such weak and unlikely beginnings. Who hath
begotten me these?
2. That the perfection of it will be very great; When it grows up, it becomes greater
than all herbs. The gospel kingdom in the world, shall increase and spread to the
remotest nations of the earth, and shall continue to the latest ages of time. The
church hath shot out great branches, strong ones, spreading far, and fruitful. The
work of grace in the soul has mighty products, now while it is in its growth; but what
will it be, when it is perfected in heaven? The difference between a grain of mustard
seed and a great tree, is nothing to that between a young convert on earth and a
glorified saint in heaven. See Joh_12:24.
JAMIESON, "Mar_4:30-32. Parable of the mustard seed.
For the exposition of this portion, see on Mat_13:31, Mat_13:32.
BARCLAY, "FROM SMALL TO GREAT (Mark 4:30-32)
4:30-32 He said: "How shall we find something with which to compare the
Kingdom of God, or what picture will we use to represent it? It is like a grain of
mustard seed, which, when it is sown upon the ground, is the least of all the seeds
179

180. upon the earth. But, when it is sown, it springs up and it becomes greater than all
the herbs; and it sends out great branches so that the birds of the heaven can
find a lodging under its shade."
There are in this parable two pictures which every Jew would readily recognize.
First, in Palestine a grain of mustard seed stood proverbially for the smallest
possible thing. For instance, "faith as a grain of mustard seed," means "the
smallest conceivable amount of faith." This mustard seed did in fact grow into
something very like a tree. A traveller in Palestine speaks of seeing a mustard
plant which, in its height, overtopped a horse and its rider. The birds were very
fond of the little black seeds of the tree and a cloud of birds over a mustard plant
was a common sight.
Second, in the Old Testament one of the commonest ways to describe a great
empire was to describe it as a tree, and the tributary nations within it were said
to be like birds finding shelter within the shadow of its branches (Ezekiel 17:22
ff; Ezekiel 31:1 ff; Daniel 4:10; Daniel 4:21). The figure of a tree with birds in the
branches therefore stands for a great empire and the nations who form part of it.
(i) This parable says, Never be daunted by small beginnings. It may seem that at
the moment we can produce only a very small effect; but if that small effect is
repeated and repeated it will become very great. There is a scientific experiment
to show the effect of dyes. A large vessel of clear water is taken and a little phial
of dye. Drop by drop the dye is dropped into the clear water. At first it seems to
have no effect at all and the water does not seem to be coloured in the least. Then
quite suddenly the water begins to tinge with the colour; bit by bit the colour
deepens, until the whole vessel is coloured. It is the repeated drops that produce
the effect.
We often feel that for all that we can do, it is hardly worth while starting a thing
at all. But we must remember this--everything must have a beginning. Nothing
emerges full-grown. It is our duty to do what we can; and the cumulative effect
of all the small efforts can in the end produce an amazing result.
(ii) This parable speaks of the empire of the church. The tree and the birds, we
have seen, stand for the great empire and for all the nations who find shelter
within it. The church began with an individual and it is meant to end with the
world. There are two directions in which this is true.
(a) The church is an empire in which all kinds of opinions and all kinds of
theologies can find a place. We have a tendency to brand as a heretic anyone who
does not think as we do. John Wesley was the greatest example of tolerance in
the world. "We think," he said, "and we let think." "I have no more right," he
said, "to object to a man for holding a different opinion from mine than I have to
differ with a man because he wears a wig and I wear my. own hair." Wesley had
one greeting, "Is thy heart as my heart? Then give me thy hand!" It is good for a
man to have the assurance that he is right, but that is no reason why he should
have the conviction that everyone else is wrong.
180

181. (b) The church is an empire in which all nations meet. Once a new church was
being built. One of its great features was to be a stained glass window. The
committee in charge searched for a subject for the window and finally decided
on the lines of the hymn,
"Around the throne of God in heaven
Thousands of children stand."
They employed a great artist to paint the picture from which the window would
be made. He began the work and fell in love with the task. Finally he finished it.
He went to bed and fell asleep but in the night he seemed to hear a noise in his
studio; he went into the studio to investigate; and there he saw a stranger with a
brush and a palette in his hands working at his picture. "Stop!" he cried. "You'll
ruin my picture." "I think," said the stranger," "that you have ruined it
already." "How's that?" said the artist. "Well," said the stranger, "you have
many colours on your palette but you have used only one for the faces of the
children. Who told you that in heaven there were only children whose faces were
white?" "No one," said the artist. "I just thought of it that way." "Look!" said
the stranger. "I will make some of their faces yellow, and some brown, and some
black, and some red. They are all there, for they have all answered my call"
"Your call?" said the artist. "Who are you?" The stranger smiled. "Once long
ago I said, 'Let the children come to me and don't stop them, for of such is the
Kingdom of Heaven'--and I'm still saying it." Then the artist realized that it was
the Master himself, and as he did so, he vanished from his sight. The picture
looked so much more wonderful now with its black and yellow and red and
brown children as well as white.
In the morning the artist awoke and rushed through to his studio. His picture
was just as he had left it; and he knew that it had all been a dream. Although
that very day the committee was coming to examine the picture he seized his
brushes and his paints, and began to paint the children of every colour and of
every race throughout all the world. When the committee arrived they thought
the picture very beautiful and one whispered gently, "Why! It's God's family at
home."
The church is the family of God; and that church which began in Palestine, small
as the mustard seed, has room in it for every nation in the world. There are no
barriers in the church of God. Man made barriers and God in Christ tore them
down.
SIMEON, "THE GRAIN OF MUSTARD-SEED
Mark 4:30-32. And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or
with what comparison shall we compare it? it is like a grain of mustard-seed,
which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth.
But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and
shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the
shadow of it.
181

182. “VERY excellent things are spoken of thee, thou city of God.” There is nothing
either in heaven or earth which may not well serve to shadow forth thine
excellencies. Our Lord had already illustrated the nature of his kingdom by a
great variety of most instructive parables; and now stretches, as it were, his
invention, in order to find other similitudes whereby to make it more fully
understood. But choosing, as he always did, to bring his illustrations from things
most obvious and familiar, he compares his Church and kingdom to a grain of
mustard-seed. We shall,
I. Illustrate this comparison—
“The kingdom of God” means, in this as in a multitude of other places, the
visible kingdom of Christ established in the world, arid his invisible kingdom
erected in the hearts of men. We must illustrate the comparison therefore,
1. In reference to the Church of Christ in the world—
[The mustard-seed is the smallest of all those seeds which grow to any
considerable size: and such was the Church of Christ at its first establishment in
the world. It consisted at first of our Lord and his twelve Disciples; and even
after our Lord’s ascension, their number was only one hundred and twenty.
Soon however it spread forth its branches. As the mustard-seed, notwithstanding
its smallness, grows up (in the eastern countries) into a tree of some magnitude,
so did the Church, notwithstanding its unpromising appearances, extend its
limits with astonishing rapidity. In the space of but a very few years, it filled, not
Judsea only, but the whole Roman empire. Nor is it yet grown to its full
dimensions. It will in the latter days overspread the whole earth. All the
kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ.
And as Jews and Gentiles have already taken refuge under its shadow, so shall
the people of all nations and languages in God’s appointed time [Note: This by
the spirit of prophecy is beautifully described as passing More the prophet’s
eyes, and as exciting great astonishment in the church itself. Isaiah 49:18-21.].]
2. In reference to the grace of God in the heart—
[Grace, when first implanted in the soul, is often very small, shewing itself only
in some glimmering views, slight convictions, good desires, faint purposes, and
feeble endeavours. But in process of time it grows in every part; it shoots forth its
roots into the soul, and becomes stronger in all its branches. The faith which was
weak, is confirmed; the hope that was languishing, is made lively and abundant;
and the love that was but cold and selfish, displays itself with purity and fervour.
And all, who come within the sphere of its influence, receive rest and
refreshment from its salutary shade [Note: Hosea 14:7.]. Indeed its full growth
cannot be seen in this world. For that glorious sight, we must ascend to heaven,
where every tree of righteousness flourishes with unfading beauty, and exhibits
in the brightest colours the power and efficacy of the Redeemer’s grace.]
Such being the import of the comparison, we shall now proceed to,
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183. II. Improve it—
The parts of our improvement must necessarily have respect to the different
views in which the parable has been explained.
We shall draw from it therefore some observations;
1. For our encouragement respecting the Church at large—
[It is to be lamented that infidelity and profaneness have overrun the world; and
that this tree which the Lord hath planted, has been so “wasted and devoured by
the wild beasts of the field [Note: Psalms 80:8-13.].” But still the stock remains,
nor shall it ever be rooted up. It shall yet “shoot forth its roots downward and
bring forth fruit upward [Note: 2 Kings 19:30.].” At various seasons the Church
has been contracted within very narrow limits; yet has always been preserved. In
the days of Noah and of Abraham, the branches were cut down, and nothing
remained but the mere stem; yet it put forth fresh branches, and extended them
far and wide. So shall it do yet again, till at last it cover the whole earth. Where
there is nothing now but idolatry and every species of wickedness, there shall one
day be “holiness to the Lord inscribed upon the very bells of the horses [Note:
Zechariah 14:20.].” Let us then water this tree with our prayers and tears. Let us
help forward its growth by every means in our power; and look with confidence
to that period, when all the nations of the world shall come and sit under its
benign shadow.]
2. For our consolation under personal doubts and apprehensions—
[From the smallness of our attainments we are sometimes ready to doubt
whether the little seed of grace in our hearts will ever grow up to any use or
profit. But there is not a saint in heaven whose grace was not once comparatively
weak. All were once “as new-born babes;” nor was it till they had learned many
humiliating lessons, that they attained to the age of young men and fathers [Note:
1 John 2:12-13.]. Thus in the natural world, the largest oak was once an acorn,
and the largest mustard-tree a little and contemptible seed. Why then should any
despond because of present appearances? Why should not we hope that in
process of time our graces shall be strengthened, and our wide-extended
branches be filled with fruit? Our God assures us that he does “not despise the
day of small things [Note: Zechariah 4:10.];” why then should we? Let us trust,
and not be afraid. Let us look up to heaven for the genial influences of the sun
and rain: nor doubt but that God will accomplish the work he has begun [Note:
Philippians 1:6.]; and “fulfil in us all the good pleasure of his goodness.”]
PULPIT 30-32, "Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what
comparison shall we compare it! In the first clause of this verse the best
authorities give πῶς for τίνι, How shall we liken the kingdom of God? and in the
second clause, instead of the Greek of which the Authorized Version is the
rendering, the best-approved reading is ( τίνι αὐτὴν παραβολῇ θῶμεν), in what
parable shall we set it forth? Our Lord thus stimulates the intellect of his
183

184. hearers, by making them his associates, as it were, in the search for appropriate
similitudes (see Dr. Morison, in loc.). The kingdom of God, that is, his Church on
earth, is like a grain of mustard seed. By this image our Lord shows the great
power, fertility, and extension of the Church; inasmuch as it started from a very
small and apparently insignificant beginning, and spread itself over the whole
world. It is not literally and absolutely true that the grain of mustard seed is less
than all seeds. There are other seeds which are less than it. But the expression
may readily be allowed when we compare the smallness of the seed with the
greatness of the results produced by it. It is one of the least of all seeds. And so
the preaching of the Gospel and the establishment of the Church was one of the
smallest of beginnings. Perhaps the well-known pungency of the seed of the
mustard plant may suggest the quickening, stimulating power of the Gospel
when it takes root in the heart. The mustard plant shoots out large branches,
which are used as fuel in some countries, quite large enough for shadow for the
birds. A traveler in South America says that it grows to so large a tree upon the
slopes of the mountains of Chili that he could ride under its branches.
COFFMAN, "THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED
How shall we liken, ... In this, Jesus employed a device often used by good
teachers, seeking to stimulate thinking on the part of his audience.
Less than all seeds ... That certain seeds may be smaller than a mustard seed is
no problem. Hyperbolic language was frequently employed then, as throughout
history, in order to stress a point. Matthew's "all Judaea" is hyperbole. Compare
Matthew 3:5 and Luke 7:30.
Greater than all herbs ... Many commentators stress the great size of the mature
mustard tree, which in some parts of the world reaches to a height of more than
twenty feet. Bickersteth reported such large specimens "on the slopes of the
mountains of Chile that one could ride under the branches."[39] The great point
in this short parable is the contrast between the small seed and the mighty
growth attained.
The birds of the heaven ... It is illogical to press a parable down upon its all
fours, but this writer cannot resist the analogy suggested by the birds. The
mustard tree itself is the kingdom of God, beginning small and becoming great;
and the fact that birds can build nests even in small trees makes it unlikely that
the birds were introduced into this Parable solely to emphasize the size of it.
They are a perfect representation of the extraneous and unrelated activities
which through the ages have associated themselves with it. Just as the birds
could not corrupt the tree, the foul birds whose nests have been built in the
kingdom of God cannot corrupt the institution with which they are connected by
association only, actually having no identity whatever with it. This interpretation
is supported by Matthew 13:4,19, and Revelation 18:2. The person planting the
seed does not appear prominently in the parable; but the kingdom of God which
was produced by it identifies the sower here with God, or Christ, as in the
parable of the sower.
184

185. The following analogies are discernible:
The seed is the word of God.
The one who sowed it is Christ
The mustard tree is the kingdom of God.
The earth is the world.
The smallness of the seed is the smallness of the kingdom's beginning.
The greatness of the tree is the vast extent of the kingdom.
The birds are the "operations" which are either evil or at best irrelevant to the
kingdom, but which are connected with it, and yet no part of it.SIZE>
For further thoughts on this parable, see the Commentary on Matthew, pp.
193-194. It has been suggested by some that Jesus' purpose in giving this parable
was to offset any pessimism arising from parables like that of the sower and of
the tares, wherein unproductive soils and hostile activity of enemies were
stressed.
ENDNOTE:
[39] E. Bickersteth, op. cit., p. 159.
PULPIT, "Mark 4:30-32
The mustard seed.
The kingdom of God has its intension and its extension, its rule over the
individual soul, and its sway over human society, its invisible work within and its
manifest and mighty achievement without; it transforms character and it renews
the world. Perhaps it is fair to regard the preceding parable of "the seed growing
secretly" as a parable of the history of the Word in the heart; and this of the
mustard seed as a parable of the fortunes and destiny of the Word in the world.
Our attention is here directed to—
I. THE SMALL AND INSIGNIFICANT BEGINNINGS OF CHRIST'S
KINGDOM, The suggestions of nature here are many and striking. Not only
does the tree begin with a seed, the eagle comes from an egg, the river is first a
little rill, the fire is ignited by a spark, and every day, however gorgeous, begins
with a faint and glimmering dawn.
1. The Lord Jesus himself, in his simplicity and humiliation, seemed most
unlikely to be the Founder of the greatest of all kingdoms. "Despised and
rejected of men," cast out, calumniated, and crucified, Jesus was as the grain of
mustard seed.
185

186. 2. The apostles of the Saviour were termed "ignorant and unlearned men," and
were apparently little adapted to revolutionize the world. But in them God chose
"the weak things of the world to confound the mighty."
3. The early Church may well have seemed to an observer to have had a poor
prospect of growing into a world-embracing community. In many a thoughtful
mind, only doubt and perplexity could arise as to "whereunto this thing should
grow." Few, feeble, contemned, these little societies were, however, the earnest of
a universal Church. It was then "the day of small things."
4. The very characteristics of Christianity gave little promise of the diffusion of
this religion throughout the world. Its defiance of worldly principles and powers,
its spirituality, its dependence upon unseen might, its warfare with prevailing
error and sin,—all seemed prejudicial to its prospects of progress and victory.
II. THE SECRET OF THE PROGRESS OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. The
figurative language of the parable suggests what this is. It is the supernatural life
which inspires it. Life comes from life; and the Divine vitality and growth of the
Christian Church is owing to the indwelling of a heavenly principle and force. A
Divine Saviour, a Divine Spirit, a Divine Word,—these account for the fact that
Christianity lives and grows, expands and conquers, day by day and year by
year. These alone explain its resistance alike of force and of corruption, its
endurance amidst all changes of civilization, its permanence when all things else
fleet, vanish, disappear.
III. THE DESTINED MAJESTIC GROWTH OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. The
Oriental mustard tree, with its large, strong branches, where the birds settle and
eat the pungent seeds, beneath the shadow of which men rest, serves as an
emblem of the vastness and capacious hospitality and ample provision of
Christianity in its ultimate perfection. The records of our religion tell of noble
character, of sublime heroism, of saintly devotion, of marvellous patience, of
mature wisdom, of boundless benevolence. And all have sprung from that seed
which fell into the ground and died eighteen centuries ago in Judaea. The
progress of Christianity during the first centuries of persecution, its conquest of
the barbarian conquerors, its purification under the Reformers, its modern
missions to the East and to the South,—all prove its inherent vitality, and predict
its ultimate universality of dominion. The predictions alike of the Old and New
Testaments are glowing and inspiriting, yet, in our own days, even calm
calculation will not deem their fulfillment improbable, whilst faith beholds them
already realized. The "kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our
Lord and of his Christ."
APPLICATION.
1. The discouraged may learn here a lesson of patience. The growth of
knowledge, virtue, and piety, may be slow, but it is sure. "The husbandman
waiteth for the precious fruit."
2. All labourers in Christ's cause may be of good cheer; for what has been beheld
186

187. of progress is enough to inspire with confidence and animate to toil: "Your
labour will not be in vain in the Lord."
PULPIT 30-32, "Mark 4:30-32
Great issues from small beginnings.
The lesson which our Lord intended to teach by the parable of the mustard seed
is stated in the announcement of our subject. If he had wished to set forth the
splendor of his kingdom, he would have chosen as an illustration the stately
cedar or the fruitful vine. The mustard in its greatest growth is by no means
majestic; but it is large in proportion to its seed, and although it was not literally
"the smallest of seeds," it was the smallest of those used in ordinary husbandry,
and was proverbially used to denote what was little and despicable. All
references to the supposed qualities of the seed, e.g. to its corrective power in
disease, to its efficacy against venom, to its fiery vigor, to its giving out of virtue
after being bruised, and so forth, appear to us beside the main purpose of the
parable, which was to set forth the great issues which, in the kingdom of our
Lord, would spring from small beginnings. This principle we propose now to
illustrate.
I. IT IS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE EARTHLY HISTORY OF OUR LORD. In his
history we see, as in a microcosm, the history of his Church. With limitless
powers of choice, he selected for himself the most humble and obscure modes of
ministry. His ways are not as our ways. Man makes a pretentious beginning, and
often comes to a disastrous ending. The building of the Tower of Babel is a
typical instance of this. Our Lord, who came to effect the stupendous work of
redeeming the world, began by spending thirty years in comparative seclusion as
a dependent infant, as an obedient child, as the son of a village carpenter. During
his two or three years of public ministry his converts were few, and for the most
part poor and ignorant. At last he died in agony and shame, amidst the hooting
of a rabble and the hatred of the reputable; and his body was laid to rest in a
borrowed grave. As we consider his life on earth, we see that it may be
represented by a seed less in appearance than many others. But there was a
fulfillment of his own words about himself, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
II. IT IS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE SPECIAL DOCTRINES OF
CHRISTIANITY. They were not truths which would commend themselves to
sensuous imaginations or to worldly hearts. They did not appear in such form
and phrase as at once to win popular applause. Notice some of our Lord's special
doctrines as laid down in the sermon on the mount and elsewhere: e.g. happiness
is to be found in the sacrifice of self; sin is to be hated, not because its results are
painful, but because it is sin; outward obedience and large gifts and sacrifices are
valueless in themselves, etc. After his crucifixion, this fact was still more
prominent. Paul said, "We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-
block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." Indicate
some of the reasons for the non-reception of Christian truth.
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188. III. IT IS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN
CHURCH. Christianity at the time of our Lord's crucifixion appeared to be
buried in the hearts of a few disciples and forgotten by the world. But on the
spring day of Pentecost it appeared in a vigor and beauty which amazed all
onlookers. It was like the bursting forth of forgotten seeds where you have been
busily employed planting something else. Christianity rapidly spread. Give
evidences of this from early Christians and from Suetonius, Pliny's letter to
Trajan, etc. This, humanly speaking, was the work of poor and illiterate men.
Manifestly the result was due, not to the sower, but to the seed. Describe the
condition and influence of the Christian Church now: the most powerful and
civilized nations largely ruled by its authority; the indirect work it is doing
through just laws, wholesome literature, philanthropic agencies, etc. Draw a
contrast between the social and religious condition of the peoples now and at the
time of Christ's coming. The seed has become a tree, "so that the fowls of the air
may lodge under the shadow of it."
IV. IT IS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE EXPERIENCE OF EACH CHRISTIAN.
"The kingdom of God" is not to be a something outside ourselves. We are not
among its subjects because we can say, "This nation in which we dwell is
Christian." "The kingdom of heaven is within you," said our Lord to his
disciples. It is within us when we welcome Christ, its King, with all that he
represents, to our own hearts to love and obey for evermore. That being so, a
new life is ours, the test of whose vitality is to be found in growth until every
thought and affection and purpose (like the birds spoken of in this parable) dwell
under its influence. If there has been no growth, let us examine ourselves. When
a flower or plant is fading, drooping, and likely to die, we try to discover the
cause. Perhaps it wants water, perhaps it is shut off from sunshine, perhaps it
has been too long coddled under artificial heat and is therefore weakly, or
perhaps a worm is gnawing at the root. If our spiritual life has no growth, let us
ask why this is. We want showers of blessing, the sunshine of God's favor,
independence of artificial stimulants, and above all, freedom from the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and then we shall grow like plants of God's right hand
planting.—A.R.
COFFMAN, "THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED
How shall we liken, ... In this, Jesus employed a device often used by good
teachers, seeking to stimulate thinking on the part of his audience.
Less than all seeds ... That certain seeds may be smaller than a mustard seed is
no problem. Hyperbolic language was frequently employed then, as throughout
history, in order to stress a point. Matthew's "all Judaea" is hyperbole. Compare
Matthew 3:5 and Luke 7:30.
Greater than all herbs ... Many commentators stress the great size of the mature
mustard tree, which in some parts of the world reaches to a height of more than
twenty feet. Bickersteth reported such large specimens "on the slopes of the
mountains of Chile that one could ride under the branches."[39] The great point
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189. in this short parable is the contrast between the small seed and the mighty
growth attained.
The birds of the heaven ... It is illogical to press a parable down upon its all
fours, but this writer cannot resist the analogy suggested by the birds. The
mustard tree itself is the kingdom of God, beginning small and becoming great;
and the fact that birds can build nests even in small trees makes it unlikely that
the birds were introduced into this Parable solely to emphasize the size of it.
They are a perfect representation of the extraneous and unrelated activities
which through the ages have associated themselves with it. Just as the birds
could not corrupt the tree, the foul birds whose nests have been built in the
kingdom of God cannot corrupt the institution with which they are connected by
association only, actually having no identity whatever with it. This interpretation
is supported by Matthew 13:4,19, and Revelation 18:2. The person planting the
seed does not appear prominently in the parable; but the kingdom of God which
was produced by it identifies the sower here with God, or Christ, as in the
parable of the sower.
The following analogies are discernible:
The seed is the word of God.
The one who sowed it is Christ
The mustard tree is the kingdom of God.
The earth is the world.
The smallness of the seed is the smallness of the kingdom's beginning.
The greatness of the tree is the vast extent of the kingdom.
The birds are the "operations" which are either evil or at best irrelevant to the
kingdom, but which are connected with it, and yet no part of it.SIZE>
For further thoughts on this parable, see the Commentary on Matthew, pp.
193-194. It has been suggested by some that Jesus' purpose in giving this parable
was to offset any pessimism arising from parables like that of the sower and of
the tares, wherein unproductive soils and hostile activity of enemies were
stressed.
ENDNOTE:
[39] E. Bickersteth, op. cit., p. 159.
PULPIT, "Mark 4:30-32
The parable of the mustard seed.
This parable stands related to the former. That pointed to the history of the
189

190. growth of the seed; this points to the inherent vitality of the seed. That laid the
emphasis on the field; this lays it on the seed. The simile is so exact that we are in
danger of transferring a needful canon in the interpretation of parables, and to
treat it as a realism. The parable illustrates the history of the kingdom of heaven
in its outward manifestation, especially the smallness of its beginning contrasted
with the greatness of its results.
I. THE KINGDOM OF GOD FINDS ITS APPROPRIATE SYMBOL IN A
SEED WITH ITS INHERENT, VITAL, SELF-EXPANDING FORCE. This is
true, whether we interpret the kingdom of God to refer to its essential
principle—the dominion of the Divine Spirit over the human spirit; or to its
outward manifestation in the visible Church of God—the gospel developing itself
in the heart and life of mankind; or even to its instrument—the Divine Word.
Gathering these together as all comprised in the idea of the kingdom of God, we
must see it to be truly represented by a seeder living, inherently vital power. This
parable leads us to think more particularly of the outward manifestation of the
kingdom of God; and wherever we see it planted we sooner or later see signs of
growth and extension. One of the first sentiments stirred in the breast of the
newly converted is a desire for the conversion of others; and the first activities
evoked from the new life are found in efforts to lead others to like blessing. Each
believer becomes the germ of a Church; each is a self-propagating seed. From
one may spring a thousand, nay, as many as the stars of heaven for multitude. So
was it with the Church in the beginning—the little quickened seed in Jerusalem.
So has it been in every age. To-day we joyfully witness the signs of this vitality on
every hand.
II. A SECOND FEATURE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS THE EXTREME
SMALLNESS OF ITS ORIGIN. Still thought of as an outward manifestation,
how small was its beginning! How little a seed! Judging Christ's work by the
greatness of its aims, how small were his means! What books did he write? What
organization did he frame? What cities did he build? What armies did he raise?
What did he? Estimated by outward signs—a mere nothing. A few women and
fewer men gathered; no multitude, no Church, no forms of worship, no writings.
No; no; nothing. What then? Just a living seed dropped into the warm heart. Not
more than a human heart could treasure—not more than Matthew could
remember. The record of a brief life, with its few words; its few noble deeds of
sincerity, love, and self-denial; and its sad death and marvellous resurrection. All
the kingdom of God in that one life, all the heavenly treasure in that one earthen
vessel; all in a "mustard seed,... less than all the seeds that are upon earth." But
it grew to be "a tree."
III. This the third feature of the parable: THE ULTIMATE EXTENSION OF
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. And the point of interest seems to be it grows
beyond its probable limits, "greater than all the herbs;" yea, it "putteth out
great branches, becometh a tree, so that the birds of the heaven" not only "lodge
under the shadow" of it, but "in the branches thereof." Its growth is beyond, far
beyond, what might have been reasonably expected. So we see to-day; so will it
be more and more seen. These parables Jesus spake unto the multitude "as they
were able to hear;" and privately then, as he now does to them who care to
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191. know, "he expounded all things."—G.
BI, "It is like a grain of mustard seed.
The parable of the mustard seed
In the parable before us, the unity of the kingdom becomes conspicuous, the
individuality of its members subordinate. The figure is changed accordingly. “The
kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in
his field; which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest
among herbs, and becometh a tree.” The kingdom is a tree; its subjects are as birds
sheltering under its shadow. As it grows and spreads out its branches, it is shown
that it has been planted by God for the spiritual good of men. The kingdom here
appears as an organic whole, a source of blessing for all who come under its shade.
Taking the illustration in its earliest stages, we must have regard not only to the
“grain of mustard seed,” but also to the presence and action of the man who “took it
and sowed it in his field.” That the agent in sowing this grain of seed is the Son of
Man, admits of no doubt. The Saviour is not here represented by the tree; for then
would His disciples be the branches, as in the fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel. He
is the Man who sowed His seed in His field. Our Lord having thus a distinct place in
the parable, we are precluded from thinking of the tree as a symbol for Christ
Himself, and afterwards for His people collectively as His representatives on the
earth. Further, we are prevented from seeing here any allusion to the lowliness of the
Saviour’s birth, or the feebleness of His infancy, understood by some to be implied in
the image of the little seed. The incongruity of the description, “the least of all seeds,”
as attributed to the Divine Redeemer, is so glaring as to warn us against such
methods of interpretation. The kingdom is here represented as something to which
men come, and in coming to which they receive shelter and comfort. At first sight
this might seem to point to the Church, as the outward manifestation of the
kingdom-a view which might have been accepted, had the branches of the tree
represented the members of the Church. But when the members are not the
branches, but are sheltered among the branches, something distinct from the Church
seems intended. Both in this parable, and in that of the leaven, the reference is clearly
to the truth of the kingdom, as in the parable of the sower the seed is the Word of the
kingdom. This parable is concerned with the outward exhibition of the truth; the
leaven, with the inward and hidden application of it. The kingdom of heaven is a
kingdom of truth; this truth is displayed to the world in outward manifestation, and
also applied to the souls of men as an unseen influence. We have accordingly two
parables: the one representing the visible, the other the hidden, operation of the
truth revealed in Jesus. The truth of the gospel-the truth as to the pardoning mercy
and renewing grace provided in Jesus, was as a very little seed, planted in the earth
by the Messiah, and that so quietly that the act hardly attracted the attention of the
world. The significance of the act was not understood even by those who observed it.
To the future was entrusted the discovery of the importance for the world of this little
seed. It was destined to spring up and attain a great stature, spreading itself forth on
every side, attracting attention all around. (Dr. Calderwood.)
An encouraging parable
No doubt other figures might have been chosen in abundance, more suggestive of the
great after-development of the kingdom of Christ-such forest trees, e.g., as the oak of
Bashan or cedar of Lebanon; but the acorn and cone were both far less adapted to
represent the littleness of its initial state. The mustard was probably the smallest
191

192. seed from which so large a shrub or tree was known to grow. It is not without a
purpose that the contrast between the first beginning of His kingdom and its
expected future should have been put before the apostles in such a striking form. The
parables which had preceded it must have had a most depressing effect upon their
minds. They showed that of the seed sown in men’s hearts, three parts would be lost
to one saved; and that the field carefully planted with the best of seeds too often
mocked all the husbandman’s hopes of a goodly crop by a simultaneous growth of
noxious weeds. Well then might this parable be spoken to encourage them in their
despondency. No doubt the main object of the parable was simply to predict the
future increase of the kingdom; but there is surely a side lesson to be learned from
the natural properties of the mustard seed-from its internal heat and pungency, and
from the fact that it must be bruised ere it yield its best virtues. Its inherent
stimulating force finds its parallel in the quickening vitality and vigour derived from
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; and the necessity of crushing it is no inapt figure of
the principle which has been embodied in the familiar proverb, “The blood of the
martyrs is the seed of the Church.” (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
The mustard plant
As I was riding across the plain of Akka, on the way to Carmel, I perceived, at some
distance from the path, what seemed to be a little forest or nursery of trees. I turned
aside to examine them. On coming nearer, they proved to be an extensive field of the
plant (mustard) I was so anxious to see. It was then in blossom, full grown, in some
cases six, seven, and nine feet high, with a stem or trunk an inch or more in
thickness, throwing out branches on every side. I was now satisfied in part. I felt that
such a plant might well be called a tree, and, in comparison with the seed producing
it, a great tree. But still the branches, or stems of the branches, were not very large,
nor, apparently, very strong. Can the birds, I said to myself, rest upon them? Are they
not too slight and flexible? Will they not bend or break beneath the superadded
weight? At that very instant, as I stood and revolved the thought, lo! one of the fowls
of heaven stopped in its flight through the air, alighted down on one of the branches,
which hardly moved beneath the shock, and then began, perched there before my
eyes, to warble forth a strain of the richest music. All my doubts were now charmed
away. I was delighted at the incident. It seemed to me at the moment as if I enjoyed
enough to repay me for all the trouble of the whole journey. (H. B. Hackett, D. D.)
Small beginnings
Some few monks came into Brittany in ages past, when that country was heathen.
They built a rude shed in which to dwell, and a chapel of moor stones, and then
prepared to till the soil. But, alas! they had not any wheat. Then one spied a robin
redbreast sitting on a cross they had set up, and from his beak dangled an ear of
wheat. They drove the bird away, and secured the grain, sowed it, and next year had
more; sowed again, and so by degrees were able to sow large fields, and gather
abundant harvests. If you go now into Brittany, and wonder at the waving fields of
golden grain, the peasants will tell you all came from robin redbreast’s ear of corn.
And they have turned the redbreast’s ear of corn into a proverb. (S. Baring Gould, M.
A.)
The Church as an organization
192

193. A prophecy which has been fulfilled to the letter. In the course of little more than one
century after it was uttered, there was not a city of any size in the Roman Empire
which had not its bishop, with his priests and deacons preaching the Word of God,
baptizing (and so admitting men into the new kingdom), celebrating the Eucharist,
and exercising discipline over the faithful. It was not the spread of a philosophy, or of
a system of opinions, or even of a gospel only. It was the spread of an organization for
purposes of rule and discipline, of exclusion of the unworthy, and of pastoral care
over the worthy. And it went on progressing and prospering till it became a great
power in the world, though not of it. For centuries emperors, kings, and people had
to take it into account in every department of government and civil policy. Its present
weakness is a reaction against its former abuse of its power when it had become
secular, and failed to fulfil some of the chief purposes of its institution. (M. F.
Sadler.)
The Church giving rest and shelter
In all ages the Church has afforded to men what the Lord foretold, rest and shelter.
No human philosophy has afforded any rest or refuge for the wandering spirit. Only
the Church has done this, and the Church has been able to do this because the
foundation of all her doctrine has been the Incarnation of her Lord. She teaches the
soul to look for the foundation of her hope, not into herself, her frames and feelings,
but to the historical facts of the Incarnation, Death, and consequent Resurrection
and Ascension of the eternal Son, together with the Church system and sacramental
means which are the logical outcome of that Incarnation; and because of this, and
this only, she is an abiding refuge. (M. F. Sadler.)
The seedling of Iona
Far out in the western main, is a little island round which for nearly half the year the
Atlantic clangs his angry billows, keeping the handful of inhabitants close prisoners.
Most of it is bleak and barren; but there is one little bay rimmed round with silvery
sand, and reflecting in its waters a slope of verdure. Towards this bay one autumn
evening, 1,300 years ago, a rude vessel steered its course. It was a flimsy bark, no
better than a huge basket of osiers covered over with the skins of beasts; but the tide
was tranquil, and as the boatmen plied their oars, they raised the voice of psalms.
Skimming across the bay they beached their coracle and stepped on shore-about
thirteen in number. On the green slope they built a few hasty huts and a tiny
Christian temple. The freight of that little ship was the gospel, and the errand of the
saintly strangers was to tell benighted heathen about Jesus and His love. From the
favoured soil of Ireland they had brought a grain of mustard seed, and now they
sowed it in Iona. In the conservatory of their little church it throve, till it was fit to be
planted out on the neighbouring mainland. To the Picts with their tattooed faces, to
the Druids peeping and muttering in their dismal groves, the missionaries preached
the gospel. That gospel triumphed. The groves were felled, and where once they
stood rose the house of prayer. Planted out on the bleak moorland, the little seed
became a mighty tree, so that the hills of Caledonia were covered with the shade; nor
must Scotland ever forget the seedling of Iona, and the labours of Columba with his
meek Culdees. (James Hamilton, D. D.)
The growth of the little seed
193

194. This suggests the treatment we ourselves should give the truths of God. An acorn on
the mantelpiece, a dry bulb in a dark cupboard, a mustard seed in your pocket or in a
pill box, won’t grow. So texts or truths in the memory are acorns on the shelf, seeds
in the pillbox. It is good to have them, but don’t leave them there. Ponder over it till it
grows wonderful-till its meaning comes out, and you feel some amazement at its
unsurmised significance. Ponder it till, like the phosphorescent forms of vegetation,
the light of its expanding falls on other passages, and revelation is itself revealed.
(James Hamilton, D. D.)
The small germ expanded
This is a great encouragement for those who are trying to find favour for any useful
plan or good idea. As long as it remains in your own mind it is the seed in the
mustard pod; but cast it into the field, the garden, it will grow. Thus John Pound’s
little scapegrace, bribed by a hot potato to come for his daily lesson, has multiplied
into our Ragged Schools, with their thousands of teachers and myriads of scholars.
Thus David Nasmith’s notion of a house-to-house visitation of the London poor has
grown into those Town and City Missions which are the salt, the saving element, in
our overcrowded centres. (James Hamilton, D. D.)
Spiritual growth
Impressions growing into resolutions constitute conversion, or the beginning of the
Divine life in man. These impressions may appear insignificant, but when they
produce thought, and thought produces action, the result is so great that it creates
attention.
I. Vitality. The small seed of the mustard is brimful of life. This we discover not by
microscopical analysis, but by observing the changes that are wrought, and the
growth which follows. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Divine thoughts
are full of life because the Spirit of God is in them.
II. Assimilation. The seed was sown, and when life reappeared, the properties of the
soil, the rain, the light, and the air, were assimilated to build up the herb.
III. Expansion. The statue does not grow. The mountain does not expand. Growth is
a quality of life only. The process is hidden, but expansion is manifest. The roots
spread in the earth, the branches in the air. The growth of devotion is God-ward, that
of usefulness man-ward. The power of the gospel creates intellectual, moral, and
social expansion. Christ in the heart enlarges its capacity for purity, love, and
goodness. “Be ye also enlarged.”
IV. Maturity. There are ends to piety; it is not a cycle eternally revolving in the same
way, but a definite action with definite results. The life of the believer steps forward,
by slow degrees, until it reaches the measure of the stature of Christ. There are initial
conditions of faith, but these make way for the stronger stages of entire consecration
to God. (Anon.)
The growth of the kingdom
I. The kingdom of heaven was small at its establishment.
1. Its numbers were limited.
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195. 2. Its subjects were destitute of resources of a visible kind.
3. Its smallness only disguised its real resources. The Church’s strength is not to
be judged of by sense.
II. In the end it shall be very great. It soon grew among the Jews-was enlarged to
embrace the Gentiles-was soon spread into all the world-is destined to a great
enlargement-its magnitude will appear at the last day. (Expository Discourses.)
The design of the parable is obvious; the underlying thought is simple and single. A
little germ and a large result, a small commencement and a conspicuous growth, an
obscure and tiny granule followed by a vigorous vegetation, the “least of all seeds,”
and “the greatest of all herbs,” such is the avowed contrast of the parable. Is it not so
when we glance at the history of real religion?
I. In the world.
II. In communities.
III. In the individual soul. (James Hamilton, D. D.)
The gospel originally small and ultimately great
The gist of the representation lies in the largeness of the produce as compared with
the smallness of the original. Of course, had our Lord merely wished to show that the
gospel, in its maturity and efflorescence, would overtop other systems and
overshadow the creation, he might have led His hearers into the forests of the earth,
and selected some monarch of the woods. Even in Eastern countries the mustard
plant, though it reaches a size and strength unknown in our own land, would not be
used as a symbol by a speaker whose object was to shadow stateliness and dominion.
But, when you compare the size of the seed with the size of the shrub-and wish to
illustrate the production of great things from small-it would seem probable that in
the whole range of the vegetable kingdom there is not to be found a more apposite
image. The degree in which the shrub expands in size as compared with the seed, is,
perhaps, greater in the case of the mustard plant than in any other instance. And in
this, we again say, must be thought to lie the gist of the parable-the chief object of
Christ being to show that there never had been so mighty a consummation following
on so inconsiderable a beginning; that never had there been so vast a disproportion
between a thing at its outset, and that same thing at its conclusion, as was to be
exhibited in the case of that kingdom of heaven, the setting up of which was His
business on earth. (H. Melvill.)
Little seeds soul saving
But to pass from these general observations on the imagery drawn from the vegetable
world to that particular figure which Christ employs in our text. Observe, we pray
you, the minuteness of the seed, which is ordinarily first deposited by God’s Spirit in
man’s heart. If you examine the records of Christian biography, you will find, so far
as it is possible to search out such facts, that conversion is commonly to be traced to
inconsiderable beginnings. We believe, for example, that proceeding on the principle
that He will honour what He has instituted, God ordinarily uses the preaching of the
gospel as His engine for gathering in His people. But then it is perhaps single
sentence in a sermon, a text which is quoted, a remark to which, probably, if you had
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196. asked the preacher himself, he attached less consequence than to any other part of
his sermon-this is the seed, the inconsiderable grain, which makes its way into the
heart of the unconverted hearer. We just wish that a book could be compiled,
registering the sayings, the words, which, falling from the lips of preachers in
different ages, have penetrated that thick coating of indifference and prejudice which
lies naturally on every man’s heart, and reached the soil in which vegetation is
possible. We are quite persuaded that you would not find many whole sermons in
such a book, not many long pieces of elaborate reasoning, not many protracted
demonstrations of human danger and human need; we have a thorough belief that
the volume would be a volume of little fragments, that it would be made up of simple
sentiments and brief statements; and that, in the majority of instances, a few
syllables would constitute that element of Christianity which gained a lodgment in
the soul. (H. Melvill.)
The maxims of human philosophy not so productive as Divine truth
We shall not enlarge further on the parable as sketching Christ’s religion in its
dominion over the individual. We can only remark, in passing, that none of the
maxims of human philosophy have shown themselves capable of yielding such
produce as we thus trace to the seed of a solitary text. There is much truth and beauty
in many of those sayings with which writers on ethics have adorned their pages; but
the most weighty proverbs that ever issued from the porch of the academy, and the
most sententious maxims which lecturers on morals ever delivered to their people,
have always failed to work anything approaching to that renovation of nature which
can distinctly be traced to some gospel truth quoted with authority from God. Take
the result of a hiding in the heart a sentence which asserts the excellence of virtue,
and one which sets forth God’s love in the gift of His Son. Now sentences may be
likened unto seeds, not only because both are small, but because, if rightly planted
and watered, and developed, they are capable of producing fruit in the life and
conversation. But who, unless ignorant of facts, or determined to be deceived, would
assert the holiness of the best heathenism to be comparable to the holiness of
Christianity, or who that has ever tried theory, by the touchstone of experience,
would declare, that a man who was a cultivator of virtue, because excellent in its
nature, will ever reach as high a standard of morality as one who, having hope in
Christ, seeks to “purify himself even as Christ is pure?” We give it as a truth, which
the history of the world presses forward to substantiate, that no maxims, except
Scriptural maxims, have been long efficacious in withholding man from vice, or have
ever nerved him to the striving after a high-toned and elevated morality. And if, then,
we must admit that the sayings of a sound moral philosophy may be figured by seeds,
because they contain elements which, under due culture, may be expanded into
something like righteousness of deportment, we still contend that when the amount
even of possible produce is contrasted with the original grain, the tree which, under
the most favourable circumstances, can spring from the seed, and that seed itself-
there are no sayings, but those of Christianity, just as there are no particles, but those
of Divine grace, which deserve to be compared with the grain of mustard seed; for in
no case but that, we must believe, would there be such disproportion between what
was cast into the soil of the heart, and that spreading over of the whole district of the
life, as to warrant the employment of the imagery whose design it has been our effort
to delineate. (H. Melvill.)
The visible growth of the gospel
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197. Christ’s kingdom also grows outwardly and visibly as the hidden mustard seed grows
into a great tree. Christ not only taught new truth, but He also founded a new society,
which is to he like a living, growing tree. That society is sometimes called the Visible
Church, and it is very visible in our day, quite as visible as the biggest garden tree is
among garden plants. (J. Wells.)
Christ’s religion a refuge for all
As the tree is for every bird from any quarter of heaven that wishes its shelter, so
Christ’s religion is for all sorts of people. The religion of the Chinese is only for the
Chinese; the religion of Mahomed is only for those who live in warm countries; a
Hindoo loses his religion by crossing the seas; but the religion of Jesus of Nazareth is
for people of every class, clime, and nation. It is like the tree that offers lodging to all
the birds of the air. (J. Wells.)
Fiery energy
Darius sent to Alexander the Great a bag of sesame seed, symbolizing the number of
his army. In return, Alexander sent a sack of mustard seed, showing not only the
numbers but the fiery energy of his soldiers. (D’Herbelot.)
Building and growing
To see the stateliest pile of building filling the space which before was empty, makes
an appeal to the imagination: that kind of increase we seem to understand; stone is
added to stone by the will and toil of man. But when we look at the deeply-rooted and
wide-branching tree, and think of the tiny seed from which all this sprang without
human will or toil, but by an internal vitality of its own, we are confronted by the
most mysterious and fascinating of all things, the life that lies unseen in nature.
(Marcus Dods.)
The mustard seed and leaven
The parable of the grain of mustard seed must be taken in close connection with that
of the leaven, and both are meant to illustrate the small beginnings, the silent
growth, and the final victory of the grace of God in the human soul. But they belong
to different points of view. The one is extensive, the other intensive. The parable of
the grain of mustard seed shows us the origin and the development of the kingdom of
God, in communities and in the world: the parable of the leaven shadows forth its
unimpeded influence in the soul of each separate man. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
All great movements have had trivial commencements
Look at history, and see how true the doctrine is, not only of the kingdom of heaven,
but of every other power that has really held sway among men. In almost all cases the
great, the permanent work has been done, not by those who seemed to do very much,
but by those who seemed to do very little. Our Lord’s founding of the Church was but
the most striking instance of a universal rule. He seemed to all outside spectators to
do almost nothing. The Roman rulers hardly knew of His name. What was He doing?
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198. He was sowing the seed; the seed whose fruit was not yet, whose perfect fruit was not
to be gathered, as it has since turned out, for many centuries; the seed which seemed
small and perishable, but was certain to grow into a great tree. All the greatest work
has been done both before and after, not often by producing immediate results, but
by sowing seeds. So have sciences all grown, not from brilliant declarations to the
world, but from patient labour, and quiet thought, and language addressed to the few
who think. So has all growth in politics always begun in the secret thoughts of men
who have found the truth, and have committed it to books or to chosen learners. The
true powers of human life are contained in those seeds, out of which alone comes any
real and permanent good. (Bp. Temple.)
31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest
of all seeds on earth.
GILL, "It is like a grain of mustard seed,.... That is, the kingdom of God spoken
of in the preceding verse, is like unto a grain of mustard seed; by which is meant,
either the Gospel, or the Gospel church state, or the grace of God in the hearts of his
people, and it may include them all: the Gospel is so called, because it treats of the
two latter; but more especially, because it brings life and immortality to light, or
points to the kingdom of heaven, directs the way unto it, and shows what qualifies
persons for it, and gives them a claim unto it: and the Gospel church state may be so
called, because here Christ dwells, and rules as king; the members of it are his
subjects, and the ordinances of it are his laws, to which they are obedient: and the
grace of God in the hearts of his people may be so called, because it is a governing
principle in them; it reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, and by it Christ
reigns in and over them: now the kingdom of God in each of these senses, may be
compared to a grain of mustard seed, for the smallness of it, as follows;
which when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the
earth. The Gospel was first preached by very few persons, and these of no figure and
account, especially at their first setting out. John the Baptist came preaching the
kingdom of God, clothed with a garment of camel's hair, and with a leathern girdle
about his loins; our Lord himself made no pompous appearance, there was no form
nor comeliness in him; he was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs, and of a
mean descent and occupation; his disciples were fishermen, and illiterate persons;
those to whom it was preached, and by whom it was received at first were but few,
and these were the poor and the unlearned, and publicans and sinners. The Gospel
church state at first, consisted of very few persons, of Christ and his twelve apostles;
and at his death, the number of the disciples at Jerusalem, men and women, were but
an hundred and twenty; the several Gospel churches formed in the Gentile world,
rose from small beginnings; from the conversion of a very few persons, and these the
filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things. The grace of God in the hearts of
his people at first, is very little; it can scarcely be discerned by themselves, and is
ready to be despised by others; their light and knowledge, their faith and experience
being so exceeding small.
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199. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the
largest of all garden plants, with such big
branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
GILL, "But when it is sown, it groweth up,.... So the Gospel, when it was
preached, it spread notwithstanding all the opposition made against it by, the Jews
and Gentiles: there was no stopping it; though the Jewish sanhedrim charged the
apostles to speak no more in the name of Jesus, they regarded them not; though
Herod stretched forth his hands against the church, and killed one apostle, and put
another in prison, yet "the word of God grew and multiplied", Act_12:1, and Gospel
churches when set up, whether in Judea, or among the Gentiles, presently had
additions made unto them, and "grew up", as holy temples in the Lord: and wherever
the grace of God is really implanted, there is a growing in it, and in the knowledge of
Christ Jesus:
and becometh greater than all herbs: the Gospel exceeds the traditions of the
Jews, and the philosophy of the Gentiles, and any human scheme whatever, in its
nature, usefulness, and the largeness of its spread: and the Gospel church state will
ere long fill the world, and all nations shall flow unto it; when the Jews shall be
converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles shall come, it will be a greater kingdom,
than any of the kingdoms of the earth ever were: and the grace of God in the heart, is
vastly above nature, and does that which nature can never perform; and which
spreads and enlarges, and at last issues in eternal glory:
and shooteth out great branches, so that the fowls of the air may lodge
under the shadow of it: by whom are meant, saints; such to whom the Gospel is
come in power, and who have the grace of God wrought in their hearts, who are
partakers of the heavenly calling: these come where the Gospel is preached, and
where gracious souls are met together, even in the several Gospel churches; where
they not only come and go, but where they lodge, abide, and continue, under the
shadow of the Gospel, and Gospel ordinances, and that with great delight and
pleasure; singing songs of praise to God, for his electing and redeeming love, and for
calling grace, and for all spiritual blessings, and Gospel privileges: for a larger
explanation and illustration of this parable; see Gill on Mat_13:31, Mat_13:32.
BI, "It is like a grain of mustard seed.
The parable of the mustard seed
In the parable before us, the unity of the kingdom becomes conspicuous, the
individuality of its members subordinate. The figure is changed accordingly. “The
kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in
his field; which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest
among herbs, and becometh a tree.” The kingdom is a tree; its subjects are as birds
sheltering under its shadow. As it grows and spreads out its branches, it is shown
that it has been planted by God for the spiritual good of men. The kingdom here
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200. appears as an organic whole, a source of blessing for all who come under its shade.
Taking the illustration in its earliest stages, we must have regard not only to the
“grain of mustard seed,” but also to the presence and action of the man who “took it
and sowed it in his field.” That the agent in sowing this grain of seed is the Son of
Man, admits of no doubt. The Saviour is not here represented by the tree; for then
would His disciples be the branches, as in the fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel. He
is the Man who sowed His seed in His field. Our Lord having thus a distinct place in
the parable, we are precluded from thinking of the tree as a symbol for Christ
Himself, and afterwards for His people collectively as His representatives on the
earth. Further, we are prevented from seeing here any allusion to the lowliness of the
Saviour’s birth, or the feebleness of His infancy, understood by some to be implied in
the image of the little seed. The incongruity of the description, “the least of all seeds,”
as attributed to the Divine Redeemer, is so glaring as to warn us against such
methods of interpretation. The kingdom is here represented as something to which
men come, and in coming to which they receive shelter and comfort. At first sight
this might seem to point to the Church, as the outward manifestation of the
kingdom-a view which might have been accepted, had the branches of the tree
represented the members of the Church. But when the members are not the
branches, but are sheltered among the branches, something distinct from the Church
seems intended. Both in this parable, and in that of the leaven, the reference is clearly
to the truth of the kingdom, as in the parable of the sower the seed is the Word of the
kingdom. This parable is concerned with the outward exhibition of the truth; the
leaven, with the inward and hidden application of it. The kingdom of heaven is a
kingdom of truth; this truth is displayed to the world in outward manifestation, and
also applied to the souls of men as an unseen influence. We have accordingly two
parables: the one representing the visible, the other the hidden, operation of the
truth revealed in Jesus. The truth of the gospel-the truth as to the pardoning mercy
and renewing grace provided in Jesus, was as a very little seed, planted in the earth
by the Messiah, and that so quietly that the act hardly attracted the attention of the
world. The significance of the act was not understood even by those who observed it.
To the future was entrusted the discovery of the importance for the world of this little
seed. It was destined to spring up and attain a great stature, spreading itself forth on
every side, attracting attention all around. (Dr. Calderwood.)
An encouraging parable
No doubt other figures might have been chosen in abundance, more suggestive of the
great after-development of the kingdom of Christ-such forest trees, e.g., as the oak of
Bashan or cedar of Lebanon; but the acorn and cone were both far less adapted to
represent the littleness of its initial state. The mustard was probably the smallest
seed from which so large a shrub or tree was known to grow. It is not without a
purpose that the contrast between the first beginning of His kingdom and its
expected future should have been put before the apostles in such a striking form. The
parables which had preceded it must have had a most depressing effect upon their
minds. They showed that of the seed sown in men’s hearts, three parts would be lost
to one saved; and that the field carefully planted with the best of seeds too often
mocked all the husbandman’s hopes of a goodly crop by a simultaneous growth of
noxious weeds. Well then might this parable be spoken to encourage them in their
despondency. No doubt the main object of the parable was simply to predict the
future increase of the kingdom; but there is surely a side lesson to be learned from
the natural properties of the mustard seed-from its internal heat and pungency, and
from the fact that it must be bruised ere it yield its best virtues. Its inherent
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201. stimulating force finds its parallel in the quickening vitality and vigour derived from
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; and the necessity of crushing it is no inapt figure of
the principle which has been embodied in the familiar proverb, “The blood of the
martyrs is the seed of the Church.” (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
The mustard plant
As I was riding across the plain of Akka, on the way to Carmel, I perceived, at some
distance from the path, what seemed to be a little forest or nursery of trees. I turned
aside to examine them. On coming nearer, they proved to be an extensive field of the
plant (mustard) I was so anxious to see. It was then in blossom, full grown, in some
cases six, seven, and nine feet high, with a stem or trunk an inch or more in
thickness, throwing out branches on every side. I was now satisfied in part. I felt that
such a plant might well be called a tree, and, in comparison with the seed producing
it, a great tree. But still the branches, or stems of the branches, were not very large,
nor, apparently, very strong. Can the birds, I said to myself, rest upon them? Are they
not too slight and flexible? Will they not bend or break beneath the superadded
weight? At that very instant, as I stood and revolved the thought, lo! one of the fowls
of heaven stopped in its flight through the air, alighted down on one of the branches,
which hardly moved beneath the shock, and then began, perched there before my
eyes, to warble forth a strain of the richest music. All my doubts were now charmed
away. I was delighted at the incident. It seemed to me at the moment as if I enjoyed
enough to repay me for all the trouble of the whole journey. (H. B. Hackett, D. D.)
Small beginnings
Some few monks came into Brittany in ages past, when that country was heathen.
They built a rude shed in which to dwell, and a chapel of moor stones, and then
prepared to till the soil. But, alas! they had not any wheat. Then one spied a robin
redbreast sitting on a cross they had set up, and from his beak dangled an ear of
wheat. They drove the bird away, and secured the grain, sowed it, and next year had
more; sowed again, and so by degrees were able to sow large fields, and gather
abundant harvests. If you go now into Brittany, and wonder at the waving fields of
golden grain, the peasants will tell you all came from robin redbreast’s ear of corn.
And they have turned the redbreast’s ear of corn into a proverb. (S. Baring Gould, M.
A.)
The Church as an organization
A prophecy which has been fulfilled to the letter. In the course of little more than one
century after it was uttered, there was not a city of any size in the Roman Empire
which had not its bishop, with his priests and deacons preaching the Word of God,
baptizing (and so admitting men into the new kingdom), celebrating the Eucharist,
and exercising discipline over the faithful. It was not the spread of a philosophy, or of
a system of opinions, or even of a gospel only. It was the spread of an organization for
purposes of rule and discipline, of exclusion of the unworthy, and of pastoral care
over the worthy. And it went on progressing and prospering till it became a great
power in the world, though not of it. For centuries emperors, kings, and people had
to take it into account in every department of government and civil policy. Its present
weakness is a reaction against its former abuse of its power when it had become
secular, and failed to fulfil some of the chief purposes of its institution. (M. F.
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202. Sadler.)
The Church giving rest and shelter
In all ages the Church has afforded to men what the Lord foretold, rest and shelter.
No human philosophy has afforded any rest or refuge for the wandering spirit. Only
the Church has done this, and the Church has been able to do this because the
foundation of all her doctrine has been the Incarnation of her Lord. She teaches the
soul to look for the foundation of her hope, not into herself, her frames and feelings,
but to the historical facts of the Incarnation, Death, and consequent Resurrection
and Ascension of the eternal Son, together with the Church system and sacramental
means which are the logical outcome of that Incarnation; and because of this, and
this only, she is an abiding refuge. (M. F. Sadler.)
The seedling of Iona
Far out in the western main, is a little island round which for nearly half the year the
Atlantic clangs his angry billows, keeping the handful of inhabitants close prisoners.
Most of it is bleak and barren; but there is one little bay rimmed round with silvery
sand, and reflecting in its waters a slope of verdure. Towards this bay one autumn
evening, 1,300 years ago, a rude vessel steered its course. It was a flimsy bark, no
better than a huge basket of osiers covered over with the skins of beasts; but the tide
was tranquil, and as the boatmen plied their oars, they raised the voice of psalms.
Skimming across the bay they beached their coracle and stepped on shore-about
thirteen in number. On the green slope they built a few hasty huts and a tiny
Christian temple. The freight of that little ship was the gospel, and the errand of the
saintly strangers was to tell benighted heathen about Jesus and His love. From the
favoured soil of Ireland they had brought a grain of mustard seed, and now they
sowed it in Iona. In the conservatory of their little church it throve, till it was fit to be
planted out on the neighbouring mainland. To the Picts with their tattooed faces, to
the Druids peeping and muttering in their dismal groves, the missionaries preached
the gospel. That gospel triumphed. The groves were felled, and where once they
stood rose the house of prayer. Planted out on the bleak moorland, the little seed
became a mighty tree, so that the hills of Caledonia were covered with the shade; nor
must Scotland ever forget the seedling of Iona, and the labours of Columba with his
meek Culdees. (James Hamilton, D. D.)
The growth of the little seed
This suggests the treatment we ourselves should give the truths of God. An acorn on
the mantelpiece, a dry bulb in a dark cupboard, a mustard seed in your pocket or in a
pill box, won’t grow. So texts or truths in the memory are acorns on the shelf, seeds
in the pillbox. It is good to have them, but don’t leave them there. Ponder over it till it
grows wonderful-till its meaning comes out, and you feel some amazement at its
unsurmised significance. Ponder it till, like the phosphorescent forms of vegetation,
the light of its expanding falls on other passages, and revelation is itself revealed.
(James Hamilton, D. D.)
The small germ expanded
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203. This is a great encouragement for those who are trying to find favour for any useful
plan or good idea. As long as it remains in your own mind it is the seed in the
mustard pod; but cast it into the field, the garden, it will grow. Thus John Pound’s
little scapegrace, bribed by a hot potato to come for his daily lesson, has multiplied
into our Ragged Schools, with their thousands of teachers and myriads of scholars.
Thus David Nasmith’s notion of a house-to-house visitation of the London poor has
grown into those Town and City Missions which are the salt, the saving element, in
our overcrowded centres. (James Hamilton, D. D.)
Spiritual growth
Impressions growing into resolutions constitute conversion, or the beginning of the
Divine life in man. These impressions may appear insignificant, but when they
produce thought, and thought produces action, the result is so great that it creates
attention.
I. Vitality. The small seed of the mustard is brimful of life. This we discover not by
microscopical analysis, but by observing the changes that are wrought, and the
growth which follows. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Divine thoughts
are full of life because the Spirit of God is in them.
II. Assimilation. The seed was sown, and when life reappeared, the properties of the
soil, the rain, the light, and the air, were assimilated to build up the herb.
III. Expansion. The statue does not grow. The mountain does not expand. Growth is
a quality of life only. The process is hidden, but expansion is manifest. The roots
spread in the earth, the branches in the air. The growth of devotion is God-ward, that
of usefulness man-ward. The power of the gospel creates intellectual, moral, and
social expansion. Christ in the heart enlarges its capacity for purity, love, and
goodness. “Be ye also enlarged.”
IV. Maturity. There are ends to piety; it is not a cycle eternally revolving in the same
way, but a definite action with definite results. The life of the believer steps forward,
by slow degrees, until it reaches the measure of the stature of Christ. There are initial
conditions of faith, but these make way for the stronger stages of entire consecration
to God. (Anon.)
The growth of the kingdom
I. The kingdom of heaven was small at its establishment.
1. Its numbers were limited.
2. Its subjects were destitute of resources of a visible kind.
3. Its smallness only disguised its real resources. The Church’s strength is not to
be judged of by sense.
II. In the end it shall be very great. It soon grew among the Jews-was enlarged to
embrace the Gentiles-was soon spread into all the world-is destined to a great
enlargement-its magnitude will appear at the last day. (Expository Discourses.)
The design of the parable is obvious; the underlying thought is simple and single. A
little germ and a large result, a small commencement and a conspicuous growth, an
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204. obscure and tiny granule followed by a vigorous vegetation, the “least of all seeds,”
and “the greatest of all herbs,” such is the avowed contrast of the parable. Is it not so
when we glance at the history of real religion?
I. In the world.
II. In communities.
III. In the individual soul. (James Hamilton, D. D.)
The gospel originally small and ultimately great
The gist of the representation lies in the largeness of the produce as compared with
the smallness of the original. Of course, had our Lord merely wished to show that the
gospel, in its maturity and efflorescence, would overtop other systems and
overshadow the creation, he might have led His hearers into the forests of the earth,
and selected some monarch of the woods. Even in Eastern countries the mustard
plant, though it reaches a size and strength unknown in our own land, would not be
used as a symbol by a speaker whose object was to shadow stateliness and dominion.
But, when you compare the size of the seed with the size of the shrub-and wish to
illustrate the production of great things from small-it would seem probable that in
the whole range of the vegetable kingdom there is not to be found a more apposite
image. The degree in which the shrub expands in size as compared with the seed, is,
perhaps, greater in the case of the mustard plant than in any other instance. And in
this, we again say, must be thought to lie the gist of the parable-the chief object of
Christ being to show that there never had been so mighty a consummation following
on so inconsiderable a beginning; that never had there been so vast a disproportion
between a thing at its outset, and that same thing at its conclusion, as was to be
exhibited in the case of that kingdom of heaven, the setting up of which was His
business on earth. (H. Melvill.)
Little seeds soul saving
But to pass from these general observations on the imagery drawn from the vegetable
world to that particular figure which Christ employs in our text. Observe, we pray
you, the minuteness of the seed, which is ordinarily first deposited by God’s Spirit in
man’s heart. If you examine the records of Christian biography, you will find, so far
as it is possible to search out such facts, that conversion is commonly to be traced to
inconsiderable beginnings. We believe, for example, that proceeding on the principle
that He will honour what He has instituted, God ordinarily uses the preaching of the
gospel as His engine for gathering in His people. But then it is perhaps single
sentence in a sermon, a text which is quoted, a remark to which, probably, if you had
asked the preacher himself, he attached less consequence than to any other part of
his sermon-this is the seed, the inconsiderable grain, which makes its way into the
heart of the unconverted hearer. We just wish that a book could be compiled,
registering the sayings, the words, which, falling from the lips of preachers in
different ages, have penetrated that thick coating of indifference and prejudice which
lies naturally on every man’s heart, and reached the soil in which vegetation is
possible. We are quite persuaded that you would not find many whole sermons in
such a book, not many long pieces of elaborate reasoning, not many protracted
demonstrations of human danger and human need; we have a thorough belief that
the volume would be a volume of little fragments, that it would be made up of simple
sentiments and brief statements; and that, in the majority of instances, a few
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205. syllables would constitute that element of Christianity which gained a lodgment in
the soul. (H. Melvill.)
The maxims of human philosophy not so productive as Divine truth
We shall not enlarge further on the parable as sketching Christ’s religion in its
dominion over the individual. We can only remark, in passing, that none of the
maxims of human philosophy have shown themselves capable of yielding such
produce as we thus trace to the seed of a solitary text. There is much truth and beauty
in many of those sayings with which writers on ethics have adorned their pages; but
the most weighty proverbs that ever issued from the porch of the academy, and the
most sententious maxims which lecturers on morals ever delivered to their people,
have always failed to work anything approaching to that renovation of nature which
can distinctly be traced to some gospel truth quoted with authority from God. Take
the result of a hiding in the heart a sentence which asserts the excellence of virtue,
and one which sets forth God’s love in the gift of His Son. Now sentences may be
likened unto seeds, not only because both are small, but because, if rightly planted
and watered, and developed, they are capable of producing fruit in the life and
conversation. But who, unless ignorant of facts, or determined to be deceived, would
assert the holiness of the best heathenism to be comparable to the holiness of
Christianity, or who that has ever tried theory, by the touchstone of experience,
would declare, that a man who was a cultivator of virtue, because excellent in its
nature, will ever reach as high a standard of morality as one who, having hope in
Christ, seeks to “purify himself even as Christ is pure?” We give it as a truth, which
the history of the world presses forward to substantiate, that no maxims, except
Scriptural maxims, have been long efficacious in withholding man from vice, or have
ever nerved him to the striving after a high-toned and elevated morality. And if, then,
we must admit that the sayings of a sound moral philosophy may be figured by seeds,
because they contain elements which, under due culture, may be expanded into
something like righteousness of deportment, we still contend that when the amount
even of possible produce is contrasted with the original grain, the tree which, under
the most favourable circumstances, can spring from the seed, and that seed itself-
there are no sayings, but those of Christianity, just as there are no particles, but those
of Divine grace, which deserve to be compared with the grain of mustard seed; for in
no case but that, we must believe, would there be such disproportion between what
was cast into the soil of the heart, and that spreading over of the whole district of the
life, as to warrant the employment of the imagery whose design it has been our effort
to delineate. (H. Melvill.)
The visible growth of the gospel
Christ’s kingdom also grows outwardly and visibly as the hidden mustard seed grows
into a great tree. Christ not only taught new truth, but He also founded a new society,
which is to he like a living, growing tree. That society is sometimes called the Visible
Church, and it is very visible in our day, quite as visible as the biggest garden tree is
among garden plants. (J. Wells.)
Christ’s religion a refuge for all
As the tree is for every bird from any quarter of heaven that wishes its shelter, so
Christ’s religion is for all sorts of people. The religion of the Chinese is only for the
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206. Chinese; the religion of Mahomed is only for those who live in warm countries; a
Hindoo loses his religion by crossing the seas; but the religion of Jesus of Nazareth is
for people of every class, clime, and nation. It is like the tree that offers lodging to all
the birds of the air. (J. Wells.)
Fiery energy
Darius sent to Alexander the Great a bag of sesame seed, symbolizing the number of
his army. In return, Alexander sent a sack of mustard seed, showing not only the
numbers but the fiery energy of his soldiers. (D’Herbelot.)
Building and growing
To see the stateliest pile of building filling the space which before was empty, makes
an appeal to the imagination: that kind of increase we seem to understand; stone is
added to stone by the will and toil of man. But when we look at the deeply-rooted and
wide-branching tree, and think of the tiny seed from which all this sprang without
human will or toil, but by an internal vitality of its own, we are confronted by the
most mysterious and fascinating of all things, the life that lies unseen in nature.
(Marcus Dods.)
The mustard seed and leaven
The parable of the grain of mustard seed must be taken in close connection with that
of the leaven, and both are meant to illustrate the small beginnings, the silent
growth, and the final victory of the grace of God in the human soul. But they belong
to different points of view. The one is extensive, the other intensive. The parable of
the grain of mustard seed shows us the origin and the development of the kingdom of
God, in communities and in the world: the parable of the leaven shadows forth its
unimpeded influence in the soul of each separate man. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
All great movements have had trivial commencements
Look at history, and see how true the doctrine is, not only of the kingdom of heaven,
but of every other power that has really held sway among men. In almost all cases the
great, the permanent work has been done, not by those who seemed to do very much,
but by those who seemed to do very little. Our Lord’s founding of the Church was but
the most striking instance of a universal rule. He seemed to all outside spectators to
do almost nothing. The Roman rulers hardly knew of His name. What was He doing?
He was sowing the seed; the seed whose fruit was not yet, whose perfect fruit was not
to be gathered, as it has since turned out, for many centuries; the seed which seemed
small and perishable, but was certain to grow into a great tree. All the greatest work
has been done both before and after, not often by producing immediate results, but
by sowing seeds. So have sciences all grown, not from brilliant declarations to the
world, but from patient labour, and quiet thought, and language addressed to the few
who think. So has all growth in politics always begun in the secret thoughts of men
who have found the truth, and have committed it to books or to chosen learners. The
true powers of human life are contained in those seeds, out of which alone comes any
real and permanent good. (Bp. Temple.)
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207. 33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the
word to them, as much as they could
understand.
BARNES, "Spake he the word - The word of God. The doctrines of his gospel.
As they were able to hear it - As they could comprehend it. They were like
children; and he was obliged to lead them along cautiously and by degrees to a full
understanding of the plan of salvation.
CLARKE, "With many such parables - Πολλαις, many, is omitted by L,
sixteen others; the Syriac, both the Persic, one Arabic, Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopic,
and two of the Itala. Mill approves of the omission, and Griesbach leaves it doubtful.
It is probably an interpolation: the text reads better without it.
As they were able to hear - Ακουειν, or to understand always suiting his
teaching to the capacities of his hearers. I have always found that preacher most
useful, who could adapt his phrase to that of the people to whom he preached.
Studying different dialects, and forms of speech, among the common people, is a
more difficult and a more useful work than the study of dead languages. The one a
man should do, and the other he need not leave undone.
GILL, "And with many such parables,.... As those of the tares, of the leaven in
three measures of meal, of the treasure hid in the field, the pearl of great price, the
net cast into the sea, and of the Scribe instructed unto the kingdom of God; which
though not related at length here, are by the Evangelist Matthew, in Mat_13:24
together with others elsewhere:
spake he the word unto them; preached the Gospel to the multitude,
as they were able to hear it: meaning either that he condescended to their
weakness, accommodated himself to their capacities, and made use of the plainest
similes; and took his comparison from things in nature, the most known and
obvious, that what he intended might more easily be understood; or rather, he spoke
the word to them in parables, as they were able to hear, without understanding them;
and in such a manner, on purpose that they might not understand; for had he more
clearly expressed the things relating to himself, as the Messiah, and to the Gospel
dispensation, so as that they could have took in his meaning, such were their pride,
their wickedness, and the rancour of their minds, that they would have at once rose
up, and attempted to have destroyed him.
HENRY, "After the parables thus specified the historian concludes with this
207

208. general account of Christ's preaching - that with many such parables he spoke the
word unto them (Mar_4:33); probably designing to refer us to the larger account of
the parables of this kind, which we had before, Mt. 13. He spoke in parables, as they
were able to hear them; he fetched his comparisons from those things that were
familiar to them, and level to their capacity, and delivered them in plain expressions,
in condescension to their capacity; though he did not let them into the mystery of the
parables, yet his manner of expression was easy, and such as they might hereafter
recollect to their edification. But, for the present, without a parable spoke he not
unto them, Mar_4:34. The glory of the Lord was covered with a cloud, and God
speaks to us in the language of the sons of men, that, though not at first, yet by
degrees, we may understand his meaning; the disciples themselves understood those
sayings of Christ afterward, which at first they did not rightly take the sense of. But
these parables he expounded to them, when they were alone. We cannot but wish we
had had that exposition, as we had of the parable of the sower; but it was not so
needful; because, when the church should be enlarged, that would expound these
parables to us, without any more ado.
JAMIESON, "And with many such parables spake he the word unto
them, as they were able to hear it — Had this been said in the corresponding
passage of Matthew, we should have concluded that what that Evangelist recorded
was but a specimen of other parables spoken on the same occasion. But Matthew
(Mat_13:34) says, “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables”; and
as Mark records only some of the parables which Matthew gives, we are warranted to
infer that the “many such parables” alluded to here mean no more than the full
complement of them which we find in Matthew.
COFFMAN, "See under Mark 4:2 for reasons why Jesus spoke in parables. As
Sanner noted, "If he had spoken to the crowds in a direct way, he would have
forced them to make a final decision at once, a decision of unbelief and
rejection."[40]
This glimpse of the deep interest of the disciples who waited until the multitudes
departed and then received privately from Jesus a more explicit elaboration of
all the wonderful truths he was revealing is very significant. Again, from Sanner:
In neglecting exposition of the Scriptures, men have not improved upon the
method of Jesus. It is still true that men's hearts will burn within them when
someone opens to them the Scriptures (Luke 24:32).[41]
[40] Elwood Sanner, Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press,
1964), p. 305.
[41] Ibid.
BARCLAY, "THE WISE TEACHER AND THE WISE SCHOLAR (Mark
4:33-34)
4:33-34 It was with many such parables that he kept speaking the word to them,
suiting his instruction to their ability to hear it. It was his custom not to speak to
them without a parable; and when they were by themselves, he unfolded the
meaning of everything to his own disciples.
208

209. Here we have a short but perfect definition of both the wise teacher and the wise
learner. Jesus suited his instruction to the ability of those who were listening to
him. That is the first essential in wise teaching.
There are two dangers that the wise teacher must at all costs avoid.
(a) He must avoid all self-display. A teacher's duty is not to draw attention to
himself but to draw attention to his subject. A love of self-display can make a
man attempt to scintillate at the expense of truth. It can make him think more of
clever ways of saying a thing than of the thing itself. Or, it can make him so
desirous of displaying his own erudition that he becomes so obscure and
elaborate and involved that the ordinary man cannot understand him at all.
There is no virtue in talking over the head of an audience. As someone said, "The
fact that a man shoots above the target only proves that he is a bad shot." A good
teacher must be in love with his subject and not in love with himself.
(b) He must avoid a sense of superiority. True teaching does not consist in telling
people things. It consists in learning things together. It was Plato's idea that
teaching simply meant extracting from people's minds and memories what they
already knew. The teacher who stands on a pedestal and talks down will never
be successful. True teaching consists in sharing and discovering truth together. It
is a joint exploration of the countries of the mind.
There are certain qualities which he who would teach must ever seek to acquire.
(a) The teacher must possess understanding. One of the great difficulties of the
expert is to understand why the non-expert finds a thing so difficult to
understand or to do. It is necessary for the teacher to think with the learner's
mind and to see with the learner's eyes, before he can really explain and impart
any kind of knowledge.
(b) The teacher must possess patience. The Jewish Rabbi Hillel laid it down, "An
irritable man cannot teach," and insisted that the first essential of a teacher is
that he must be even-tempered. the Jews laid it down that if a teacher found that
his scholars did not understand a thing he must begin again without rancour and
without irritation and explain it all over again. That is precisely what Jesus did
all his life.
(c) The teacher must possess kindness. Jewish teaching regulations forbade all
excessive punishment. Especially they forbade all punishment which would
humiliate the scholar. The teacher's duty was always to encourage, and never to
discourage. Anna Buchan tells how her old grandmother had a favourite phrase,
"Never daunton youth." It is easy for the teacher to use the lash of his tongue on
the pupil with the, limping mind; it is often a temptation to score a cheap
triumph by making such a pupil the target of such sarcasms and witticisms as
will make him a laughing-stock. The teacher who is kind will never do that.
This passage also shows us the wise learner. It gives us a picture of an inner
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210. circle to whom Jesus could really and fully explain things.
(a) The wise learner does not go away to forget. He goes away to think over what
he has heard. He chews it over until he has finally digested it. Epictetus, the wise
Stoic teacher, used to be grieved by some of his pupils. He said that men ought to
use the philosophy they learned, not to talk about, but to live by. In a crude
metaphor, he said that sheep do not vomit up the grass in order to show the
shepherd how much they have eaten; they digest it and use it to produce wool
and milk. The wise scholar goes away, not to forget what he has learned, and not
to display what he has learned, but quietly to think it over until he has
discovered what it means for life and for living for him.
(b) Above all, the wise learner seeks the master's company. After Jesus had
spoken the crowds dispersed; but there was a little company who lingered with
him and did not want to leave him. It was to them that he unfolded the meaning
of everything. In the last analysis, if a man is a really great teacher, it is not so
much the man's teaching that we wish to know, but the man himself. His message
will always lie not so much in what he says as in what he is. The man who wishes
to learn from Christ must company with Christ. If he does that he will win, not
only learning, but life itself.
PULPIT 33-34, "With many such parables; such, that is, as he had just been
delivering—plain and simple illustrations which all might understand; not
abstruse and difficult similitudes, but sufficiently plain for them to perceive that
there was heavenly and Divine truth lying hidden beneath them, so that they
might be drawn onwards through that which they did understand, to search into
something hidden beneath it, which at present they did not know. But privately
to his own disciples he expounded ( ἐπέλυε) all things. This word ( ἐπιλύω)
occurs nowhere else in the Gospels. But it does occur in St. Peter's second Epistle
(2 Peter 1:20), "No Scripture is of any private ( ἐπιλύσεως) exposition, or
interpretation." This suggests a connection between St. Mark's Gospel and that
Epistle, and may be accepted as an auxiliary evidence, however small, as to the
genuineness of the Epistle.
BI 33-34, "But without a parable spake He not unto them.
Christ’s economy of teaching
Not as He was able to have spoken; He could have expressed Himself at a higher rate
than any mortal can; He could have soared to the clouds; He could have knit such
knots they could never untie. But He would not. He delighted to speak to His hearers’
shallow capacities (Joh_16:12). (T. Brooks.)
Christ’s method of teaching
With matter Divine and manner human, our Lord descended to the level of the
humblest of the crowd, lowering Himself to their understandings, and winning His
way into their hearts by borrowing His topics from familiar circumstances and the
scenes around Him. Be it a boat, a plank, a rope, a beggar’s rags, an imperial robe, we
would seize on anything to save a drowning man; and in His anxiety to save poor
sinners, to rouse their fears, their love, their interest, to make them understand and
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211. feel the truth, our Lord pressed everything-art and nature, earth and heaven-into His
service. Creatures of habit, the servants if not the slaves of form, we invariably select
our text from some book of the Sacred Scriptures, He took a wider, freer range; and,
instead of keeping to the unvarying routine of text and sermon with formal divisions,
it were well, perhaps, that we sometimes ventured to follow His example; for may it
not be that to the naturalness of their addresses and their striking out from the
beaten paths of texts and sermons, to their plain speaking and home thrusts, to their
direct appeals and homespun arguments, our street and lay preachers owe perhaps
not a little of their power? Our Lord found many a topic of discourse in the scenes
around Him; even the humblest objects shone in His hands, as I have seen a
fragment of broken glass or earthenware, as it caught the sunbeam, light up, flashing
like a diamond. With the stone of Jacob’s Well for a pulpit, and its water for a text,
He preached salvation to the Samaritan woman. A little child, which He takes from
its mother’s side, and holds up blushing in His arms before the astonished audience,
is His text for a sermon on humility. A husbandman on a neighbouring height
between Him and the sky, who strides with long and measured steps over the field he
sows, supplies a text from which he discourses on the gospel and its effects on
different classes of hearers. In a woman baking; in two women who sit by some
cottage door grinding at the mill; in an old, strong fortalice perched on a rock,
whence it looks across the brawling torrent to the ruined and roofless gable of a
house swept away by mountain floods-Jesus found texts. From the birds that sung
above His head, and the lilies that blossomed at His feet, He discoursed on the care
of God-these His text, and Providence His theme. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Illustrating
I have generally found that the most intellectual auditors prefer to hear a simple
scriptural and spiritual preaching. The late Judge McLean, of the United States
Supreme Court once said to me, “I was glad to hear you give that solemn personal
incident in, your discourse last night Ministers now-a-days are getting above telling a
story in a sermon; but I like it. (T. L. Cuyler.)
“Likes” in a sermon
“You have no ‘likes’ in your sermons,” said Robert Hall to a brother minister; “Christ
taught that the kingdom of heaven was ‘like leaven,’ etc. You tell us what things are,
but never what they are like.” Parables are more ancient than arguments. (Lord
Bacon.)
And when they were alone.-
Christ alone with His disciples; or, the parable expounded
I. The parables a puzzle. It is very striking that the very means of instruction should
have hid the truth, and even from His followers. The parables of Christ were
sometimes obscure and confounding to His foes; that is not strange. Where there is
no taste or desire for instruction, the clearest and simplest lessons may be vain. It
was a judgment, but not an arbitrary and cruel one. It was a punishment which the
blinded deserved, and it was one which they inflicted upon themselves. Parables were
among the easiest and most interesting methods of instruction. They addressed a
variety of powers; and thus were suited to a variety of minds, and a variety of
211

212. faculties in the same mind. But if the eye was at fault, and could not see, or could not
see aright, then the windows had no use; and the means of light conveyed no image,
or a false one. There is often, and especially in moral matters, more in the learner
than the lessons. Parables would have been no judgment, if there had been no
obtuseness and perverseness in the hearers. It is harder to understand how “the
disciples,” who had some insight and sympathy, should have been perplexed. But
why did Christ employ a method which had the effect of concealing what, if stated
without a parable, they must have seen and appreciated at once? We are here, my
brethren, right upon a great and blessed truth. The parable taught minds by taxing
them. It made truth plain to the thoughtful; but required sometimes more,
sometimes less thought for its comprehension. It was a way of teaching, but by
calling out the desire and effort to learn. If a man only heard it, the truth was hidden;
if he were bent on getting at its sense, the truth became more plain and powerful by
its means. To look at it was to see nothing; to look through it was to behold most
beautiful and glorious things. When it fell upon a passive nature, it left no
impression; when it fell on one quick and active, and in quest of truth, it realized a
blessed end. As soon as the disciples, failing to apprehend Christ’s sense, came to the
prayer, “Declare unto us the parable,” they had reached the highest end of teaching:
they not only were in the way to know, they were exercising the powers of knowledge.
All things He does as well as says, in this sense, are parables: they are intended to
teach, but they teach in the way of training; they have in them an element of difficulty
mercifully fitted to make easy, an element of obscurity mercifully fitted to make clear.
He wishes to excite, to awaken the dormant and stimulate the sluggish; to call out
our powers; not only to bless us, but to bless us by quickening us; not only to impart
knowledge, but make us knowing; not only to enrich us with goodness and
happiness, but to enlarge our capacity for both. And a heaven on lighter terms would
be a heaven of smaller joy.
II. The different ways in which the parables were treated. Some gaze upon the
mystery scornfully or listlessly, others seek with deep anxiety to have it solved.
Difficulty offends or disheartens these, but stirs up those to activity and zeal. Truth is
often difficult. What is needful to salvation is within the reach of all, for an
inaccessible boon cannot be an indispensable blessing. But truth of most sorts, as
well as religious, is not unavoidable, and frequently it is hard to get. And if we pass
from what is to be known to what is to be done, from the difficulty of apprehension to
the difficulty of the performance, the same kind of remark applies, “Is there not a
warfare to man upon the earth?” Is any promise of good in other than the apocalyptic
form, “To him that overcometh will I give”?
III. The private solution of the parables. When the multitude were sent away,
Matthew says that the disciples came to Jesus, requesting an explanation of His
teaching. This is not the only occasion mentioned (Mat_15:15), and we may be sure
there were many. They had the right, and availed themselves of it. And there are now
those who have access, so to speak, to the solitude of the Saviour. Many only know
Him in the world, and the face of day; in His written word, in His general providence;
as the Teacher of crowds, as the Worker of wonders. They might know Him
otherwise. Had this multitude cared for His intimacy, they might have had it. We,
like the disciples, may be “alone,” and alone with Jesus. It is not necessary, in order
to this, that we should be absent from men. There is a solitude of the flesh, and a
solitude of the spirit. Christ is the best revelation of spiritual truth, its strongest
evidence, and its only quickening force; and we may say of Him and Christianity,
what Cowper says of God and Providence-
“He is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.”
Perhaps your parable is evil, the evil in the world, in yourselves. Christ has this
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213. explanation. And the same remark applies to duties. More faith in Him will lighten
the burden and ease the yoke, however hard and heavy. “I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me.” He is model, motive, might of all obedience; and the
life we live is His life, and we follow Him, and all we do is from His love constraining
us. There is a lesson for all. Some are painfully exercised with doubts and difficulties
“great upon” them. They “walk in darkness,” “a darkness that may be felt.” Let me
entreat such to “come to Jesus in the house;” to seek the secret Saviour. (A. J.
Morris.)
34 He did not say anything to them without
using a parable. But when he was alone with his
own disciples, he explained everything.
BARNES, "Without a parable spake he not unto them - That is, the things
pertaining to his kingdom. On other subjects he spake without parables. On these,
such was their prejudice, so many notions had they contrary to the nature of his
kingdom, and so liable would plain instructions have been to give offence, that he
employed this method to “insinuate” truth gradually into their minds, and to prepare
them fully to understand the nature of his kingdom.
They were alone - His disciples.
He expounded - Explained. Showed them more at length the spiritual meaning
of the parables.
CLARKE, "He expounded all things to his disciples - That they might be
capable of instructing others. Outside hearers, those who do not come into close
fellowship with the true disciples of Christ, have seldom more than a superficial
knowledge of Divine things.
In the fellowship of the saints, where Jesus the teacher is always to be found, every
thing is made plain, - for the secret of the Lord is with them who fear him.
GILL, "But without a parable spake he not unto them,.... For the above
reason, as well as for the accomplishment of Scripture; See Gill on Mat_13:34, Mat_
13:35.
And when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples: after
they returned with him from the sea side, to the house in Capernaum, where he
usually was when there; see Mat_13:36. The multitude being dismissed, he unfolded
and explained all these parables to his disciples, and led them into a large knowledge
of himself, and the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; whereby they were furnished
for the work he had called them to, and designed them for.
213

214. HENRY, "But, for the present, without a parable spoke he not unto them, Mar_
4:34. The glory of the Lord was covered with a cloud, and God speaks to us in the
language of the sons of men, that, though not at first, yet by degrees, we may
understand his meaning; the disciples themselves understood those sayings of Christ
afterward, which at first they did not rightly take the sense of. But these parables he
expounded to them, when they were alone. We cannot but wish we had had that
exposition, as we had of the parable of the sower; but it was not so needful; because,
when the church should be enlarged, that would expound these parables to us,
without any more ado.
JAMIESON, "But without a parable spake he not unto them — See on
Mat_13:34.
and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples —
See on Mar_4:22.
PULPIT, "Mark 4:34
"Without a parable spake he not unto them."
To be understood of Christ's general habit or manner of teaching. It was
specially characteristic of him after it became evident that the Pharisees were
seeking an occasion for his destruction. This practice proved—
I. THE VASTNESS OF HIS SPIRITUAL RESOURCES.
1. When prevented from using direct statements, he adopted an indirect mode of
expression. The truth was not stifled, it only assumed another form. There was
not the least sign of labour or effort in making this transition. He played upon
the varying moods and appearances of nature as a skilled musician upon his
instrument, so as not only to discourse sweet sounds, but to suggest Divine ideas
and principles. His supplies of spiritual truth must have been as inexhaustible as
nature itself. He must have had many modes and degrees of expression in which
to clothe the same truth. Restriction of speech in one direction only developed a
larger liberty in another.
2. In order to this his perception of truth must have been of a very deep and vital
nature. His parables were not only facile, they were felicitous. In them truth lived
and breathed. It is not as more or less distant analogies one reads them, but as
one might look at the naked truth itself. How instinctively must he have
discerned the Divine side of things! And there is in his figurative teaching an
unassuming originality, a vigor and vividness that could spring from nothing less
than inward understanding of spiritual principles—a practical, sympathetic
familiarity with them in their root and essence. The author of such similitudes
cannot be conceived of as standing apart from Divine truth, but as one with it;
therefore the conclusion, "I am the Truth," is inevitable.
II. HIS DIDACTIC SKILL. The parables are beautiful, but it is not as creations
of artistic genius that they chiefly impress us. Jesus was not the slave of his
imagination. A careful adaptation of means to ends is perceptible in all his
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215. utterances. You feel he did not want to paint a beautiful picture, but simply to
tell the truth. The latter was thus rendered:
III. HIS PRACTICAL MORAL PURPOSE. By his parables our Lord:
1. Demonstrated the unity of creation. The words and works of God were one in
their meaning and message. A multitude of phenomena so varied and different,
yet so mutually suggestive and harmoniously concurrent in testimony, could not
be a soulless medley or a resultant of blind forces; it must be a system
throughout, informed and controlled by one governing mind, and moving
onward to a worthy if at present inadequately apprehended end.
2. Redeemed nature and human life from base associations. "In everything there
was discernible the idea;" the humblest thing was suggestive, if rightly
interrogated, of the Divine. Henceforth nothing was to be considered "common
or unclean."
3. Rendered human experience a Divine discipline. Every-day events and
circumstances were charged with spiritual lessons, and revealed as "working
together for good to them that love God."—M.
Mark 4:30-32
The grain of mustard seed; or, the growth of the kingdom of God relatively to its
beginnings.
I. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AS COMPARED WITH
THOSE OF OTHER INFLUENCES AFFECTING THE WORLD'S LIFE, ARE
VERY SMALL AND INSIGNIFICANT. A parable and a prophecy. Two plants,
either of which might have been referred to by Christ—Sinapis Orientalis, a
garden herb, bushy in habit, with black or white seeds, from four to six in a pod;
or the Salvadora Persica, commonly known as the tree mustard; the latter the
most likely. The comparison expressed in the phrase, "the least of all seeds," is a
free one, and not to be understood absolutely. How minute and obscure have
been the first origins of Christianity! The Incarnation; the upper room at
Jerusalem. The first throb of repentance; the dawning power to resist
temptation; the first acts of faith and charity; the first words of invitation and
appeal. As a seed, it has been for the most part hidden; as a plant, it has seemed
in its first upspringing like the herbs. This is true of
(1) the understanding of the kingdom of God;
1. It contrasts in this respect with powers founded on force, material advantages,
prestige, or accidental circumstances. Political empire; military aggrandizement;
advance of mechanical arts and material improvements.
2. In this respect it resembles but far exceeds the mortal and intellectual
movements that have marked the progress of the world: philosophies,
civilization, the sentiment of humanity, growth of science, etc.
215

216. II. ITS ULTIMATE DIMENSIONS WILL BE DISPROPORTIONATELY
VAST.
1. It grows according to its own law, yet imperceptibly. As the bud into the rose,
the village into the city.
2. It becomes comprehensive. Other forces and vital principles are revealed as in
relation to it and ultimately included.
3. Its increase is in the direction of beneficence and universal blessing. The truth
of the epithet, "Mother Church." All the best interests of humanity are included
and protected. It saves and ennobles whatever it affiliates.
4. This is due to its own inherent genius; not an accident. Circumstances have
not favored Christianity, but it has grown in spite of opposition, and converted
obstacles into auxiliaries, enemies into friends. It is an absolutely central, and
therefore the only truly universal, principle.—M.
Mark 4:33, Mark 4:34
The parable an instrument of mercy and judgment.
I. AN INSTRUMENT OF JUDGMENT.
1. As concealing more than it revealed to the popular mind.
2. As convicting men of sinful ignorance and spiritual incapacity.
II. AN INSTRUMENT OF MERCY.
1. The Word of God was not wholly withdrawn.
2. This, the only practicable form of teaching that remained to Christ, was used
with constant regard to the benefit of the hearers.
3. The desire for Divine knowledge was thereby stimulated.
4. Further instruction was ever attainable by sincere inquirers.—M.
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 That day when evening came, he said to his
disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”
216

217. CLARKE, "Let us pass over unto the other side - Our Lord was now by the
sea of Galilee.
GILL, "And the same day, when the even was come,.... After he had finished
his parables among the multitude, and had explained them to his disciples:
he saith unto them; his disciples,
let us pass over unto the other side: that is, of the sea of Galilee, or lake of
Gennesaret, to the country of the Gadarenes, and Gergesenes; with a view for
retirement and rest, after the fatigue of the day; and for the trial of the faith of his
disciples, by a storm which he knew would arise, whilst they were on the sea; and for
the sake of a miracle he was to work on the other side, after related.
HENRY, "This miracle which Christ wrought for the relief of his disciples, in
stilling the storm, we had before (Mat_8:23, etc.); but it is here more fully related.
Observe,
1. It was the same day that he had preached out of a ship, when the even was
come, Mar_4:35. When he had been labouring in the word and doctrine all day,
instead of reposing himself, he exposeth himself, to teach us not to think of a
constant remaining rest till we come to heaven. The end of a toil may perhaps be but
the beginning of a toss. But observe, the ship that Christ made his pulpit is taken
under his special protection, and, though in danger, cannot sink. What is used for
Christ, he will take particular care of.
2. He himself proposed putting to sea at night, because he would lose no time; Let
us pass over to the other side; for we shall find, in the next chapter, he has work to
do there. Christ went about doing good, and no difficulties in his way should hinder
him; thus industrious we should be in serving him, and our generation according to
his will.
3. They did not put to sea, till they had sent away the multitude, that is, had given
to each of them that which they came for, and answered all their requests; for he sent
none home complaining that they had attended him in vain. Or, They sent them
away with a solemn blessing; for Christ came into the world, not only to pronounce,
but to command, and to give, the blessing.
4. They took him even as he was, that is, in the same dress that he was in when he
preached, without any cloak to throw over him, which he ought to have had, to keep
him warm, when he went to sea at night, especially after preaching. We must not
hence infer that we may be careless of our health, but we may learn hence not to be
over nice and solicitous about the body.
JAMIESON, "Mark 4:35-5:20. Jesus crossing the Sea of Galilee, miraculously
stills a tempest - He cures the demoniac of Gadara. ( = Mat_8:23-34; Luk_8:22-39).
The time of this section is very definitely marked by our Evangelist, and by him
alone, in the opening words.
Jesus stills a tempest on the Sea of Galilee (Mar_4:35-41).
And the same day — on which He spoke the memorable parables of the Mar_
217

218. 4:1-32, and of Mat_13:1-52.
when the even was come — (See on Mar_6:35). This must have been the earlier
evening - what we should call the afternoon - since after all that passed on the other
side, when He returned to the west side, the people were waiting for Him in great
numbers (Mar_4:21; Luk_8:40).
he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side — to the east side
of the lake, to grapple with a desperate case of possession, and set the captive free,
and to give the Gadarenes an opportunity of hearing the message of salvation, amid
the wonder which that marvelous cure was fitted to awaken and the awe which the
subsequent events could not but strike into them.
BARCLAY, "THE PEACE OF THE PRESENCE (Mark 4:35-41)
4:35-41 When on that day evening had come, he said to them, "Let us cross over
to the other side." So they left the crowds and took him, just as he was, in their
boat. And there were other boats with him. A great storm of wind got up and the
waves dashed upon the boat, so that the boat was on the point of being swamped.
And he was in the stern sleeping upon a pillow. They woke him. "Teacher," they
said, "don't you care that we are perishing?" So, when he had been wakened, he
spoke sternly to the wind and said to the sea, "Be silent! Be muzzled!" and the
wind sank to rest and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you
afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were stricken with a great awe, and
kept saying to each other, "Who then can this be, because the wind and the sea
obey him?"
The Lake of Galilee was notorious for its storms. They came literally out of the
blue with shattering and terrifying suddenness. A writer describes them like this:
"It is not unusual to see terrible squalls hurl themselves, even when the sky is
perfectly clear, upon these waters which are ordinarily so calm. The numerous
ravines which to the north-east and east debouch upon the upper part of the lake
operate as so many dangerous defiles in which the winds from the heights of
Hauran, the plateaux of Trachonitis, and the summit of Mount Hermon are
caught and compressed in such a way that, rushing with tremendous force
through a narrow space and then being suddenly released, they agitate the little
Lake of Gennesaret in the most frightful fashion." The voyager across the lake
was always liable to encounter just such sudden storms as this.
Jesus was in the boat in the position in which any distinguished guest would be
conveyed. We are told that, "In these boats...the place for any distinguished
stranger is on the little seat placed at the stern, where a carpet and cushion are
arranged. The helmsman stands a little farther forward on the deck, though near
the stern, in order to have a better look-out ahead."
It is interesting to note that the words Jesus addressed to the wind and the waves
are exactly the same as he addressed to the demon-possessed man in Mark 1:25.
Just as an evil demon possessed that man, so the destructive power of the storm
was, so people in Palestine believed in those days, the evil power of the demons at
work in the realm of nature.
218

219. We do this story far less than justice if we merely take it in a literalistic sense. If
it describes no more than a physical miracle in which an actual storm was stifled,
it is very wonderful and it is something at which we must marvel, but it is
something which happened once and cannot happen again. In that case it is quite
external to us. But if we read it in a symbolic sense it is far more valuable. When
the disciples realized the presence of Jesus with them the storm became a calm.
Once they knew he was there fearless peace entered their hearts. To voyage with
Jesus was to voyage in peace even in a storm. Now that is universally true. It is
not something which happened once; it is something which still happens and
which can happen for us. In the presence of Jesus we can have peace even in the
wildest storms of life.
(i) He gives us peace in the storm of sorrow. When sorrow comes as come it must,
he tells us of the glory of the life to come. He changes the darkness of death into
the sunshine of the thought of life eternal. He tells us of the love of God. There is
an old story of a gardener who in his garden had a favourite flower which he
loved much. One day he came to the garden to find that flower gone. He was
vexed and angry and full of complaints. In the midst of his resentment he met the
master of the garden and hurled his complaints at him. "Hush!" said the master,
"I plucked it for myself." In the storm of sorrow Jesus tells us that those we love
have gone to be with God, and gives us the certainty that we shall meet again
those whom we have loved and lost awhile.
(ii) He gives us peace when life's problems involve us in a tempest of doubt and
tension and uncertainty. There come times when we do not know what to do;
when we stand at some cross-roads in life and do not know which way to take. If
then we turn to Jesus and say to him, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" the
way will be clear. The real tragedy is not that we do not know what to do; but
that often we do not humbly submit to Jesus' guidance. To ask his will and to
submit to it is the way to peace at such a time.
(iii) He gives us peace in the storms of anxiety. The chief enemy of peace is
worry, worry for ourselves, worry about the unknown future, worry about those
we love. But Jesus speaks to us of a Father whose hand will never cause his child
a needless tear and of a love beyond which neither we nor those we love can ever
drift. In the storm of anxiety he brings us the peace of the love of God.
PULPIT 35-36, "And on that day,—the day, that is, on which the parables were
delivered, at least those recorded by St. Mark—when even was come, he saith
unto them, Let us go over unto the other side. And leaving the multitude, they
take him with them, even as he was, in the boat. It was the boat from which he
had been preaching. They made no special preparation. They did not land first
to obtain provisions. It would have been inconvenient to go ashore in the midst of
the crowd. They made at once, as he told them to do, for the other side. And
other boats were with him. This is another interesting circumstance. Probably
those who were in these boats had availed themselves of them to get nearer to the
great Prophet, the boatmen themselves having seen the vast crowd that was
gathered on the shore, and so having been attracted thither. Thus he had a large
audience on the sea as well as on the land. And not it was so ordered that he was
surrounded by a fleet and by a multitude of witnesses when he stilled the
219

220. tempest.
COFFMAN, "MIRACLE OF STILLING THE TEMPEST
Christ here proposed a crossing to the eastern side of Lake Galilee. This
beautiful lake was surrounded by at least a dozen towns in the time of Christ and
was the most densely populated area of Palestine. It is thirteen miles long, six
miles wide, pear-shaped; and the surface lies 700 feet below sea level. Steep
mountains rise along both the western and eastern shores. It is fed by the Jordan
river which enters at the north end and exits at the south where it resumes its
course to the Dead Sea. The water is fresh and sweet, abounds with fish, and is
edged with sparkling pebbly beaches. Due to its depression below sea level and
the bordering mountains, it is subject to very severe and sudden storms, such as
the one related here.[42]
ENDNOTE:
[42] F. N. Peloubet, Peloubet's Bible Dictionary (Chicago: The John C. Winston
Company, 1925), p. 208.
PULPIT 35-41, "Mark 4:35-41
The storm: the two questions.
The scene here depicted by the evangelist is an emblem of the condition, of the
needs, of the fears, of the Church of Christ; and of the perpetual presence, the
brotherly care, the Divine dignity, of the Lord. The disciples were on the Sea of
Gennesaret; and we are upon the sea of life—of this uncertain world. They took
Christ with them in the boat; and we have him with us alway. A storm arose and
threatened their safety; and we, as long as we are here, are exposed to the
tempests of trial, doubt, and danger. Jesus slept; and to us it sometimes seems as
though he had forgotten and abandoned us. At the disciples' cry, Jesus arose and
stilled the storm; and never can we call upon him without experiencing his
friendly and effectual interposition. He reproached the faithless; and for us too
he has often a word of expostulation. His authority impressed the disciples'
minds with reverence; and never can we contemplate his character and his
saving might without renewing our faith and adoration. There are two questions
in the record which represent the two movements of the narrative.
I. THE QUESTION OF THE DISCIPLES, "HAST THOU NO CARE?" It was
the cry of impulse, and a cry which has often sprung from the heart of the Lord's
people in their griefs and dangers.
1. A cry of fear. Christians have the same natural passions as other men. In times
of bodily danger, in scenes of public commotion and disaster, in circumstances of
threatening and suffering to the Church, the fears of Christ's people have often
been awakened. "We perish!" "Carest thou not? "Save us!" Such are the
exclamations uttered by imperilled, anxious, and terrified souls.
220

221. 2. A cry, evincing seine faith. If the disciples had been altogether without faith,
they would not have appealed to Jesus, they would not have called him
"Master!" they would not have entreated him to save them. So, when in our
distress we call upon the Lord that he will deliver us, we prove that we have
some faith in him whose help we seek.
3. A cry, however, evincing defect of faith. If the disciples' faith in their Master
had been perfect, they would not have given way to panic, and they would not
have been rebuked. Our attitude of spirit often proves the deficiency and
imperfection of our confidence in our Lord. There was want of faith in his
knowledge. Did he not, though sleeping, understand their danger and their need?
A want of faith in his interest and care. He did care; and they ought, even in such
circumstances, to have felt assured of this. A want of faith in his habitual rule.
Though slumbering, he was nature's Lord. And how often are we, Christ's
people, guilty of overlooking, in our distresses, the acquaintance of Jesus with
our case, the power of Jesus over our foes, the love of Jesus for our souls!
II. THE QUESTION OF THE CHRIST, "HAVE YE NO FAITH?" Well might
Jesus appeal thus to his disciples. Often had they experienced his power. Always
had he justified their confidence. Never had he forgotten or forsaken them. How
justly may our Lord address a similar expostulation to us when we are ready to
abandon ourselves to sorrow and to despair!
1. No faith, when there is such an Object of faith? Christ has shown himself by
his character and his work, to be deserving of all faith; and when we have least
confidence in ourselves or our fellow-men we may well have all confidence in
him.
2. No faith when in human life there is so much need of faith? From danger,
temptation, sorrow, sin, there is no exemption. If we throw up faith in Christ, we
throw up all.
3. No faith, when we have so many examples and instances to justify faith? Refer
to Old Testament history in the light of Hebrews 11:1-40; refer to the Gospel
narratives of the centurion, of the Canaanite woman, etc.; refer to the instances
of our Lord's gracious reply to the appeal and prayer of faith;—and ask if there
is any excuse for withholding faith.
4. No faith, when absence of faith must leave the heart desolate and helpless?
What do you lose and forfeit if you are without confidence in Christ? Peace of
mind, strength for life's conflicts, hope in suffering and in age and in death. Can
we forego all these?
5. No faith, when there is such express encouragement to trust in Christ? He
himself invites our confidence: "Believe in me;" "Be not faithless, but
believing;" "Have ye not yet faith?"
APPLICATION.
221

222. 1. Let the unbelieving repent of their unbelief, and look unto and call upon
Jesus; that henceforth, knowing his grace, they may surely trust in him.
2. Let the doubting Christian be encouraged to put away his fears, and to pray,
"Lord, increase our faith!"
3. Let the believing Christian remember that Christ's people can never perish.
"With Christ in the vessel,
I smile at the storm."
4. Let all who experience the Saviour's delivering power and grace unite in
adoring him and witnessing to him: "What manner of man is this?"
MACLAREN, "THE STORM STILLED
Mark seldom dates his incidents, but he takes pains to tell us that this run across the
lake closed a day of labour, Jesus was wearied, and felt the need of rest, He had been
pressed on all day by ‘a very great multitude,’ and felt the need of solitude. He could
not land from the boat which had been His pulpit, for that would have plunged Him
into the thick of the crowd, and so the only way to get away from the throng was to
cross the lake. But even there He was followed; ‘other boats were with Him.’
I. The first point to note is the wearied sleeper.
The disciples ‘take Him, . . . even as He was,’ without preparation or delay, the object
being simply to get away as quickly as might be, so great was His fatigue and longing
for quiet. We almost see the hurried starting and the intrusive followers scrambling
into the little skiffs on the beach and making after Him. The ‘multitude’ delights to
push itself into the private hours of its heroes, and is devoured with rude curiosity.
There was a leather, or perhaps wooden, movable seat in the stern for the steersman,
on which a wearied-out man might lay his head, while his body was stretched in the
bottom of the boat. A hard ‘pillow’ indeed, which only exhaustion could make
comfortable! But it was soft enough for the worn-out Christ, who had apparently
flung Himself down in sheer tiredness as soon as they set sail. How real such a small
detail makes the transcendent mystery of the Incarnation! Jesus is our pattern in
small common things as in great ones, and among the sublimities of character set
forth in Him as our example, let us not forget that the homely virtue of hard work is
also included. Jonah slept in a storm the sleep of a skulking sluggard, Jesus slept the
sleep of a wearied labourer.
II. The next point is the terrified disciples.
The evening was coming on, and, as often on a lake set among hills, the wind rose as
the sun sank behind the high land on the western shore astern. The fishermen
disciples were used to such squalls, and, at first, would probably let their sail down,
and pull so as to keep the boat’s head to the wind. But things grew worse, and when
the crazy, undecked craft began to fill and get water-logged, they grew alarmed. The
squall was fiercer than usual, and must have been pretty bad to have frightened such
seasoned hands. They awoke Jesus, and there is a touch of petulant rebuke in their
appeal, and of a sailor’s impatience at a landsman lying sound asleep while the sweat
is running down their faces with their hard pulling. It is to Mark that we owe our
222

223. knowledge of that accent of complaint in their words, for he alone gives their ‘Carest
Thou not?’
But it is not for us to fling stones at them, seeing that we also often may catch
ourselves thinking that Jesus has gone to sleep when storms come on the Church or
on ourselves, and that He is ignorant of, or indifferent to, our plight. But though the
disciples were wrong in their fright, and not altogether right in the tone of their
appeal to Jesus, they were supremely right in that they did appeal to Him. Fear which
drives us to Jesus is not all wrong. The cry to Him, even though it is the cry of
unnecessary terror, brings Him to His feet for our help.
III. The next point is the word of power.
Again we have to thank Mark for the very words, so strangely, calmly authoritative.
May we take ‘Peace!’ as spoken to the howling wind, bidding it to silence; and ‘Be
still!’ as addressed to the tossing waves, smoothing them to a calm plain? At all
events, the two things to lay to heart are that Jesus here exercises the divine
prerogative of controlling matter by the bare expression of His will, and that this
divine attribute was exercised by the wearied man, who, a moment before, had been
sleeping the sleep of human exhaustion. The marvellous combination of apparent
opposites, weakness, and divine omnipotence, which yet do not clash, nor produce an
incredible monster of a being, but coalesce in perfect harmony, is a feat beyond the
reach of the loftiest creative imagination. If the Evangelists are not simple
biographers, telling what eyes have seen and hands have handled, they have beaten
the greatest poets and dramatists at their own weapons, and have accomplished
‘things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.’
A word of loving rebuke and encouragement follows. Matthew puts it before the
stilling of the storm, but Mark’s order seems the more exact. How often we too are
taught the folly of our fears by experiencing some swift, easy deliverance! Blessed be
God! He does not rebuke us first and help us afterwards, but rebukes by helping.
What could the disciples say, as they sat there in the great calm, in answer to Christ’s
question, ‘Why are ye fearful?’ Fear can give no reasonable account of itself, if Christ
is in the boat. If our faith unites us to Jesus, there is nothing that need shake our
courage. If He is ‘our fear and our dread,’ we shall not need to ‘fear their fear,’ who
have not the all-conquering Christ to fight for them.
‘Well roars the storm to them who hear
A deeper voice across the storm.’
Jesus wondered at the slowness of the disciples to learn their lesson, and the wonder
was reflected in the sad question, ‘Have ye not yet faith?’-not yet, after so many
miracles, and living beside Me for so long? How much more keen the edge of that
question is when addressed to us, who know Him so much better, and have centuries
of His working for His servants to look back on. When, in the tempests that sweep
over our own lives, we sometimes pass into a great calm as suddenly as if we had
entered the centre of a typhoon, we wonder unbelievingly instead of saying, out of a
faith nourished by experience, ‘It is just like Him.’
SBC, "Veiled under some real fact in our Lord’s life on earth, lie all the revelations of
His will in faith and doctrine concerning His Church and His children throughout the
ages; so I seem to trace the spiritual teaching of Advent under the storm that befel
the disciples on the lake long ago.
I. As I see the time when this took place, I learn something. It was eventide—nay, it
was more than that—it was eventide when these disciples braced the halyards and
223

224. drew up the brown sail, and gave the prow of their little vessel to the setting sun; but
at the crisis of the story it was more than eventide—it was night; the hours had sped
on, twilight so short in those eastern lands had slipped suddenly away; not alone a
storm, but darkness had overtaken these disciples. So with us now the time as of old
is eventide; the ages have slipped by and we are standing here, heirs of all the ages
past, nearer the time than when we believed. It is eventide with us, and it is
something more—darkness has overtaken us also.
II. From this darkness on the lake I learn another thing. The darknesses of our holy
religion—its mysteries, its sacraments—make Christ to be prized even more highly
than if our faith existed without such darkness and such shrouds. In the dark shadow
of these mysteries sits Jesus Christ. It was so of old. It is so now. These disciples,
sitting in the setting sun, with light all around them, with no storm battling against
their sails; no darkness around them; nothing to hide Christ from them;—think you it
was good for them; nay that they half realized what they realized of their Master
when loosing their vessel, they swept across the sea of Galilee, and entered the
darkness; spent the night with Him; discovered the mystery of His hidden presence?
I think not; but when they had thus proceeded, how different it was with them, The
darkness came; did it take Christ away? nay, it brought Him nearer as their helper.
The night fell; it shrouded Him, but it took not Christ away; dearer and closer their
yokefellow in danger; it was the reason that he rose up at their greatest need and
cried His great words of "Peace, be still."
W. Meller, Village Homilies, p. 9.
References: Mar_4:35, Mar_4:36.—A. G. Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol.
xxv., p. 309. Mar_4:35-39.—Parker, Cavendish Pulpit, vol. i., p. 47.
Mark 4:35-41
There are various instances in Sacred Scripture of the effect produced by the
revelation of God to man, sometimes by mere power, sometimes by terror,
sometimes, as in the drama of Job, by a long discourse of natural history. But here it
was the mercifulness, the sympathy, the succour which were manifested, that
touched the hearts of the disciples. He came to their rescue; and although the wonder
of His power over great natural laws was not without its effect, yet that which seems
to have touched them and filled them all the rest of their lives, was the sense that He
was their protector, their Saviour.
I. Everyone comes first or last to God, through tribulation. There never was a people
that lived and flourished on the earth, outside of a fable, who did not need a God of
compassion. Taking the human race comprehensively, the whole world has been in a
condition that no other than such a Deity could possibly fit, or endure, either the
measurement or the morality which has been inspired by the Gospel. Consider what
poverty has done and is doing all over the world. Go inside of men, and see what a
torment is the sense of right and wrong, of unaccomplished rectitude, of unfulfilled
vows, and of purpose ignobly wasted. Men, looking at them in their very best
conditions, as in modern developed society, are continually in need of somebody to
be willing to help them; and the mischief is, that according to our ideas of the laws of
nature and the laws of grace, men feel, I dare not ask for help. What am I that I
should? But if there could break out from heaven a voice, saying, "Not because you
are rich, but because of your poverty; not by reason of your worth, but by reason of
your misery, I will help you?" The very conception of the love of God under such
224

225. circumstances—how much light it brings to despairing souls.
II. The doctrine of the compassion of God, of the compassion of Christ, I think, has
been the salvation of the Bible, of the Church and of faith; and every limitation of it is
a peril. The Christ in art has mostly perished. There was a time when men spoke by
art, carved, built, painted; and there are certain ages in which the idea of art conveys
more really the living thought of the age than anything that is recorded in book of
history. That has gone by long ago, and the glory of Christ, and the thoughts of men
about Christ, are diffusing themselves throughout the whole Christian world. Christ
in humanity, Christ in sympathy for others, that has become the Christ of our age.
That amelioration has been going on in barbarous countries and among civilised
nations. That different conception of the outcast and criminal classes; that
hopefulness of reformation under certain possible conditions of mind; that general
kindness and tenderness even to those whom society must banish frequently from
itself; the recognition of the brotherhood of men—that is Christ at the present time,
working into actual affairs, and leavening the whole lump.
H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii., p. 51.
I. We see here the organised Church in peril—Christ and His disciples were all in this
tempest.
II. Dangers beset the Church even whilst it is carrying out the express commands of
Christ.
III. The spirit of Christ, not the body of Christ, must save the Church in all peril.
IV. Jesus Christ answers the personal appeal of the imperilled Church.
V. All the perils of the Church may be successfully encountered by profound faith in
God.
Parker, City Temple, 1871, p. 82.
BI 35-41, "And the same day, when the even was come, He saith unto them, Let us
pass over unto the other side.
In the storm
I. The influence of danger it caused the disciples to doubt the care of Christ. Why is it
we doubt the Lord in seasons of danger?
1. Imperfect knowledge of the Lord.
2. Natural impatience.
3. Satanic temptations.
II. The folly of suspicion. It is groundless. The truth is ratified, that God will not
leave us to perish. Were it not stated in such plain terms, we might infer as much
from-
1. God’s former dealings with ourselves and others.
2. The known character of the Lord.
3. The relationship in which we stand to Him.
III. The secret of tranquility.
225

226. 1. Meditation.
2. Prayer.
3. Resignation.
IV. The blessedness of holy confidence.
1. It honours God.
2. It blesses our own souls afterward.
If the record had run thus, “And there arose a great storm, etc., but the disciples,
believing their Master would not suffer them to perish, watched Him until He awoke.
And when Jesus arose, He said, Great is your faith; and He saved them,” what joy
would the memory have brought to their hearts in later years!
3. Hereby we obtain more speedy relief. Unbelief causes God to delay or deny
(Mat_13:58). (R. A. Griffin.)
A great storm and a great calm
I. The first aspect of Christ’s life presented to us in this wonderful passage of
Scripture is His weariness.
1. It arose from incessant labour.
2. It arose from laborious work.
II. The second aspect of Christ’s life brought before us is his rest. We regard this
sleeping of Christ-
1. As an evidence of His humanity.
2. As an evidence of His trustfulness. He cast Himself upon His Father’s care,
and was not afraid of Galilee’s stormy lake.
3. As an evidence of His goodness. He slept like one who had a good conscience.
III. But all too soon was the best of Christ disturbed. “And they awoke Him.” How
often was Christ’s repose disturbed! Three things led to the disturbance of Christ’s
rest:
1. A sudden and violent storm.
2. The danger of the disciples.
3. The fears of the disciples.
IV. Then followed a glorious manifestation of the power of Christ.
1. It was manifested in His authority over nature.
2. It was manifested in His rebuke of the disciples.
3. It was manifested in His evident superiority of character.
“What manner of man is this?” He is the God-Man, who stands equal with God on
the high level of Deity, and equal with man on the low level of humanity. “He that
hath seen Me, hath seen the Father.” (Joseph Hughes.)
A picture of the Christian life
226

227. This narrative is a touching picture of the Christian life. Following its leadings; we
contemplate the Christian life in its beginning, in its progress, in its issue.
I. The beginning of the Christian life. We go out on the waves of life and have Christ
for our leader in the days of our childhood; that is, where we have the blessing of
Christian parents and teachers, etc. Oh happy years of childlike faith! How merciless
they who could rob us of this faith. What have they to offer in its place? No; we will
not be robbed of it. In its nature and essence this childlike faith is true and
unchangeable; but the garment by which it is covered, the veil it carries over it, must
be torn off. The childlike faith receives the Saviour in the only vessel in which the
child can receive the Divine-in the vessel of the feelings. In manhood we have
another vessel in which we can receive Him-the vessel of the understanding. Not that
we should loose Him from the vessel of the feelings as we become men, but that our
manhood should receive Him into the understanding as well as into the heart. Our
childlike faith has seen the Saviour as the little ship of life glided over the smooth
waters; it has not yet learnt to know Him in the storm and the tempest. It has known
Him in His kindness and love; He is not yet revealed in His wisdom and power.
II. The beginning of life passes by, and in the progress of life Christ slumbers in the
soul, and is awakened by the storm. That beautiful childlike sense of faith slumbers-
not universally, for there have been favoured souls in whom Christ has never
slumbered, who have retained their childish faith to their ripe manhood. It is
otherwise in times of conflict like these. It seems that in these troubled times, this
childlike faith must apparently die, i.e., must throw off its veil when the storm rages,
and rises in a new form. Even on the sacred floor of the church the young Christian
finds doubt, strife, and disunion, and he doubts. The Lord awakes, and says, “…Canst
thou believe?” and we answer, “…Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.” There is
faith still, though doubt may be ever so strong; there is still an anchor firmly fastened
in the sanctuary of the breast. Faith slumbers, but is not dead.
III. That will be the issue if, instead of yielding, you wrestle. As you have known the
Saviour earlier in His kindness and love, you will come to know Him in His wisdom
and power. Life is a conflict. Some trifle with life; with them it is like playing with
soap bubbles. They have never looked the doubt earnestly in the face, to say nothing
of the truth. God will not send the noblest of His gifts to laggards: the door of truth
closed against those who would willingly enter is a solemn thought (Mat_25:10-11).
(Dr. Tholuch.)
The disciples in the storm
I. In the storm while prosecuting the Saviour’s command-teaching.
1. Implicit obedience does not exempt from trials. Joseph, David, Daniel, St.
Paul, etc.
2. Trials are not always punitive, but always disciplinary. This trial was a test
both in respect to faith and works.
(a) Will they believe that they will be saved?
(b) Will they go on in their line of duty?
II. In the story while Jesus was with them.
1. Jesus was exposed to the same fury of the tempest, and to the same upheavals
of the angry waves.
227

228. (a) Was there ever a storm in which Jesus was absent from His disciples?
2. Though with His disciples, He was fast asleep.
(a) A symbol of what frequently occurs. Let every disciple remember that
a sleeping Christ is not a dead Christ.
(b) Though asleep, He has not forgotten His disciples.
III. In the storm while Jesus was with them and yet they had to cry to Him for
deliverance.
1. Prayer is the disciples’ privilege and duty at all times, especially in times of trial
and peril.
2. The prayer that arises from a believing heart can never go unanswered.
IV. Is the storm delivered from the storm in answer to prayer.
1. Christ’s Divine power was not affected by physical fatigue.
2. Jesus, touched by the cry of His disciples, wields a power before which nothing
can stand.
V. Deliverance from the storm a grand moral power.
1. It exercised a moral power, awakening deeper reverence for Christ as Messiah.
2. Awakening greater awe for Christ as the Son of God. (D. G. Hughes, M. A.)
God’s storms
They only measure Christ aright, who are forced to carry to Him some great grief,
and find by experience He is great enough to save them. It is when men have weighed
Him in the balances of some great necessity, and found Him not wanting, that they
believe in Him. So the disciples are sent to school. Storm and danger are for the night
to be their schoolmasters, bringing them to Christ, not with wonder or service
merely, but with suppliant prayers. So starting, they get on their journey a little way,
hoping, I suppose, that an hour and a half will see them comfortably across; when lo!
this gale breaks on them with the fury of a wild beast. They are stunned with its
suddenness. Doubtless in an instant the sail is lowered, oars are shipped, and
carefully keeping head to wind or giving way before it, they seek to avoid getting
broadside on to the waves in the dangerous trough of the sea. It is touching to see
how they shrink from waking Him. Pitiful for His weariness, reverent to His dignity,
they run every risk they dare before presuming to disturb Him. Yet how confused
they must have felt. A sleeping Christ seems a contradiction. If Saviour of men, why
does He not rise to save Himself and them? If He is ignorant of the storm, and about
to be drowned, how came His mighty works? Such is life! The sea calm-gleam of
setting sun or rising stars reflected on the limpid surface; no occasion of solicitude
disturbs the heart, and you are making good progress to some haven of rest, when
suddenly a storm of cares overwhelms the soul, and so batters and agitates it that it is
like to be drowned beneath their weight; or a storm of grief rises from some
bereavement, and threatens to overwhelm all faith or hope in God; or a storm of
temptation assails and seems to make goodness impossible, and ruin inevitable. And
still Christ seems asleep. It seems as if He must be either ignorant or indifferent, and
you do not know which of the two conclusions is sadder to come to. Murmur not.
Others have been in storms, and thought the Saviour listless; but He is never beyond
the call of faith. (R. Glover.)
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229. Christ in the storm
It is, then, no freak of fancy to see in this narrative an acted parable, if you will, an
acted prophecy. Again and again the Church of Christ has been all but engulfed, as
men might have deemed, in the billows; again and again the storm has been calmed
by the Master, who had seemed for awhile to sleep.
I. Often has Christianity passed through the troubled waters of political opposition.
During the first three centuries, and finally under Julian, the heathen State made
repeated and desperate attempts to suppress it by force. Statesmen and philosophers
undertook the task of eradicating it, not passionately, but in the same temper of calm
resolution with which they would have approached any other well-considered social
problem. More than once they drove it from the army, from the professions, from the
public thoroughfares, into secrecy; they pursued it into the vaults beneath the
palaces of Rome, into the catacombs, into the deserts. It seemed as if the faith would
be trodden out with the life of so many of the faithful: but he who would persecute
with effect must leave none alive. The Church passed through these fearful storms
into the calm of an ascertained supremacy; but she had scarcely done so, when the
vast political and social system which had so long oppressed her, and which by her
persistent suffering she had at length made in some sense her own, itself began to
break up beneath and around her. The barbarian invasions followed one upon
another with merciless rapidity; and St. Augustine’s lamentations upon the sack of
Rome express the feelings with which the higher minds in the Church must have
beheld the completed humiliation of the Empire. Christianity had now to face, not
merely a change of civil rulers, but a fundamental reconstruction of society. It might
have been predicted with great appearance of probability that a religious system
which had suited the enervated provincials of the decaying empire would never make
its way among the free and strong races that, amid scenes of fire and blood, were
laying the foundations of feudalism. In the event it was otherwise. The hordes which
shattered the work of the Caesars learnt to repeat the Catholic Creed, and a new
order of things had formed itself, when the tempest of Mahomedanism broke upon
Christendom. Politically speaking, this was perhaps the most threatening storm
through which the Christian Church has passed. There was a time when the soldiers
of that stunted and immoral caricature of the Revelation of the One True God, which
was set forth by the false prophet, had already expelled the very Name of Christ from
the country of Cyprian and Augustine; they were masters of the Mediterranean; they
had desolated Spain, were encamped in the heart of France, were ravaging the
seaboard of Italy. It was as if the knell of Christendom had sounded. But Christ, “if
asleep on a pillow in the hinder part of the ship,” was not insensible to the terrors of
His servants. He rose to rebuke those winds and waves, as by Charles Martel in one
age, and by Sobieski in another; it is now more than two centuries since Islam
inspired its ancient dread. The last like trial of the Church was the first French
Revolution. In that vast convulsion Christianity had to encounter forces which for
awhile seemed to threaten its total suppression. Yet the men of the Terror have
passed, as the Caesars had passed before them; and like the Caesars, they have only
proved to the world that the Church carries within her One who rules the fierce
tempests in which human institutions are wont to perish.
II. Political dangers, however, do but touch the Church of Christ outwardly; but she
rests upon the intelligent assent of her children, and she has passed again and again
through the storms of intellectual opposition or revolt. Scarcely had she steered forth
from the comparatively still waters of Galilean and Hellenistic devotion than she had
to encounter the pitiless dialectic, the subtle solvents, of the Alexandrian philosophy.
It was as if in anticipation of this danger that St. John had already baptized the
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230. Alexandrian modification of the Platonic Loges, moulding it so as to express the
sublimest and most central truth of the Christian Creed; while, in the Epistle to the
Hebrews, Alexandrian methods of interpretation had been adopted in vindication of
the gospel. But to many a timid believer it may well have seemed that
Alexandrianism would prove the grave of Christianity, when, combining the Platonic
dialectics with an Eclectic Philosophy, it endeavoured in the form of Arianism to
break up the Unity of the Godhead by making Christ a separate and inferior Deity.
There was a day when Arianism seemed to be triumphant; but even Arianism was a
less formidable foe than the subtle strain of infidel speculation which penetrated the
Christian intellect in the very heart of the Middle Ages, that is to say, at a time when
the sense of the supernatural had diffused itself throughout the whole atmosphere of
human thought. This unbelief was the product sometimes of a rude sensuality
rebelling against the precepts of the gospel; sometimes of the culture divorced from
faith which made its appearance in the twelfth century; sometimes, specifically, of
the influence of the Arabian philosophy from Spain; sometimes of the vast and
penetrating activity of the Jewish teachers. It revealed itself constantly under the
most unexpected circumstances. We need not suppose that the great Order of the
Templars was guilty of the infidelity that along with crimes of the gravest character,
was laid to their charge; a study of their processes is their best acquittal, while it is
the condemnation of their persecutors. But unbelief must; have been widespread in
days when a prominent soldier, John of Soissons, could declare that “all that was
preached concerning Christ’s Passion and Resurrection was a mere farce;” when a
pious bishop of Paris left it on record that he “died believing in the Resurrection,
with the hope that some of his educated but sceptical friends would reconsider their
doubts;” when that keen observer, as Neander terms him, Hugh of St. Victor,
remarks the existence of a large class of men whose faith consisted in nothing else
than merely taking care not to contradict the faith-“quibus credere est solum fidei
non contradicere, qui consuetudine vivendi magis, quam virtute credendi fideles
nominantur.” The prevalence of such unbelief is attested at once by the fundamental
nature of many of the questions discussed at the greatest length by the Schoolmen,
and by the unconcealed anxieties of the great spiritual leaders of the time. After the
Middle Ages came the Renaissance. This is not the time or place to deny the services
which the Renaissance has rendered to the cause of human education, and indirectly,
it may be, to that of Christianity. But the Renaissance was at first, as it appeared in
Italy, a pure enthusiasm for Paganism, for Pagan thought, as well as for Pagan art
and Pagan literature. And the Reformation, viewed on its positive and devotional
side, was, at least in the South of Europe, a reaction against the spirit of the
Renaissance: it was the Paganism, even more than the indulgences of Leo X, which
alienated the Germans. The reaction against this Paganism was not less vigorous
within the Church of Rome than without it; Ranke has told us the story of its
disappearance. Lastly, there was the rise of Deism in England, and of the
Encyclopedist School in France, followed by the pure Atheism which preceded the
Revolution. It might well have seemed to fearful men of that day that Christ was
indeed asleep to wake no more, that the surging waters of an infidel philosophy had
well-nigh filled the ship, and that the Church had only to sink with dignity.
III. Worse than the storms of political violence or of intellectual rebellion, have been
the tempests of insurgent immorality through which the Church has passed. In the
ages of persecution there was less risk of this, although even then there were
scandals. The Epistles to the Corinthians reveal beneath the very eyes of the Apostle a
state of moral corruption, which, in one respect at least, he himself tells us, had fallen
below the Pagan standard. But when entire populations pressed within the fold, and
social or political motives for conformity took the place of serious and strong
conviction in the minds of multitudes, these dangers became formidable. What must
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231. have been the agony of devout Christians in the tenth century, when appointments to
the Roman Chair itself were in the hands of three unprincipled and licentious
women; and when the life of the first Christian bishop was accounted such that a
pilgrimage to Rome involved a loss of character. Well might the austere Bruno
exclaim of that age that “Simon Magus lorded it over a Church in which bishops and
priests were given to luxury and fornication:” well might Cardinal Baronius suspend
the generally laudatory or apologetic tone of his Annals, to observe that Christ must
have in this age been asleep in the ship of the Church to permit such enormities. It
was a dark time in the moral life of Christendom: but there have been dark times
since. Such was that when St. Bernard could allow himself to describe the Roman
Curia as he does in addressing Pope Eugenius III; such again was the epoch which
provoked the work of Nicholas de Cleargis, “On the Ruin of the Church.” The
passions, the ambitions, the worldly and political interests which surged around the
Papal throne, had at length issued in the schism of Avignon; and the writer
passionately exclaims that the Church had fallen proportionately to her corruptions,
which he enumerates with an unsparing precision. During the century which
preceded the Reformation, the state of clerical discipline in London was such as to
explain the vehemence of popular reaction; and if in the last century there was an
absence of grossness, such as had prevailed in previous ages, there was a greater
absence of spirituality. Says Bishop Butler, charging the clergy of the Diocese of
Durham in 1751-“As different ages have been distinguished by different sorts of
particular errors and vices, the deplorable distinction of ours is an avowed scorn of
religion in some, and a growing disregard to it in the generality.” That disregard,
being in its essence moral, would hardly have been arrested by the cultivated
reasoners, who were obliged to content themselves with deistic premises in their
defenses of Christianity: it did yield to the fervid appeals of Whitefield and of Wesley.
With an imperfect idea of the real contents and genius of the Christian Creed, and
with almost no idea at all of its majestic relations to history and to thought, these
men struck a chord for which we may well be grateful. They awoke Christ, sleeping in
the conscience of England; they were the real harbingers of a day brighter than their
own.
IV. For if the question be asked, how the Church of Christ has surmounted these
successive dangers, the answer is, by the appeal of prayer. She has cried to her
Master, who is ever in the ship, though, as it may seem, asleep upon a pillow. The
appeal has often been made impatiently, even violently, as on the waves of
Gennesaret, but it has not been made in vain. It has not been by policy, or good
sense, or considerations of worldly prudence, but by a renewal in very various ways
of the first fresh Christian enthusiasm which flows from the felt presence of Christ,
that political enemies have been baffled, and intellectual difficulties reduced to their
true dimensions, and moral sores extirpated or healed. Christianity does thus contain
within itself the secret of its perpetual youth, the certificate of its indestructible
vitality; because it centres in, it is inseparable from, devotion to a living Person. No
ideal lacking a counterpart in fact could have guided the Chinch across the centuries.
Imagination may do much in quiet and prosperous times; but amid the storms of
hostile prejudice and passion, in presence of political vicissitudes or of intellectual
onslaughts, or of moral rebellion or decay, an unreal Saviour must be found out. A
Christ upon paper, though it were the sacred pages of the gospel, would have been as
powerless to save Christendom as a Christ in fresco; not less feeble than the
Countenance which, in the last stages of its decay, may be traced on the wall of the
Refectory at Milan. A living Christ is the key to the phenomenon of Christian history.
The subject suggests, among others, two reflections in particular. And, first, it is a
duty to be on our guard against, panics. Panics are the last infirmity of believing
souls. But panics are to be deprecated, not because they imply a keen interest in the
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232. fortunes of religion, but because they betray a certain distrust of the power and living
presence of our Lord. Science may for the moment be hostile; in the long run it
cannot but befriend us. And He who is with us in the storm is most assuredly beyond
the reach of harm: to be panic stricken is to dishonour Him. A second reflection is
this: a time of trouble and danger is the natural season for generous devotion. To
generous minds a time of trouble has its own attractions. It enables a man to hope,
with less risk of presumption, that his motives are sincere; it fortifies courage; it
suggests self-distrust; it enriches character; it invigorates faith. (Canon Liddon.)
The Ruler of the waves
I. That following Christ will not prevent our having earthly sorrows and troubles.
II. That the Lord Jesus Christ is truly and really man.
III. That there may be much weakness and infirmity in a true Christian. “Master,
carest Thou not that we perish?”
1. There was impatience.
2. There was distrust.
3. There was unbelief. Many of God’s children go on very well so long as they
have no trials.
IV. The power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. His power in creation.
2. In the works of providence.
3. In His miracles. Christ is “able to save to the uttermost” (Heb_7:25).
V. How tenderly and patiently the Lord Jesus deals with weak believers. The Lord
Jesus is of tender mercy. He will not cast away His believing people because of
shortcomings. (J. C. Ryle, M. A.)
The hurricane
I. That when you are going to take a voyage of any kind you ought to have Christ in
the ship. These boats would all have gone to the bottom if Christ had not been there.
You are about to voyage out into some new enterprise; you are bound to do the best
you can for yourself; be sure to take Christ in the ship. Here are men largely
prospered. They are not puffed up. They acknowledge God who gives them their
prosperity. When disaster comes that destroys others, they are only helped into
higher experiences. Christ is in the ship. Here are other men, the prey of
uncertainties. In the storm of sickness you will want Christ.
II. That people who follow Christ must not always expect smooth sailing. If there are
any people who you would think ought to have a good time in getting out of this
world, the apostles of Jesus Christ ought to have been the men. Have you ever
noticed how they got out of the world? St. James lost his head. St. Philip was hung to
death against a pillar. Matthew was struck to death by a halberd. Mark was dragged
to death through the streets. St. James the Less had his brains dashed out with a
fuller’s club. St. Matthias was stoned to death. St. Thomas was struck through with a
spear. John Huss in the fire, the Albigenses, the Waldenses, the Scotch Covenanters-
did they always find smooth sailing? Why go so far? There is a young man in a store
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233. in New York who has a hard time to maintain his Christian character. All the clerks
laugh at him, the employers in that store laugh at him, and when he loses his
patience they say: “You are a pretty Christian.” Not so easy is it for that young man to
follow Christ. If the Lord did not help him hour by hour he would fail.
III. That good people sometimes get very much frightened. And so it is now that you
often find good people wildly agitated. “Oh!” says some Christian man, “the infidel
magazines, the bad newspapers, the spiritualistic societies, the importation of so
many foreign errors, the Church of God is going to be lost, the ship is going to
founder! The ship is going down!” What are you frightened about? An old lion goes
into his cavern to take a sleep, and he lies down until his shaggy mane covers his
paws. Meanwhile, the spiders outside begin to spin webs over the mouth of his
cavern, and say, “That lion cannot break out through this web,” and they keep on
spinning the gossamer threads until they get the mouth of the cavern covered over.
“Now,” they say, “the lion’s done, the lion’s done.” After awhile the lion awakes and
shakes himself, and he walks out from the cavern, never knowing there were any
spiders’ webs, and with his voice he shakes the mountain. Let the infidels and the
sceptics of this day go on spinning their webs, spinning their infidel gossamer
theories, spinning them all over the place where Christ seems to be sleeping. They
say: “Christ can never again come out; the work is done; He can never get through
this logical web we have been spinning.” The day will come when the Lion of Judah’s
tribe will rouse Himself and come forth and shake mightily the nations. What then all
your gossamer threads? What is a spider’s web to an aroused lion? Do not fret, then,
about the world’s going backward. It is going forward.
IV. That Christ can hush the tempest. Christ can hush the tempest of bereavement,
loss and death. (Dr. Talmage.)
The toiling Christ
I. Point out some of the significant hints which the gospel records give us of the
toilsomeness of Christ’s service. In St. Matthews Gospel the idea of the king is
prominent; in St. Mark’s, Christ as a servant. Notice the traits of His service which it
brings out.
1. How distinctly it gives the impression of swift, strenuous work. Mark’s
favourite word is “straightway,” “immediately,” “forthwith,” “anon.” His whole
story is a picture of rapid acts of mercy and love.
2. We see in Christ’s service, toil prolonged to the point of actual physical
exhaustion. So in this story. He had had a long wearying day of work. He had
spoken the whole of the parables concerning the kingdom of God. No wonder He
slept.
3. We see in Christ toil that puts aside the claims of physical wants. “The
multitude cometh together again so that they could not so much as eat bread.”
4. We see in Christ’s service a love which is at every man’s beck and call, a toil
cheerfully rendered at the most unreasonable and unseasonable times.
II. The springs of this wonderful activity. There are three points which come out in
the Gospels as His motives for such unresting toil. The first is conveyed in such
words as these: “I must work the works of Him that sent Me.” This motive made the
service homogeneous-in all the variety of service one spirit was expressed, and
therefore the service was one. The second motive of His toil is expressed in such
words as these: “While I am in the world I am the light of the world.” There is a final
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234. motive expressed in such words as these: “And Jesus, moved with compassion,” etc.
The constant pity of that beating heart moved the diligent hand.
III. The worth of this toil for us. How precious a proof it is of Christ’s humanity.
Labour is a curse till made a blessing by communion with God in it.
1. Task all your capacity and use every minute in doing the thing that is plainly
set before you.
2. The possible harmony of communion and service. The labour did not break
His fellowship with God.
3. The cheerful, constant postponement of our own ease, wishes, or pleasure, to
the call of the Father’s voice.
4. It is an appeal to our grateful hearts. (Dr. McLaren.)
The great calm
“He maketh the storm a calm.” The “calm” then is the voice of God.
1. Of power.
2. Of love.
3. Of peace.
4. Of warning. No earthly calm lasts.
I. The inner calm. In every soul there has been storm. It rages through the whole
being. But Jesus is the stiller of this storm in man.
1. In his conscience.
2. In his heart.
3. In his intellect.
II. The future calm for earth. In every aspect ours is a stormy world. But its day of
calm is coming. Jesus will say to it, Peace, be still.
1. As a Prophet.
2. As a Priest.
3. As a King, to give the calm of heaven. (H. Sonar, D. D.)
“Peace, be still!”
No words can exaggerate the value and importance of a calm mind. It is the basis of
almost everything which is good. Well-ordered reflections, meditation, influence,
wise speech-all embosom themselves in a calm mind. Yet a state of agitation is with
many the rule of life. Consider Jesus as the stiller of the heart. He was most
eminently a still character. The greatest force of energy and the largest activity of
mind and body are not only compatible with stillness, but they go to make it. The
persons of the largest power and the most telling action are generally the quietest.
They may owe it to discipline and drill-and perhaps Christ Himself did-but they show
themselves reined in and well-ordered. Just as it was in the lake: the wind and the
waves went before, and, so to speak, subdued and made the calm. The placidity of a
fiery and passionate nature is the best of foundations for all quietness. And this may
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235. be a thought of strength and encouragement to some. The more resolute the will, and
the more violent the passion, the more complete may be the victory, and the more
imperturbable the temper, if only grace do its proper work. Want of religious peace
lies at the root of all that is trouble to the mind. A man at peace with God will be at
peace with his own conscience, with the world; he will not have his feelings greatly
aggravated by external things. You won’t be much disturbed by anything if you feel
and when you feel-“My Father! My Father! Jesus is mine, and I am His!” Next, if you
will be calm, make pictures to yourself of all calm things-in nature, in history, in
people you know, and above all, in Christ. Take care that yon do this at the moment
when you begin to feel the temptation to disturbance. But still more realize at such
times Christ’s presence. Is not He with you?-is not He in you?-and can restless,
miserable, burning feelings dare to live in such a tenement? Let the fiercest thought
touch Him, and by a strange fascination, it will clothe itself, and lie at His feet. And,
fourthly, recognize it as the very office and prerogative of Christ to give quietness.
And if He gives this, who then can make trouble! The disciples were more amazed at
this triumph of Christ over the elements, with which they were so familiar in their sea
life, than at all His other miracles. And it is not too much for me to say that you will
never know what Jesus is, or what that word Saviour means, until you have felt in
that heart of yours-which was once so troubled, so heaving, so tossed, and so ill at
ease-all the depth and the calm, and all the beauty and the hush which He has given
you. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Consult the chart in fine as well as in stormy weather
Let us not be like that captain of whom we lately heard, who having a true and
correct chart in his cabin, failed to consult it while the weather was calm, but went
below to look for it only when the wind and tide had drifted his barque upon the bar,
and so, with his eyes upon the course he should have steered, felt the shock which in
a few moments sent them down into the abyss. Our souls are like a ship upon the
deep, and as we sail over the waves of life, we must, like wary mariners, take the hints
given us in our nature. If we see on the horizon a cloud of some possible temptation
no bigger than a man’s hand, though all else be bright and clear-if we hear but the
first blast of some probable sin hurtling in the farthest caverns of our life-we must
beware, for in that speck, in that distant howl may couch a tempest ready to spring
up and leap down upon our souls. Above all we should always have Christ aboard
with us; we should have Him formed within us as our hope of glory; under His ensign
we should sail, as our only hope of reaching that haven for which we are making. (W.
B. Philpot, M. A.)
Utilizing Christ’s presence
Too many Christians-nay, almost all of us at too many times, though we have Christ
with us, do not profit by His presence nor enjoy Him as we ought. We should not
only have Christ, but, having Him, ah why have we not that faith, that assurance of
faith, that full assurance of faith, which can realize and utilize His presence? (W. B.
Philpot, M. A.)
Christ and His disciples in the storm
I. The apostles were not exempted from danger because they were the attendants of
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236. Christ. Believers, look for storms!
II. While the apostles were exposed to the storm, they had Christ along with them in
the vessel.
III. The conduct of Christ during the storm was remarkable and instructive. He was
asleep.
IV. The feelings and conduct of the disciples during the storm are strongly
illustrative of human character. Their faith was tried. They were afraid. They apply to
Christ. Prayer not always the language of faith.
V. The effect of this application of the disciples to Christ. He answered their prayer,
though their faith was weak. He thus revealed His Divine power. He unveiled His
ordinary agency.
VI. Christ, with the blessing, administers a rebuke. Mark your conduct under trials.
VII. The disciples came out of the trial with increased admiration of Christ.
(Expository Discourses.)
Christ asleep in the vessel
I. The apparent indifference of the Lord to His people.
II. It is only apparent.
III. He has a real care for them at times when He seems indifferent.
IV. They shall see this to be the case by and by. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Trust in God often the last extremity
While a small steam packet was crossing a stormy bay, the engine suddenly stopped,
and for a few minutes the situation was one of real peril. One old lady rushed to the
captain with the anxious inquiry whether there was any danger. “Madam,” was the
uncompromising reply, “we must trust in God.” “O sir!” wailed the inquirer, “has it
come to that?” A good many Christians feel like that in times of peril; they are willing
to trust in everything-except God. There are some children, who are afraid that a
thunderstorm is about to burst over them every time a cloud gathers in the sky; and
if the sky is cloudless, they are certain that it is only the calm before the storm. They
can always see the coming storms, but cannot trust the goodness that sends them.
Help in answer to prayer
A fishing boat was struggling for life out on the sea, and the skipper had lost all
knowledge of where the land was, and whither his boat was driving. In his despair,
the strong man cried to God for help. Just then a little beam from a window light
shone over the waters; the boat’s prow was turned, and after a little more manful
fighting, she reached the haven. Was not that gleam of light God’s answer to the
skipper’s prayer? A missionary was returning home, and just as he was nearing the
coasts of his country, a terrible storm came on, and threatened to break the ship in
pieces. The missionary went below, and prayed to God earnestly for the safety of the
ship. Presently he came up and told the captain with quiet confidence that the ship
would live through the storm. Captain and crew jeered at him; they did not believe it.
Yet the ship came safely to port. Was the missionary wrong when he saw in this an
instance of God’s readiness to give the help His children ask?
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237. Distrust rebuked by God’s constant care
Every miracle of God’s grace is a standing rebuke of distrust. What if your child,
whom you had fed and clothed and housed for years, should begin to be anxious as to
where his next meal or his next suit of clothes was to come from, and whether he
could be sure of having a roof over his head for another night? What if he still
persisted in his distrust, although you told him that you would take care of all these
things? If you can imagine your child acting in so foolish a way, you have a picture of
how most of us, day after day, treat the God who cares for us, and who has promised
to supply us with all things.
“Other little ships”
Those “other little ships” gained a great deal that day from Christ’s saying, “Peace be
still!” which we do not discover that anybody was candid enough to acknowledge.
The whole sea became tranquil, and they were saved. The world receives many
unappreciated benefits from Jesus Christ’s presence in the Church. Men are just so
many little ships, taking entire benefit of the miracle brought from God’s great love
for His own. Start with the commonest gain that comes to the world through the
Church.
1. See how property values are lifted by every kind of Christian effort.
2. See what the gospel does towards lifting a low and depraved neighbourhood
into respectability.
3. See how it enriches education.
4. See how it elevates woman.
5. See how it alleviates sickness. There is no need of pursuing the illustration any
farther.
But there are just three lessons which will take force from the figure, perhaps;. and
these might as well be stated.
1. Why do not men of the world recognize what the Church of Christ is doing
daily and yearly for them, their wives, and their children?
2. Why do not men of the world see that the men in the “other little ships” were
the safer from the storm the nearer their boats were to that Jesus was in?
3. Why do not men of the world perceive that the disciples were better off than
anybody else during that awful night upon Gennesareth? Oh, that is the safest
place in the universe for any troubled soul to be in-among the chosen friends of
Jesus Christ the Lord, and keeping the very closest to His side! (C. S. Robinson,
D. D.)
Christ the Lord of nature
Nature, in the sense in which we now use it, means the world of matter, and the laws
of its working. If Holy Scripture be listened to, He is so of right. “All things were
made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” “God
created all things by Jesus Christ.” There is no lordship like that of creation. Christ in
the days of His flesh actually gave proof of His lordship on earth.
1. There is a class of miracles which had their place in what we may call
productive nature; in those processes which have to do with the supply of food
for man’s life. Wine made at Cana; feeding of the five thousand; feeding of the
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238. four thousand.
2. There is a class of miracles proving the dominion of Christ over animated
nature. The draught of fishes on the sea of Tiberias; the piece of money in the
fish’s mouth.
3. We have examples of the sovereignty of Christ over elemental nature, air, and
sea.
4. We have an example of Christ’s sovereignty in the domain of morbid nature,
disease and decay-“the fig tree dried up from the roots.”
Christ the Lord of nature.
1. It was necessary that the Son of God coming down from heaven for the
redemption of men should prove Himself to be very God by many infallible and
irresistible signs. It was in mercy as well as in wisdom that He gave this
demonstration.
2. It could scarcely be but that He should as Son of God assert below His
dominion over God’s creation, and over the processes of God’s providence.
3. Let us be careful how we speak of miracles, such as these, as if they were
contradictions of God’s natural laws, or contradictions of God’s providential
operations. When Christ wrought a miracle upon nature it was to give a glimpse
of some good thing lost, of some perfect thing deteriorated, of some joyous thing
spoilt, by reason of the Fall, and to be given back to man by virtue of redemption.
4. In these miracles which attest the sovereignty of Christ over nature we have
one of the surest grounds of comfort for Christian souls.
(1) In their literal sense, to regard Him as sovereign of the universe in which
they dwell.
(2) In their parabolic significance as stilling the inward storm.
5. There is also warning for the careless and sinful. Upon His blessing or curse
depends all that makes existence a happiness or misery. The agencies of nature as
of grace are in the hands of Christ. (C. J. Vaughan, D. D.)
Christ asleep
There is a very great spiritual importance in the fact that Jesus sleeps. In this sleep of
Jesus, a very great mistake into which we are apt to fall is corrected or prevented; the
mistake, I mean, of silently assuming that Christ, being Divine, takes nothing as we
do, and is really not under our human conditions far enough to suffer exhaustions of
nature by work or by feeling, by hunger, the want of sleep, dejections or recoils of
wounded sensibility. Able to do even miracles-to heal the sick, or cure the blind, or
raise the dead, or still the sea-we fall into the impression that His works really cost
Him nothing, and that while His lot appears to be outwardly dejected, He has, in fact,
an easy time of it. Exactly contrary to this, He feels it, even when virtue goes out only
from the hem of His garment. And when He gives the word of healing, it is a draft, we
know not how great, upon His powers. In the same way every sympathy requires all
expenditure of strength proportioned to the measure of that sympathy. Every sort of
tension, or attention, every argument, teaching, restraint of patience, concern of
charity, is a putting forth with cost to Him, as it is to us. Notice also more particularly
the conditions or bestowments of the sleep of Jesus and especially their
correspondence with His redemptive undertaking. Saying nothing of infants, who in
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239. a certain proper sense are called innocent, there have been two examples of full-
grown innocent sleep in our world: that of Adam in the garden, and that of Christ the
second Adam, whose nights overtook Him with no place where to bestow Himself.
And the sleep of both, different as far as possible in the manner, is yet more exactly
appropriate, in each, to his peculiar work and office. One is laid to sleep in a paradise
of beauty, lulled by the music of birds and running brooks, shaded and sheltered by
the over-hanging trees, shortly to wake and look upon a kindred nature standing by,
offered him to be the partner and second life of his life. The other, as pure and
spotless as he, and ripe, as he is not, in the unassailable righteousness of character,
tears Himself away from clamorous multitudes that crowd upon Him suing piteously
for His care, and drops, even out of miracle itself, on the hard plank deck, or bottom,
of a fisherman’s boat, and there, in lightning and thunder and tempest, sheeted as it
were in the general wrath of the waters and the air, He sleeps-only to wake at the
supplicating touch of fear and distress. One is the sleep of the world’s Father; the
other that of the world’s Redeemer. One has never known as yet the way of sin, the
other has come into the tainted blood and ruin of it, to bear and suffer under it, and
drink the cup it mixes; so to still the storm and be a reconciling peace. Both sleep in
character. Were the question raised which of the two will be crucified, we should
have no doubt. Visibly, the toil-worn Jesus, He that takes the storm, curtained in it as
by the curse-He is the Redeemer. His sleep agrees with His manger birth, His
poverty, His agony, His cross; and what is more, as the cross that is maddening in
His enemies is the retributive disorder of God’s just penalty following their sin, so the
fury of that night shadows it all the more fitly, that what He encounters in it is the
wrathful cast of Providence. (Dr. Bushnell.)
The ship of the world
In one of the prophets we have the picture of a stately ship which is a type of the
world. She is all splendour and magnificence; she walks the waters like a thing of life.
The fir trees of Senir and the cedars of Lebanon have contributed to her beauty; her
oars are wrought from the oaks of Bashan, her sails are of fine linen and broidered
work. She has a gay and gallant crew; the multitudes who throng her decks are full of
joy and thoughtless of danger. Out they sail into the great waters; her rowers bring
her into the midst of the sea; and when the east wind rises she is broken in the midst,
and lies a helpless wreck upon the great ocean of eternity. There was no Christ in the
ship to say, “Peace, be still;” no pitying Jesus to answer the bitter cry of “Lord, save
us, we perish.” But not so was it with the little fisher boat. It had no pomp and
vanities of which to boast, no tinselled splendour; but it carried Jesus and His
fortunes-One who could rebuke the waves of sin. The world, wanting Christ, wanted
all things else and was lost; the Church, with Christ in the ship, had nothing more to
ask; it was sure to be saved with His “Peace, be still.” (G. F. Cushman, D. D.)
The strange inquiry concerning fear
What we could understand well enough was a mystery to Christ. In our glibness we
could have explained their fear clearly. The lake was sixty fathoms deep; stoutest
swimmer could not have saved his life in such a sea; some were married men; life is
sweet; a storm is more terrible by night than day; and so on. But what is all plain to
everyone was a mystery Christ could not solve. How a doubt of the love of God could
enter a soul passed His comprehension. Why men should be afraid of the Divine
ordinance called death, He could not understand. What fear was, He knew not. What
a proof of Divine sanctity lies in the fact that all fear and doubt were mysteries to
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240. Him! (R. Glover.)
From one fear to another
I. They escaped one fear, only to get into another; losing the fear of the tempest, they
get a greater fear, that of the Lord of the tempest.
II. They lose a bad fear to get a good one-a fear which is reverent, and one which has
as much trust as awe in it. Such fear is the beginning of faith in Christ’s Godhead. (R.
Glover.).
36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him
along, just as he was, in the boat. There were
also other boats with him.
BARNES, "Even as he was in the ship - They took him without making any
preparation for the voyage; without providing any food or raiment. He was sitting in
a ship, or boat, instructing the people. In the same boat, probably ill fitted to
encounter a storm on the lake, they sailed. This would render their danger more
imminent and the miracle more striking.
There were with him other little ships - Belonging probably to the people,
who, seeing him sail, resolved to follow him.
CLARKE, "They took him even as he was in the ship - That is, the
disciples; he was now εν τሩ πλοιሩ, in the boat, i.e. his own boat which usually waited
on him, and out of which it appears he was then teaching the people. There were
several others there which he might have gone in, had this one not been in the place.
The construction of this verse is exceedingly difficult; the meaning appears to be
this: - The disciples sailed off with him just as he was in the boat out of which he had
been teaching the people; and they did not wait to provide any accommodations for
the passage. This I believe to be the meaning of the inspired penman.
GILL, "And when they had sent away the multitude,.... Who had been
attending him all day on the sea shore; though they seem to have been dismissed by
Christ, when he went into the house, and privately interpreted the parables to his
disciples: see Mat_13:36, wherefore it is possible, that upon Christ's going to the sea
shore again, in order to take boat for the other side, they might gather together the
disciples acquainted them that he was not about to preach any more to them, but was
going to the other side of the lake; upon which they departed: and
they took him even as he was in the ship; which may be understood of his
being taken and carried in the ship, in which he had been preaching all the day,
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241. without being moved into another; though this does not so well agree with his
quitting that, and going home to his house in Capernaum; where, being alone with
the disciples, he opened the parables to them. Some think it refers to the situation
and posture in which he laid himself, as soon as he entered the ship; placing himself
at the stern, and laying his head upon a pillow there, and so they carried him: others,
that they took him into the ship, as he was alone without the multitude, who were
sent away, only the disciples with him, which seems best:
and there were also with him other little ships; or boats, that were in
company with that, in which Christ was; and had in them either seafaring men upon
business, taking fish, or carrying passengers over; or might have in them persons,
who were going along with Christ to the other side: these seem to be ordered in
providence to be in company, that they might be witnesses of the after miracle.
JAMIESON, "And when they had sent away the multitude, they took
him even as he was in the ship — that is, without any preparation, and without
so much as leaving the vessel, out of which He had been all day teaching.
And there were also with him other little ships — with passengers,
probably, wishing to accompany Him.
COFFMAN, "Even as he was . . . This means that:
The disciples sailed off with him just as he was in the boat from which he had
been teaching the people; and they did not wait to provide any accommodations
for the passage.[43]
And other boats were with them ... This very important detail indicates: (1) that
the great audience on land was supplemented by a considerable number who
approached in boats to hear the Lord, and (2) that there were other witnesses of
the great miracle besides those aboard with Jesus. This also emphasizes the
sudden and unexpected nature of the storm; because, if it had been threatening,
neither the disciples nor those in the other boats would have begun the crossing.
ENDNOTE:
[43] W. N. Clarke, op. cit., p. 302.
37 A furious squall came up, and the waves
broke over the boat, so that it was nearly
swamped.
GILL, "And there arose a great storm of wind,.... Called Laelaps, a wind that
is suddenly whirled about upwards and downwards, and is said to be a storm, or
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242. tempest of wind with rain; it was a sort of a hurricane:
and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was full; of water, and ready to
sink. Beza says in one copy it read, βυθιζεσθαι, and so in one of Stephens's. It was
immersed, covered all over with water, and was going down at once to the bottom; so
that they were in imminent danger, in the utmost extremity; See Gill on Mat_8:24.
HENRY, "5. The storm was so great, that the ship was full of water (Mar_4:37),
not by springing a leak, but perhaps partly with the shower, for the word here used
signifies a tempest of wind with rain; however, the ship being little, the waves beat
into it so that it was full. Note, It is no new thing for that ship to be greatly hurried
and endangered, in which Christ and his disciples, Christ and his name and gospel,
are embarked.
6. There were with him other little ships, which, no doubt, shared in the distress
and danger. Probably, these little ships carried those who were desirous to go along
with Christ, for the benefit of his preaching and miracles on the other side. The
multitude went away when he put to sea, but some there were, that would venture
upon the water with him. Those follow the Lamb aright, that follow him wherever he
goes. And those that hope for a happiness in Christ, must be willing to take their lot
with him, and run the same risks that he runs. One may boldly and cheerfully put to
sea in Christ's company, yea though we foresee a storm.
7. Christ was asleep in this storm; and here we are told that it was in the hinder
part of the ship, the pilot's place: he lay at the helm, to intimate that, as Mr. George
Herbert expresses it,
When winds and waves assault my keel,
He doth preserve it, he doth steer,
Ev'n when the boat seems most to reel.
Storms are the triumph of his art;
Though he may close his eyes, yet not his heart.
He had a pillow there, such a one as a fisherman's ship would furnish him with.
And he slept, to try the faith of his disciples and to stir up prayer: upon the trial, their
faith appeared weak, and their prayers strong. Note, Sometimes when the church is
in a storm, Christ seems as if he were asleep, unconcerned in the troubles of his
people, and regardless of their prayers, and doth not presently appear for their relief.
Verily he is a God that hideth himself, Isa_45:15. But as, when he tarries, he doth not
tarry (Hab_2:3), so when he sleeps he doth not sleep; the keeper of Israel doth not so
much as slumber (Psa_121:3, Psa_121:4); he slept, but his heart was awake, as the
spouse, Son_5:2.
8. His disciples encouraged themselves with their having his presence, and thought
it the best way to improve that, and appeal to that, and ply the oar of prayer rather
than their other oars. Their confidence lay in this, that they had their Master with
them; and the ship that has Christ in it, though it may be tossed, cannot sink; the
bush that has God in it, though it may burn, shall not consume. Caesar encouraged
the master of the ship, that had him on board, with this, Caesarem vehis, et
fortunam Caesaris - Thou hast Caesar on board, and Caesar's fortune. They awoke
Christ. Had not the necessity of the case called for it, they would not have stirred up
or awoke their Master, till he had pleased (Son_2:7); but they knew he would forgive
them this wrong. When Christ seems as if he slept in a storm, he is awaked by the
prayers of his people; when we know not what to do, our eye must be to him (2Ch_
20:12); we may be at our wits' end, but not at our faith's end, while we have such a
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243. Saviour to go to. Their address to Christ is here expressed very emphatically; Master,
carest thou not that we perish? I confess this sounds somewhat harsh, rather like
chiding him for sleeping than begging him to awake. I know no excuse for it, but the
great familiarity which he was pleased to admit them into, and the freedom he
allowed them; and the present distress they were in, which put them into such a
fright, that they knew not what they said. They do Christ a deal of wrong, who
suspect him to be careless of his people in distress. The matter is not so; he is not
willing that any should perish, much less any of his little ones, Mat_18:14.
JAMIESON, "And there arose a great storm of wind — “a tempest of wind.”
To such sudden squalls the Sea of Galilee is very liable from its position, in a deep
basin, skirted on the east by lofty mountain ranges, while on the west the hills are
intersected by narrow gorges through which the wind sweeps across the lake, and
raises its waters with great rapidity into a storm.
and the waves beat into the ship — kept beating or pitching on the ship.
so that it was now full — rather, “so that it was already filling.” In Matthew
(Mat_8:24), “insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves”; but this is too
strong. It should be, “so that the ship was getting covered by the waves.” So we must
translate the word used in Luke (Luk_8:23) - not as in our version - “And there came
down a storm on the lake, and they were filled [with water]” - but “they were getting
filled,” that is, those who sailed; meaning, of course, that their ship was so.
COFFMAN, "The sure evidence of the eye-witness is apparent in the stark and
vivid details. The waves beating into the boat, Jesus asleep in the stern on the
boat cushion, the fact that the boat was taking on water at an alarming rate - all
these mark the account as authentic.
"Only here in the New Testament does Jesus sleep."[44]
Carest thou not that we perish ... Turlington said that "Both Matthew and Luke
soften the disciples' outcry, so that they do not appear to reproach Jesus";[45]
such a comment being quite fashionable among the scholars who have decided
that Mark was prior to Matthew and Luke, that Matthew and Luke did not
consider Mark dependable at all and therefore felt free to "correct" him, and
that, moreover, their motive in so doing was to protect the disciples' reputation
as regarded their conduct toward the Master! We reject this view as demeaning
to the gospels, unreasonable, speculative, imaginative, and totally unreliable.
Matthew even recorded that Jesus called Peter "Satan" (Matthew 16:23); why,
then, should Matthew have been embarrassed to record such an understandable
remark as this? It is far more likely that the explanation lies in the fact that this
is what Peter said, Mark's close connection with that apostle accounting for his
record of it here.
[44] A. Elwood Sanner, op. cit., p. 306.
[45] Henry E. Turlington, op. cit., p. 306.
PULPIT, "And there arose a great storm of wind; literally, there ariseth ( γίνεται
λαίλαψ). St. Mark often uses the historical present, which gives vigor and point
to his narrative. And the waves beat into the boat, insomuch that the boat was
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244. now filling ( ἤδη γεμίζεσθαι). St. Matthew says (Matthew 8:24), "the boat was
covered with the waves." St. Luke (Luke 8:23), "they were filling with water,
and were in jeopardy." Bede and ethers have thought that the boat in which
Christ was the only boat that was tossed by this storm; in order that Christ
might show his power in limiting the area of the tempest. But it is far more
probable that the ether boats were subject to it; for they were very near to the
boat in which Christ was. There must have been some reason for the allusion to
these boats; and the wider the reach of the tempest, the greater would appear the
Divine power of Christ in stilling it, and the greater the amount of testimony to
the reality of the miracle. The miracle was wrought to show his power over all
creation, the sea as well as the dry land; and that they, his disciples, and all who
were with him might believe in him as the Omnipotent God. But further, this
tempest on the sea of Galilee was a type and symbol of the trials and temptations
which should come on the Church. For the Church of God is as a ship in a storm,
ever tossed upon "the waves of this troublesome world." And then, moreover, as
the rude storm urges the ship onwards, so that it more quickly reaches the
desired haven, so afflictions and temptations quicken Christ's disciples to the
greater desire of holiness, by which they are borne onwards more speedily to
"the haven where they would be."
38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.
The disciples woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
CLARKE, "On a pillow - Προσκεφαλαιον probably means a little bed, or
hammock, such as are common in small vessels. I have seen several in small packets,
or passage boats, not a great deal larger than a bolster.
GILL, "And he was in the hinder part of the ship,.... That is, Christ was in the
stern of the ship: the Persic version renders it, "he was in the bottom of the ship, in a
corner", but very wrongly; here he was
asleep on a pillow, which some say was a wooden one, framed at the stern:
however, he was fast asleep on it, being greatly fatigued with the work of the day; See
Gill on Mat_8:24.
And they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we
perish? The disciples came to him and jogged him, and awoke him out of sleep;
saying, Master, arise, and save us, or we are lost: hast thou no concern for us? how
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245. canst thou lie sleeping here, when we are in such danger? are our lives of no account
with thee? is it a matter of no moment with thee, whether we are saved or lost? They
seem to say this, not so much praying and interrogating, as complaining and
reproving.
HENRY, "And he was in the hinder part of the ship — or stern.
asleep on a pillow — either a place in the vessel made to receive the head, or a
cushion for the head to rest on. It was evening; and after the fatigues of a busy day of
teaching under the hot sun, having nothing to do while crossing the lake, He sinks
into a deep sleep, which even this tempest raging around and tossing the little vessel
did not disturb.
and they awake him, and say unto him, Master — or “Teacher.” In Luke
(Luk_8:24) this is doubled - in token of their life-and-death earnestness - “Master,
Master.”
carest thou not that we perish? — Unbelief and fear made them sadly forget
their place, to speak so. Matthew (Mat_8:25) has it, “Lord, save us, we perish.” When
those accustomed to fish upon that deep thus spake, the danger must have been
imminent. They say nothing of what would become of Him, if they perished; nor
think, whether, if He could not perish, it was likely He would let this happen to them;
but they hardly knew what they said.
JAMIESON, "And he was in the hinder part of the ship — or stern.
asleep on a pillow — either a place in the vessel made to receive the head, or a
cushion for the head to rest on. It was evening; and after the fatigues of a busy day of
teaching under the hot sun, having nothing to do while crossing the lake, He sinks
into a deep sleep, which even this tempest raging around and tossing the little vessel
did not disturb.
and they awake him, and say unto him, Master — or “Teacher.” In Luke
(Luk_8:24) this is doubled - in token of their life-and-death earnestness - “Master,
Master.”
carest thou not that we perish? — Unbelief and fear made them sadly forget
their place, to speak so. Matthew (Mat_8:25) has it, “Lord, save us, we perish.” When
those accustomed to fish upon that deep thus spake, the danger must have been
imminent. They say nothing of what would become of Him, if they perished; nor
think, whether, if He could not perish, it was likely He would let this happen to them;
but they hardly knew what they said.
PULPIT, "And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow; more
literally, he himself was in the stern ( ἦν αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τῇ πρύμνῃ) asleep on the
cushion ( ἐπὶ τὸ προσκεφάλαιον καθεύδων). He had changed his posture. He was
weary with the labour of addressing the great multitude. He had sought the
momentary rest which the crossing of the lake offered to him. He was resting his
head upon the low bench which served both for a seat and for a pillow. But while
he slept as man, he was watchful as God. "Behold, he that keepeth Israel neither
slumbers nor sleeps." Master, carest thou not that we perish? This question
savours of impatience, if not of irreverence. Who so likely to have put it as St.
Peter? Nor would he be likely afterwards to forget that he had put it. Hence,
probably, its appearance in St. Mark's Gospel.
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246. 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the
waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died
down and it was completely calm.
BARNES, "Peace, be still - There is something exceedingly authoritative and
majestic in this command of our Lord. Standing amid the howling tempest, on the
heaving sea, and in the darkness of night, by his own power he stills the waves and
bids the storm subside. None but the God of the storms and the billows could awe by
a word the troubled elements, and send a universal peace and stillness among the
winds and waves. He must, therefore, be divine. The following remarks by Dr.
Thomson, long a resident in Syria, and familiar with the scenes which occur there,
will farther illustrate this passage, and the parallel account in Mat_8:18-27, and also
the passage in Mat_14:23-32. The extract which follows is taken from “The land and
the Book,” vol. ii. p. 32, 33: “To understand the causes of these sudden and violent
tempests, we must remember that the lake lies low - 600 feet lower than the ocean;
that the vast and naked plateaus of the Jaulan rise to a great height, spreading
backward to the wilds of the Hauran and upward to snowy Hermon; that the water-
courses have cut out profound ravines and wild gorges, converging to the head of this
lake, and that these act like gigantic “funnels” to draw down the cold winds from the
mountains.
On the occasion referred to we subsequently pitched our tents at the shore, and
remained for three days and nights exposed to this tremendous wind. We had to
double-pin all the tent-ropes, and frequently were obliged to hang with our whole
weight upon them to keep the quivering tabernacle from being carried up bodily into
the air. No wonder the disciples toiled and rowed hard all that night; and how natural
their amazement and terror at the sight of Jesus walking on the waves! The faith of
Peter in desiring and “daring” to set foot on such a sea is most striking and
impressive; more so, indeed, than its failure after he made the attempt. The whole
lake, as we had it, was lashed into fury; the waves repeatedly rolled up to our tent
door, tumbling over the ropes with such violence as to carry away the tent-pins. And
moreover, those winds are not only violent, but they come done suddenly, and often
when the sky is perfectly clear. I once went in to swim near the hot baths, and, before
I was aware, a wind came rushing over the cliffs with such force that it was with great
difficulty I could regain the shore. Some such sudden wind it was, I suppose, that
filled the ship with waves so that it was now full, while Jesus was asleep on a pillow
in the hinder part of the ship; nor is it strange that the disciples aroused him with the
cry of Master! Master! carest thou not that we perish.”
CLARKE, "Peace, be still - Be silent! Be still! There is uncommon majesty and
authority in these words. Who but God could act thus? Perhaps this salvation of his
disciples in the boat might be designed to show forth that protection and deliverance
246

247. which Christ will give to his followers, however violently they may be persecuted by
earth or hell. At least, this is a legitimate use which may be made of this transaction.
GILL, "And he arose and rebuked the wind,.... He arose from off his pillow,
and stood up; and in a majestic and authoritative way reproved the wind, as if it was
a servant that had exceeded his commission; at which he shows some resentment:
and said unto the sea, peace, be still; as if that which was very tumultuous and
boisterous, and threatened with shipwreck and the loss of lives, had raged too much
and too long:
and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm; which was very unusual and
extraordinary; for after the wind has ceased, and the storm is over, the waters of the
sea being agitated thereby, keep raging, and in a violent motion, for a considerable
time; whereas here, as soon as ever the word was spoken, immediately, at once, the
wind ceased, and the sea was calmed: a clear proof this, that he must be the most
high God, who gathers the winds in his fists, and stills the noise of the seas and their
waves.
HENRY, "The word of command with which Christ rebuked the storm, we have
here, and had not in Matthew, Mar_4:39. He says, Peace, be still - Siōpa,pephimōso -
be silent, be dumb. Let not the wind any longer roar, nor the sea rage. Thus he stills
the noise of the sea, the noise of her waves; a particular emphasis is laid upon the
noisiness of them, Psa_65:7, and Psa_93:3, Psa_93:4. The noise is threatening and
terrifying; let us hear no more of it. This is, (1.) A word of command to us; when our
wicked hearts are like the troubled sea which cannot rest (Isa_57:20); when our
passions are up, and are unruly, let us think we hear the law of Christ, saying, Be
silent, be dumb. Think not confusedly, speak not unadvisedly; but be still. (2.) A word
of comfort to us, that, be the storm of trouble ever so loud, ever so strong, Jesus
Christ can lay it with a word's speaking. When without are fightings, and within are
fears, and the spirits are in a tumult, Christ can create the fruit of the lips, peace. If
he say, Peace, be still, there is a great calm presently. It is spoken of as God's
prerogative to command the seas, Jer_31:35. By this therefore Christ proves himself
to be God. He that made the seas, can make them quiet.
10. The reproof Christ gave them for their fears, is here carried further than in
Matthew. There it is, Why are ye fearful? Here, Why are ye so fearful? Though there
may be cause for some fear, yet not for fear to such a degree as this. There it is, O ye
of little faith. Here it is, How is it that ye have no faith? Not that the disciples were
without faith. No, they believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; but at this
time their fears prevailed so that they seemed to have no faith at all. It was out of the
way, when they had occasion for it, and so it was as if they had not had it. “How is it,
that in this matter ye have no faith, that ye think I would not come in with
seasonable and effectual relief?” Those may suspect their faith, who can entertain
such a thought as that Christ careth not though his people perish, and Christ justly
takes it ill.
Lastly, The impression this miracle made upon the disciples, is here differently
expressed. In Matthew it is said, The men marvelled; here it is said, They feared
greatly. They feared a great fear; so the original reads it. Now their fear was
rectified by their faith. When they feared the winds and the seas, it was for want of
the reverence they ought to have had for Christ. But now that they saw a
demonstration of his power over them, they feared them less, and him more. They
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248. feared lest they had offended Christ by their unbelieving fears; and therefore studied
now to give him honour. They had feared the power and wrath of the Creator in the
storm, and that fear had torment and amazement in it; but now they feared the
power and grace of the Redeemer in the calm; they feared the Lord and his
goodness, and it had pleasure and satisfaction in it, and by it they gave glory to
Christ, as Jonah's mariners, who, when the sea ceased from her raging, feared the
Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, Jon_1:16. This sacrifice they
offered to the honour of Christ; they said, What manner of man is this? Surely more
than a man, for even the winds and the seas obey him.
JAMIESON, "And he arose, and rebuked the wind — “and the raging of the
water” (Luk_8:24).
and said unto the sea, Peace, be still — two sublime words of command, from
a Master to His servants, the elements.
And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm — The sudden hushing of
the wind would not at once have calmed the sea, whose commotion would have
settled only after a considerable time. But the word of command was given to both
elements at once.
COFFMAN, "And he awoke ... It is not even stated here that Jesus arose, but
Matthew supplied that detail (Matthew 8:26).
He rebuked the wind ... In the words of Trench:
To regard this as mere oratorical personification would be absurd; rather there
is here a distinct tracing up of all the discords and disharmonies in the outward
world to their source in a person, a referring them back to him, as to their
ultimate ground; even as this person can be no other than Satan, the author of
all disorders alike in the natural and in the physical world.[46]
In this situation, Jesus appeared dramatically as the antitype of the first of the
prophets, Jonah. Both were asleep on a ship at sea in a storm; both were
awakened; both were vital to the safety of their vessel, Jonah being a danger to
his and Christ the security of his; both produced a great calm, Jonah by being
cast overboard, and Christ by fiat; the calm was instantaneous in both cases. For
a more detailed development of this thesis, see the Commentary on John, pp.
210-211.
Peace, be still ... These are the same words used by Jesus in casting out the
demon (Mark 1:25), harmonizing with the view expressed by Trench.
Many of Jesus' miracles, if indeed not all of them, were also parables with
extensive application to the spiritual life of Christians; and from very early
times, this one has been a favorite. Dummelow has recorded the following:
Augustine (400 A.D.) says, "We are sailing in this life as through a sea, and the
wind rises, and storms of temptation are not wanting. Whence is this, save
because Jesus is sleeping in thee, thy faith in Jesus is slumbering in thy heart?
Rouse him, and say, Master, we perish. He will awaken, that is, thy faith will
return to thee, and the danger will be over." Tertullian (200 A.D.) says, "But
that little ship presented a figure of the Church, in that she is disquieted in the
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249. sea, that is, in the world, by temptations and persecutions, the Lord patiently
sleeping, as it were, until roused at last by the prayers of the saints he checks the
world, and restores tranquillity to his own."[47]
[46] Richard C. Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Jesus (Old Tappan, New
Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1943), p. 156.
[47] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 655.
PULPIT, "And he arose—literally, he awoke ( διεγερθεὶς)—and rebuked the
wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still ( σιώπα πεφίμωσο); literally, Be silent!
be muzzled! The Greek perfect implies that before the word was uttered, the
thing was done by the simple fiat of his will preceding the word. The combined
descriptions of the synoptists show that the storm was very violent, such as no
human power could have composed or stilled. So that these words indicate the
supreme authority of Christ as God, ruling the sea with his mighty power. Thus
Christ shows himself to be God. In like manner, Christ is able to overrule and
control the persecutions of the Church and the temptations of the soul. St.
Augustine says that "when we allow temptations to overcome us, Christ sleeps in
us. We forget Christ at such times. Let us, then, remember him. Let us awake
him. He will speak. He will rebuke the tempest in the soul, and there will be a
great calm." There was a great calm. For all creation perceives its Creator. He
never speaks in vain. It is observable that, as in his miracles of healing, the
subjects of them usually passed at once to perfect soundness, so here, there was
no gradual subsiding of the storm, as in the ordinary operations of nature, but
almost before the word had escaped his lips there was a perfect calm.
COKE, "Mark 4:39. He arose, and rebuked the wind,— Nothing can be more
grand and striking than the present miracle. "Amidst all the distress and
confusion of the storm, the divine Master appears (according to Mr. Hervey's
description) sedately rising from a gentle slumber; he sees the perplexity and
horror of his companions without the least emotion or alarm. What composure
in his mien! what dignity in his attitude! what majesty, sweetened with
compassion, in his aspect! such as could arise from no other cause, than a
conscious and undoubted certainty that not a soul of the crew should be lost, not
a hair of their heads should perish, and that all this mighty uproar of nature
should end in a demonstration of his mightier power, and a confirmation of his
disciples' faith. He looks abroad into the mutinous sky, and the turbulent deep:
he waves, with an authoritative air, his sacred hand, and adds the great
commanding words, Peace! be still!
Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar Stood rul'd.—
The consternation of his disciples is turned into wonder, and their pangs of fear
into exstacies of joy. They acknowledge the omnipotence, and adore the goodness
of Jesus. No one can help observing what majesty there is in our Lord's
command, Σιωπα, πεφιμωτο . 'Tis admirable! 'tis inimitable! 'tis worthy of God!
I think we may observe a peculiarly proper word addressed and adapted to each
element; the first enjoining a cessation of the winds, the second a quiescence of
the waves; silence in all that roared, composure in all that raged; as though (to
give a short paraphrase on the grand injunction) it had been said, Winds, be
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250. hushed! waves, be calm!" The effect on the disciples is described with "all the
force of imagination, and all the energy of diction. Torepresent in colours what
the evangelical historian has left upon record, would be a subject fit for the
immortal Raphael, and perhaps not to be equalled by his masterly pencil."
Compare the parallel passages, particularly ch. Mark 6:51.
Inferences from the parable of the sower.—When we consider that the seed in
this parable signifies the word of God, according to our Saviour's explanation,
(Mark 4:14.) it may seem strange that any particle of such divine seed should
prove fruitless. The word of God is the seed of universal nature; the seed whence
all things sprung into existence: it made the world, and it supports it; and when
this divine word, in itself so efficacious, is addressed to rational beings, it is so
much their interest, as well as their duty, to comply with it, that it is at first sight
astonishing how they can refuse obedience.
But here was the great misfortune; that freedom of will, which originally
constituted our dignity above other parts of the creation, became, by our fall, our
disgrace and our bane. That generous, voluntary obedience to which we were
ordained, implying necessarily a possibility of disobedience, that fatal possibility
proved our ruin: but though by mere nature we are now dead in trespasses and
sins, God has in infinite love given his Son to die for us, and his Spirit to restore
us to that divine image in which we were at first created, if we will yield to be
saved by grace.
God now speaks to men by various ways; a principal one is that of preaching.
God has given power and commandment to his ministers to declare his will, to
publish his laws: they are intrusted with the divine seed of his word; and woe be
to them, if they use it deceitfully; woe be to them if they mingle it with the tares
of human traditions, or prostitute it to any worldly purposes! Such profanation
of it may indeed sometimes be committed by ignorant or designing men; but the
sacred Scriptures are happily in the hands of the laity, and it should be their care
to search those Scriptures, and try if the doctrine that they hear be agreeable
thereto; whether it be of God, or whether men speak of themselves.
While ministers faithfully do their duty, God speaks by their mouths. They are
the sowers sent into the field, to scatter the good seed of his word: this is their
part; that of the people is, to receive it through his grace, which is offered to all,
with the proper dispositions, which can be judged of only by the fruit that it
brings forth. The people will all find themselves described in this parable, which
represents four sorts of hearers; and each man is concerned to judge himself to
what class he belongs.
The first sort are compared to the way-side, the common road, upon which when
the seed fell, the birds came, and devoured it. Our Lord interprets this of those,
who, hearing the word, understand it not; see Matthew 13:10 by which he means
not that they are ignorant of the sense, but that they do not exercise their
understanding about it. They do not mind; they do not consider it as the rule of
their conduct. Their heads are like a highway, or common thoroughfare, in
which nothing rests, but all passes out as it entered; they persevere in a wilful,
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251. stubborn ignorance, and all the tremendous truths of religion make no
impression on them; like Gallio they care for none of these things, as if they had
no part or concern in them.
Why then do they come to the places of divine worship? To what purpose do they
enter those schools of wisdom?—Merely to comply with the custom, to follow the
multitude, to pass away an hour or two, which would be burdensome at home; or
perhaps to criticize on what they hear, and remark the preacher's faults, instead
of their own. If I should add, that many come to places of worship to shew
themselves, to make a wanton ostentation of their person and dress, to take out
new lessons of vanity, to learn fashions and practise them; if I should say this, is
it not true? and if it be true, is it not abominable? But fools make a mock at sin,
and turn just rebukes into a jest. The preacher must be very cautious upon these
subjects, who does not incur their ridicule. But this is a very serious matter, and
we must renounce the name of Christians if we do not lay it to heart. Our
Master, Christ, who was mildness itself, most dove-like mildness, changed his
wonted indulgence into severity and indignation against those who profaned his
temple. Though his general demeanor to transgressors was so meek and gentle,
so condescending and familiar, that his adversaries reproached him as the friend
of publicans and sinners; yet, when he found sinners polluting the holy place, his
just zeal so far transported him, that he made a scourge of small cords, and
drove them all out of the temple.
This uncommon indignation of Christ argues, that it is no small crime to abuse
the house of God to any purposes different from, and, as they often prove,
opposite to, those of its institution. It is the house of prayer; wherein we are to
humble ourselves before God, to implore his mercy, and acknowledge his
goodness; to learn his will, and celebrate his sacraments: and if any come thither
for other ends, let them be warned by this admonition, and not presume for the
future to approach God in his places of public worship but with such modesty,
sobriety, and devout recollection of mind, as become the holy offices performed
there.
The second sort of hearers are compared to stony places, (Mark 4:5.) of whom
our Lord says, These are they who hear the word, and immediately receive it
with gladness; but have no root in themselves, &c. (Mark 4:17.) Such are the
second sort: they receive, they relish the word; they delight in it; they partly
apply it to themselves, and partly reduce it to practice: but all proves superficial,
and consequently vain; for they are as stony ground, in which the seed cannot
take root. By this metaphor of stones, we may here understand bosom-sins,
habitual vices, in which they indulge themselves; such as covetousness, or
uncleanness, or sloth, or rank ill-nature, or some other reigning vice, which they
will not do themselves the violence to surmount. Of this we find a remarkable
instance in Herod; of whom it is said, that, "he revered John, knowing him to be
a just and holy man; having reformed many things upon his remonstrances,
which he used to receive very graciously." This seemed a hopeful circumstance;
for a prince, bred in the pride and luxury of courts, to become attentive to the
austere Baptist, to hear gladly his mortifying lessons of penitence; and not only
to hear, but begin to put them in practice,—for it is said that he did many
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252. things,—this was very promising, and one might expect from it some
extraordinary reformation. But he had still a stony place in his heart: Herodias
was there; and the good seed could not take root in it.—You know the sad event.
So fallacious is that gladness which is often felt upon hearing the word; many are
pleased with it, who never profit by it!
For as the soul of man was made for truth, it naturally takes delight in it; and
while the truth does not directly oppose our favourite errors, we receive it with
joy; we let it sprout and put forth leaves, and make a shew of reformation; but
when it reaches the bosom-sin, the darling vice, which we will not part with, then
it meets a rock; then it can make no farther progress; we shut our eyes against
the light; we choose darkness and falsehood, because our deeds are evil. And
therefore they deceive themselves, who, when they are touched and affected by a
sermon, think that all is done, and that they have discharged their duty. Quite
the contrary; nothing is done, if they stop here.
The thorns are the third obstacle mentioned, to the fertility of the good seed. This
is explained at Mark 4:18-19. When we speak of the cares of this world as sinful,
there presently occur many objections to what is offered: "No man," it is said,
"can live without care; and if any should, he would be justly blamed for his
negligence: Six days shalt thou labour, saith God; and labour there relates in the
mind, as well as the body; and the most general labour of the mind is carefulness.
Wherein then does its sinfulness consist? or how can any man discharge the
office of his calling without it?" To this we answer, that care to please God, and
work out our salvation in the state to which he hath called us,—that is, to do the
business which God hath appointed us, as the business God hath appointed us,—
is an indispensible duty; and it is not care in the general, but the care of this
world, that is criminal; that is, care merely for the sake of this world, and
exclusive of our regard to God; care, whereof worldly goods are the sole motive
and end: such care, as we should not engage in, but for the temporal profit which
we expect from it.
Morality consists not in the more outward action, but in the motive to it; that is,
the reason why we do it; the end for which we perform it. The servant of God,
and the servant of Mammon, may appear both alike careful and industrious; but
from very different principles: the one fulfils the desires of his covetousness,
while the other obeys the commands of God. As our motives, or principles of
action, are of a secret nature, and commonly lie hid in the intricacies of the
human heart, men very frequently deceive themselves in this matter, and mistake
their worldly-mindedness for Christian industry. The frequency of this self-
deceit is, as I suppose, the reason why our Lord adds to the cares of this world,—
the deceitfulness of riches; and in other places warns us so earnestly, with a
double caution, that we should take heed and beware of covetousness, because
the temptation to it commonly solicits men under the disguise of duty, of
frugality, of providing for their families, and fulfilling their vocation.
That we may not be deceived by worldly care, in this disguise of a virtuous
diligence, our Lord has given us this character whereby to know it; that it chokes
the good seed of the word, stops its influence, and hinders the due effect which it
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253. would have upon our lives. For instance, the word saith, Love your neighbour as
yourself, and deal by him as you yourself would be dealt by: if this through
divine grace take root in our hearts, it will produce a most amiable integrity,
disinterestedness, and generosity in our dealings; but worldly cares come, and
stifle this good seed, making men selfish, griping, disingenuous, and over-
reaching. The word again commands, that we seek the kingdom of God and his
righteousness in the first place, and depend securely upon divine Providence for
our support. Hence the Christian industry is full of faith in God; sedulous to
please him, and only him.—So intent upon duty, that it is indifferent to all
beside; so confiding in the divine protection, that it is void of all care for itself;
and rests in a perpetual inward peace, by reason of its habitual resignation to all
the orders of Providence. A care of this world, on the contrary, is disquieting and
vexatious; it seeks the world in the first place, as its principal affair; and where it
predominates, true religion must be excluded; for true religion can never be an
inferior or secondary pursuit: it must be the first, or none: it must root out the
thorns, or be choked by them.
The last kind of soil on which the seed is said to have fallen, is good ground;
which is interpreted to represent those, who with an honest and good heart,
having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. See Luke
8:15. To these happy auditors are assigned three properties, worthy of our notice
and imitation: they receive the word with an honest heart;—they keep the word
which they have heard; and—they bring forth fruit with patience: they are
sincere in hearing, faithful in retaining, and patient in practising their duty
inwardly and outwardly.
The first part of this character, namely, sincerity in receiving the word, is well
exemplified and expressed by Cornelius, who was directed by a heavenly vision
to send for St. Peter; and after having got together a small congregation of his
friends and relations, he at their head thus addressed himself to the apostle for
instruction: Now are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are
commanded thee of God. So spoke that honest heart, which was rightly prepared
to receive the word;—we are here present before God. A devout sense of the
divine presence dispels all secular cares, recollects the attention, stills every
faculty of the mind, and composes it into a religious silence. Such should be our
disposition when we read the word of God in the Scriptures, or hear it faithfully
dispensed by his ministers. We shall then feel its efficacy; for it will make a great
impression on us; it will sink deep into our hearts; and taking root there, and
being warmly cherished through divine grace by successive meditations, it will
spring forth in holy purposes, with incessant desires to accomplish them; and,
above all, in ardent longings to have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost given unto us.
This is what we are to understand by the second property before mentioned of
an honest heart, or good ground, namely, that it keeps the word. It suffers not
itself to be dissipated in pleasures, distracted with cares, or engrossed by any
sensual affection; but, attentive to the truth received, retains it as a sacred
deposit, cultivates it (as was said) with assiduous meditation, and puts forth all
its force to co-operate with it through grace in the production of holiness and
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254. virtue. Those who have their hearts thus disposed, are Christ's favourite
auditors, and he has pronounced upon them a memorable benediction. See Luke
11:28.
The third and most essential quality of an honest heart, is, that it brings forth
fruit with patience. This is the completion of its character, the perfection of its
goodness and felicity. If, says our Lord, ye continue in my word,—then are ye my
disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free:
then through the blood of the covenant you become the children of God, and
endeared to Christ by every kind of relation. So he himself assures us, in those
ever memorable words wherewith the third chapter of this Evangelist is closed:
Whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my
brother, and sister, and mother. Blessed therefore, eternally blessed, are all they
that hear the word of God, and keep it, and perseveringly bring forth fruit with
patience.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, For the convenience of being heard by the vast
multitudes who attended him, our Lord again returned to the sea-shore; and,
entering into a boat, sat down and taught a great and attentive congregation,
preaching to them the doctrines of truth under parables drawn from familiar
objects. We have,
1. The parable of the sower, which represents the different effects of the gospel-
word upon the hearts of men. Matthew 13:3., &c. He demands attention; for all
who would understand must give diligence, and well consider what they hear.
The parable itself was plain, but even the twelve were dull of apprehension, and
understood it not; but when they were retired with the rest of the disciples, they
desired of Jesus the explanation of it: to which he graciously condescends, yet as
it were wondering withal at their wanting an explanation of what was so plain.
Note; (1.) The human understanding is strangely dark in spiritual concerns: the
plainest truths of God's word to the natural man are utterly unintelligible. (2.)
The more we are acquainted with our own stupid ignorance in the things of God,
till illuminated, the more thankful shall we be for divine teaching.
2. The explication that Christ gives is this: The seed is the word of God: himself,
and all his faithful labourers, are the sowers. The hearers are the soil: many of
them the word preached does not profit, not being mixed with faith. Some are
careless and inattentive; the seed sown does not at all abide upon their hearts;
Satan, by some vanity, amusement, or avocation, instantly snatches it away.
Others for a moment hear it with joy, their passions are affected, but their hearts
are unchanged; therefore, no sooner is the impression worn off, than they are
like blasted corn which withers away. Some are so engrossed with the riches and
cares of the world, the eager pursuits of its honours, pleasures, or esteem, that
these, by degrees, eat out the life of their profession, carnalize their souls, and
make them earthly, sensual. Thus, for the perishing trifles of time, they lose all
the glories of eternity. But there are those, who, amid the general apostacy, with
patient perseverance endure, and bring forth in their measure the gracious fruits
of faith and holiness.
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255. 2nd, Our Lord proceeds to teach them under other parabolic representations.
1. By the use that we make of a candle when lighted up, Christ informs them
what he justly expected of them, even to shine as lights in the world;
communicating to others the truths which they in secret learned of him, and
keeping back nothing of the whole counsel of God. Whatever gifts of nature or
grace we enjoy, they are to be employed for God's glory and the good of
mankind; and not, through love of ease, or false shame, concealed or neglected.
It is not enough that we walk in the light ourselves, we must let our light also
shine before men.
2. He warns them of the danger of negligence in improving the means and
mercies which they enjoyed. They are called upon to hear, and to take heed what
they hear; that the word may not be ineffective, nor they be deluded; but by a
careful use of their measure of the gift of grace to increase their store, God being
ready to communicate more abundant knowledge to such attentive hearers, and
to give farther assistances of spiritual light and strength to those who employ
aright in the service of Christ and immortal souls the portion which they have
received; while he punishes the negligent and inattentive, by withdrawing from
them the privileges wherewith he had favoured them.
3. He describes the progress of his Gospel in the world, and of the seed of divine
grace in the heart, by the growth of corn, which, though unseen for a while, and
covered with earth, shoots up, increases insensibly till the harvest, and then
produces the ripe ear. Thus the ministry of Jesus at first was scarcely perceived,
but the seed; that he sowed afterwards sprang up, continues through his word
and spirit still to grow, and shall shortly fill the face of the whole world with
fruit. And so also in many a heart, where the seed of eternal life is sown by any
minister of God, it grows without his care, when perhaps he is removed far away,
or sleeps in death; it is watered with the dew of heavenly influences; and though
the manner of the spirit's operation in the divine change that is wrought, is
mysterious as the manner in which the corn vegetates, yet the effects are visible;
the soul is renewed day by day; the seed of grace, in souls which perseveringly
cleave to Jesus, from small beginnings, shoots upwards till the time of harvest,
when the ripe corn is gathered in, and the faithful saints of God, matured for
glory, enter their eternal rest. Lord, quicken the seed sown in our souls day by
day!
4. Much to the same purpose as the former, is the parable of the grain of
mustard-seed, and represents, (1.) The progress of the Gospel; which, from the
smallest beginnings of the ministry of a few poor fishermen, has spread through
the earth, and shall in due time reach from pole to pole, when all the kingdoms of
the world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ. (2.) The work of
grace upon the hearts of persevering believers. At first, like a grain of mustard-
seed, it is scarcely perceptible; but, increasing with the increase of God, the herb
grows into a tree meet to be transplanted among the cedars of glorified saints in
the paradise of God.
5. He added many other like parables, that by line upon line, in this familiar
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256. manner, he might communicate spiritual truths under material objects; and
without a parable spake he not unto them. They who desired to understand,
might easily do it; and where difficulties arose, he was always ready, when in
private, to explain them to the disciples; while those who superficially heard,
neglected and forgot the word preached, were justly left in their native blindness
and ignorance.
3rdly, No sooner had Christ finished his discourse, and dismissed the people,
than he bids the disciples cross the lake, having work that calls him to the other
side. Jesus was never weary of well-doing, neither should we.
1. The disciples, without hesitation, obey; ready to follow their Master wherever
he led them; and accordingly they set sail in the same vessel which had been his
pulpit, and a number of other boats accompanied them. For though the
multitude departed, those whose hearts were affected by what they had heard,
chose to cleave to the Lord, and follow him whithersoever he went, by land or by
water. Note; (1.) They who continue Christ's disciples indeed, will not leave or
forsake him, whatever dangers may threaten. (2.) If Christ be with us, we may
boldly launch forth; his presence and blessing will be our support and comfort.
2. A dreadful and sudden storm brought them into the most imminent danger;
and, covered with waves, and full almost of water, the boat was ready to founder.
Note; The church, and every faithful saint in it, have at times been brought into
perilous circumstances: nothing has kept either from sinking but this, that Christ
was there.
3. He slept securely in the stern on a pillow, tired with the labours of the day the
storm, which drove the disciples to almost utter despair, seemed but to rock him
faster to repose. Note; When we are in our deepest distresses, Christ sometimes
appears to disregard our danger, as if he slept, inattentive to our cries; but he
sees, he hears, and will be found to his faithful people a very present help in the
time of trouble.
4. The disciples in a fright awake him with their cries; Master, carest thou not
that we perish? art thou indifferent about our danger; and wilt thou suffer us to
be drowned? Their application to him bespoke their faith; but their address
breathed the language of impatience and dishonourable fear.
5. The Lord, whom winds and waves obey, arose; and at his commanding word,
Peace, be still, the billows in a moment ceased to roar, the swelling sea subsided,
the winds were hushed, not a breath of air dimpled the ocean, not a whisper
broke the solemn silence. When the unruly passions are like the troubled sea
which cannot rest, the voice of Jesus, heard by faith, subdues their violence, and
calms their rage.—Under deep afflictions and temptations, when we are ready to
abandon ourselves to despair, he silences our fears, and stills our griefs; speaking
that inward peace to the conscience, which in the midst of sorrows can make us
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
6. He rebukes their unbelieving fears. Why are ye so fearful? so unneccessarily,
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257. so inordinately fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? not in exercise at least;
though they had faith in him in general, in this particular their fears prevailed.
How often do too many of us under our trials deserve the same rebuke?
7. The miracle filled the mariners with most reverential fear of the majesty in
which Jesus now appeared; and with amazement they observed to each other,
that he must be surely more than man whom stormy winds and raging waves so
instantaneously obey.
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so
afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
CLARKE, "Why are ye so fearful? - Having me with you.
How is it that ye have no faith? - Having already had such proofs of my
unlimited power and goodness.
GILL, "And he said unto them,.... His disciples,
why are ye so fearful? since he was with them in person, whose power to keep and
preserve them, they had no room to question, when they reflected on the miracles
they had so lately seen performed by him:
how is it that ye have no faith? That is, in exercise: faith they had, but it was very
small, and scarcely to be called faith: they did indeed apply to him to save them,
which showed some faith in him, but then they feared it was too late, and that they
were past all hope, and were just perishing; See Gill on Mat_8:26.
HENRY, "The reproof Christ gave them for their fears, is here carried further
than in Matthew. There it is, Why are ye fearful? Here, Why are ye so fearful?
Though there may be cause for some fear, yet not for fear to such a degree as this.
There it is, O ye of little faith. Here it is, How is it that ye have no faith? Not that the
disciples were without faith. No, they believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God; but at this time their fears prevailed so that they seemed to have no faith at all.
It was out of the way, when they had occasion for it, and so it was as if they had not
had it. “How is it, that in this matter ye have no faith, that ye think I would not come
in with seasonable and effectual relief?” Those may suspect their faith, who can
entertain such a thought as that Christ careth not though his people perish, and
Christ justly takes it ill.
JAMIESON, "And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? — There is a
natural apprehension under danger; but there was unbelief in their fear. It is worthy
of notice how considerately the Lord defers this rebuke till He had first removed the
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258. danger, in the midst of which they would not have been in a state to listen to
anything.
how is it that ye have no faith? — next to none, or none in present exercise. In
Matthew (Mat_8:26) it is, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Faith they had,
for they applied to Christ for relief: but little, for they were afraid, though Christ was
in the ship. Faith dispels fear, but only in proportion to its strength.
COFFMAN, "It is ridiculous to make a big thing out of the fact that Matthew
recorded this question as taking place before the great calm. Could Jesus not
have said it twice? Besides that, the oldest historical reference to the gospel of
Mark stated quite flatly that:
Mark, having been Peter's interpreter, wrote all that Peter related; though he
did not record in order that which was said or done by Christ.[48]
This quotation was attributed to an apostolic presbyter by Papias in 130 A.D.
The apostles of Christ were slow, even with all the advantages they had, to
understand fully the divine nature and power of Jesus, whose question here
exhibits some element of surprise at their dullness.
ENDNOTE:
[48] Ibid., p. 723.
41 They were terrified and asked each other,
“Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey
him!”
CLARKE, "What manner of man is this? - They were astonished at such
power proceeding from a person who appeared to be only like one of themselves. It is
often profitable to entertain each other with the succor and support which we receive
from God in times of temptation and distress; and to adore, with respectful awe, that
sovereign power and goodness by which we have been delivered.
Having spoken so largely of the spiritual and practical uses to be made of these
transactions, where the parallel places occur in the preceding evangelist, I do not
think it necessary to repeat those things here.
GILL, "And they feared exceedingly,.... That is, the men in the ship, the
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259. mariners to whom the ship belonged, and who had the management of it:
and said to one another, as persons in the greatest amazement,
what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Surely this person must not be a mere man; he must be more than a man; he must be
truly God, that has such power over the wind and sea. This best suits with the
mariners, since the disciples must have known before, who and what he was; though
they might be more established and confirmed in the truth of Christ's deity, by this
wonderful instance of his power.
HENRY, " The impression this miracle made upon the disciples, is here
differently expressed. In Matthew it is said, The men marvelled; here it is said, They
feared greatly. They feared a great fear; so the original reads it. Now their fear was
rectified by their faith. When they feared the winds and the seas, it was for want of
the reverence they ought to have had for Christ. But now that they saw a
demonstration of his power over them, they feared them less, and him more. They
feared lest they had offended Christ by their unbelieving fears; and therefore studied
now to give him honour. They had feared the power and wrath of the Creator in the
storm, and that fear had torment and amazement in it; but now they feared the
power and grace of the Redeemer in the calm; they feared the Lord and his
goodness, and it had pleasure and satisfaction in it, and by it they gave glory to
Christ, as Jonah's mariners, who, when the sea ceased from her raging, feared the
Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, Jon_1:16. This sacrifice they
offered to the honour of Christ; they said, What manner of man is this? Surely more
than a man, for even the winds and the seas obey him.
JAMIESON, "And they feared exceedingly — were struck with deep awe.
and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the
wind and the sea obey him? — “What is this? Israel has all along been singing of
JEHOVAH, ‘Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, Thou
stillest them!’ ‘The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than
the mighty waves of the sea!’ (Psa_89:9; Psa_93:4). But, lo, in this very boat of ours
is One of our own flesh and blood, who with His word of command hath done the
same! Exhausted with the fatigues of the day, He was but a moment ago in a deep
sleep, undisturbed by the howling tempest, and we had to waken Him with the cry of
our terror; but rising at our call, His majesty was felt by the raging elements, for they
were instantly hushed - ‘WHAT MANNER OF MAN IS THIS?’”
COFFMAN, "Mark's purpose in his gospel shines in such an expression as this,
of which there are a number of examples. He intended that the mighty works of
Christ should lead to they identification of Jesus Christ as a supernatural
person, one with the Father, and fully able to give eternal life to them that come
unto God through him.
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