Mark 4:10-20

The Voice

¹⁰When they were alone, the twelve and others close to Him asked why He always taught in parables instead of explaining His teachings clearly.

Jesus: ¹¹God has let you in on the inside story regarding the workings of the Kingdom—the hidden meanings. But the crowds—I teach them in parables ¹²as the prophet Isaiah predicted,

    So that when they look, they see and yet do not understand.
        When they hear, they listen and yet do not comprehend.
    Otherwise, they might really turn and be forgiven.^[a]

This makes the disciples scratch their heads. Why would He want to hide the truth from some people? His teachings are hard enough without putting them into parables.

¹³Do you mean to say that you didn’t understand My parable of the sower? That was the key parable. If you don’t see what I was trying to teach there, how will you be able to understand any of the others?

¹⁴The seed the farmer is sowing is the good news, God’s word. ¹⁵Some people are the seed thrown onto the path, and the tempter snaps up the word before it can even take root. ¹⁶Others are the seed thrown among the rocks. Those people hear the word and receive it immediately with joy and enthusiasm; ¹⁷but without deep roots, doubt, trouble, or persecution instantly withers their faith. ¹⁸Still others are the seed tossed among weeds and brambles. The word has reached them, ¹⁹but the things of this life—the worries, the drive for more and more, the desire for other things—those things cluster around close and choke the life of God out of them until they cannot produce. ²⁰But those last seeds—those sown into good soil? Those people hear the word, accept it, meditate on it, act on it, and bear fruit—a crop 30, 60, or 100 times larger than the farmer dropped to earth.