Mark 4:3-16
New Catholic Bible
10 The Reason for Parables. When he was alone, the Twelve and his other companions asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “To you has been granted knowledge of the mysteries[a] of the kingdom of God, but to those outside, everything comes in parables, 12 so that
‘they may look and see but not perceive,
and hear and listen but fail to understand,
lest they be converted and be forgiven.’ ”[b]
13 The Explanation of the Parable of the Sower.[c] He went on to say to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then are you to understand any of the parables? 14 What the sower is sowing is the word.
15 “Some people are like seed that falls along the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan immediately comes and carries off the word that has been sown in them.
16 “Others are like the seed sown on rocky ground. As soon as they hear the word they immediately receive it with joy.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Mark 4:11 Mysteries: see note on Mt 13:11.
- Mark 4:12 The citation is from Isa 6:9-10. Acts (28:26-27) and Romans (11:7-16, 29-32) cite the same passage of Isaiah to show that the rejection by the people of the Covenant had been foretold and that God’s plan cannot be checkmated by the defection of human beings. It is not that God wants them to reject the word. They do that on their own because they do not want to receive God’s forgiveness.
- Mark 4:13 See note on Mt 13:18-23.
