Mark 4:1-12

The Mystery of the Kingdom

Devotional 19 of 50 · Mark chapter 4

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After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards trembled in fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said! Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ See, I have told you.” So they hurried away from the tomb in fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came to Him, grasped His feet, and worshiped Him. “Do not be afraid,” said Jesus. “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see Me.” While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And after the chief priests had met with the elders and formed a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and instructed them: “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ If this report reaches the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of

Mark 4:1-12 · BSB

¹Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and such a large crowd gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people crowded along the shore. ²And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said, ³“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop—one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.” ⁹Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” ¹⁰As soon as Jesus was alone with the Twelve and those around Him, they asked Him about the parable. ¹¹He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables, ¹²so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.’”

Jesus

Does Jesus have secrets? Does He hide things from us? Does He intentionally speak in riddles to keep people in the dark and keep them from salvation (verse 12)? It is clear that He does not tell us everything. Our minds could not handle knowing all things in the universe, so He must be selective in what He shares. So, there are many things we do not know about Him, yet He has come to reveal the most important mysteries and secrets to us, namely the very image of God (Colossians 1:15).

There are also things about the Kingdom of God that are so utterly foreign to us that we have no way of processing its wonders. However, through parables, Jesus pulls back the curtain and reveals aspects of the Kingdom of God. He speaks of cosmic and eternal secrets and mysteries that have been hidden since the beginning of the earth.

Parables are not random; they are a vital part of His teachings and connected to the very reason He came. Jesus brings definition to the otherwise unknown Kingdom of Heaven. Unfortunately, not everybody who hears understands. As seen in the parable of the sower and the quoted prophecy, this will sometimes fall on deaf ears, while others are forever changed.

His Desires

Upon first read, this prophecy (verses 11–12) seems harsh. Is Jesus boxing people out of revelation and even being forgiven? But when we look closer, we see His heart for people to really listen and grasp this parable and also to draw close to Him.

The English word listen does not hold the same force that the Greek conveys. It means more than just lend me your ear; it is hyper-listen. He is saying, pay extreme attention to what I have to say. This reveals that Jesus deeply does not want people to miss this message; He wants them to be the good soil and be receptive to the word. Not only does He start off this parable with a strong command to listen up, but He also wraps up the parable with a similar command: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (verse 9). This means that this message is for every person. This is a call to not let this go in one ear and out the other but to take His parable to heart.

Next, we see His heart by contrasting the two groups in verse 11. The first group is His disciples, who are near to Him, and they will know the mystery of the parables. The other group is those who are outside—those far from Jesus who have rejected Him. Why does one group get revelation and not the other? Because revelation comes from connection to Jesus.

Don’t overlook that closeness to Jesus is the key to understanding the parables. By contrast, those outside of Jesus will not only miss the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven, but they will miss out on forgiveness entirely (verse 11). Yet, for those who are close to Him, understanding and forgiveness come. This is why He starts the section off with a commanding call to deeply listen to what He is speaking, and if you have ears on your head, listen to this (verse 9)! We can see a unified desire from Jesus in the two commandments in this section: first, to listen, and second, if we have ears to hear, we should hear. We can take confidence that the greatest takeaway from this section is the need to pay attention to what He’s saying.

In the context of Jesus teaching parables, we see the fact that Jesus came to reveal His heart, to reveal mysteries, and to bring revelation. This revelation is not only for one group. It is spread to all the different soils, even if they appear to be a lost cause—the word still goes out. It’s also important to realize that the people mentioned in verse 12, who are rejecting Jesus, are fulfilling what Isaiah prophesied (Isaiah 6:9–11). They are outside of Jesus and, thus, unable to understand the parables—deaf and blind to their meaning—and unable to access forgiveness while being outside of Jesus.

Follow Through

Command: Listen and hear His parables and take them to heart.
Be close to Jesus to understand the parables.
Prayerfully seek the Kingdom of God.

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