Mark stated that there was such a great multitude gathered there, He had to get into a boat to be able to teach and that the whole multitude was on the shoreline. Jesus was able to project His voice, which can be done without having to yell. Good preachers do not have to yell. Local tradition places His discourse at a place called the Cove of the Parables that is a natural horseshoe-shaped amphitheater. The acoustics apparently carried Jesus’ voice over 100 meters from the boat to a crowd of hundreds on the shore as He told about a farmer who sowed seed in his field saying that the seed fell on four kinds of soil, (a) along the path (b) on rocky places (c) among thorns and (d) on good soil.

Mark does not say whose boat it was or if any of Jesus’ disciples were in the boat with Him. I think that they were not there, because of the way Mark described it. It could have belonged to Peter and he may or may not have been in the boat.

The words used are  πολύς (polys) meaning much, many or great; ὄχλος (ochlos) meaning a disorganized throng of people or an irregular crowd; πᾶς (pas) meaning all or every kind. This may have included the disciples and if so, they had to have been in the crowd. Later on we see that they found themselves alone with Jesus and we shall see more of this shortly. Verse two now tells us what Jesus did.

And he taught them many things by parables

Jesus sat beside the Sea of Galilee to teach. Unlike many modern trends where a speaker stands on a platform behind a lectern or pulpit that has practical merit, sitting was a typical posture for teachers. Sitting is an act of resting. Jesus’ act of sitting down to preach indicates position and authority, so it seems that although the workload was heavy (which is often the case in ministry), Jesus was at peace within Himself and able to rest. He was so much at ease within Himself, He could sleep in a boat in the middle of a storm!

When He grew tired, He sent people away. Kings sit down to dine at table whereas servants stand. When at a restaurant, waiters stand but those eating sit down.

If we are priests and kings unto God as seen in scripture, we should be able to “sit down” in rest in our spirits, despite things that seek to disturb our peace—the peace Jesus gave us.

He taught many things and the Greek meaning for this is also polys. What He said had to be very extensive.

He said exactly those same things to everyone present in parables—the crowd, religious folk and the disciples.

We need now to know what the word parable means. In the Greek, it is παραβολή (parabolē) that comes from two other Greek words, para meaning beside and ballō that means to throw. When we run them together it means a casting, throwing or placing things side by side. It compares one thing with another and can be translated as figure. The bible is full of types and shadows, figures, symbols and examples...or...Parables. Jesus used everyday events or things to compare them with spiritual truth.
If, for example you asked Him what something was like, He could have picked up a piece of fruit and describe what it was, that it had seed inside it and that when the fruit seed was planted, it would grow into a plant that in turn reproduced by growing more fruit after its own kind. He often said things such as, The kingdom of heaven is like... See Matthew 13, 20 and 21.

Interestingly, He told the disciples that the mysteries of the Kingdom were given to them and we shall elaborate on that soon.

Jesus was speaking in parables to everyone there. If you look at verse two, He taught “Them”—the crowd, the religious folk and the disciples, but no one, including the disciples at that time, understood a thing.

Mark said that Jesus taught them in His doctrine. This included everyone present at that point but we need now to look at the word doctrine.
It is didachē and before I elaborate on that, please look at something in the Hebrew that is very relevant. You may have come across the word tôrâ  (תּוֹרָה) that usually means law, regulation, instruction, or teaching and it was originally used to describe the instructions for daily conduct that God gave his people. Proverbs 3:1 and 6:20 are good examples

Mark called it Jesus’ teaching. We call it His gospel, but so too did Paul in Romans 2:16, 16:25 and 2 Timothy 2:8. This tells me that we can and should make it personal, or make it our gospel and we can and should legitimately do that by saying what they said. This is perfectly scriptural. One such reference is in Hebrews 10:23 that states-

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

That word profession is Homologia that basically means to say the same things that God says. What he says is not in a prayer book or a churhc rder of service but in His word, or the bible, but I hasten to add that the “version” you use should be as accurate as possible to the original language. Many modern translations lack that ring of authenticity, often missing things in the translation process.

We know that Jesus was and is still a Jew and so He observed all the Jewish customs and traditions, fulfilling the Law, but not annulling it. The problem was that the Jewish religious leaders had “twisted” The Law and turned it into the traditions of man that Jesus dislikes. He told those people in Matthew 5:17 that He did not come to destroy The Law or The Prophets, but to fulfill them. He later touched on certain aspects of The Law such as murder or adultery putting it into right perspective with His famous, But I say unto you.

He said that one need not literally commit the act of adultery, but to think of it or have the wrong heart attitude. He made it real to life and added a dimension that the legalists did not know about and that was His doctrine. Such legalists and theologians today can share excellent information and that is what it is...information, but it can often lack that dimension of which I speak that brings light and life changing revelation.

There are two words to consider when thinking of doctrine. One is didache" that Mark used and there is another called didaskalia that Jesus used in Matthew 15:6-9 when He chided the religious leaders—the  hypocrites who had rendered the unadulterated word of God ineffective by their teachings and man-made traditions and doctrines. That’s all most folk knew. They were never taught truth and it is a human trait that still exists. One way to put it to the test is to visit any church you like and look around you to see how many people bring a bible—and read it. See if the man behind the pulpit reads from one and encourages everyone to follow along with him. See if they follow an order of service when certain things take precedence over biblical principles. Check the fruit!

In Colossians chapter two Paul tells us not to let anyone tell us what to do with regard food and drink, “holy days”, sabbath days, “touch not, taste not, handle not” in verses 16-22 when he says that they are all according to the commandments and doctrines of men and not of God. See also 1 Timothy 4:6-11; 2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Timothy 3:15-17 and Titus 2:7.

There is indeed a pattern as I alluded to earlier and it was the pattern that the Father gave Jesus, who followed that pattern, adopting it as His doctrine.

He was teaching His doctrine and no one understood it. Even today, this parable is not always understood. People talk at length about the kinds of soil into which the seed fell and they may be right about that, technically speaking. They often liken their growth or lack thereof with the conditions of people’s hearts and again be correct. It is often used as a salvation message tool, but, although there may be such to glean that way, the parable is  not about them at all. Let us now see what Jesus said before continuing.

Hearken; Consider this: A farmer went out to sow seeds. As he cast his seeds some of it fell along the beaten path and soon the birds came and ate it. Other seeds fell onto gravel with no topsoil and the seeds quickly sprouted since the soil had no depth. But when the days grew hot, the sprouts were scorched and withered because they had insufficient roots.
Other seeds fell among the thorns, so when the seeds sprouted so did the thorns, crowding out the young plants so that they could produce no grain. But some of the seeds fell onto good, rich soil that kept producing a good harvest.
Some yielded thirty, some sixty—and some even one hundred times as much as was planted! Mark 4:3-8

I am a faith preacher and I am a personal friend of many large word of faith ministries around the world, but some of their teachings have gone into excess when it comes to money. Tithing is a contentious matter and on most occasions, is preached erroneously, because the tithe is not necessarily about money, but food that was to be provided to widows, orphans, strangers or proselytes and Levites according to The Law. The verse often quoted in Malachi relates to literal food, such as venison using the word טֶרֶף (tereph). Unfortunately when this is made to be a financial issue, the risk is that it becomes like one of those pyramid marketing schemes where most of the money goes to those at the top. Please conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. We all want to be blessed and increased in every area of life and that is our Christian heritage. It does include finances—but it is not just about finances. It is bringing release to captives.

God is about increase as demonstrated in the 30, 60, 100-fold principle. To explain, please look at a piece of money. It is printed on one piece of paper, with two faces, each worth the value shown but you will never receive more than that. If you multiply it by 30, you will receive 30 times as much as what is written on the note and no more. That is as far as it will go because that is simple maths and economics.

Please now look at any piece of paper. It also has two sides, but if you fold it over, four sides will be made, not two. Take 30 sheets and fold them over and the result will be 120 (not 60 if all that happened was doubling numerically). Take 60 sheets and fold them over, then take 100 sheets and fold them over. The results far exceed simple multiplication. There is a term called paging up in the printing industry. whereby one sheet of paper folded in 2 can make a 4-page book. Two sheets make an 8 page book. 4 sheets make a 16 page book and so on.

God’s multiplication factor however is limitless. Look on it as an exponential curve that if this continued unabated, the outcome could be something beyond our comprehension, like 30-60-100-500-10,000-1,000,000-fold and keep growing.

Scientists say that the universe is still growing or expanding. If this is true, perhaps it is because God commanded everything to be fruitful and multiply but to my knowledge did not give an expiry date.

I think that the Lord wants us to think outside the box. Religious mindsets limit God so much that He cannot do what He wishes to do.
Jesus could not perform a miracle in His home town for this reason, so please do not put God in a box. Conversely, do not treat God like a Santa Claus who keeps passing out gifts, because we tithe, sow money, or behave well.

On face value it may seem that Jesus is repeating His words, hearken and behold, like saying, “listen, listen”, but they are different.

We can hear something, like the wind blowing and not really pay any attention to it, or like hearing traffic noise when you are living on a busy road, but not really “hear it” because we get used to it and tune out. A visitor from the countryside however could have many a sleepless night because of all the noise! You can have the Television set on or a music CD playing and although noise is coming from them, are not really hearing a thing. The sound blends into the background.

When in a crowd of talking people, the voices are mere mumbling sound and unless we get close and listen attentively to someone in particular we cannot make out what they are actually saying. The word for hearken means something like that. It comes from a word that means we can hear it, but are not really paying any attention to it.

The original text says, Hearken! Behold. It means to listen and see. It talks of taking notice or having perception of it. You may have heard the term “seeing it” or “getting it”. Look at children in church or some adults too for that matter who are sitting there whilst the preacher is speaking and they are just not paying any attention. The Lord is basically saying, “Listen up and pay attention”. This is consistent with what He said afterwards, saying as one translation puts it:

If you have ears, listen! Mark 4:9

As we start to look at the parable itself, it seems that this person sowing the seed was not really very smart. He did not have the technology we have today of course, so clearing the land was not easy, but despite that, I see a problem here and it seems to be an attitude problem. Little preparation may have been the issue.

My father-in-law owned a large property where he raised cattle and two of his sons grew sugar cane. I often visited and helped out, growing some produce of my own as a part time hobby farmer on a small portion they let me use.
The sugar mill allotted a kind of quota called an assignment to the farmers each season and when they did, the farmers prepared new fields. My father-in-law hired a contractor to clear the land by bulldozing trees and ripping the soil open with a big D9 bulldozer.

He then followed up with his own smaller tractors, one of which was a crawler tractor with a blade in front and a single ripper behind. He also had two wheeled tractors to which were fitted different implements, like planters or a rotary hoe attachment. I often  drove these tractors, preparing the land for planting more sugar cane and my own hobby farm products.

Sometimes I helped use explosives to blow some trees and after that, pushed them into a gully with the bulldozer. In this process, we removed rocks and debris like tree roots to ensure that the soil was ready for planting.

The aim was to prepare the soil and then arrange the soil by creating furrows that were ready to receive the seed or cane.

The sower in this story did not have such facilities and so did the best he could. He walked down the line throwing out his precious seed and it was very labor intensive, possibly with uncertain results. It was a kind of hit and miss process and we cannot adopt any hit and miss approaches in the Kingdom. Making sure that no seed was lost should have been important, but it seems that he was not as careful as he should have been and seed was scattered everywhere.

There are spirituals lesson in this, one of which is not to waste our time and effort and resources by being “seed throwers”.

Jesus wasn’t! He never did anything unless it was on an assignment given Him by the Father. He was a sent one, or an apostle.

That is what it means. If we want to be truly effective for the Lord, we must be sent ones and not went ones and the church is full of went ones.

I say that of the sower because of Jesus’ description as follows next.

This man allowed the seed to fall by the wayside and the word for wayside is Hodos, meaning a well traveled path, a road, a journey or a highway. Hodos speaks of habit patterns and they can lead to over familiarlty. There is a saying, familiarity breeds contempt and that should be avoded. Hodos is like getting too close to a pathway, a thoroughfare, a footpath people often walked on, or perhaps a well trodden trail that animals use regularly. In farming communities, such trails are made by cattle as they walk to the water source, or to the milking shed as a matter of habit and the land is treaded on so much, it is trampled flat.

The sower actually let some seed fall as if he was a creature of habit who became sloppy and careless in what he was doing.

It is little wonder that the birds of the air swooped down to eat it. Birds of the air can often speak of evil spirits, so if we associate this seed or the act of casting out the seed with spiritual activity like sharing the Gospel, the enemy immediately went into action to stop anything from happening.

The significance is that if you or I are attempting to sow the seed of God’s word, we should be wise enough to make sure we do so when we can be most effective. It is like casting our pearls before swine. People are so accustomed to their way of life, their mannerisms, habits or Hodos, that, unless we really have something to offer them, they ignore us and just keep walking.

The next thing Jesus mentioned was how and where the seed fell. Here, the soil was totally unprepared and was not ready to receive the seed. It makes me wonder why the man even bothered. He had not removed the rocks. I understand that there are different kinds of soil of course, but surely a wise farmer will do his best to remove what he can and prepare the soil before trying to plant anything. Once more, I understand that the facilities available in those days might not be conducive to this, but even a simple garden rake could have helped shift some of those rocks and expose good soil to give the seed a chance.

As I pondered over this, I thought of crusade events or meetings in which we ask unsaved people to attend. We want to see them be born again and rightly so, but there are a few problems we face. One is that in our enthusiasm, we want someone to raise their hand, come to the front to an altar call, say the sinner’s prayer and receive Jesus. That’s great. I do and encourage others to do likewise, but the problem is that sometimes we “force issues” because we want to see them saved. If we are “results oriented” we can keep pressurizing people so much that they will say that prayer just to stop it...to get out of the heat...to placate us, wanting us to quit.

Their hearts have not changed. The seed falls onto unprepared soil and they go away untouched, or touched a little without any substance. Jesus told us that no one can come to Him—unless the Father draws him. The Holy Spirit today is the person we need and rely on to succeed in our ministry efforts. When attempting to “win the lost”, we must learn to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit and act only when the window of opportunity is open. Paul wanted to go to Asia in Acts 16:6 to preach the gospel which is a noble desire, but the Holy Spirit forbade him. It was the wrong time! Others now go to Asia with His permission.

A genuine conversion may indeed have taken place and we jump for joy and they go back to their homes, but the environment there might not be pleasant, or even hostile to the things of God and they may not be encouraged. They may be opposed and presecuted.

If there is no proper follow up, it is as if we have brought a baby into the world, leaving it to fend for itself and my concern is what happens to those people. Many churches cannot handle an influx of souls. Many churches want to have daughter churches and become involved in church planting,but the Lord never told us to plant churches—He told us to make disciples. His command to Peter in John 21, was to feed His sheep. There is an order of progression involved there from feed My lambs to feed My sheep.

Pastors cannot bear lambs—sheep do that. Pastors are to feed the lambs so that they can grow and mature and reproduce.

This means we take a newborn baby, feed it the milk of the word, help it grow to the full stature of Christ and help it in its newfound life so that it can grow and mature, stop drinking milk and feed on good solid food. They in turn then do likewise. Hebrews 5, especially verses 11-14 and some of chapter 6 then makes good sense. We need to remove the stones, loosen up the soil and make sure that the seed is planted in the right place at the right time. The latter is very important because there are distinct times and seasons in nature. There is a time to sow and a time to reap and in between there are times of weeding, fertilizing and watering the seed before the new shoots emerge. Jesus said that in conjunction with teaching this parable.

And He said, The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed upon the ground, And then continues sleeping and rising night and day while the seed sprouts and grows and increases—he knows not how.
The earth produces [acting] by itself—first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
But when the grain is ripe and permits, immediately he sends forth [the reapers] and puts in the sickle, because the harvest stands ready. Mark 4:26-29

Nine times in Ecclesiastes 3, specific mention is made to timing and to be really effective in ministry, we must factor this in.

Well meaning people often invite me to visit them to their part of the world and keep asking me when I am coming, even though I keep telling them that I do not know the precise time and that all the Lord has told me is to wait. Travel was impossible due to COVID-19 and has not yet been fully restored. I simply do not know what will happen and the Lord is not saying a word at present.

As I said earlier, Paul wanted to go to Asia, but the Holy Spirit forbade him. The need was there and the opportunity was there—but it was not the right time. He spoke of a fourteen year delay in returning to Jerusalem in Galatians.

Abraham would not wait and Ishmael was born and if you read his story in Genesis, God stopped talking to him for 13 years!

Impatience can be disastrous. It takes time to ensure that people are rooted and grounded in the word of God and capable of standing for themselves. People fall away because they do not receive good teaching in an ongoing basis. It’s good to have great meetings but what happens afterwards? We need to make sure we are not getting them to join our church, but to become disciples of Jesus.

Some of the seed fell amongst thorns or Akantha and this speaks of several things. In Matthew 7:16, the Lord used this same word to speak of  false prophets. It is an illustration of those who have been exposed to the gospel of grace, only to forsake it for one of works.

In the parable, the thorns represent the ones who hear the word but turn their attention to the attractions of the world system.

The bible speaks of renewing our minds in places like Romans 12:1-3.

Before we are saved, we lived in the world system that is governed by the god (lower case) of this world and shaped by it according to 2 Corinthians 4:4. After we are born again, according to Colossians 1:13 we are taken out of that system and placed into God’s Kingdom. We have to learn new ways of living.

When this seed then fell amongst the thorns and briers without proper rooting, the issues of life, trials and testing, problems and difficulties, being exposed to lies and false teachings or allowing the old flesh life to dominate us, the seed could germinate but slowly dies out or the tender shoot is choked out and we revert to the old life.

Jesus then said that some seed fell in the right place, or the good and productive ground where it not only germinated but took root but thrived. We often major on the 30-60-100 fold return and link it with sowing and reaping and rightly so, but stop there. It is not about money as often purported and it is not so much as how much is multiplied, but what is multiplied—and how much is used!

Each of us is different. We have different DNA, education, opportunities in life, capacity to handle things, geography and other matters, each of which plays a part. A large framed man as an example may be able to lift heavier objects than a small framed woman. An athlete may need to eat more healthy food than an office worker. A growing child can eat a parent out of house and home whilst an older person might not eat as much as a youth.

Our abilities to comprehend things also differ, so one person can only handle a 30-fold portion, whilst another can deal with 100-fold. What is important is that we each make full use of what we can handle. A 30-fold person is no better than a 100-fold person so the percentage factors are not the issue—what we do with what God gives us is. It would be far better for a 30-fold person to use 100% of what he has than a 100-fold person only using a 30% portion of what he has been given.

Jesus told the same things to everyone present. The disciples were there. The crowd was there and the religious leaders were there, but no one understood what He said. Let us see what happened next.

Afterwards, when he was alone with the Twelve and with his other disciples, they asked him, “What does your story mean?” Mark 4:10

We have a tendency to assume things. We often think that Jesus only had twelve disciples, but that is not so. In Luke 10, we see that the Lord appointed an additional 70 disciples and sent them out on ministry assignment, so that makes 82 disciples.

John said that many of Jesus’ disciples left Him-

...It is the Spirit Who gives life [He is the Life-giver]; the flesh conveys no benefit whatever [there is no profit in it].
The words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life. But [still] some of you fail to believe and trust and have faith.
For Jesus knew from the first who did not believe and had no faith and who would betray Him and be false to Him.
And He said, This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted him [unless he is enabled to do so] by the Father.
After this, many of His disciples drew back (returned to their old associations) and no longer accompanied Him.
Jesus said to the Twelve, Will you also go away? [And do you too desire to leave Me?]
Simon Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words (the message) of eternal life.
And we have learned to believe and trust, and [more] we have come to know [surely] that You are the Holy One of God, the Christ (the Anointed One), the Son of the living God. John 6:63-69

We have seen that merely being a seed thrower does not work. The Holy Spirit draws people, reproves the world of sin, righteousness and judgment and that the Father who sent Jesus enables us to come to Jesus. These things must be factored in when we are trying to do something for the Lord. Unless He is in it, we can throw all we like and nothing may happen.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:21-23

The Lord did not deny that they had done such things. They may have done what they claimed. The problem was that He had not authorized them to do so.

We have seen that there were 82 disciples, but there were more and some of them left Jesus for the reasons we touched on that included thorny ground, unprepared soil, cares of the world and so on, but Jesus had more disciples then these. In 1 Corinthians 15:6, Paul said that more than 500 brethren saw Jesus after His resurrection. So much for traditional teaching!

Therefore when Jesus had finished speaking, His disciples and others came to Him asking Him to explain the parable. We do not know how many there were, but it is feasible that many more than 12 were present. Could the five hundred have been there?

We do not know, but what we do know is that His disciples asked Him to explain the parable.

He had been speaking to a motley throng of people and after that, when He was alone with His disciples, they came to Him and asked Him to explain what He meant. He did not take the initative—they did! This tells me it is up to us as individuals to want to know more and take the effort to find out. God is not secretive, but it sure seems that way at times.

If it is not plainly revealed, we have to dig for it-

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a thing. Proverbs 25:2. See also Acts 17:11

It is often said that God hides many things from us, using such scriptures as 1 Corinthians chapter two and Isaiah 64:4 to say that the thing of God cannot be perceived by the ear, or the eye and so on, but from what Paul said immediately after that proves otherwise.

...But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:10-16. Emphasis mine.

Paul clearly told us that the intellectual approach simply does not work. To understand the things of God, we must approach it all spiritually and not intellectually. The crowd was trying to understand what Jesus said intellectually.

Many theologians are like that, with the result that, although they excel in their fields, they do not seem to draw from the Holy Spirit those things that pertain to life and true Godliness—things that work.

In Luke 24 two of Jesus’ disciples were walking to Emmaeus “communing” and “reasoning” together about what had happened.

They were having a religious argument and it does not really work. Such reasoning is in the realm of the mind or the intellect and we know that this does not always work, because we rationalize things and often get into debate which they were doing. They did not recognize Him until He opened up the scriptures to them and they were His disciples! Unless the Holy Spirit who now represents Jesus and who is the Spirit of truth and our teacher opens things up to us, we cannot understand a thing!

Jesus’ disciples did not understand a thing He said until they asked Him to explain it!

That is very important. God will not force a thing on you. You must ask for it and when you do and are ready to both receive and retain it, He is there! Before I had read all the books in a bible and before I ever said one word, I freely admitted to the Lord that I knew less than nothing but wanted to know “The Truth” and asked Him to reveal that to me. Without knowing it, I did what those disciples did.