Mark 4:15

‘And these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown. And when they have heard Satan comes immediately and takes away the word which has been sown in them.'

Here the seed is the word, and the hearers are like the beaten down path, for they do not absorb the word so that Satan is able to take it away ‘immediately'. They are totally unmoved and go on to other things, not even aware of what they have lost. Matthew tells us that it is ‘the word of the kingly rule' and that it is ‘the Evil one' who snatches away ‘what has been sown in his heart'. Matthew then adds, ‘this is he that was sown by the wayside'. Thus ‘to be sown' is an abbreviation for someone receiving the sown seed.

Note that the explanation does not specifically apply the detail of the parable as if it were fully an allegory. The interpretation is not mechanical but living. For example no attempt is made to relate the plural birds to the singular Satan. As the explanation continues the hearers might be thought to be revealed as the seed itself, but as we see from Matthew that is to apply the language too pedantically. What they are is the soil and the resultant grain that results from the action of the word on the ‘soil'. They are thus the result of the sowing of the seed combined with their response to it. Jesus is depicting the general consequences of what happens. He is not applying every detail. This supports the idea that the interpretation follows closely on the giving of the parable. A later mechanical application by the church as an allegory would have been more particular and specific.

We should notice that the idea of the activity of Satan is prominent in the surrounding context (Mark 3:11; Mark 3:22; Mark 5:1). We should not therefore be surprised to find a reference to him here. Jesus is quietly emphasising that He and Satan are not on the same side, and that Satan is in fact rather seeking to hinder His teaching.

We have already seen how the descent of birds in Scripture is regularly seen as something that should fill men with foreboding (e.g. Genesis 15:11; Genesis 40:17; Genesis 40:19; Isaiah 18:5; Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 12:9; Ezekiel 39:4; Ezekiel 39:17) and that we can compare Jesus' words here with Revelation 18:2, which echoes Jewish traditions where devils, unclean spirits and unclean birds were seen to be operating in parallel (compare Isaiah 13:21; Isaiah 34:11; Isaiah 34:14). Thus their very background should have given them an inkling of the significance of the birds.