Mark 4:23

If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. IF ANY MAN HAVE EARS TO HEAR, LET HIM HEAR. This for the second time on the same subject (see the note at )....

21-34 These declarations were intended to call the attention of the disciples to the word of Christ. By his thus instructing them, they were made able to instruct others; as candles are lighted, not to be covered, but to be placed on a candlestick, that they may give light to a room. This parable of the good seed, shows the manner in which the kingdom of God makes progress in the world. Let but the word of Christ have the place it ought to have in a soul, and it will show itself in a good conversation. It grows gradually: first the blade; then the ear; after that the full corn in the ear. When it is sprung up, it will go forward. The work of grace in the soul is, at first, but the day of small things; yet it has mighty products even now, while it is in its growth; but what will there be when it is perfected in heaven!...

EXPOSITION MARK 4:1 AND AGAIN HE BEGAN TO TEACH BY THE SEASIDE. This return to the seaside is mentioned by St. Mark only. From this time our Lord's teaching began to be more public. The room and the little courtyard no longer sufficed for the multitudes that came to him. The Authorized Version says that "a great multitude was gathered unto him." The Greek adjective, according to the most approved reading, is πλεῖστος the superlative of πολὺς,_ _and should be rendered "a very great" multitude. They bad probably been waiting for him in the neighborhood of Capernaum. HE ENTERED INTO A BOAT—probably the boat mentioned at Mark 3:9—AND SAT IN THE SEA, _i.e. _in the boat afloat on the water, so

IF ANY MAN HAVE EARS TO HEAR, LET HIM HEAR. What is now delivered, being very momentous and important; see Matthew 11:15....

Mark 4:1. _And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land._ You can easily picture that scene, the Master sitting down in the vessel, with a little breathing space of water between himself and the crowd, and then the multitude on the rising bank, standing one above another, and all gazing upon the Teacher who sat down and taught them. It ought to reconcile any of you who have to stand in the crowd here when you remember that the hearers all stood in those days, and only the preacher sat down. Mark 4:2. _And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:_ He d

CHAPTER 4 _ 1. Teaching by the Seaside. The Parable of the Sower. (Mark 4:1. Matthew 13:1; Luke 8:4 .)_ 2. The Word to shine forth in testimony. (Mark 4:21 .Luke 8:16 .) 3. The Parable of the Growth of the Seed and the Harvest. (Mark 4:26 .) 4. The Parable of the Mustard Seed. (Mark 4:30 .Matthew 13

MARK 4:21 seems still to be addressed to the disciples. Mk. has collected some isolated sayings, and inserted them here, for the purpose of denying that the Christian mystery mentioned in Mark 4:11 was an esoteric doctrine. Secrets are given to the disciples in trust for the world, and a man's advance in the knowledge of the kingdom is in proportion to his loyalty to what has previously been entrusted to him. Somewhat similarly, after the cursing of the fig-tree, Mk. adds a saying about forgiveness (Mark 11:25), to hint that only a forgiving spirit may expect miracles. (Loisy thinks Mk. tore these sayings from their context in a document like Q. It is more probable that they came to him as fragments of floating tradition which he pieced

TEACHING IN PARABLES (Mark 4:1-2)...

IF, &c. Assuming the hypothesis as. fact. App-118....

The Explanation of the Parable 10. _And when he was alone_ St Mark here anticipates what took place after the Saviour had "_sent the multitudes away_" and "_gone into the house_" (Matthew 13:36)....