Bible Study (Online): Gospel of Mark ~ Study Nineteen

Getting to Know Jesus in the Gospel of Mark

Study Nineteen: Mark 4:1-9

1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4)

1.  What do you think Mark’s descriptions of the crowds are intended to communicate to us about Jesus and his work?

 

2. Parables are simple, earthly stories intended to communicate significant spiritual lessons. What does Mark want us to understand about Jesus’ use of parables beyond what Mark writes down here?

 

3. From the earthly side of the parable (Jesus explains the spiritual side later to his disciples), what is the central focus of the story?

 

4. In the four scenarios Jesus set before his hearers, what is the contrast between the way the seed is described in each case, and the way the soil is described in each case?

 

5. How would this parable reveal things about Jesus and the people he was teaching?

 

6. What does Jesus communicate with his concluding declaration, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”?

 

7. What is your response to Jesus using this parable to teach you?

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)