And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold (Mark 4:20).

In contrast to the good soil, the other soils fail to produce fruit because of...

Satan's disruptive influence

Weak convictions in the face of hardship and persecution

Worldly entanglements and enticements

Before Jesus gave the explanation of this Parable of the Soils, he told them,

Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand any parable? (Mark 4:13 NIV)

Was Jesus simply rebuking his disciples for not paying enough attention? Was he criticizing them for their lack of faith when they should have had more faith?

Perhaps Jesus was not really asking them a question at all. Perhaps he was revealing to them that not only could they not understand the Parable of the Soils, they could not understand any of his parables. It was not a question so much as a statement of fact. If Jesus did not explain the parables, even the disciples would remain in the dark as to their meaning. That is why Jesus told them earlier,

To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables (Mark 4:11).

The contrast was between the parables of the kingdom, by which Jesus hid deep truths inside of stories, and the mystery of the kingdom, which Jesus revealed to the disciples through his explanations. So while truth was hidden from everyone who was not a disciple of Christ, Jesus would privately reveal this truth to his disciples:

With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it; and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples (Mark 4:33–34).

Now, let us return to the Parable of the Soils. Jesus said that the good soil represented those that hear the Word of God, accept it, and bear fruit by it in different measures.

At the conclusion of the parable, Jesus also said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Mark 4:9). But which of them could truly hear, as to understand (cf. Mark 4:12), except those to whom Jesus gave the explanation, which on this occasion, was only the disciples. They were the only ones given ears to hear. Jesus' question, "How will you understand any parable?", suggests that even the disciples would not understand without the Lord giving them the hearing by which understanding could come.

What am I getting at here? I'm suggesting that the good soil is not natural to us. It is not something we produce. The good soil is the heart that has been cultivated by God so that it can hear, accept and produce fruit. Thus, we read,

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema - spoken word) of God (Romans 10:17).

God (or Christ, as some ancient manuscripts have "Christ" for "God") decreed (i.e. spoke) that some people receive ears that could hear so as to understand and believe. In other words faith only comes when a person is given "ears to hear". Apart from this, there will be no understanding, and consequently, no saving faith. It is not that people cannot hear. They can hear, but their hearing will not be accompanied by understanding leading to faith.

So, even when the resurrected Christ came among the disciples, they could not understand what Jesus was telling them about how he had fulfilled what was written in the Old Testament; that is, until he opened their minds to understand:

And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures (Luke 24:45).

Friends, let us understand, we did not choose God. He chose us. We may have done the deed; that is, performed the activity of hearing and believing; however, apart from God's drawing, enabling, and cultivating our hearts to hear so as to understand and believe, we would never have trusted in Christ so as to be saved. As Jesus told Nicodemus,

Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again (John 3:3).

It is by the inworking of the Holy Spirit that people are given eyes to see kingdom truth. Apart from the Spirit, no one will accept it, nor can they:

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Therefore, friends, there is no cause for fretting about our salvation because none of it was of our own doing (cf. Ephesians 2:8–9). God freely and sovereignly gave it to us and enabled us to accept it and keep it forever. Our security is in the promise of His Word alone. The outworking of our faith in obedience to His Word is simply further assurance to us that God has indeed chosen us, that we do not fail the test of His calling and election of us for salvation (cf. 2 Peter 1:10–11).

What is more, I believe that whether we produce thirty, sixty or a hundred-fold, this also is not of our own doing but what God has designed for our lives (cf. Ephesians 2:10). Such outcomes belong to the Lord (cf. Proverbs 16:9). But let us be faithful to what we know from His Word. Let us align our wills with His perfect Word. And let us obey, not with anxiety but with the full confidence that God will direct our steps according to His good and sovereign purpose.

AI-Expanded Reflection

Mark 4 begins with a command to listen and returns repeatedly to the responsibility of hearing (Mark 4:3,9,23–24). The soils describe different receptions of the same sown word. Opposition, shallow rooting, and competing desires interfere with fruitfulness. The parable therefore asks hearers to examine not only whether the message has reached their ears, but what happens to it within the pressures and priorities of their lives.

Jesus’ explanation also makes understanding a gift. The disciples receive the mystery of the kingdom and hear explanations not given publicly in the same form (Mark 4:10–12,33–34). Yet Mark does not portray them as naturally insightful insiders: they remain slow to understand and need correction. Their privileged access is a reason for dependence, not boasting. The author’s emphasis on grace usefully confronts the assumption that faith is the achievement of a naturally superior kind of person.

At the same time, Mark 4:13 need not be converted from a question into a declaration that no hearer could understand anything without a separate decree. It can function as a searching challenge concerning a foundational parable. The chapter combines divine disclosure with commands to hear carefully, and its later images stress both the hidden growth of seed and the certainty of harvest (Mark 4:26–32). The narrative holds responsibility and gift together without resolving every later debate over the order of regeneration and faith.

Romans 10:17 requires particular contextual care. The preceding argument concerns sending, preaching, hearing, believing, and calling upon the Lord (Romans 10:13–17). The term rhema refers to the word or message in that sequence; it does not itself mean a secret decree that creates hearing ability. The God/Christ manuscript variation does not change the basic setting of proclaimed good news. A theology of divine enabling may appeal to other passages, but it should not be inserted into a word’s meaning against the immediate argument.

Luke 24:45 does explicitly describe Jesus opening the disciples’ understanding of Scripture. That action is joined to his exposition of the writings concerning himself and to their commission as witnesses (Luke 24:44–49). Illumination does not bypass the content of Scripture or the work of learning. The Lord enables his people to understand a message that can then be proclaimed to others.

The varied harvests in Mark 4:20 also caution against making identical visible results the measure of faithfulness. Fruit is real, but its yield differs. The sower continues sowing, and the hearer must attend to the competing attachments that choke growth. Practically, this means receiving teaching humbly, making space for the word, enduring difficulty with support, and examining the desires that displace obedience. Grace gives assurance that growth is not self-generated; it also gives reason to cultivate the practices through which God forms fruitful people.

A dear brother asked some excellent questions, which I share along with my responses.

His questions: In today's reading several verses confuse me. Mark 4:12 says the parables were given so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, ever hearing but never understanding, otherwise they might turn and be forgiven. Taken literally, one might presume Jesus did not want certain people to believe, or even to be saved. Is it reasonable to assume that, on the basis of election, this cannot happen? The question in my mind is what "turn and be forgiven" means here. Is it truly salvation, or is it more like the seed that fell on rocky places or among thorns? My thought is the latter, and so He is saying it would serve no purpose for them to perceive and understand the parable.

Also, Mark 5:43 says He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about the raising of Jairus's daughter, and told them to give her something to eat. But verse 35 makes clear that others already knew of her death. How could they possibly keep the miracle quiet when the evidence was walking around? One thought is that He meant to let the miracle speak for itself. Could He have been addressing only the disciples? I doubt that myself, since the instruction to feed her follows in the same sentence, and I would expect that instruction to go to someone in the household. So I think He was speaking at least to the parents.

My response: Great questions. On the first, the language of Isaiah 6, which Jesus is quoting, concerns a people who had already rejected what they had been given, and the parables function within that judgment rather than creating it. On the second, your instinct about the household is sound.

AI-Expanded Reflection

The question in Mark 4:12 is one of the hardest in the Gospels and the questioner has put his finger on exactly the difficulty. Two lines of response are commonly given, and they are not mutually exclusive.

The first concerns the source. Jesus is quoting Isaiah 6:9–10, and in Isaiah that commission comes after chapters of indictment — the hardening is described as a judicial consequence of prolonged refusal, not an arbitrary exclusion of the previously willing. Read that way, the parables sort an audience that has already sorted itself.

The second concerns what parables do. A story can be heard by everyone and understood only by those willing to press further, which is exactly what the disciples do in the next verse: they ask. Mark's account shows the mechanism working in both directions within a single chapter — the crowds hear and disperse; those who come and ask receive an explanation. Whether that difference is finally attributed to divine election or to human response is where the traditions divide, and the passage itself does not settle it.

The questioner's caution about the middle ground — asking whether "turn and be forgiven" here means final salvation or something nearer to the rocky-soil response — is a reasonable one and is shared by a number of commentators.

Again we read the parable of the sower, but something else comes to light in Mark. Jesus describes seed sown among thorns as those who hear the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and desires for other things come in and choke it, making it unfruitful — while seed on good soil represents those who hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop thirty, sixty, or a hundred times over (a paraphrase of Mark 4:18–20).

Good soil is really an analogy for letting God's word take hold deeply. But the danger named here is that the worries of life and the desire for things choke it. This is so true. God's word on Sunday motivates us and touches the heart, but Monday brings the worries of the world.

Jesus doesn't stop there. He gives three more parables that emphasize the same importance of letting the word take root. In the lamp on a stand, He tells them to consider carefully what they hear, since with the measure they use it will be measured to them, and more besides — whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have will lose even what they have (a paraphrase of Mark 4:21–25). He is telling the disciples to consider God's word carefully, and that when we do, more will be revealed to us.

AI-Expanded Reflection

The Sunday-to-Monday observation captures the thorns image precisely, and the parable's own wording supports it: the thorns do not attack the seed, they simply grow alongside it and take what it needed. Mark's list is worth noting for how ordinary it is — worry, wealth, and wanting other things are not vices anyone would confess as such, and none of them involves rejecting the word. They crowd it.

The structural point this comment makes about the surrounding parables is also well taken. Mark 4 gathers several agricultural images in sequence, and the ones that follow the sower shift the emphasis from how the word is received to what happens over time once it is — a seed growing while the farmer sleeps, not understanding how, and a mustard seed disproportionate to what it becomes. Read together, the chapter moves from a warning about reception toward a reassurance about growth, which is a gentler trajectory than the sower alone suggests.

Friends, we find a curious expression in Mark 4:9 and again in Mark 4:23, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" This expression is best known from the Book of Revelation, where it is used at the conclusion of each of the messages to the seven churches in Asia (Revelation 2–3). But what does this expression mean?

In the context of Mark 4 there is much about hearing. In the Parable of the Soils, Jesus explained regarding this parable and all parables that they were spoken so that only certain ones would understand "the mystery of the kingdom of God" (Mark 4:11). He cites Isaiah 6:9–10, which in part reads, "And hearing they may hear and not understand...lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them" (Mark 4:12). A distinction is made between hearing to hear and hearing that brings understanding, repentance and forgiveness. The disciples were given this kind of understanding by Jesus (Mark 4:33–34), but everyone else was left in the dark.

When Jesus explained the specifics of the Parable of the Soils, He revealed to the disciples that it was about the hearing of the Word of God. The different soils represented the different ways that people would receive the Word. And only the last group, "those who hear the word [and] accept it" (Mark 4:20) would produce a crop. Again, all four soils heard the word, but only the last group heard the word in such a way as to accept it and bear fruit. Once again, a distinction is made between hearing to hear and hearing that leads to a productive faith (i.e. faith and obedience).

Finally, Jesus spoke about the purpose of a lamp and explained that everything hidden would be revealed. In the context, this likely refers to the parables, which were hidden from some because they were not given ears to accept and understand the secrets of the kingdom of God. While Jesus spoke in this hidden language of parables at the present time, they would all be explained and become clear in the future, likely by the disciples, who would explain them.

Right after this, he again repeated "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear" (Mark 4:23). Then Jesus commanded, "Take heed what you hear," that is, hear in such a way that you have an obedient response. He continued, "With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you." In keeping with the idea of hearing, Jesus taught that how you hear would determine how you would be rewarded. And the next phrase, "and to you who hear, more will be given," suggests that there is only one kind of hearing that will be rewarded; namely, true hearing. Everything else is not hearing at all. This is just like the Parable of the Soils, where only one kind of soil produced a crop. The only true hearing is the hearing that is accompanied by an obedient response.

Finally, Jesus taught, "For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him" (Mark 4:25). In this context, the message seems to be that the one who truly hears will be rewarded even more, but the one who does not hear, even the initial benefit they received will be taken away. Since this is in the context of the kingdom of heaven, the rewards are likely associated with kingdom riches. In keeping with the Parable of the Soils, those that truly hear the Word of God, accepting it and producing a crop (i.e. believing and producing the fruit of obedience) will enjoy even more blessings. Could this be referring to the true Christian, of whom Paul writes in Romans 8:32,

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Christians will be given "all things" by virtue of having Christ, through whom all good things come. But those that reject Christ, those who do not believe, understand, and obey the Word, they will not only fail to receive these benefits, but whatever benefit they have will be taken away from them. In other texts, this removal of benefits is associated with judgment, being thrown out in "outer darkness," even being cast into eternal torment in the "Lake of Fire."

Now, coming full circle, what is meant by the phrase "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"? This refers to those that have been given ears to hear. The disciples had Jesus to explain the parables to them so that they could understand the message as it pertained to the mystery of the kingdom of God. They were given "ears to hear." And having "ears to hear," they could then hear the Word in such a way that they could believe and produce the fruit of obedience.

AI-Expanded Reflection

Mark 4 distinguishes exposure to Jesus' words from receiving them in a way that bears fruit. All four soils encounter the seed, but the obstacles differ: immediate removal, shallow endurance, and competing desires. The third soil is particularly searching for established believers because the word is heard and yet choked by anxiety, wealth's deception, and other desires. The problem is not necessarily lack of information; it is the power of rival commitments to determine what the listener actually does.

Jesus' use of Isaiah 6 gives the parables a judicial seriousness. Revelation can expose resistance as well as overcome ignorance. Yet Mark also portrays people gathering around Jesus to ask for explanation, and even the disciples repeatedly fail to understand. The distinction between insiders and outsiders should therefore not become a reason for complacency among those already near him. Receiving understanding as a gift calls for attentive dependence, not the assumption that every initial impression is correct. Read Mark 4:1–25.

The lamp sayings add a further dimension. What is presently hidden is directed toward disclosure, and the warning about the measure used places responsibility on the hearer. The original rightly connects these sayings with obedient reception. Its further identification of every promised increase with the full riches of final salvation is a theological synthesis, rather than the only meaning demanded by the immediate wording. Increased understanding and fruitful response are also prominent within this teaching setting.

The practical question is not simply, “Did I finish today's reading?” It is, “What is happening to what I heard?” A reader may need to name a recurring anxiety, an ambition, or an unwillingness to endure criticism that keeps displacing obedience. That examination should be accompanied by prayer for receptive understanding. The harvest belongs to God's life-giving word, but the parable will not allow the listener to remain indifferent to the condition in which that word is received.

Friends, Jesus often spoke in parables. But let's not be too quick to imitate this, thinking we're doing well simply by following the Master Teacher's method. Let's also not be naive in assuming parables were given primarily to "reveal truth," as is often taught — this misunderstanding happens when people fail to grasp a biblical teaching's full context. Even preachers and teachers are tempted to shortcut careful study once they've found something "that will preach" — something that sounds good enough to stir people up. But our calling isn't to stir people up; it's to preach the truth, correctly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

Mark 4:11–12, 34 uniquely helps us understand Jesus's actual purpose in using parables. He tells His disciples that the secret of God's kingdom has been given to them specifically, while for those outside, everything comes in parables, so that they may see but never perceive, hear but never understand, in case they might otherwise turn and be forgiven — quoting Isaiah 6:9–10 — and He never spoke to the crowds without a parable, though privately, with His own disciples, He explained everything (a paraphrase of Mark 4:11–12, 34).

Jesus contrasts His disciples — true believers — with "those on the outside," meaning unbelievers, especially the unbelieving religious leaders. So the parables weren't given for believers, but for unbelievers — and they weren't spoken to reveal truth, but to conceal it. That's why the disciples repeatedly ask Jesus to explain His parables, and why Mark 4:34 tells us that when alone with His disciples, He explained every one of them. The parables weren't meant for believers; the explanations were.

Jesus cites Isaiah 6:9–10 here, itself a frequently misunderstood passage. Missiologists love preaching Isaiah's "here I am, send me" from 6:8, but often neglect the fact that Isaiah wasn't actually sent to preach salvation, but judgment — not conversion, but condemnation; not harvest, but hardening. The commissioning is genuinely there, but missiologists might do well to tell the whole story, so those who answer God's call don't carry too glamorous an idea of what they're actually being sent to do.

Likewise, when Jesus cites Isaiah in Mark 4:12, He's revealing to His disciples that the parables weren't vehicles meant to enlighten, but to obscure — not a way to "help common folks understand," as some preach, but rather to keep confused anyone whose heart God hadn't already opened. Do you still want to teach using parables the way Jesus did?

Parables served an additional purpose too. During the unlawful trials the religious leaders held to condemn Jesus, we're told they couldn't find any agreement or pin anything on Him to justify a death sentence (cf. Mark 14:55–59). Could this be partly because they'd mostly heard parables from Him? How do you condemn a man for telling stories, especially stories no two people could even agree on the meaning of? We know these religious leaders didn't listen to understand or believe, but specifically to "catch Him in His words" (Mark 12:13) in order to kill Him.

One more important lesson follows from this. If parables were primarily a vehicle for hiding truth, preachers should be cautious about building major doctrines on parables that have no accompanying explanation from Jesus — and there are many of these. One of the most famous is the Parable of the Prodigal Son, often used to preach on God's love for people, the way the father loved his prodigal son. That may well be a valid truth, but note that Jesus never actually explains this particular parable — so it probably shouldn't serve as a central proof-text on its own.

The nearest context offers two parables right before it that do have accompanying explanations — the lost sheep and the lost coin — both sharing a common message: rejoicing over a repentant sinner. If these three parables run parallel, the Prodigal Son likely carries a similar message, meaning its focus may actually be on the son, not primarily the father — and on the great value of repentance specifically, more than simply the father's love in the abstract.

When I was a seminarian, still "wet behind the ears," I loved passages like the Prodigal Son because they made for fun, easy, engaging preaching — the more elaborate the parable, the more I could use it to excite people about whatever principle I wanted to teach. It's a bit like "breaking news" on television — fascinating, but often shallow in substance, easily distracting from reality and truth. We're all susceptible to this. The only remedy I know is time and study. So, dear friends, read, explore, and study God's Word daily for yourselves — otherwise, you'll be tossed back and forth by any eloquent speaker who wants to lead you somewhere.

AI-Expanded Reflection

The Prodigal Son caution this comment raises is worth extending one step further: even without an explicit explanation from Jesus, the parable's own internal structure still supports reading it as being fundamentally about repentance rather than simply paternal affection, since the turning point of the entire story is explicitly the son "coming to his senses" and rehearsing his own confession before ever reaching home (Luke 15:17–19). The father's love is certainly on display and matters enormously to the story, but the narrative itself builds its entire tension around the son's decision to return and confess — suggesting this comment's cautious, repentance-centered reading isn't merely an argument from the parable's absence of explanation, but is also supported by what the story itself actually emphasizes in its own unfolding.