And they feared a great fear…
So ends this turning point chapter with the closest glimpse yet of Jesus’s true nature. The calming of the sea is one of the most important moments in the Gospel. Since time immemorial, in the minds of ancient men, this was something that only a god could do.
The video of Mark chapter 4 is below. Check out chapter 1, chapter 2, and chapter 3 first is you missed them. The story really does build on itself. A lot has already led us this this point. The full script I am reading from is pasted below the video, in case you’re one of those people who wants to read along.
Children’s activity books are (and will be) available to accompany each chapter. Sign up to my newsletter to have them delivered in PDF format to you weekly, ready to print (and yes, the chapter 2 activities are available for download immediately upon sign up). Click here if you’re interested.
1.) Once again, Jesus began to teach beside the sea—that is, the lake called the Sea of Galilee. And such a great crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down out in the sea, while the whole crowd stayed on land, beside the sea.
2.) And he taught them many things in parables. Among the things he taught, he said:
3.) Listen! Behold. The sower went out to sow seed…
4.) And it came to pass, as he sowed the seed, some fell along the road. And so the birds came and gobbled it up.
5.) And other seed fell in the rocky places, where there was not much soil. It sprang up at once, because there was no depth to the soil. 6.) And when the sun rose, it had no sturdy roots to endure being scorched, so it withered away.
7.) Other seed fell among the thorns, and sprouted. The thrones choked it, and it produced no fruit.
8.) But other seed fell into good ground and produced more and more and more fruit—some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.
9.) And Jesus said: He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
10.) Now later, when he was alone, those around him—that is, probably those who were traveling with him rather than just coming to hear him preach for the day… Anyway, those who were around him, with the 12, asked him about the parable…
11.) Jesus said to them: “Yes, to you has been given this gift—to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God, while, to those outside, everything is in parables,
12.) So that looking they might look and not see… and hearing they might hear and not understand… Otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.
13.) And he asked: Don’t you know this parable? So how will you understand any parables?
14.) The sower sows the Word—that is, my message.
15.) those who fall along the road are those who hear the Word, and at once Satan, the accuser, comes takes away the word that has been sown in them.
16.) Likewise, those who fall on the rocky places are the ones who hear the Word and receive it at once with joy…
17.) But they have no roots of their own to sustain themselves, and so pass away with the season. When tribulation or persecution arises on account of the Word, at once, they are offended and stumble and give up.
18.)And those who fall among the thorns are those who hear the Word
19.) but the cares of this age and the deceptiveness of riches and all remaining desires invade so that and the Word becomes useless.
20.) And there are those who fall on the good soil. These hear the Word and receive it and bring forth thirty or sixty or even a hundred fold what was given to them.
21.) Then he told them: A lamp is not brought in to be put under a basket or under the bed. Is it not brought in to be put on a lampstand?
22.) For nothing is hidden except to be revealed, and no secret thing happens except to be brought into the light.
23.) If anyone has ears to hear let him hear.
24.) And he said to them: Take care what you hear. You will be measured by the same measuring system you use to measure others—and more will be added to you, too.
25.) For whoever has, it will be given to him. And whoever does not have, even what he does have will be taken away from him.
26.) And he said: This is what the kingdom of God is like—a man throws seed upon the earth.
27.) He sleeps and wakes up, night after night and day after day, and the seed sprouts and grows—he knows not how.
28.) The earth brings forth fruit on its own—first a sprout, then an ear of grain, then kernels of grain fill up the ear…
29.) And when the grain is ripe, at once, he sends out the sickle to cut it down, because harvest time has come.
30.) And Jesus said: How shall we becomes like the Kingdom of God. Or, what parable will we use to illustrate it.
31.) It’s like a mustard seed when planted in the earth. It is the smallest of all seeds in the whole world.
32.) But when it is planted, it grows and becomes the greatest of all the garden plants, and grows great branches, so that the birds of the sky are able to perch under its shadow.
33.) He spoke the Word to them in many such parables—as they were able to hear.
34.) He said nothing to them without parables… But in private, he explained everything to his own disciples.
35.) Later that evening, he said to them: Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.
36.) So they dismissed the crowd and took him across the lake, since he was already in a boat to preach that day. And other boats were also out on the lake.
37.) And a great wind storm arose. The waves were beating again the boat, which was already filling with water.
38.) Jesus was asleep on a cushion in the stern of the boat. They roused him and said to him: “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re about to die?
39.) So Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea: Silence! Keep silent!
And the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.
40.) Jesus said to his disciples: Why are you afraid? Do you still not have faith?
41.) And they feared a great fear, and said to each other: What manner of being is this? That even the wind and the sea obey him?
–> Chapter 5 (Coming next week)
