Mk 4:3a   “Listen to this!””

Summary Notes

What did Jesus say?

Jesus told a very large crowd to listen to a story He was about to tell. The story was about a farmer who planted seeds.  The seeds fell in different locations and therefore had different results from bad to good.  

Why would He say this?

He told the crowd to, “Listen” in order to draw their immediate attention to His words and to consider their importance.  The story was about different people and how they process and apply what they hear.   Specifically, Jesus was talking about His Gospel Message.  However, any useful or life changing message has similar results.  Some people never really comprehend it; others receive it but only briefly; others receive and apply it but their practice is relatively short lived due to external adversity; then there are those who apply the message and prosper through it and even teach others.   

Click here for my personal application and your comments link …or scroll down for my full notes…

COMMAND 184: “Listen…”

Mk 4:3

RECIPIENT:  

A very large crowd.

CONTEXT: A continuation of the Sermon on the Mount 

Mk 4:1-2 He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ²And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching…

Mt 13 1-23 is a parallel account of this same event but does not contain this command.

See also in separate context: Mt_21:33; Mk_7:14; Also see the account with the audible voice of God (The Father) Mk_9:7; Lk_9:35

COMMAND FULL TEXT:  

Mk 4:3a “Listen to this!”
Note that the words, “to this” are not in the Greek but were supplied by the translators. In their opinion the supplied words are implied by the text and help to render a more accurate English meaning.

RESULT:  

The story Jesus told:
Mk 4 3b-20 “Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

9And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The story explained

10As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, ¹²so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.”

13And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴The sower sows the word. ¹⁵These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. ¹⁸And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰And 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.”

MY COMMENTS AND NOTES:

When Jesus tells me to listen, He is announcing that He is about to say something important and that I need to pay close attention.  Jesus knows the weakness of the human mind and that we are often preoccupied or easily distracted. Unless our attention is first fixed upon a single topic we will likely miss the communication of part or all of the content.  This is the reason people say, ‘What?” so often. After being spoken to, we hear the sounds but without our attention being fixed on the words we don’t understand the first part of what was said. Without the first part we often miss the context of the rest of the sentence and do not understand the full meaning of what is being communicated.  So, we say, “What?”

The Word and To Bear Fruit

I think that the “word” that Jesus spoke about in His explanation of the parable is specifically the Christian Gospel Message.  The Gospel is a life transforming message that is both temporal and spiritual.  It is about God’s love, sacrifice and the immediate saving of the individual’s soul and ultimately eternal life.  This very message is easily dismissed, thrown away or forgotten. But there are some who retain and apply the Gospel message to their lives and even spread it to others. I think that to “bear fruit” in this context refers to the personal growth of the individuals who do accept and apply the Gospel message to their own life and also influence others who come to accept the Gospel message through them.

Beyond the Spiritual

I think Jesus’ explanation also applies to other temporal life changing messages.  Messages of personal responsibility, hard work, consistent good character and many others are in the same ways easily dismissed, thrown away or forgotten.  We all have to be reminded again and again about what is right and how to act righteously and how to succeed in life. Many people will not accept sound advice.  But some people will apply the good advice they receive and the lessons they learn and will even teach others how to succeed in life.

DEFINITIONS:  Key Greek Words – Removes ambiguity of the Bible text

listen:  G191  ἀκούω   akouō   —  a primary verb; to hear (in various senses such as to consider what is or has been said or to comprehend or understand the sense of what is said)

MY PERSONAL APPLICATION: I encourage you to make your own application and please share it in the comments

In today’s Western culture there is so much information and so much distraction with technology, and we are inundated with so many marketing messages that we may not notice or recognize the most important messages being communicated to us.  When I need to verbally communicate something of particular importance I must ensure I have the full attention of the recipient. Saying their name or just saying, “Listen up!” can help greatly.  

Christian Application Beyond the Purely Practical

First and foremost I am to personally listen so as to obey what God says.  Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8 when He was  tempted.  Deuteronomy 8 states that man lives by every word of the Lord and not only by physical bread.  It goes on to say that to obtain true success, “… you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.”  Jesus’ parable and His explanation suggests that personal obedience to God is made complete when I teach others to do the same.

RETURN TO COMMAND

© 2018 Christopher Carlson

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB

Please share a comment, question or perhaps another application for this command of Jesus.