4:1 Jesus was energetic and productive in bringing the Word of God to all of these students thirsting for truth and guidance. He had such a following that there was no space even for Himself to stand on land with them.
4:2 Jesus taught through parables: parables are an effective and unique method of teaching because they take a difficult concept and relate it to a familiar one. They tell an instructive story full of wisdom that is easily understood.
4:3 We begin the Parable of the Sower: think if a sower as a gardener or someone who plants seeds.
4:4 These seeds fell to the side and were eaten by the birds. We can think of these seeds as people who never worked to have a stance or opinion about anything. These people bump along through life choosing not to think deeply and are therefore often lead in the wrong directions and confused by crooked ideas because of their inaction. These people are wishy-washy. You want to develop a set of beliefs for yourself and adhere to them. A strong person is a person who observes their world and identifies what it right and wrong in it.
4:5-6 Some seeds fell on the stone and therefore had no strong foundation; the roots had no access to the water and nutrients and withered away at the first challenge.We can think of these people as the stubborn and perhaps selfish. This types of person is too self-centered to get involved in being compassionate or doing good work. They are too lazy to really establish themselves. Their souls remain vapid because they choose not to put in any work. The first sign of a challenge in life they get angry and frustrated and they fail because they never planned or worked to build a solid foundation of the faith which carries us through difficulty.
4:7 These seeds are the people are like hypocrites: the hear the word of God but do not follow it. They allow their greed, selfishness and/or impatience to derail them. At the first sign of trouble, they abandon their faith. Some seeds fell on the thorns and were strangled by them before they could produce. We can think of thorns like these distractions: money, wealth, greed, rampant consumerism...
4:8 Other seed fell on good ground, grew a strong plant and many new seeds.These are the people God recognizes. These people worked their whole lives in service of bringing light to others. These people are selfless and humble. These people established a strong, deep foundation with God (our water and nourishment) and are therefore strong and able to withstand any amount of difficulty. These people have been fed wisdom and perseverance by God. These people helped others during their lives. Their actions and their wisdom healed and guided many more into God's house. These are the seeds which grew into strong plants and brought forth even more good in the world.
4:9 Those of you who open yourselves up to wisdom (that is: those of you who work to be compassionate and wise, and who communicate and work with God) hear the word of God... accept your blessed responsibility and do good work in God's name.
4:10 The disciples had a few questions for Jesus regarding the statement: He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
4:11 Jesus is explaining that the people who can both handle the guidance from God and also spread it to others, are given the ability to interpret God's lessons. Why? Because they will not let the beautiful messages from God waste away. These people accept the God-given responsibility that if you understand you must act and devote yourselves to bringing forth the truth of the Word through your actions.
4:12 Some people do not understand the messages in God's book because they might not be able to handle the responsibility that comes with understanding. Once God teaches you the right way... you can no longer make an innocent mistake. You know right from wrong. So, God protects the people who could not handle the responsibility by sort of having them on the outskirts of the true message. We are all so loved by God. God wants us to be aware of the fact that once we know the truth, we always have to stand by it no matter how difficult a situation might be.
Think of it this way: Let's say there is a red button and people press the red button all the time. But half of the people learn that, once pressed, the red button hurts something. The other half of the people continue not knowing what the red button's function is. The people who learn the truth about the red button and held accountable for pressing it after they know it's a bad thing. But the people who remain unaware of the red button's function cannot really be in much trouble for pressing it.
Now, we all have at least a little sense of right and wrong. But as you delve into God's word, you delve deeper into a responsibility to be selfless, courageous and hardworking in all things. You have a greater responsibility to be humble, compassionate, selfless at all times and in all situations. People who love God and search His word (and indeed find the deeper meaning) love to accept their deeper responsibility -- but they must also accept that a lot more is expected of them.
God wants us to completely devote ourselves to others who need Him. It's a spectrum: we live very selfish lives as human beings sometimes and protect our own wealth, desires, needs and our own safety but a child of God must sacrifice things in their own life to bring comfort to another's life. And if we are strong and brave enough, that sacrifice means devoting everything to others without thinking of ourselves.
Many of us are good people but are not quite faithful enough to trust God to protect us so much that we let go of our grip on our own concern for ourselves. You can accept as much responsibility from God as you want, and He will uncover for you many truths -- but remember that once you've got it, you own it.
4:13 Jesus wants the disciples to use their discernment to uncover the symbols in the parables. He's teaching them now to pull meaning out of their observations and experiences. You also will benefit from learning this skill.
4:14 The sower sows the word: The person spreads, lives and teaches the word of God.
4:15 The people from verse 4:4 are easily corrupted because they never took control over their own thought.
4:16-17 These people have not developed their faith. Instead, they have forgotten God and have not followed His guidance. When difficulty comes into their lives, they cannot handle it.
4:18-19 These are the people who behave with cruelty or greed. They produce nothing and they also ruin themselves because they are focused on money, wealth and material.
4:20 These are the people who hear the word of God, find comfort and truth in it, accept it, and then create opportunities for comfort and truth for others.
4:21 You are God's light. With God, you can brighten so many lives with and throughout your life. God wants you to live and act with compassion and productivity... do not hide your capabilities. Lamps are bought to bring light... God has you here on Earth to bring light.
4:22 God shares the truth with everyone who will hear it. God has no secrets and no exclusive club -- all of His wisdom and all of His love is given to everyone. God has no secrets, no secret stash for certain people.
4:23 If you are able to delve into this message, delve in and live it.
4:24 Here Jesus speaks of the responsibility we spoke of in 4:11 and 4:12. You set the bar of responsibility for yourself. The more you ask God to give and teach you, the more He will ask you to give to and teach to others. God will equip you with courage, wisdom, patience, strength... because with those tools, you can spread those gifts to others. God shares, He does not keep anything bottled up. Therefore we must also share what we have been given in equal measure.
4:25 When you develop your faith, you will receive a lot of responsibility. And this responsibility is something a child of God welcomes. We want to help God and we want to reciprocate the kindness that has been given to us. Likewise, to people who give nothing to others or take from others... they also will lose a lot.
4:26 We begin the Parable of the Growing Seed: God places us all throughout the Earth and gives us the opportunity to become who we choose to be.
4:27 God gives us complete freedom. God is not controlling; He wants us to be kind and compassionate but gave us the space to choose. He does not tell us how to behave.
4:28 Our lives on Earth create constant and unique opportunities for us to grow, mature and evolve and become our true selves. (Our social experiences, our familial relationships, our careers,...)
4:29 But after we are given our chance to live and create who we truly are, God comes and evaluates us. God takes the good plants (the kind humans) and brings them into His house but the bad plants (the evil humans) He does not bother with.
4:30 We begin the Parable of the Mustard Seed: Jesus creates an idea for us the magnitude of the Kingdom of God.
4:31 We know that God loves the meek. God loves to strengthen the humble and quiet. Therefore, Jesus teaches us that those who are considered small or unimportant to human society are grand and unique to God.
4:32 When God puts us on the Earth, we start out with a blank slate: we aren't big or grand. But when we have the word of God in us, we develop into wise, perceptive and courageous soldiers of God's word. We lead and comfort those around us and become purposeful and integral to God's family.
4:33-34 This is a reiteration of the importance of parables of the frequent use of them by Jesus. Jesus taught in a way that could be understood at several different levels. To some, a parable is a story which teaches a life lesson. To others, a parable is a story which teaches a life purpose. We all understood and interpret stories and the world in different ways and God loves each of us equally no matter which level we digest His word.
Parables gives Jesus the opportunity to teach many people at once... many different things.
4:35 Jesus teaches and then removes focused and purposeful. He has a new lesson planned: He wants to cross a body of water in a boat.
4:36 So Jesus and the disciples got into the boat.
4:37 A strong storm started over the water and tossed the boat quite a bit, so much that water started to fill the boat.
4:38 Jesus was taking a nap: let's dissect this a bit. Jesus was sleeping during a storm: How? Well, Jesus completely trusts God and He knows that He has God's protection and that His life runs in accordance with God's plan. Jesus knows and accepts that when God's plan for Him is over, He will return to God. Jesus does not fear death (because He knows it does not exist for children of God) and He also does not worry over what He knows is God's plan unfolding.
Another lesson: Jesus is sleeping and it is a symbol for the time on Earth when Jesus would not be visible and tangible to humanity. Although He appears to be sleeping, He is HERE and is as vigilant and compassionate as He ever was. Jesus wants to know: are you going to worry and stress and lose your faith when it appears that He is sleeping? Or will you have faith in Him and in God. Because They love you and They have faith in you and They never abandon you.
The disciples immediately worry and even "freak out." They are frantic! They're scared to die even though they have JESUS Himself on the boat with them and even though Jesus has taught them that there is no such thing as death.
There are metaphorical strong storms in our lives, too. Do not think that Jesus is unaware or uncaring. God is with you.
4:39 Jesus commanding the storm to end. God can do this, too. There is nothing that does not bend to God's will. We go through storms to learn lessons and sometimes we go through them because we've made poor choices or because evil people also have the freedom to make choices. God wants to learn the true hearts of all of us... unfortunately some people's true hearts are bad. But no heart, not even a powerful bad one, can contend with God. When He says stop... it's over.
4:40 Jesus is saddened by their lack of faith. Make Him proud with your STRONG, grateful faith.
4:41 Interestingly, this word "feared" as it is in this verse and in the other places in the Bible has two meanings: fear and revere.
So, if you're a compassionate, faithful, honest person: you can read the word as revere.
If you're a cruel, faithless, deceptive person: you can read the word as fear.
Because a good person should revere God for all that He stands for and does for us. And a bad person should fear God because of all the harm they have caused His children.
The disciples certainly revered Jesus and God. They will dedicate their entire lives, minds and bodies to bringing His word to the rest of the world.
Jesus commanded nature in their presence... so of course they were in awe. Wouldn't you be? God is miraculous!
