An Honest Sermon on the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 4

The author of Mark wrote to coach the Jesus cult

 
For any faithful Christian today, this chapter must represent a profound stumbling block—at one point it blatantly defies common sense. Indeed, devout scholars have agonized over it for a long time. In the first nine verses of this chapter, we find Jesus-script—“he began to teach them many things in parables”—about the parable of the sower. The seed that landed on the path, or on rocks, or among thorns, was wasted. But the seed that fell on good soil produced abundant grain. This is wrapped up with the advice: “If you have ears to hear, then hear!”

 
Later the disciples asked Jesus about the parables, and Mark presents this alarming Jesus-script, vv. 11-12: 

“And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret [or mystery] of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything comes in parables, in order that ‘they may indeed look but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven’” (which seems to be a paraphrase of Isaiah 6:9-10).

How does it possibly make sense that Jesus taught in parables to fool people, to prevent them giving up their sins and being forgiven? The very first verse of this chapter seems to contradict this concept:

“Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.”

Isn’t teaching supposed to help people, not fool them? What was the motivation of the author of this gospel in presenting this declaration? He provides more Jesus-script in which the parable is explained; the seeds that fall on good soil… “they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” (v. 20) That’s the reward for being in the Jesus cult, as the author has already stated, v. 11: “To you has been given the secret [or mystery] of the kingdom of God…”

A few verses later we find this bit of advice (vv. 24-25), to cheer those who have joined the cult:

“Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and it will be added to you. For to those who have, more will be given, and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

From those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. How does this qualify as caring or compassionate? But those who are in the cult can avoid this punishment. 

New Testament scholars for a long time have noticed that the gruesome chapter, Mark 13, reflects the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple—during the first Jewish-Roman war, 66-74 CE—and thus suspect that this gospel was written in the wake of that horror. It was intended to spark renewed hope that the Kingdom of God was just around the corner, hence it’s no surprise that the primary focus of this gospel is its arrival. 

In the parable of the growing seed (vv. 26-29) the Kingdom of God is compared to this seed, and so too in the parable of the mustard seed (vv. 30-32):

“It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

Such messages must have kept those in the Jesus cult stoked about the soon-to-arrive blessed Kingdom of God. Verses 33-34 offer the same assurance:

“With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.”

Jesus taught only in parables? The author of John’s gospel didn’t agree. He created major swaths of Jesus-script that are not found in the other gospels, and his Jesus didn’t teach in parables. 

The author of Mark also was concerned to display the grandeur of his holy hero. At the opening of chapter 4 he claims that “a very large crowd gathered around him” –hence Jesus got into a boat and preached from there to that large crowd on the land. We wonder if Jesus had a booming speaking voice, as would befit a major holy hero, to make himself heard by so many people, i.e., without benefit of a microphone. 

We find more of the same grandeur in the closing of Mark 4, vv. 35-41. In these verses we read that Jesus and his disciples were in the boat on their way across the sea. Jesus was taking a nap down below when a storm arose. The frightened disciples woke up Jesus, and in verse 39 we read: “And waking up, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Be silent! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.” 
 
There are a couple of reasons for being skeptical about this fragment of fantasy.
 
1.  It’s an example of magic, as Richard Carrier states, “Jesus practices

weather magic before a dozen witnesses” in his article, All the Fantastical Things in the Gospel according to Mark. How does this differ from the magic we find in the Harry Potter stories? Harry speaks Parseltongue, the language of snakes; he flies on a broom; he puts a curse on Aunt Marge to make her swell up like a huge balloon and float away. Mark wrote long before this modern fantasy was created, but he was able to draw on magic folklore of his time to enhance his portrayal of Jesus. 
 
2.   If, as Christian theology would have us believe, Jesus is still alive and watching over human affairs, why doesn’t he practice his weather magic when terrified people pray fervently for help as hurricanes and tornadoes are beating up on them? 
 
Jesus also scolded them for not having faith. “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (v. 40). How in the world could the disciples have known that their holy hero had power over the weather? When Matthew copied this story, he changed the wording slightly, “Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26); in Luke’s version, Jesus says, “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25). The author of John’s gospel sought to make the same point in his story of Doubting Thomas. Only when Thomas saw the risen Jesus before him, and was invited to touch his wound, did he believe. Jesus scolded him: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20:29)
 
This has been the favorite strategy of religion for ages. The clergy of so many varieties want their followers to just have faith that what they preach/teach is the absolute truth. Please don’t show too much curiosity or skepticism. 
 
Daniel Mocsny put it well in a comment on this blog, 21 April 2025: “Religion isn't something you're supposed to think about. It's something you're supposed to feel. Religion persists because most religious people are perfectly fine with that. Religious people don't want to be ‘that guy’ who keeps finding plot holes in the movie.”
 
 
 
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
·      Guessing About God (2023), 
·   Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available. 
·      Everything You Need to Know About Prayer But May Not Want to Admit (2025)
 
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
 
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.