First Things First

Sometimes we wonder if the disciples understood Jesus and his teachings. The Bible tells us that Jesus explained his teachings to his disciples, more than once, however, we do not often get to know what these explanations involved. But the parable we are looking at today is different, in that we are given insight into Jesus’ explanation. In addition, this is the first extensive teaching in the Gospel of Mark. This is the first extensive teaching that the early church would get from this gospel, which for many, is the first extensive teaching from Jesus many of this new Christians would receive. However, there are still some verses in this passage which can be hard to understand. Mark 4:20 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop-- thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."