By considering the whole of the Gospel of Mark, we’ll observe real people as illustrations of the four kinds of heart-soils that either reject or receive the sown Word of God. Where do the Herodians and Pharisees fit in? What about Judas? Peter?…Mark situates these and the other persons in his Gospel to show you in flesh and blood the hearts that ground their faith or unbelief. 

The Gospel of Mark is an incredible, fast-paced race to the cross to see who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. It’s often the first Gospel people will recommend to new readers of the Bible or to those interested in a short and salvifically sweet presentation of the gospel. From its brevity and other factors some will wrongly conclude that it’s low on Christology or on the Deity of Christ. This view mistakes brevity for superficiality. Such a view is badly mistaken. The Gospel of Mark is rich, deep, and wide of the treasures of the Kingdom of God.

As tempted as I am to explore the high Christology and high view of the Godness of Jesus, I will focus my literary efforts instead on the depth of discipleship. Mark justifies my approach, as I will demonstrate, through one of Jesus’ parables. A key theme in the Gospel of Mark is what true disciples look like. Arguably the most popular parable Jesus ever told is his Parable of the Sower. One of the intriguing features we observe by reading Matthew, Mark, and Luke is that Mattthew and Luke pervade with parables, whereas Mark’s Gospel contains very few by comparison. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus tells only four parables, possibly one or two more.[1] This is a very low number compared to the many we find in Matthew and Luke.

Book length is a factor for the difference. Mark has 16 (mostly short) chapters, whereas Matthew and Luke have, respectively, 28 and 24 (usually lengthy) chapters. But is length the only factor? I suggest not. I believe that Mark has narrowed the parables to a few, and has given one parable pride of place: The Parable of the Sower. This parable takes up 20 verses (when we combine both its telling and its interpretation), whereas the other three total 21 verses combined. The Parable of the Sower is the first parable mentioned in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus tells us that if we cannot understand this parable, we will fail to understand the others (4:13).

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