And when he was alone, those about him with the twelve asked him [as to] the parables.
The crowd by the sea has heard the parable of the sower, and now the teaching is over and Jesus is alone. A smaller group comes to Him with a question, and who they were and why asking mattered is what this verse turns on.
Jesus spoke the parable to everyone. Only a few asked what it meant, and that response showed where each hearer stood:
The Lord addressed the parable to the crowd while the disciples listened. It proved the state of each person — or, to use the language of the parable, the nature of the soil. All heard, but how few cared to know the meaning. The twelve did ask for the interpretation. Mark tells us, as the other Gospel writers do not, that some others with the twelve also wanted to understand what He had set out (4:10). The Lord opened up the parable at once.
Two groups stand out here: those who came near to ask, and everyone else. One writer marks where the line falls, and what grace it shows:
When He was alone the questions came, and He explained to the disciples — not only the twelve, but those around Him or with Him. Here comes the distinction. It marks out not only the apostles but the disciples: all the rest were now looked at as "those outside." But to know the mystery was the portion of "those around him with the twelve." To the rest it was all parables. This distinction, and where it comes from, is important. There are still "those around him" — what marvellous grace! And "those outside," sadly. We must not be surprised if everything is parables to them.
William Kelly points out what this dividing line meant for the nation as a whole:
He explains the mind of God, not to the twelve only, but to those who were about Him. They were those inside. All others were "outside." But those inside have the privilege of knowing the mystery of the kingdom. Grace works this way. It marks off those set apart to Christ from the guilty nation.
He turned away no one who came to ask. One writer sets this quiet teaching alongside older examples:
Here we find the disciples seeking instruction in the meaning of the parable of the sower and others. It is striking that others besides the twelve apostles wanted to be taught, and He refused none of them. This teaching may be regarded as private. He gave it in this way to these chosen witnesses, so that after His ascension it would spread throughout the world. Still, the general truth is important: God makes His ways known in the hush of the sanctuary rather than in the noise of the camp. God spoke of the coming destruction of Sodom and the cities near it — not to Lot in its busy streets, but to Abraham in the quiet of a hot noon at his own tent door. David in the wilderness with his sheep, not Eliab in the camp of Saul, learned the mind of God about Goliath.
The crowd could have asked the same question. What held them back was refusing to admit they had missed the point:
This does not mean that God hid these things from them because He wanted them not to be converted. In fact, if men would only recognise their ignorance and ask in earnest, they too would be converted and find forgiveness of sins. Those who chose to stay ignorant would remain that way.
Asking did not mean they had understood. The Lord answered them with both a rebuke and an explanation:
He rebukes the disciples, because they too could not understand the parable. Still, He explains it to them in His grace.
- Ask. The crowd and the disciples heard the same words. Only some came back to ask what they meant.
- Given. Grace opened the mystery of the kingdom to those who asked; rank had nothing to do with it.
- Wider. The circle was not the twelve only but "those around Him" as well, and He refused no one who wanted teaching.
- Alone. God makes His ways known in quiet — to Abraham at his tent and David with his sheep — not in the noise of the crowd.
- Taught. Those who asked still did not grasp the parable; He rebuked them, then explained it to them in His grace.
And he said to them, To you is given [to know] the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to them who are without, all things are done in parables,
After teaching the crowds, Jesus is alone with a small circle. He draws a line. He lets one group into the secret of God's kingdom. For the rest, everything comes wrapped in stories they will not open. So what is this secret, and why would the Lord leave anyone outside?
Older translations call this secret a "mystery." In the Bible a mystery is not a puzzle that clever people can crack.
These examples show what Scripture calls a "mystery." It may be a dream, a vision, a parable or a spoken prophecy. The key point is this: you cannot understand what God has said until God says something more that explains the first message. The Greek word for mystery first appears in Daniel chapter 2. There it is used again and again of King Nebuchadnezzar's forgotten dream and its meaning... So a mystery is a secret thing. It would stay secret if God did not reveal it. You must be let into it before you can know and understand it.
So what is the secret? It is about the kingdom itself — how it runs while its King is not on the scene.
In His ministry here below the Lord announced the mystery, or secret, of the kingdom of God (Mark 4:11). The King has been rejected on earth and is absent on high. So divine power does not now remove Satan and put down all the enemies. It works in the hearts of those who believe. Meanwhile a vast system of mere profession grows up and spreads to some extent here below.
The word "given" matters. No one in the room worked the secret out. The Lord handed it to them — and not to the twelve only.
He explains the mind of God, not to the twelve only, but to those who were around Him. They were the ones within. All the rest were "without." To them everything comes in parables — a rebelling people who now have no one even to correct them. But those within have the privilege of knowing the mystery of the kingdom. Grace worked in this way to mark off those set apart to Christ from the guilty nation. God was giving that nation up more and more to a darkness that was His judgment.
The setting is part of the lesson. Jesus explained the parable when He was alone, to people who bothered to ask.
It is interesting to see that others besides the twelve apostles wanted to be taught, and He refused none of them... The general truth is important: God makes His ways known in the quiet of the sanctuary, not in the noise of the camp.
The next words, about seeing and not perceiving, trouble many readers. Commentators differ. One takes them as a verdict on the nation as a whole, not a bar across any one person's path.
They are under the judgment of God. The Lord does not mean that an individual could not believe in Jesus and so be forgiven. He means that the nation had rejected the testimony of Jesus. God had now deserted that nation, left it outside, and exposed it to His judgment. He rebukes the disciples too, because they could not understand the parable. Yet in His grace He explains it to them.
Another writer points to the hearers' own unwillingness. God was not shutting the door.
This does not mean that these things were hidden from them because God wanted them not to be converted. In fact, if people would only admit their ignorance and ask in earnest, they too would be converted and find forgiveness of sins. Those who chose to stay ignorant would remain that way.
Nothing here suggests the insiders were smarter than the crowd. They wanted to know — that was the difference. And such a gift brings a duty with it.
There were those without — how many, sadly — who did not care to know (v. 11). There were some who wanted to understand, which showed they were within. To such it was "given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God." This was great favour. But it came with responsibility, for the light they received was to be shown to others. So they had to take heed what they heard.
- Secret. A "mystery" in Scripture is not a hard riddle but a sealed message — it stays shut until God Himself opens it.
- Given. No one earned this. Grace drew the line between those "within" and those "without."
- Kingdom. The secret is how the kingdom runs now. Its King is rejected and absent on high. His power works inside believers instead of crushing His enemies.
- Nearness. Those who stayed close and asked received it. God makes His ways known in quiet, not in the crowd.
- Responsibility. Light given is light to be shown. Great favour carries a duty: take heed what you hear.
that beholding they may behold and not see, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest it may be, they should be converted and they should be forgiven.
Here the Lord explains why He began teaching the crowds in stories they could not decode, echoing words Isaiah spoke long before. They sound harsh — as if the veiling itself kept people from forgiveness — so where did the blindness begin?
The switch to parables marks a turning point, not a change of style. One writer compares it to the pillar of cloud that once stood between Israel and Egypt. That pillar lit one side and darkened the other:
And now the Lord begins to speak in parables. This detail matters greatly at this moment, because this way of speaking was one kind of judgment on Israel. It was like the raising of the pillar between Israel and the Egyptians; only Israel was now put on the dark side of it... They each had their own secret, but Israel was not given to know it. The Lord had a people whom these parables would teach — teach them mysteries, the mysteries of the kingdom; but the same parables left Israel in darkness.
The verse splits the crowd in two. Those "outside" are not people who never heard. They had heard, and they had made their choice.
The Lord began to cast His teaching in a form that would reserve it for those who had ears to hear... This shows that a split was already becoming clear. You could tell those "within" from those "without." Those within could see and hear with perception and understanding, and so the "mystery" or "secret" of the kingdom of God became plain to them. The rest were blind and deaf, and the way of conversion and forgiveness was closing to them. If people will not hear, a time comes when they cannot. The people wanted a Messiah who would bring them worldly prosperity and glory. They had no use, as events proved, for a Messiah who brought them the kingdom of God in the mysterious form of conversion and forgiveness of sins.
So did God want to keep them from forgiveness? One writer answers that head-on:
They might hear and see the surface, yet they would not grasp what these things meant. This does not mean that these things were hidden from them because God desired them not to be converted. In fact, if men would only admit their ignorance and truly ask, they too would be converted and find forgiveness of sins. Those who chose to stay ignorant would remain that way.
Another writer shows what the parables hid, and why the darkness fell:
He set out this mystery of the kingdom in His teaching by parables. For the time being that hid from the crowd the meaning He later revealed to His apostles... So He added a solemn warning to the people. God's sentence of blindness would fall on the nation as a whole, just as Isaiah had prophesied. For the Light of the world was among them, yet they refused to see light in His light. So darkness would come among them and on them. Even as He was speaking, His parables veiled from their eyes the truth about what God had provided in view of their rebellion.
So who is under this judgment? One writer draws the line carefully:
They are under the judgment of God. The Lord does not mean that no single soul could believe in Jesus and be forgiven. He means that the nation had rejected the testimony of Jesus. God had now abandoned it, left it outside, and exposed it to His judgment. He rebukes the disciples for not understanding the parable, yet in His grace He explains it to them.
If more light would only deepen their guilt, holding it back is mercy, not cruelty:
He speaks to them indeed from this new place that He has taken; but He speaks in parables. The nation as such is given up to hardness of heart: there is no use in increasing their condemnation by more light. And yet the very act of speaking to them shows that not all are given up... if there are those with earnestness of heart to press inside the outward form, they will still find a gracious heart beating towards them. The national rejection leaves individual responsibility just where it always is. He who has an ear, as the Lord tells them, still may hear.
- Light refused. The Light of the world stood among them, and they would not see by it. The parables came after that refusal, not before.
- Light veiled. More light would only deepen their condemnation, so the Lord wrapped the truth in stories — restraint, not spite.
- A line drawn. Those "within" receive the secret of the kingdom; those "without" keep the shell of a story. Refuse to hear long enough, and a time comes when you cannot.
- A door left open. The sentence falls on the nation, not on every soul. Anyone who admits his ignorance and asks can still be converted and forgiven.
- A summons still standing. National blindness never cancels personal responsibility — whoever has an ear may still hear.
And he says to them, Do ye not know this parable? and how will ye be acquainted with all the parables?
The disciples asked the Lord what the parable of the sower meant. His reply is not an explanation but a question about their own ability to follow Him. That question sets the sower above every other parable He would tell: miss this one, and the rest stay closed.
The Lord's words weigh what the disciples had and what they lacked. One writer draws out why this parable was the test case.
The apostles came to the Lord to seek enlightenment about the meaning of the parable of the sower. He told them that He had entrusted the mysteries of the kingdom to them, though these stayed hidden from the unbelieving crowd. But it was one thing to hold these mysteries in the form of a parable, and another thing to know their true inner sense. Their question about the parable of the sower confessed their ignorance on that second point. Compared with the others, this parable was elementary and introductory. Suppose they could not grasp this first lesson about phases of the kingdom never revealed before. How much less could they understand further parables, more advanced and more complex?
This parable stands at the door because of what it handles. It says what a human heart produces on its own, and what must happen to it before anything grows for God.
The Lord's own words show how important this parable is: "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?" The truth it teaches is elementary. It lies at the doorway of all truth. In one sentence it is this: there can be no fruit for God apart from repentance and the Word of God. For the human heart is like a farmer's field, which grows nothing but weeds if left to itself. Someone must plough the soil and sow the seed.
Once you open the parable, the failure it describes is not the fault of the sower or of the seed.
If we interpret the parable strictly, we must all recognise that the Lord is the Sower. The seed is the word of God. So the Sower was perfect, the sowing was faultless, and the seed good. Yet, because of what the soil is like, three cases out of four bring no lasting result.
The question carries reproach. But that reproach assumes something high about the people He aims it at. Christ would not press for an understanding He had made impossible.
People once complained about the prophets that they "spoke parables." Still, disciples at least should understand them. "Do you not understand this parable?" the Lord once asked His twelve disciples. "How then will you understand all the parables?" It is our shame to be like those who see and do not perceive, and hear and do not understand. The Lord does not trifle with us. He does not invite us to see what He forbids us to understand.
In the same talk the Lord rebukes them for not understanding. He also says that understanding is a gift. The two do not clash.
The Lord's answer did not ignore the parable form. He insisted they should have been able to understand it. "Do you not understand this parable?" He asks. "How then will you understand all the parables?" Yet He adds, "To you it has been given to know." That does not deny their responsibility, since God does not withhold His gifts on a whim. It throws us on Himself for the ability… Grace does not free us from the conditions holiness demands. It makes us able to meet them.
The Lord explained this parable and expected the others to follow from it. So His explanations work as samples of method. They give readers a standard instead of guesswork.
Some argue that there is no fixed standard for interpretation. Several things show that this is not the case. First, our Lord Himself explains the parable of the sower in great detail. He explains the parable of the weeds in the same way. In Mark He makes clear that these are samples of how we should interpret all parables… He meant the parables He explains to guide us in interpreting the others.
- Threshold. The sower is the first and simplest parable. Its lesson lies at the door of all truth, so missing it locks the rest.
- Seed. Nothing grows for God apart from repentance and the Word. The Sower is perfect and the seed is good, yet three soils in four bear no lasting fruit.
- Rebuke. The Lord's question reproaches slowness. In doing so it shows He never invites us to see what He forbids us to understand.
- Gift. "To you it has been given to know" does not cancel responsibility. It throws us back on Him for the ability He expects us to have.
- Key. The explanations He does give are samples of method, handed over so we can read every other parable by them.