Mark 4:1, 2 And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered to him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship… I. CIRCUMSTANCES OCCASIONING IT. The order of Matthew and Mark preferable and explanatory. Various considerations led him to adopt this method of teaching. 1. A reasonable prudence. His enemies were busy, and scarcely suffered a single opportunity to pass without spying or planning means by which to destroy him. Out of doors he would be able to keep the crowd at a greater remove, and so hostile listeners would be under better observation. 2. Sympathy for those who were "without. In the small country cottages, where for the most part he resided, there was no accommodation for the numbers that thronged to his ministry. Stifling heat and inconvenient jostling would ill accord with the dignity of his message. Multitudes were unable to hear or see him, and he had compassion on their souls. A different class of people, too, might be reached by this new method. 3. The charm of nature. There are abundant evidences of Christ's poetic and artistic sense of nature. He would be drawn forth from the heat and squalor of the small cottage to the spaciousness, grandeur, and ever-varying phenomena of the outside world. It was his own world. He was present when the morning stars sang together" at its birth, "and without him was not anything made that was made." II. ADVANTAGES OF THIS MODE OF TEACHING. 1. It linked the ideas of the spiritual world with the real world of every-day experience. 2. By its associating the common life of men with the Divine and eternal, the former was refined and elevated. The many were thus addressed, and a certain general benefit received by them. 3. The inner meaning of such teaching could only be discerned by the spiritual and devout, and thus his safety was secured. His enemies were baffled and kept in ignorance. 4. This teaching was attractive to all. III. WHAT IT SUGGESTED AS TO THE SPHERE AND FUNCTION OF THE "KINGDOM OF GOD." 1. That it was coextensive with the universe. 2. That the heavenly element is to penetrate and include the earthly element in Gods world. 3. That the senses, if rightly used, are aids to the spirit. - M. Parallel Verses KJV: And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. |
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