He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, "Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." And He was saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
This is the beginning of a most important section of Mark, where Jesus’ teaching is clearly stated. The situation is that a large crowd is assembled and so Jesus teaches from a boat. Jesus’ manner of teaching is to teach in parable form, with this parable being the central one. It was not understood by the crowd, or by the disciples. The reason for parables is spoken in the next section, and the meaning of this parable is explained in verses 13-20.
Jesus was not afraid to give teachings that could not be understood. But we must remember that he did it as a judgment, not as a teaching technique. If we want to actually encourage people to get closer to God, then we should speak God's message clearly.
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