Mark 4:21-25

Mark 4:21 seems still to be addressed to the disciples. Mk. has collected some isolated sayings, and inserted them here, for the purpose of denying that the Christian mystery mentioned in Mark 4:11 was an esoteric doctrine. Secrets are given to the disciples in trust for the world, and a man's advance in the knowledge of the kingdom is in proportion to his loyalty to what has previously been entrusted to him. Somewhat similarly, after the cursing of the fig-tree, Mk. adds a saying about forgiveness (Mark 11:25), to hint that only a forgiving spirit may expect miracles. (Loisy thinks Mk. tore these sayings from their context in a document like Q. It is more probable that they came to him as fragments of floating tradition which he pieced together as best he could. See a careful study by H. A. A. Kennedy in ET, xxv. 301f.)