“And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.”
Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them — the path-soil people are those in whom the word finds no penetration. As soon as they hear it — the immediacy indicates a complete failure of reception, not a delayed failure. Satan comes and takes away the word: the birds of the parable are named as the personal agent of the word's removal. The path-soil condition is not described as a moral failure but as a hardness that leaves the word exposed and vulnerable. The same proclamation that penetrates good soil bounces off hard soil and is immediately vulnerable to removal.
Church Fathers on Mark 4:15
Although the Lord appears in the transactions mentioned above to neglect His mother, nevertheless He honours her; since on her account He goes forth about the borders of the sea.
For if we look into the Gospel of Matthew, it appears that this same teaching of the Lord at the sea, was delivered on the same day as the former. For after the conclusion of the first sermon, Matthew immediately subjoins, saying, 'The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea-side.'
But He began to teach at the sea, that the place of His teaching might point out the bitter feelings and instability of His hearers.
Read all 22 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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