Mark 4:32 (WEB)
yet when it is sown, grows up and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow.”
Fathers and councils · 11
Augustine of Hippo
“This inference is confirmed by the fact that Mark keeps by the same order.” — editor's note: Mark iv. 1–34.
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Hippolytus of Rome
“This, he says, is the kingdom of heaven, the grain of mustard seed, the point which is indivisible in the body; and, he says, no one knows this (point) save the spiritual only.” — editor's note: Matt. xiii. 31, 32; Mark iv. 31, 32; Luke xiii. 19.
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Catena Aurea on Mark
- Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Mark
After having narrated the parable concerning the coming forth of the fruit from the seed of the Gospel, he here subjoins another parable, to shew the excellence of the doctrine of the Gospel before all other…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on Mark
Most brief indeed is the word of faith; Believe in God, and thou shalt be saved. But the preaching of it has been spread far and wide over the earth, and increased so, that the birds of heaven, that is, contemplative…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Mark
And also because the wisdom spoken amongst the perfect expands, to an extent greater than all other sayings, that which was told to men in short discourses, for there is nothing greater than this truth.
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on Mark
Again, it put forth great boughs, for the Apostles were divided off as the boughs of a tree, some to Rome, some to India, some to other parts of the world.
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Mark
Or else, that seed is very small in fear, but great when it has grown into charity, which is greater than all herbs: for “God is love,” [1 John 4:16] whilst “all flesh is grass.” [Isa 40:6] But the boughs which it…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on Mark
Again, the man who sows is by many taken to mean the Saviour Himself, by others, man himself sowing in his own heart.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Mark
Then after this, Mark, who delights in brevity, to shew the nature of the parables, subjoins, “And with many such parables spake He the word unto them as they could hear Him.”
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on Mark
For since the multitude was unlearned, He instructs them from objects of food and familiar names, and for this reason he adds, “But without a parable spake He not unto them,” that is, in order that they might be…
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For they were worthy to hear mysteries apart, in the most secret haunt of wisdom, for they were men, who, removed from the crowds of evil thoughts, remained in the solitude of virtue; and wisdom is received in a time…
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Cross-references · 2
Cited together in Jerome on Mark 4:30–34 (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Jerome on Mark 4:30–34 (Catena Aurea).