Footnote

a This resembles what Jesus said in his parable of the wheat and the weeds, that the “field” was the world of people. (Matt. 13:38) Only here, in Mark 4:26-28, the “ground” sown, instead of being world wide, goes only to the extent of the contact and association that the individual has with people. The “ground” does not represent the individual’s “heart,” as in Matthew 13:19 and Luke 8:12, 15.