Charles Ellicott Commentary Mark 4:13

"And he saith unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how shall ye know all the parables?" — Mark 4:13 (ASV)

How then will ye know all parables? (Mark 4:13)—The question is peculiar to St. Mark, and suggests the thought of our Lord as contemplating for His disciples an ever-growing insight, not only into His own spoken parables, but into those of nature and of life. But if they were such slow scholars in this early stage, how was that insight to be imparted? The question is followed up by the answer. The first lesson in interpreting is given in that which is a pattern and exemplar of the method of interpretation.