In newer commentaries the passage (4:1–25) is rarely read as a historical unit anymore. Commentators regard the explanation of the parable as bearing a later date, because it includes more points of comparison. For since Van Koetsveld and Jülicher in the 19th century, the almost general conviction has been that a parable is an elaborate comparison with only one point of comparison. Every explanation that looked for more points of comparison was rejected as allegorical exegesis. Thus, Mark 4:13–20 was regarded as a later interpretation that originated in the early years of the Christian church. So also, the exposition about speaking in parables (4:10–12) was regarded as having a later date. It is true that Jeremias1 did support an older date and argued for the originality of Jesus’ words in 4:11–12, but he believed that they did not refer to the parables (only to all of Jesus’ preaching). Thus, the connection of 4:11–12 to the parable of the sower remains a matter of later editing. Kirkland2 wanted to go a step further than Jeremias (4:11–12 was not only original tradition, but also deals with parables). However, he also did not support the integrity of Mark 4, because in his opinion Mark conjoined two old strands of tradition (which did not interpret parable in the same way: A. Mark 4:3–9, 14–20, 26–34; and B. Mark 4:10–13, 21–25). These and other theories were based not only on an incorrect presupposition with respect to the hermeneutics of the parables (Van Bruggen3), but are also connected to the systematic underappreciation of the historical particulars in the gospels. Thus, Pesch4 considers verses 1–2, 10, 33–34 as (later) frameworks through which a certain (quasi-historical) connection was made between a number of traditional pieces, each of which had its own background and history. However, it is precisely the historical situation indicated by Mark that allows us to understand the connection Jesus himself intends between the parable of the sower and his emphatic shift to speaking in parables to the crowd.5
1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.