Mark 4:15

4:15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: Whenever they hear, immediately Satan ¹  comes and snatches the word ²  that was sown in them.

Mark 6:3

6:3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son ³  of Mary ⁴  and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” And so they took offense at him.

Mark 7:6

7:6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart ⁵  is far from me.

Mark 12:43

12:43 He called his disciples and said to them, “I tell you the truth, ⁶  this poor widow has put more into the offering box ⁷  than all the others. ⁸ 

[4:15]  ¹ sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Matt 13:19 has “the evil one,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.

[4:15]  ² sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.

[6:3]  ³ tc Evidently because of the possible offensiveness of designating Jesus a carpenter, several mss ([Ì^45vid] ˹³ 33^vid [565 579] 700 [2542] pc it vg^mss) harmonize the words “carpenter, the son” to the parallel passage in Matt 13:55, “the son of the carpenter.” Almost all the rest of the mss read “the carpenter, the son.” Since the explicit designation of Jesus as a carpenter is the more difficult reading, and is much better attested, it is most likely correct.

[6:3]  ⁴ sn The reference to Jesus as the carpenter is probably derogatory, indicating that they knew Jesus only as a common laborer like themselves. The reference to him as the son of Mary (even though Jesus’ father was probably dead by this point) appears to be somewhat derogatory, for a man was not regarded as his mother’s son in Jewish usage unless an insult was intended (cf. Judg 11:1-2; John 6:42; 8:41; 9:29).

[7:6]  ⁵ tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.

[12:43]  ⁷ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[12:43]  ⁸ tn See the note on the term “offering box” in v. 41.

[12:43]  ⁹ sn Has put more into the offering box than all the others. With God, giving is weighed evaluatively, not counted. The widow was praised because she gave sincerely and at some considerable cost to herself.