Talk 12 Mark 4:1-33 Jesus teaches in parables
Welcome to Talk 12 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’re in Mark 4 where Mark records three of the parables Jesus used as part of his teaching method. A parable is an illustration taken from everyday life and used to teach a spiritual truth. Its ultimate purpose is to make the truth clearer, but, as we shall see, sometimes people find it difficult to grasp the intention behind it. So we’ll not only be looking at the meaning of the parables in today’s passage, but also considering some problem verses which might seem to suggest that Jesus used parables in order to confuse people. But let’s begin by reading verses 1-9.
1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:
3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” 9 Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Again we see Jesus teaching from a boat because of the size of the crowd that had gathered to hear him (cf. 3:9-10). Mark tells us here that he taught them many things in parables and in verses 33-34 we’re told that with many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them… and that in fact he did not say anything to them without using a parable. We’ll consider the reason for this a little later, but for now it’s sufficient to notice that the parables recorded in this chapter are just examples of Jesus’ preferred method of teaching.
The parable of the sower in verses 3-9 is fairly straightforward. Using the only method available to him at the time, a farmer scatters his seed and it falls on different types of soil and, depending on where it lands, it produces varied results. That’s it. But what does it mean? Of course we know the answer because we’ve probably already read Jesus’ explanation in verses 14-20. But if we hadn’t I doubt if we’d have understood it any better than the disciples.
We’ll come back to verses 10-13 in a moment, but first let’s look at Jesus’ explanation:
14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 19 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop – thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
The key to understanding the parable is found in verse 14. The sower sows the word. Once you understand that, the rest is relatively easy. Jesus’ explanation requires no further explanation. But perhaps it’s worth asking why Jesus told this parable in the first place. He gave his explanation to the Twelve whom he had chosen to send out to preach the word (3:14-15). So was he simply warning them and all preachers of the word ever since that their message would inevitably meet with a mixed reception? That must surely have been part of his intention. As we have seen in previous talks, he himself was receiving a very mixed reception to his message.
But his disciples were themselves hearers of the word before they became preachers of it. And the same is true of us. As hearers we need to make sure that our hearts are right if we are to be fruitful in his service. The parable applies not just to the initial time when we hear the message of the gospel, but whenever the word is preached. We must be careful not to let Satan take it away from us. We must not allow our hearts to become hardened. We must stand firm in times of trouble. And we must not allow worry or wealth or the desire for other things choke the word making it unfruitful.
And now, before we turn to the remaining parables in this chapter, we need to consider verses 10-13:
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ 13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?
These verses present a very real problem because they appear to be saying that Jesus spoke in parables to those who were not his followers with the express purpose that they would not understand him, because if they did understand him they might turn from their sin and be forgiven. But could Jesus possibly have intended that? Surely not, but before we can give reasons for rejecting that conclusion, in seeking to answer this question we need to:
· bear in mind the overall teaching of Scripture
· examine the context of the passage from Isaiah that Jesus was quoting
· see how that relates to the context in which Jesus said it.
Firstly, then, the overall teaching of Scripture. This is totally contrary to the idea that Jesus deliberately taught in parables so that the people would not understand. God loved the world so much that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him will not perish (John 3:16). God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). And Peter, of course, was present when Jesus originally spoke the words we are looking at. And it’s generally agreed that Mark gained most of the information for his Gospel from Peter’s eyewitness account of all that happened. So it’s hardly likely that Peter would have understood Jesus to mean what the verse at first sight appears to mean – that Jesus spoke in parables with the intention that people should not be converted!
Secondly, we need to examine the context of the passage from Isaiah that Jesus was quoting. Isaiah was called to prophesy that God was going to punish the people of Judah for their rebellion against him. They had disobeyed him time after time despite repeated warnings from God’s messengers the prophets. He would warn them again, but he knew from their past behaviour that they would not listen. They would hear him but not obey him. On this occasion forgiveness was not an option. God’s judgment was inevitable. It was the direct result of Judah’s persistent rejection of God. It came in 586BC when Nebuchadnezzar invaded and Judah went into captivity, away from her land (Jeremiah 52:27).
And thirdly, as we look at the context in which Jesus quoted these words from Isaiah, we see that things were not very different in Jesus’ day. He was repeatedly criticised and rejected by the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Even his own family misunderstood him. And, as we have seen in previous talks, although the people of Capernaum came in crowds to hear him, this did not lead to their repentance. The parable of the sower shows that it not the fault of the sower that some of the seed is not bearing fruit. It’s the kind of soil upon which it is sown. If the word is sown in fertile hearts it will grow, but there’s little point in continually attempting to reap a harvest from hearts of stone. So Jesus was quoting the words of Isaiah in a context where people were hardheartedly rejecting him. But if they would change their hearts the way to forgiveness would always be open, as it was for Judah after 70 years’ captivity in Babylon.
But how do we apply all this to ourselves? Every Christian should be a sower of the word. We should tell others about Jesus. But as we do so we’ll find that there are different levels of receptivity among the people we speak to, and, as in Jesus’ day, some will simply not want to know. Perhaps one day they will, but until then there’s little point in trying to nag them into believing. If they’re not yet ready, they won’t understand. Perhaps that’s why Jesus told his disciples:
If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave… and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them (Matthew 10:14, Luke 9:5),
something that Paul did in Acts 13:51 when the Jews in Pisidian Antioch rejected his message. What’s significant about this is not the actual shaking of dust off our feet – it’s symbolic significance would mean nothing to people today – but that Paul moved on elsewhere. If people’s hearts are hard perhaps we should prayerfully consider moving on to others whose hearts are softer.
But now let’s consider verses 21-34 which contain valuable truths about the growth of the kingdom of God. In verse 11 Jesus says that his disciples have been given the secret of the kingdom of God. It’s a secret because its truth is not immediately obvious. The kingdom of which Jesus was speaking was very different from the kind of messianic kingdom they were expecting. Now in verses 21-34 he shares three of the secrets of the kingdom:
· The kingdom of God grows as God’s people let their light shine
· The kingdom of God grows as God’s people spread the word
· The kingdom of God grows gradually
· The kingdom of God grows until the time for harvest has come.
The kingdom of God grows as God’s people let their light shine
21 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.
Jesus says, Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? Matthew’s account makes clear what he is saying:
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16).
As Christians we have received the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. We are to let our light shine. And we do so by the way we live, by our good deeds.
The kingdom of God grows as God’s people spread the word
We’ve already seen from the parable of the sower that the sower sows the word (v14). This theme is picked up in verse 26 where Jesus says, A man scatters seed on the ground. But we can only sow God’s truth in the measure that we’ve received it. Look at 23-25:
23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you – and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”
These verses relate to our reception of God’s truth. First we need to hear it. We need to consider it carefully. Then we need to use it, and the more we use it the more we receive. The motto of one Teacher Training College, when translated from Latin, was Teach that you may learn. Of course, we have to learn in order to teach. But it’s also true that the more you teach, the more you learn. So share what you do know of God’s truth and the Lord will give you more.
The kingdom of God grows gradually
This is clear from the two parables in verses 26-32.
He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”
The seed is sown. In time small shoots appear. It grows some more, and then, in God’s time – we don’t understand how – it develops into grain which eventually is ripe for harvest (vv26-29). The tiniest seed, given time, may surprise us with the size of the plant it becomes (vv30-32). When Jesus first spoke these words the disciples could not possibly have imagined how the small mustard seed of the kingdom would grow to be the worldwide church of today.
How has this happened? Because Jesus said he would build his church. Yes, he uses us to do it, but as Paul said when talking of how the Corinthians came to faith in Christ:
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).
It’s Christ who will build his church. But it’s our responsibility to sow the word and, like the farmer, patiently wait for the time of harvest.
The kingdom of God grows until the time for harvest has come
Jesus says in verse 29:
As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.
We can apply this to our efforts at sowing the word in the lives of others. Paul tells us not to become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9). But the final harvest will come at the end of the world. In Matthew’s Gospel, sandwiched between the parable of the sower and the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus tells the parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30).
A farmer sows wheat in his field but at night an enemy comes and sows weeds. Rather than try to pull up the weeds straightaway, the farmer decides to wait until the harvest in case, in attempting to pull up the weeds, the wheat is damaged. At harvest time the wheat and the weeds are separated. The weeds are destroyed but the wheat is gathered into the barn.
In verses 37-43 Jesus explains the meaning of the parable.
The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40 As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
In the light of this solemn statement, we must surely rejoice that Jesus, not the devil, has the final word, that good will finally triumph over evil, that there will ultimately be universal justice, and that the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Meanwhile, let us do all that we can to be faithful sowers of the word.