A parable is like a riddle. It's something you have to figure out. From Webster's dictionary: "Parable comes from the Latin word parabola, from Greek parabolḗ, meaning 'comparison.'" There are lots of "comparisons" in the gospel of Mark. Scholars have noticed that the structure of the book itself invites the reader to compare different stories with each other. It's what makes the book so interesting! Mark likes to use different stories, together, in a way that helps the reader to understand something more meaningful than what is obvious. For Mark, to see and hear correctly is the key to finding the "secret" of the "kingdom of God." Often times, one story can help interpret another story that is several paragraphs, even chapters apart. The author also uses old testament stories in this way, by pointing the reader toward a specific passage. The parable of the sower is an example of the latter:
Mark 4:1 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, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
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!’” <--(quoted from Isaiah 6)
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?
Mark is pointing us to Isaiah 6, so let's go check it out!..
Isaiah 6:8 I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”
And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
Isaiah was writing during a time centuries prior to Jesus, when Israel had been conquered by Assyria. In order for Isaiah's nation of Israel to be restored, "this people" (the unfaithful Israelites) would be laid waste, due to their inability to "see" and "hear." Only then would the holy seed (the remaining faithful few) grow, to become a revived kingdom, and the temple rebuilt.
In Mark's day, it was the Romans who had conquered Israel. Mark is inviting the reader to compare "then" (8th century B.C.) and "now" (1st century A.D.). When Jesus tells the parable of the sower, the people are the "holy seed" who are standing along the shore (literally soil in Greek!). Jesus goes on to say that the kingdom of God is "like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” (Mark 4:31-32) In Mark's gospel, the main opposition to Jesus is the religious establishment: The Herodians, Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, teachers of the law, etc. For Mark, these are NOW Israel's unfaithful! The message is this: in order for the kingdom of God to be restored, "this (unfaithful) people," would be laid waste due to their inability to "see" and "hear." Only then can the holy seed begin to grow again.
Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” (Mark 4:9)
Comments