To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables

 And again He began to teach by the sea.  And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.  Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:  "Listen!  Behold, a sower went out to sow.  And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.  Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.  But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.  And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.  But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced:  some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."  And He said to them, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.  And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that

'Seeing they may see and not perceive,
And hearing they may hear and not understand;
Lest they should turn,
And their sins be forgiven them.'"

And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable?  How then will you understand all the parables?  The sower sows the word.  And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown.  When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.  These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time.  Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble.  Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.  But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit:  some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."

- Mark 4:1-20

Yesterday we read that, after Jesus chose His twelve disciples, they went into a house.  Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.  But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub," and, "By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons."  So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables:  "How can Satan cast out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.  No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.  And then he will plunder his house.  Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" -- because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."  Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him.  And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You."  But He answered them, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."

 And again He began to teach by the sea.  And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.  Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:  "Listen!  Behold, a sower went out to sow.  And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.  Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.  But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.  And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.  But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced:  some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."  And He said to them, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  As Jesus' fame grows, and the word spreads about the many healings He's done, all kinds of people come to see Him.   We have also been told that now there is active hostility to Him by the religious authorities.  In this context and setting, Jesus begins to preach in parables.  This first parable, the parable of the Sower, begins Jesus' new way of preaching.  Jesus' parables draw upon images from daily life in order to illustrate the mysteries or "hidden things" of the Kingdom for those who have the capacity to hear.  In Hebrew and Aramaic, the words for parable also mean "allegory," "riddle," or "proverb."  The use of parables was known in Jewish culture long before Jesus, but His use of them is simply sublime -- 2,000 years later, they still communicate to us on many levels.  In this first parable of the Sower, Jesus gives an image of what it is to plant seeds, and the places in which those seeds may take root or not.  To understand, one must be able to hear a metaphor to one's own spiritual life, and to the ways of the Kingdom.  Parables are also a way of drawing in those who desire more; we each receive to the best of our ability.  But as indicated by this parable, that ability can grow.

But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.  And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that 'Seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.'"  In some form or another, this quotation from Isaiah (Isaiah 6:9-10) appears in all Gospels.  Jesus quotes from it at different times and on varying occasions.  Therefore we must conclude its significance for this ministry.   Here Jesus gives the quotation from Isaiah to accompany the introduction of parables, a perfect occasion to suggest that our ability to comprehend and participate in this Kingdom isn't simply a matter of being "illuminated," but also rests with our own capacities and desires to know, our choices.  My study bible says that according to St. John Chrysostom, Isaiah's prophecy doesn't mean that God causes spiritual blindness in people who would otherwise have been faithful.  Rather, this is a figure of speech common to Scripture revealing that God gives people up to their own devices (as in Romans 1:24, 26).  "Seeing they may see and not perceive" indicates a kind of self-chosen spiritual blindness that is allowed, a sign of the free will allowed human beings.  All are permitted entrance, but entrance is by faith and choice, a kind of love.  No one is compelled to return the love of God; as such participation in this plan of salvation belongs to those who respond to that love.  This is a depth of choice that is often more profound than we can know or understand; hence God is the judge of such capacity, not human beings. We note that the disciples do not understand all things at once; rather they are those with the capacity to continue in this journey of faith.

And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable?  How then will you understand all the parables?  The sower sows the word.  And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown.  When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.  These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time.  Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble.  Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.  But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit:  some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."  Jesus reveals Himself in this parable as the promised Messiah.  He's the sower who'd been foretold in Isaiah 55:10-13.  Here the associations with Isaiah's prophecy give us an ear for the poetry of Scripture:  the parable is a suggestion to those who already love what has been written and prophesied about the Messiah.  For those who will come later to the Old Testament Scriptures through Christ, Isaiah's words will help flesh out our depth of understanding of Jesus Christ.

Jesus' parable speaks of fruitfulness.  What does it mean to yield a harvest, or to bear fruit in this context?   In the overall context of the Gospels, Jesus speaks of bearing fruit also to illustrate how His followers will know who the false prophets are:  "By their fruits you shall know them" (see Matthew 7:15-20).  As in yesterday's reading, when Jesus illustrated His casting out of demons as a kind of war of kingdom against kingdom, we see inner spiritual struggle also in the context of different outcomes and goals:  there is good fruit, and there is bad fruit.  The good fruit comes from those individuals, in Jesus' words, who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit:  some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.  We should note that there is no judgment involved in the different levels of fruit borne here.  Each does to the capacity they are able.  The important thing is just that the word took root, and bore a harvest.  The rest, this mysterious process of how faith works and what it can produce, is really a matter of how grace works within us at depths we don't consciously know or fully control.  Even the choice we make for faith is a mysterious process for us.  It seems to me that the depth of the soul and the heart is something known fully only to God.  But there is a basic choice structure -- and freedom -- in place.  So much comes down to our own receptivity, our capacity for loving truth (even as a kind of absolute), our own ability and desire to come before God, to be cleansed and healed -- or the preference for appearance that covers all things (such as the wolf clothed as a sheep, in Jesus' illustration of a false prophet).  In John's Gospel, Jesus says, "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God" (John 3:20-21).  These are fairly absolute statements, but Jesus' entire ministry of healing is really about a lifelong process, a struggle for faith, in which this principle is illustrated.  To bear good fruit is to be willing to come to the light, to have the humility for correction and healing.  The metaphor of healing, as given to us by Christ in His quotation from Isaiah, means to be brought to true wholeness, to perfection, to healing in all possible dimensions of what it is to be a human being:  spirit, soul, body, mind.  To be healed is to be brought into right relationship in all ways; this is also the meaning of righteousness.  This is impossible for a person unwilling to come into that light of truth that shines in all our inner places, including our own ignorance and fallibility.  The depth of good ground for receiving the word is the same as receiving the light who is Christ.  That good ground is faith; it is trust in Christ, who is also the Word.   This mysterious process of fruitfulness Jesus describes is categorized by the Greek Fathers as synergy:  a working relationship between God and human beings, a mysterious "organic" partnership in which grace works in us and with us, with our trust, our faith.  Let us pray for this depth of grace to be at work in us, for the good ground in us that is open to the light of faith.