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 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.'"

fAnd 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

On Saturday, we read that after Jesus had chosen the twelve disciples (who would become His first apostles) they went into a house.  Then the multitude came together again, so much 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, saying, "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!"  If we review the recent events in the growth of Jesus' ministry, our main understanding is of its enormous and seemingly explosive growth.  Great crowds come to hear Him speak (so much so that He's afraid of being crushed by those who crowd in to simply touch Him), and the people come from Jewish communities from every region -- from Jerusalem and Judea, to Galilee, to Tyre and Sidon, and also from east of the Jordan.   He has also chosen the twelve disciples with whom He begins to share and invest His power.  It is at this point that He begins preaching in parables.  Parables were widely used and well-known before Jesus' use of them, but as the Word Himself, He is paramount in His use of the universal language of these simple stories that convey so much on so many levels, and continue to do so as one recalls them throughout a journey of faith.  They are images that are drawn from daily life in the world to "represent and communicate the deep things of God," my study bible says.  "Parables give us glimpses of Him whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9)."  But parables are not obvious to everybody who hears them; they require discernment, a kind of listening with spiritual "ears to hear" (as Jesus will repeatedly emphasize with this phrase).  And, as my study bible notes, even then, not all will have the same degree of understanding.

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.'"  Jesus quotes from Isaiah (see Isaiah 6:9-10).  He makes it clear that parables are meant to draw those who want the things of the Kingdom, who wish to enter into its mysteries, and to leave the disinterested to their own devices, so to speak (see also Romans 1:24, 26).  It doesn't mean that God causes spiritual blindness in those who would otherwise be faithful.   God permits a self-chosen blindness.  My study bible says, "They did not become blind because God spoke through Isaiah, but rather Isaiah spoke because he foresaw their blindness."

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."  It's interesting that Jesus first asks the disciples, "Do you not understand this parable?"  It is a question that teaches us that even among those destined to receive the greatest faith, it comes gradually or in fits and starts -- and also relies on the Holy Spirit, from whom more understanding will come after Pentecost.  In the powerful and mysterious ways in which parables are designed to work, we can also reflect that these men who as yet do not understand completely will be the ones who will bear the fruit Jesus speaks of here.   In the parable, Jesus reveals Himself as the promised Messiah, the sower, foretold in Isaiah 55:10-13.  We note the gradual picture of faith given by Christ, and the possibilities of falling away; faith is a lifetime journey, that always holds new challenges, new beginnings, and new opportunities, and struggles.

In another irony, and reflection of the text itself, we can see that although Jesus is speaking of Himself and revealing Himself as the Sower, or the Messiah, He is also speaking of these men to whom He reveals the contents of the parable.  They are those who will struggle through all things for their faith.  One will betray Him.  Many will bear tremendous fruits, and to varying degrees, as indicated in His explanation of the parable.  As is always the case with Christ, whatever He teaches, even if it is nominally about Himself -- as God, as Messiah, as Son of Man -- it also teaches His followers about themselves.  We could say that He, and the whole of Scripture, teaches us about ourselves.  He depicts our struggles, the life of faith, and the constant road that discipleship calls upon us to negotiate and to take.  All of these things in the parable:  the word snatched away by Satan, the stony ground that will hold no root, the thorns -- that represent the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in:  all of these things may be pitfalls on our own journey of faith, and a part of our own experience.  And there's another deep and reflective irony here as well:  it is faith that helps spur our understanding, something deep within us that makes a kind of connection to the life of Christ and the life of the Holy Spirit.  Just as Jesus attributes so many healings to the faith of the healed, so here healing and understanding, entering deeper into the mysteries of faith, are also clearly connected.  In fact, the translations of the quotation Jesus uses from Isaiah read alternatively, "Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them," and "Lest they should turn, And I should heal them."   The tie between understanding and the reception of the Kingdom is not one that is purely intellectual or obscure, but it's a reflection of the presence of the Kingdom.  There is a kind of synergy, a human-divine connection, that is responsible for this understanding, this faith, and the reality of the life of the Kingdom.  God may do the work, but it cannot happen without something deeply inside of ourselves which accepts and desires this presence and participation in the Kingdom.  This is a great mystery, but one the parables are designed to open up within us.  Let us take it to heart that Christ speaks of the spiritual life as a struggle, and remember that the journey of faith isn't a one-time simple answer, but one that sees us and makes a kind of dividing line through all things, whose center is in the heart.  Our free will means God will accept our choice for blindness and deafness, but faith and hope mean God's offer is always there.  He who has ears to hear, let Him hear the word.