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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 the Twelve, 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, 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!" We who follow the developments in Mark's Gospel can now sense a shift in Jesus' ministry. He has come to the attention of the religious and state authorities, who now seek to destroy Him. We have also read of the growing crowds who follow Him, which at this point must be preached to at the shore because of the great number of people who seek Him. He most likely sits in a boat to avoid being crushed (3:9). The Twelve have been chosen, and they He has shared with them His power and authority to preach, to heal, and to cast out demons. So Jesus' speaking in parables marks a new turning point in His ministry. His call, He who has ears to hear, let him hear! is a reference to the Scripture He will quote from Isaiah, a little further down in our reading, when He speaks in private to the disciples. The parable of the Sower is Jesus' first parable that He gives in this new style of preaching. Parables were common forms of teaching by Jesus' time, but no one used them so skillfully as He did. My study bible describes them as images drawn from daily life to represent and communicate the deep things of God. Many concern farming, drawn from the daily lives of people in this agrarian society. Parables, my study bible explains, give us glimpses of Him whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). Importantly, and relevant to the growing public attention and crowds who gather to Him, at this point in His ministry He makes it clear that not everybody who hears the parables are going to understand them. Moreover, understanding and perception happens on different levels. Most often, Jesus' parables illustrate the "hidden" life of the kingdom of God in our midst, how it works and what it does.
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 first explains in private to His disciples His new use of parables in and of itself. He quotes from Isaiah 6:10. The hidden messages in the illustrations in the parables are intended to draw those toward Him who are capable of real faith, who "have ears to hear." God permits our self-chosen blindness; our love must be freely given. Moreover, God gives people up to their own devices. It is a way of expanding on Christ's pronouncement regarding blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in yesterday's reading (above). A refusal of love is not a boundary God crosses to compel us to 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." Christ reveals Himself to be the Sower, the one who sows the word. My study bible explains that this is an image of the promised Messiah, who had been foretold in Isaiah 55:10-13.
Why this hidden nature of the kingdom of heaven? Why aren't things obvious to us, completely visible? Why do we need faith? This is the nature of our world. If we think about love, we can perhaps understand the nature of this reality a little bit better. If there is someone that you love, you look upon them with a particular kind of seeing. In the language of the Scriptures, we look with a particular kind of sight or "eyes that see." Perhaps we see the good in the soul of the person we love. There is a special sight that we have. But the good we see might be at hidden depths, covered up by flaws and bad personal behavior, habits that get in the way of the good that we see. Love may be simply a kind of faith that there is this depth of good that we somehow perceive. Moreover, in our world, love may be confused with desire, a type of selfishness, wanting something for ourselves. God is love (1 John 4:7-21), and from a reciprocal loving communion with God, we learn love. But the nature of this learning is a long road, a kind of journey. When Christ speaks of Himself as the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), that word for way means "road" or "path" in the original Greek of the Gospels. Today's parable gives us a sense of what that road is like, and where we might stumble on our way along this path of faith. It illustrates for us the factors of our world and our lives that get in the way of that great good that is God and our communion with God. This is not a one-way ticket, a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, or winning the Lotto. It's a path, a journey -- and it's one that we live in a world that will give us all kinds of temptations to give up on it or to forget about it. We are, of course, free to get back on that road at any time, but it remains just that: a road, a journey we take through life that asks of us a daily practice, awareness, and will present us with challenges, as any true pursuit in love or wisdom is wont to do. In today's parable, Jesus gives us examples of the things that halt this journey and take it away from us. In the first example illustrated in the parable, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in the heart. Then there are those who immediately receive the word with gladness, but they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. When tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble. Finally He illustrates 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. These are not prophecies written in stone, but they are warnings to us about the reality of the world in which we live and struggle for our faith. A daily prayer practice is designed simply to keep us on this path, to enable us to resist the temptations and pitfalls that Christ names, to keep our priorities straight -- and our eyes and ears truly hearing and truly seeing. Like all relationships of love, this is something that asks us to work at it. We don't create it all by ourselves and we don't invent things from scratch: but our role to play is very real. Our work is something Christ asks of us (John 6:28-29). It asks of us vigilance and watchfulness, a guarding of the heart in which we come to know ourselves and our own weaknesses, and an effort to protect what we know is good in us, our love of God and that good ground of the heart that Christ illustrates in the parable. Our "yes" and our own growth in understanding is every bit as essential to this synergy Christ offers of the divine at work in us as God's work is for us in the first place. Jesus lays out the struggle, and He speaks in parables, guaranteeing that out of all the crowds only those who really feel drawn to this love are the ones who will pursue it with the faith that stands up even to persecution and struggle. In the loving relationships we know, even popular self-help manuals give us to understand that good loving relationships (such as marriage, for example) involve mutual commitment, work, and daily effort at nurturing, supporting, and protecting them. God offers us love -- but how do we value and respond to God's love in a world full of temptations to do otherwise?
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!" We who follow the developments in Mark's Gospel can now sense a shift in Jesus' ministry. He has come to the attention of the religious and state authorities, who now seek to destroy Him. We have also read of the growing crowds who follow Him, which at this point must be preached to at the shore because of the great number of people who seek Him. He most likely sits in a boat to avoid being crushed (3:9). The Twelve have been chosen, and they He has shared with them His power and authority to preach, to heal, and to cast out demons. So Jesus' speaking in parables marks a new turning point in His ministry. His call, He who has ears to hear, let him hear! is a reference to the Scripture He will quote from Isaiah, a little further down in our reading, when He speaks in private to the disciples. The parable of the Sower is Jesus' first parable that He gives in this new style of preaching. Parables were common forms of teaching by Jesus' time, but no one used them so skillfully as He did. My study bible describes them as images drawn from daily life to represent and communicate the deep things of God. Many concern farming, drawn from the daily lives of people in this agrarian society. Parables, my study bible explains, give us glimpses of Him whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). Importantly, and relevant to the growing public attention and crowds who gather to Him, at this point in His ministry He makes it clear that not everybody who hears the parables are going to understand them. Moreover, understanding and perception happens on different levels. Most often, Jesus' parables illustrate the "hidden" life of the kingdom of God in our midst, how it works and what it does.
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 first explains in private to His disciples His new use of parables in and of itself. He quotes from Isaiah 6:10. The hidden messages in the illustrations in the parables are intended to draw those toward Him who are capable of real faith, who "have ears to hear." God permits our self-chosen blindness; our love must be freely given. Moreover, God gives people up to their own devices. It is a way of expanding on Christ's pronouncement regarding blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in yesterday's reading (above). A refusal of love is not a boundary God crosses to compel us to 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." Christ reveals Himself to be the Sower, the one who sows the word. My study bible explains that this is an image of the promised Messiah, who had been foretold in Isaiah 55:10-13.
Why this hidden nature of the kingdom of heaven? Why aren't things obvious to us, completely visible? Why do we need faith? This is the nature of our world. If we think about love, we can perhaps understand the nature of this reality a little bit better. If there is someone that you love, you look upon them with a particular kind of seeing. In the language of the Scriptures, we look with a particular kind of sight or "eyes that see." Perhaps we see the good in the soul of the person we love. There is a special sight that we have. But the good we see might be at hidden depths, covered up by flaws and bad personal behavior, habits that get in the way of the good that we see. Love may be simply a kind of faith that there is this depth of good that we somehow perceive. Moreover, in our world, love may be confused with desire, a type of selfishness, wanting something for ourselves. God is love (1 John 4:7-21), and from a reciprocal loving communion with God, we learn love. But the nature of this learning is a long road, a kind of journey. When Christ speaks of Himself as the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), that word for way means "road" or "path" in the original Greek of the Gospels. Today's parable gives us a sense of what that road is like, and where we might stumble on our way along this path of faith. It illustrates for us the factors of our world and our lives that get in the way of that great good that is God and our communion with God. This is not a one-way ticket, a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, or winning the Lotto. It's a path, a journey -- and it's one that we live in a world that will give us all kinds of temptations to give up on it or to forget about it. We are, of course, free to get back on that road at any time, but it remains just that: a road, a journey we take through life that asks of us a daily practice, awareness, and will present us with challenges, as any true pursuit in love or wisdom is wont to do. In today's parable, Jesus gives us examples of the things that halt this journey and take it away from us. In the first example illustrated in the parable, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in the heart. Then there are those who immediately receive the word with gladness, but they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. When tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble. Finally He illustrates 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. These are not prophecies written in stone, but they are warnings to us about the reality of the world in which we live and struggle for our faith. A daily prayer practice is designed simply to keep us on this path, to enable us to resist the temptations and pitfalls that Christ names, to keep our priorities straight -- and our eyes and ears truly hearing and truly seeing. Like all relationships of love, this is something that asks us to work at it. We don't create it all by ourselves and we don't invent things from scratch: but our role to play is very real. Our work is something Christ asks of us (John 6:28-29). It asks of us vigilance and watchfulness, a guarding of the heart in which we come to know ourselves and our own weaknesses, and an effort to protect what we know is good in us, our love of God and that good ground of the heart that Christ illustrates in the parable. Our "yes" and our own growth in understanding is every bit as essential to this synergy Christ offers of the divine at work in us as God's work is for us in the first place. Jesus lays out the struggle, and He speaks in parables, guaranteeing that out of all the crowds only those who really feel drawn to this love are the ones who will pursue it with the faith that stands up even to persecution and struggle. In the loving relationships we know, even popular self-help manuals give us to understand that good loving relationships (such as marriage, for example) involve mutual commitment, work, and daily effort at nurturing, supporting, and protecting them. God offers us love -- but how do we value and respond to God's love in a world full of temptations to do otherwise?
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