To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it?

 

 Also He said to them, "Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed?  Is it not to be set on a lampstand?  For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."  Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear.  With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."

And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.  For the earth yields crops by itself:  first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.  But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

Then He said, "To what shall we liken the kingdom of God?  Or with what parable shall we picture it?  It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade." 

 

And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.  But without a parable He did not speak to them.  And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples. 

 

- Mark 4:21-34 

 

Yesterday we read that once again Jesus began to teach by the sea.  And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat on 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 great 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." 

 

 Also He said to them, "Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed?  Is it not to be set on a lampstand?  For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."  Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear.  With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."   In the context of the preaching of parables, Jesus teaches about the nature of mystical reality itself.   Those who come to Christ in faith are invited in to hear, learn, and to live the faith.  My study Bible says that Christ's words are a call to attentive listening and discriminating response.  We must not only hear, but hear properly.  More will be given to those who respond to Christ with open hearts; they will grow in understanding.  It quotes St. Mark the Ascetic:  "Do the good you know, and what you do not know will be revealed to you."  Jesus uses this teaching, "With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you" in several contexts (see also Matthew 7:2 and Luke 6:38); my study Bible suggests that He repeated this particular message many times.  Thus, we can be assured of its importance in our lives in many dimensions.

And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.  For the earth yields crops by itself:  first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.  But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."  This parable occurs only in Mark's Gospel.  My study Bible explains it as follows:  The kingdom refers to the whole span of God's dispensation or plan of salvation.  The man is Christ, and the seed is the gospel (see verses 13-20).  His sleep indicates Christ's death, from which He will rise.  That the man does not know how the seed grows shows Christ does not manipulate man's response to the gospel, but each person is free to receive it and to let it grow in his own heart.  The harvest indicates the Second Coming, when all will be judged on their reception of the gospel.  

Then He said, "To what shall we liken the kingdom of God?  Or with what parable shall we picture it?  It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade."    The mustard seed is likened by Theophylact to the disciples themselves, who began as just a few men, but "soon encompassed the whole earth."  This parable also stands for faith entering a person's soul, which causes an inward growth of virtue.  This soul, my study Bible says, will become "godlike" and can receive even angels (the birds of the air who may nest under its shade).

And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.  But without a parable He did not speak to them.  And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.   To unbelievers, my study Bible says, the parables remain bewildering.  To those with simple faith, these stories using common images reveal truth in ways they can grasp, as they were able. 

The use of parables teaches us something mysterious about the way our own minds and souls operate; that is, Jesus would not use them, and they would not be a staple of Scripture and religious teaching, except if this were so.  Somehow parables tap into the part of us that is capable of receiving spiritual nourishment, the soul that grows through what it can grasp.  Importantly, Jesus teaches us about our own discernment and hearing, that "with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given."  Parables work through the use of symbols and metaphors, similarly to the language of our dreams.  So, we might say, Christ is using the language of the soul, the depths of the mind and heart, to reach down and find ways to communicate the deep things of God.  But this communication also depends upon us, upon our receptivity, our ability to open up to such ways of thinking.  Often, it seems, our rationalistic habits of thought, of grasping information, such as in reading the news or perhaps a textbook, seem to condition us to expect only to be spoonfed something we learn by rote or repeat out of habit, but not to learn discernment, not to appreciate the capacity for a depth of connections and meanings that teach us a different kind of truth, a spiritual truth of the soul.  That requires something different and something more from us.  It requires of us the ability to soften the heart for receptivity to God's way of asking us to live our lives in a prayerful sense.  It asks of us the ability to receive the grace of faith and its working in us.  The capacity to seek to discern Gods' will takes a kind of discipline from within us that is willing to suspend disbelief, to hold absolute convictions at bay, to give prejudices up in order to more clearly hear what God wants for us.  Careful listening to spiritual teachings asks us for the capacity for insight, and for the allowance of God's word to transform our priorities and meanings so that we actually seek more; we become aware, in other words, of how much we don't know.  Christ speaks in parables, in some sense, in order to invite those in who hunger and thirst for more, for what it is He has to offer, who understand their need for spiritual guidance, for God, and for Christ's work in us as the Good Shepherd.  But He promises so much as well:  these parables of the natural beauty of growth teach us about God's life growing in us, and our capacities even for hosting God as God's temple (1 Corinthians 3:16), and our capacities for bearing spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23).  We need to be willing to open up to that influence within ourselves, to find God's ways for us, and enter into relationship.  For He is the way, the life, and the truth -- and that is the bounty we seek through discerning listening.  How poetic and beautiful to hear the natural wonder of the world, such as the birds that nest in the shade of the branches of a sturdy herbal bush, and know that as such we may also shade angels in our midst.