He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

 

 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 become 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 appointed twelve to be with Him as disciples and to be sent out on apostolic missions, 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 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!"   At this point in Mark's Gospel, Christ's ministry has progressed to the point where He has just appointed the Twelve who will be His disciples and apostles.  The crowds follow Him so that there is no room in the house where He goes, and He preaches by the sea with a small boat to be kept ready in case the crowds threaten to crush Him.  Here is a new turning point, marked by Christ's beginning to preach in parables, a very notable and significant highlight of Christ's preaching.  Apparently our Lord, being Logos (or the Word) in His divine identity, loved the use of language and words to convey meanings and substance about the kingdom of God.  We can say with great certainty that His vivid way of speaking and turns of phrase remain sayings in all languages to which the Gospel has gone and been proclaimed.  My study Bible focuses on parables in a lengthy comment, calling them stories in word-pictures, which reveal spiritual truth.  In Hebrew and Aramaic the words for parable also mean "allegory," "riddle," or "proverb."  All the Scriptures -- and particularly the Gospels -- are filled with parables.  They are images drawn from daily life in the world in order to represent and communicate the deep things of God, giving us glimpses of the One whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).   Here, Jesus begins (as He does in the other Synoptic Gospels) with the parable of the Sower, a great clue as to the identity of Christ Himself, and the work He does for the kingdom of God.

 

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.'"  We note that the truth of Christ's parables is not obvious to all who hear; neither is the degree of understanding the same even for those who hear.  Therefore, my study Bible says, Jesus' statement that "to those who are outside, all things come in parables" may be translated as ". . . all things come in riddles."  Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6:9-10 here.  This quotation does not mean that parables are used to blind people, or to lead them to punishment.  It shows, on the contrary, that people are responsible for their own lack of receptivity.  Those who have grown dull and insensitive are unwilling to accept the message of the parables.  My study Bible says that as the mission of Isaiah in the Old Testament was to open the eyes of Israel to see the acts of God, so the parables of Jesus are intended to open the eyes of His hearers to the truth and lead them to produce the fruit of righteousness.  

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 become 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 explains the parable of the Sower.  In this parable, He reveals Himself as the promised Messiah, the sower foretold in Isaiah 55:10-13.  My study Bible also asks us to note that while some might teach a person is permanently saved at the moment one professes faith -- a view which wasn't held by the historic Church -- the teaching of Jesus is clear here that it is possible to receive the word and endure only for a time, and then when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble.  In Luke we read that they "fall away" (Luke 8:5).

It's interesting that what we read here today affirms that faith is a kind of continuum, a progression, a "road," as Jesus tells us that He is "the way, the truth, and the life" (way in Greek also meaning "road").   It is possible we will hear the word and keep it for a while, and then over a challenge of some sort of tribulation or testing, we stumble.  Note that Jesus does not mince words when it comes to difficulties. He more or less promises the certainty of difficulties, just as He here tells the disciples that there will be times "when persecution arises for the word's sake."  There are other enemies to the word sown here as well.  He says that for some, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.  So there is no guarantee here of an easy road, or of immediate or guaranteed success in this journey of faith, our struggle to abide in His word.  We will face challenges.  But, if we're going to face challenges to something in life, the best way to meet challenges is with preparation -- and here Jesus, in the details of the parable, is preparing us for what it means to struggle with our faith for a lifetime's endurance.  Moreover, the parable tells us that endurance in the word is not simply for the sake of endurance alone, but that to live our faith means producing spiritual fruit.  That is, there are good changes, good effects, that accompany this endurance in the word and in faith.  But there are also important challenges, that remain always all-too-present to us, and perhaps especially at this time, with so many modern products of technology and economic prosperity.  Jesus distinctly notes that the "cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word."  It's not simply that these things are still with us 2,000 years after Christ preached these words.  But we have had 2,000 years in the mean time of accumulating "cares of this world."  While economic prosperity rises, goods are produced and traded worldwide to a degree simply unimaginable to human beings of the first century (perhaps even of the twentieth century), and riches continue to expand beyond previous measure (in our lifetimes alone, a "millionaire" is simply incomparable to today's "billionaires").  So we must assume that the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things has expanded right along with that prosperity and what we call material progress.  In accordance with this parable, it really doesn't seem to matter what our level of economic prosperity or poverty is, we're still going to face these obstacles to one degree or another -- and, like the poor whom Jesus loved, it seems that these things will always be with us (Matthew 26:11).  Neither does Christ say that the answer to these problems or stumbling blocks is abolishing either wealth or poverty altogether (there will always be those with "less"), but rather to cultivate our own strength of faith and awareness and to endure in His word.  We should expect challenges and difficulties, being ready for them through our awareness and our spiritual preparedness, including the tools of our faith:  worship services, our fellow faithful and the great cloud of witnesses mentioned by St. Paul in his own exhortation to preparedness for spiritual struggle in Hebrews 12:1-3, and of course our prayer lives and pastors.  This is the way, the truth, and the life of Christ:  He prepares us for challenges, not for a perfect world that He fixes for us.  He invites us into His own work of faith, and sets the example first and most powerfully of all.  If we're prepared for the difficulties and pitfalls (and here we are clearly forewarned by Christ), if we are enlightened as to the sense of ourselves on a journey in the experience of this Kingdom, then we are given a clear awareness of what our lives are all about as we seek to follow Him and His word and produce the fruits He asks.  In John's Gospel, Jesus preaches to the people, telling them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going" (John 12:38).  He gives us a clear picture of this walk in the light, so that we know where we are going.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!