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!

 

 

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 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 appointed His twelve disciples, who would also be apostles, 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: . . ..  Let us note that once again, Jesus teaches by the sea, and that this is because there are so many who come to hear Him -- so much so, that now He sits in a boat off the shore to preach, while His audience is on shore facing the sea.  At this stage in Christ's expansive ministry, He has called the Twelve to Him to appoint them as those who will be disciples ("learners") and apostles ("those sent out").  There is another kind of landmark note in this passage for a new stage in Christ's ministry, and that is that He has now begun to teach in parables.

"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!"  The importance of the parable of the Sower is clear through its prominence as the first parable we're given in the Gospels.  It is clearly significant for Jesus' ministry, which will become more clear as He explains its meaning to His disciples (a few verses further on in today's reading).

 

 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 6:10, which is more fully quoted in John 12:40.  My study Bible notes that, according to St. John Chrysostom, Isaiah's prophecy does not mean that God causes spiritual blindness in people who would otherwise have been faithful.  It explains that this is a figure of speech which is common to Scripture and reveals God as giving people up to their own devices (as in Romans 1:24, 26).  In the fullness of the quotation, it is understood that God permits a self-chosen blindness (compare Exodus 8:15, 32 with Exodus 10:20, 27).  This is consistent with the understanding that faith precedes healing, as we can see in Christ's healing miracles.

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."  My study Bible comments that in this central, important parable, the Lord reveals Himself as the promised Messiah, who is the sower, who had been foretold in Isaiah 55:10-13.  

My study Bible has an article on parables that notes several important things we should understand about their use.  It describes parables as "word-pictures" which reveal spiritual truth.  In both Hebrew and Aramaic, the word for parable also means "allegory, "riddle," or "proverb."  All the Scriptures, but especially the Gospels, are filled with parables; that is, images which are drawn from daily life in the world in order to represent and communicate the deep things of God.  It says that parables give us glimpses of God whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).  But there is something distinctive and important here, as Jesus Himself points out:  the truth in Christ's parables isn't plain to all who hear them.  It requires spiritual ears and eyes to hear and see; and even then not all will have the same degree of understanding.  In today's reading, Jesus says that "to those who are outside, all things come in parables."  We might translate that as, ". . . all things come in riddles."  The quotation from Isaiah leaves no doubt that people are responsible for their own lack of receptivity, and absolutely thereby affirms that we all are capable of understanding.  It is a matter of choice to grow dull and insensitive to God's message and understanding; at heart there's an unwillingness to accept the message of the parables.  In the language of the ancient world and the understanding of the Church, this faculty for perceiving the things of God is in each one of us and is called the "nous" in Greek.  It is associated with the heart, and the understanding capacity therein.  This form of grasping truths is very closely akin to experience, as it forms through a kind of participation.  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.  In effect, they challenge all hearers and call for faith to perceive the mysteries of the Kingdom.  This doesn't happen only through an intellectual understanding of the parables.  My study Bible calls spiritual enlightenment essentially a communication of faith in the Person, words, and deeds of Jesus Christ.  Once again, we understand that the use of parables in Jewish culture existed long before Jesus, and we can read this in the Old Testament Scriptures (2 Samuel 12:1-4, 1 Kings 20:35-42, Isaiah 5:1-7).  But Jesus' use of parables is unsurpassed, speaking of aspects of God through vivid, memorable stories.  His purpose, my study Bible tells us, was not only to reveal truth to those with hearts prepared, but in fact to draw responsive hearts past the entrance and into the reality of God's Kingdom which He proclaimed and inaugurated.  Whatever we are to grasp about Christ's parables, let us understand how they point to mystery and the mystical, affirming an important understanding of our faith.  There is a deep connection to the things of God, and to the faith of Christ, through our own capacity for hearing and seeing spiritually -- as Jesus' quotation from Isaiah affirms.  The parables invite us into the Kingdom, as my study Bible says, they invite us in to begin to perceive the things of God, the words of Christ, all that is given to us by our Lord.  In this special kind of perception, we are taught that we are capable of understanding a communion of saints which include the ministering angels (that "great cloud of witnesses" cited by St. Paul in Hebrews 12:1), the realities which Christ has brought into our world, and the truths we are offered through this gift of faith and grace.  The parables, as my study Bible says, are meant to open a door to something, to give us a glimpse of the workings of a Kingdom that not everybody is capable of perceiving.  They are not simple moral tales or aphorisms meant to be sported by anybody for "good living."  They open a door, and the door is Christ (John 10:9-16).  They are meant to teach us about the journey beyond the door, and invite us in to a learning that does not stop but grows through experience.  On that road or way of Christ (John 14:6) we might come to find that the cares of the world that choke us like thorns, the fleeting thoughts of faith that disappear with all the myriad concerns that come to snatch them away, the faith that disappears in fear or crisis -- all of this can be part of the journey along the way. But His word, His seed, keeps giving growth where it takes deep root:  in some thirty-fold, in some sixty, in some a hundred -- or possibly, at various times of our lives, we may experience each of these levels of growth in our own spiritual understanding and capacity for faith and the fruits of that faith.  Jesus opens the door as the crowds grow large, and all kinds of people crowd in to see Him.  But He calls to those who have the ears to hear the things He really offers, which transform our lives and heal us.