Mark 4:1-20.  As is no typical in the book of Mark the story just keeps moving.  In chapter three Jesus was teaching in a synagogue (a sort of Jewish church) where he healed a man, then he went our by the sea (probably a reference to the Sea of Galilee; really a large lake) and taught the people, then he when up in the hills where he chose twelve guys to be his closest followers, then he came down and went home where he was teaching and was accused of being demon possessed by the religious leaders and crazy by his family, now in today’s reading he is back by the sea again.

Just like the last time Jesus was by the sea (Mark 3:7-9) the crowd became quite large and Jesus got into a boat as sort of a floating stage to teach from.  In chapter three it doesn’t say he was teaching from the boat (but that is probably what he did) here in chapter four we are specifically told that is what he did.  At the end of chapter three Jesus started using parables to teach the crowd.  So bible experts say that Jesus used parables to keep some of the crowd from understanding what he was saying but as we saw in yesterday’s post that is the opposite of what a parable is about.  Parables try to make what a teacher is saying clear by comparing something we know to some new idea.  The actual meaning of the word parable is “to compare by placing two things beside each other.”  Yesterday I heard a radio host talking about gay marriage on the radio.  He was commenting on how there are good arguments against gay marriage that don’t even use the Bible as a source.  He said that many people wont even listen to the arguments (actually he said they don’t even “hear” the arguments) because they don’t like what they prove.  The reason many people listening to Jesus (including his twelve closest followers) didn’t understand the parable he was teaching wasn’t because they were mysterious or secret but because the ideas were so different from what they expected or wanted to hear.

As you read verses 3-8 you might think where is the comparison.  There isn’t one in those verses.  Mark tells us that Jesus is teaching in parables but then gives us this story.  Either Mark didn’t give us the whole talk from Jesus or Jesus didn’t finish the parable with the crowd. More than likely Mark did not give us the whole story.  Remember Mark was writing a specific history of Jesus to help a specific group of believers who were in the middle of troubling times (actually at the beginning of some very troubling times).  Mark may only give the first part of the parable to create a picture for his readers.  In this case it is like props on a stage waiting for the action of the characters.  Although there are other followers present I think the main actors are the twelve disciples (or followers) of Jesus and the action is about how they listen or don’t listen (Note:  this is updated from my original post.  See an explanation in the 4/6/13 post.  I don’t think this affects the application below though because mark still make a point out of the twelve being there).  Verse three starts out with Jesus saying, “Listen up!”  Verse 9 ends with Jesus telling his audience that if those who have ears to hear need to hear.  That is a way of telling them to actually listen and think about what he is saying and not just hear the words.

In verses 10-12 the disciples ask Jesus the meaning of the parable.  Since Mark didn’t give us the comparison in verses 3-8 we are wondering too.  Verse 11 might seem like Jesus is trying to hide what he is teaching but that is not the case.  Remember that parables are supposed to help us understand something that we don’t understand.  In verse 12 Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:10.  Matthew also tells this story of Jesus but he gives a fuller quote of what Jesus said and quotes Isaiah 6:9-10.  In Matthew 13:14-15 Jesus tells us that their hearts have become dull and that they have shut their ears.  In Acts 28:26-27 Paul quotes theses same verses from Isaiah and applies them to the some Jewish leaders near Rome who had come to listen to him teach.  When some “would not believe (Acts 28:24) Paul told them they were the guys Isaiah was talking about.  So the point of what Jesus was saying to his followers in Mark 4 was not that he was keeping secrets but that some people didn’t want to accept them, to those people the truth was like a mystery.  But it was not supposed to be that way for the twelve, they should have understood the truth because he had taught them, but they weren’t getting it, or maybe they still didn’t want to get it.

In verses 13-20 Jesus explains the point of the “parable” of the sower and the seed to them, and it is all about how we listen.  In a way verses 9-12 were a part of this parable because the comparison is the really between the seeds and the disciples (and us for that matter).  Jesus taught the disciples and all who were coming out to see him.  He was giving them the “word of God”, the seed.  Some of the people were like the hard dirt along the side of the road, the seeds just bounced off and it wasn’t long before they were taken away.  Some of the people were like rocky areas where there was just a little shallow dirt.  The seeds started to grow but died because they didn’t have much depth.  The result was the same though no useful plant.  The third group of people were like weed infested soil, they heard the word of God and it started to work in their lives but then they decided other things were more important, again no useful plant.  The final group was like good soil where the plant grows up and gives plenty of fruit.  The whole thing is about listening and accepting and acting on what we hear.  According to verse 13 if you don’t do this then the rest of what Jesus taught will be useless too.  All parables depend on us listening and eventually accepting what we are taught.

It is nice to know that the twelve “Apsotles” were just like us, stubborn and not always willing to listen.  It’s nice not because I want an excuse to keep being stubborn or deaf, but because of what those twelve men (well actually eleven of them) eventually did, they changed the world with the truth about Jesus and God.  They weren’t special they just listened,,, eventually.  In the book of Acts Jesus left them standing outside Jerusalem with a promise of power to be witnesses of who Jesus was and what he is about.  Not too many days later they were all hiding out together when that power came in the form of the Holy Spirit.  As the Spirit entered each of their lives they became amazing ambassadors for Jesus (Acts 1:8; 2:1-12).  We too might want to hide out, but wee too are supposed to be “witnesses” of what Jesus has done, but we have to hear and listen and act.  E need to let the Holy Spirit fill us and use us to share the story.  We need to not be hard, or shallow, or worried.

God help me not be hard or shallow or worried.  Help me listen and accept the truth.  Don’t let my ideas about how it ought to be keep me from seeing how it really is.  Help me understand your plan and believe in it and trust it.  Let my life be good soil.  Let your words grow deep into me and produce a huge crop which can them be planted in others.  Let your kingdom be filled with people who heard it from me and saw it in me.