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.

Mark 3:20-35.  So far I think Mark has done a good job of presenting the history of Jesus in a way that would be helpful to believers who were facing a lot of hatred from those around them, in modern terms you might say the whole society was bullying them, and worse.  Jesus is working through his plan in a the best possible way.  Remember the word “immediately”, which Mark uses so often,  has with it the idea of the most direct path.  Yesterday we saw Jesus choosing some main guys who eventually would carry on for him after he was crucified, but the work isn’t done yet they have a lot to learn and so do we.

Jesus was very focused on what he was doing, teaching and doing miracles among the people.  After he went up to the mountain to choose his twelve key guys, his first string team, he came back home.  He was so busy and there were so many people that they didn’t even have time to eat.  Now that’s real fasting.  He was so focused on what he was doing that his family thought he was insane.  Years ago I was a new believer, really struggling.  I was in college and working construction and a cousin from Iowa wanted to come out and work with my dad and me.  I had never met him and asked a family member what he was like.  They told me he was a real “Holy roller”.  That’s an old term for someone who is a fanatic about their religion and most people use the term in a negative way.  When he moved in with me I found out that he was a believer in Jesus and he went to Calvary Chapel, a real cool guy who wound up being my best man at my wedding a few years later.  I think his family thought that Jesus and the twelve were “holy rollers”.  Well Jesus was focused and he moving on through his plan, you might say he kept rolling on, and he was holy.  Some religious leaders (the Scribes) came into town and took advantage of what his family was saying and accused him of being possessed, not just by a demon, but by the chief demon.  “Beelzebul” means ruler of the house and was another name for Satan.  They even explain this in their accusation.

In verses 23-29 Jesus responds to their accusation.  Mark tells us that he “began to speak to them in parables”.  The word “parable” means to “lay along side of”.  The idea is of putting two things next to each other to compare them.  In a parable Jesus would use something the audience could understand to explain something else.  Some people think that the parables were part of the “divine mystery” (See Mark 1:21-39 post) and that Jesus was using them to hide what he was saying.  This is a complete misunderstanding of the purpose of parable.  It is true that many people were confused by the parables but it was because the truth was so different from what they were looking for or expecting.  In this parable Jesus uses the idea of a man defending his home against invaders.  The man is strong and his house is difficult to invade, but if someone on the inside is a traitor then the house will be easily invaded.  The insider can tie up the strong man then let those outside in.  He was basically telling them that they were crazy if they thought he was banishing demons by the power of Satan, that would be completely against Satan’s plans and Satan would be defeated.

The real power behind Jesus was the Holy Spirit.  In Mark 2:8 we are told that Jesus was aware of what some scribes were thinking “in His spirit”.  The word “in” can also be translated “by”.  We know fro the New Testament that Jesus is god in a human body.  We also know that He existed as god at the same time as God the father existed as God and at the same time as the Holy Spirit existed as God.  Three very separate persons but one God.  It’s kind of a mystery but that is what the Bible teaches.  In Philippians 2:7 Paul told the believers in Phillipi that Jesus was god but that he “emptied himself” and became a servant.  What that verse seems to be telling us is that although Jesus was and is God, that he didn’t use his “God Power” to do what he did, it seems that he relied on help from the Holy Spirit.  So when the scribes accused him of being filled with Satan and doing the things he did by Satan’s power they were denying what was obvious to most of the crowd, that this power was from God (see Mark 1:22, 27; 2:10, 12).

In verses 28-29 we see a very serious warning about what the scribes were saying.  In those two verses Mark uses a Greek word “blasphemia” which we borrow into the English language as the word “blaspheme”.  The word could be translated “hurtful words” the idea is like slander, telling a lie about someone’s actions or character.  In this case they were accusing God of being the Devil.  The warning is that if we ignore the Holy Spirit, don’t take him seriously, then we are eternally lost.  Jesus is very clear in these verses that God wants to forgive “all sins (disobedience and rebellion toward God)” and “all blasphemies” (all the hurtful things we say).  But if we don’t listen to the Holy Spirit we will be lost forever.  This isn’t talking about not listening wne the Holy Spirit tries to help us honor God each day but is talking about rejecting the Holy Spirit from the beginning, like the scribes were doing.  The Holy Spirit helps us see our need to turn back to God, to repent.  If we don’t listen to that we will never put our eternity into Jesus hands and we will not spend eternity with God.  This is very serious, we need to see God for who he is and not deny him.  According to Hebrew 9:27 we are judged after we die, so in theory you have that long to listen to the Holy Spirit and turn to Jesus.  The problem is that you have no idea just when you are going to die, so in reality now is the time to listen and now is the time to give your life to Jesus.

Verses 31-35 seem a little odd at the end of this story and Jesus seems a little harsh in them, but think about what has happened.  Jesus is working through God’s plan to help the world get right with him.  He has just chosen some main followers to carry on after he dies.  Then he comes home and is healing and teaching.  It’s very crazy, not even any time to eat.  And his family’s response is, “You’re a nut!”  This gives the scribes an opportunity to accuse him of sores things yet, using the Devil for his power.  As we saw a very serious mistake.  Now we see his family standing outside calling him to come out.  I’m sure they still want him to quit, maybe they were saying, “time to come home for dinner.”  Then Jesus tells those who are sitting listening to him that his real family are those who do the things that God the father wants.  By saying this Jesus is telling us that his physical family isn’t “on board”.  They are still trying to stop him from doing what he is supposed to do.  In a way they weren’t acknowledging the Holy Spirit either.  Eternal separation from God is a very serious thing (just read Revelation 20 if you don’t think so).  Jesus’ reaction and words were strong because the situation was so serious.  Eventually we know that at least his some of his family accepted who he was and what he was doing (his half-brother James wrote the book of James and was a leader in the early church).

In this section we see the power of God, the dedication of Jesus, the forgiveness of God, and the seriousness of denying the Holy Spirit.  This section would be very helpful as the believers in Rome were tempted to run away or even deny Jesus.  Also we see that Jesus suffered the same kind of rejection that many of the Roman Christians might have been suffering, from friends, family, and leaders.

Jesus thank you for becoming a man.  I know you can understand, you’ve been through it.  Also thank you for letting the Holy Spirit be the power in your life at that time, that means I have the same power source you did.  Help me always listen and never deny the Holy Spirit.  I do believe he is God and is speaking the truth to me.  Thank you that when I get stubborn or stupid and don’t listen, that you are willing to forgive.  Help me be stubborn less and wise more often.  Help me hear and understand and do.  Thank you for loving me.