Mark 4: 1-25, A Parable About Parables

Now Mark provides a series of parables formed the core of Jesus’s teaching circuit.

Mark 4: 1-2a, Teaching by the lake
Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge.

He taught them many things by parables, 

Most of Jesus's teachings will be in parables!  Why? (In modern parlance, this is an example of "active learning".)  His first parable has special significance.

Mark 4: 2b-9, A farmer sows some seed...
and in his teaching said:
"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 

"Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

"Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.

"Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."

Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

In this parable, a common agricultural scene focuses on the effects of the seeds tossed out by the farmer.  The planting leads to various outcomes, followed by Jesus's admonition, "He who has ears...", a phrase that essentially says, "Listen, this is important!"

Mark 4: 10-20, The reason for parables
When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, "`they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!' "

 Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. 

Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 

Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 

Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 

Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop--thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."

The quote in verse 12 is from Isaiah 6:9-10.

The main message of the parable (along with the chastising of the disciples) appears to be: "You are seeds -- now decide your response to the word (and me)."  I believe Jesus's choice of parables as a teaching tool is explained by this first parable of Mark.  A parable pushes the listener to think, to mull over the story.  If the listener is serious about their spiritual life, the story becomes a puzzle to which they return again and again, actively engaging with the topic.  The parable stories themselves begin to grow deep and take root, like seeds....

The parables of Jesus often involve some metaphor, but the metaphor is not a perfect one and that is often a good thing.  (This may be deliberate on the part of the storyteller.)  Here the seed is "the word" (or message) but it also becomes a symbol of the individual listener.  ("Are you a good seed?")  I've heard people debate which is the correct interpretation.  But that debate assumes the metaphor is perfect and it is not.

Mark 4: 21b-25, Lamps, light, listening
He said to them, "Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

"Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you--and even more.  Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."

Two more quick teachings follow the long early one.  What is the role of these two teachings?  Why does Mark include the "lamp & lampstand" parable when Jesus had just said that he was giving the disciples "secrets" to the kingdom of God?

Next time we will continue in chapter 4 of Mark, with more teachings of Jesus.