Teasers

Imagine the scene.  So many people wanted to hear Jesus that he was pushed out to sea to talk to them from a boat.

Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that ‘they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’” And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” - Mark 4:1-20

Do you think the people who heard the parable of the sower understood what Jesus was talking about?

Were they pleased with the message they had traveled to hear? Or were they confused and disappointed?

I ask because the apostles apparently didn't understand.  They needed to have Jesus explain it to them.  

Mark chooses to focus on the apostles here, giving us only a glimpse at the interaction with the crowd.  Surely Jesus didn't offer the parable and then leave.  Perhaps he told them many parables from the boat, and maybe they asked one another questions.

In Mark's Gospel, the brief encounters with Jesus are too brief.  We don't get the full experience we long for.  Instead, these tidbits are like teasers, making us want more.   Maybe that is his strategy, to get us yearning for deeper understanding, like the apostles here.

We want to be like the fertile soil, able to nourish and grow the meaning of the Word, so we ask, what do we need to fully appreciate everything Jesus had to share?

I think Mark's Gospel is an opener, welcoming us to seek greater depth in our faith.  We get the basics, but we long for more, and so, we are invited in to discover our place in this world through Scritpture.

More to come...