Jesus intention with His parables was NEVER to confuse His audience. His intention with parables was to make His teaching easier to understand. Again, parables were meant to aid in understanding for His audience, not hide something from them.
"Then Geoff," you may ask, "why does Jesus say those who see don't see and those that hear don't hear?"
Jesus' statement is a matter of action on those who are in the audience. Will they be like people who hear His words and then do nothing with them, or will they hear His words and practice them in real life. Actually, Jesus is simply expounding on the parable of the soils He just told. What will people do when they hear the His words? Will they put them into practice (and produce a crop yielding 30, 60, or even a 100 times), or will they hear His words and do nothing with them (like seed on the path, or on rocky places, or among thorns)?
In the case of the disciples, they know Jesus' theology, and so when He speaks to the people in parables, they are expected to understand (because they have the "secret"). However, when they hear the parables (especially in Mark, by the way), they can't put the two together - His theology and His teaching.
And Jesus doesn't appreciate that. One can feel the tension when He explains the parable to His disciples.
The reason I brought up Mark 4:33-34 is that the audience shifts from His disciples to the crowd. Notice that Jesus used parables to help the people understand His theology. Unfortunately with the disciples, Jesus has to draw the connecting lines for them.
So the question still remains: what kind of soil are you? Or put another way, what are you DOING with what you KNOW? Are you connecting your theology with your actions?
3 comments:
Geoff, I am glad to know about your new blog. (I had quit checking on it.) I've read every entry on Mark and I find your zeal so encouraging. I'm not to the point of wanting to memorize Mark yet, but hey, your blogs certainly make me want to read and absorb it again.
Looking at Psalm 78, (that is quoted as a prophecy fulfilled by Jesus' parable-spouting tendencies), pretty well substantiates most of what you say here.
But I'm still a bit skeptical, somehow. Doesn't the whole messianic secret thing come into play here? I mean, on the one hand, Jesus is proclaiming the kingdom, and on the other, He is trying to keep it under the wraps. Doesn't that account for some of the tension that we feel in reading the Gospels?
Just a few thoughts from an OT scholar venturing out of his field.
Good thoughts Matthew! I wrestle with the "messianic secret" idea, but however I feel about it, that doesn't negate the tension regarding His messiahship in some of Jesus' parables (say Matthew 20). I wonder if two things are at play in Jesus' life as revealed through the Gospel narratives: 1) Jesus as the Messiah, and 2) the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus as the Messiah (and the messianic secret) do not belong in this section. Jesus does speak of His messiahship later on, but that is not the point He is making here. His emphasis at this point is on the Kingdom of Heaven and what it looks like. I don't believe Jesus was attempting to "disguise" or keep the Kingdom of Heaven under wraps. Now Him being the Messiah? For a time, perhaps.
I will deal more with the topic you brought up at a later time, L-RD willing:-) Thanks for your thoughts!
And Mom, thanks for the encouragement! :-)
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