Portraits of the Kingdom

The Purpose of Parables

Mark 4:1-20: What soil are you?

!Power in Stories!

C.S. Lewis

J.R.R. Tolkien

Purpose of Parables:

Verses 1-2: Context

Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

It hasn’t been easy for Jesus lately:

Family thinks he’s going insane. 

The higher-ups in Jerusalem are telling spreading rumors about him: demon possessed and a blasphemer.

Things haven’t been easy, but Jesus keeps plugging away, and all these outside influences probably only exacerbates the desire for people to hear Jesus speak. They come in droves!

On this particular day, thousands of people come to hear him, all ready to get their socks knocked off with a good sermon.

The crowd watches a group of young men steady a boat on the shore while one of them steps inside. That one in the boat must be Jesus. The men push the boat 40 feet or so into the sea and takes a seat.

This is Jesus nearing the height of his celebrity-ship.

versus 3-9:

With his outside voice, Jesus calms the chattering crowd with one word, “Listen!” Thousands of ears lean in three inches.

Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

With that, Jesus takes up his oar, and rows back to shore.

Thousands of ears pull back to neutral position… Is he rowing back to shore? Shouldn’t he be talking more about sowing rather than rowing? If I’m going to come all this way to just ‘Listen’ at least he could have told a better story!

Maybe his family and the religious experts are right: he may just be nuts! I came to see some miracles. I came to see what the fuss is all about, not to hear a story about a prodigal sower.

People walk away confused, unclear, what is Jesus getting at?

Name the tension at the end of verse 9:

What was the point?

Even the disciples didn’t understand!

The beauty of our vantage point is that we get the inside scoop:

vv. 10-11: Insider v. Outsider language

10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables”

Jesus readily shares with them why he speaks in stories to the crowd:

First thing to notice:

Insiders v Outsiders

“To you has been given the secret (lit. mystery) of the Kingdom of God.”

“To you…” v. “Those outside”

Insider=To you=Disciples

Outsiders= “for those outside”= Everyone else not really following Jesus.

The crowd. The fare weather fan. Bandwagon.

Outsiders need to listen to those insider secrets in code! In story form!

Disciples are privy to the insider secrets.

Insiders receive the secrets of the Kingdom

Outsiders receive the secrets in code, through stories!

But why? Why would just speak about the secrets of the Kingdom in code?

What is the Secret?

What is the Kingdom?

We’re going to try to answer these, but first, things get even more puzzling:

Jesus gives the reason for why there’s this divide between Insiders and Outsiders:

12 so that “ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ” 13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

Wrong interpretation?

Outsiders coming and turning their lives around receiving forgiveness! Isn’t that WHY Jesus came?

Why would Jesus limit the secrets of the Kingdom of God to just a select few.

Reflect: “We’ll just leave those outside the kingdom outside. Let’s just keep the secrets of the Kingdom of God in-house. Otherwise, you know what’s gunna happen next? They might repent and be forgiven.”

Jesus misspoke?

Perhaps Jesus was just off his game a little bit? Preaching before a few thousand people takes its toll on the mind. Plus, he was preaching from a boat off the shore, that constant rocking motion of water can throw you off a little...

Tempting to not preach on verses 10-12. The rest of this passage looks like a juicy burger, so much to grab hold of and digest. But these verses smack dab in the middle taste a little like uncooked chicken.

Of course:

Not an mistranslation.

Jesus is always on his A-Game

So how do we understand this:

How we hear it:

“We wouldn’t want outsiders to understand the Kingdom, or else they’d actually repent! Who wants that?”

What misleading about that translation is that we must understand the BIG PICTURE:

Quote from Isaiah:

Isaiah quote: “In Isaiah’s time the people could not understand the message until the land and Jerusalem were decimated (Isa. 6:11–13). The present time is one of concealment and suffering, and understanding may have to wait destruction…” David Garland

Isaiah passage=filled with irony:

Perhaps one or two of the disciples recognize that Jesus is quoting a Bible passage here. The passage he’s quoting comes from early on in Isaiah, a passage filled with irony. In it God sends Isaiah to preach the Good News to Israel knowing that Israel would never repent. Isaiah goes to preach about faith to a faithless people. No one could believe because their hearts aren’t prepared to believe. Their hearts weren’t ripe for harvest.

The question is; when would the harvest be ready? When will their hearts be prepared to hear? For Israel in Isaiah’s day, it wouldn’t be until Jerusalem and Israel’s land get ransacked would they start listening again. It wouldn’t be until they went through the trial of suffering and alienation would their hearts be receptive to the Gospel.

From our vantage point this morning, we have a picture of the Kingdom the disciples didn’t have. When Jesus shares the story about the Sower, seeing and hearing about the Kingdom meant seeing and hearing about a kingdom without suffering! It was a painless Kingdom. For many Jesus was just another religious circus act, rather than the Anointed Son of God.  We also know that Mark’s Gospel is filled with mystery and secrecy. More than any other Gospel, Mark wants to make sure that when people believe, that they believe the real deal. When Peter confesses out loud, “You are the Christ,” Mark’s Gospel records Jesus commanding Peter not to tell anyone about this. Later that same chapter, Peter took Jesus aside and told him off for saying that Jesus would have to suffer, that Jesus would be rejected, and that Jesus would have to be killed. Jesus responded, “Get behind me Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” After Jesus healed the daughter of a famous synagogue ruler, it’s Mark’s Gospel that records Jesus urging people not to tell anyone about the miracle.

From our vantage point, we see that if people started believing in Jesus, they would proclaim a Crossless Kingdom. They would believe in a kingdom of healing, but without eternal healing! They would declare a Messiah with an earthly crown, and not a crown of thorns. Verses 10-12 are sandwiched in Mark 4 to show us that in order for hearts to be receptive to the Gospel, we need to not only see and hear, but also to perceive and understand the a Kingdom with a CROSS. Everything in Mark’s Gospel points to the Cross.

In short, people will not TRULY perceive, understand, or be forgiven unless they understand destruction, suffering!

This quote must be understood within a timeline:

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He makes that clear to Zecheus, by all definitions, AN OUTSIDER!

Just like Israel wasn’t prepared to repent unless they experience Jerusalem’s destruction.

SO, Outsiders are not prepared to repent unless they experience the DYING AND RISING WITH CHRIST!

Simply put: They are not ready yet to repent!

Like True Lies: “I want the truth” “You can’t handle the truth!”

David Garland: “Outsiders see no revelation of the kingdom of God in Jesus’ miracles, his teaching, or his death. Only insiders, even if they are sometimes confused by its enigmatic concealment, can see the truth.”

What is the secret?

Cranfield: “It is the secret that the kingdom of God has come in the person and words and works of Jesus. That is a secret because God has chosen to reveal himself indirectly and in a veiled way. The incarnate Word is not obvious. Only faith could recognize the Son of God in the lowly figure of Jesus of Nazareth. The secret of the kingdom of God is the secret of the person of Jesus.”

What is the Kingdom?

Kingdom is based on the RULE of an Executed King!

The King was killed, but then resurrected.

The King became an OUTSIDER so that OUTSIDERS can be brought near.

Before the Crucifixion, people were looking for a KING WITHOUT A CROSS!

It would have been mayhem if Jesus spoke openly about the SECRETS of the KINGDOM. The timing would not have been GOD’S TIming.

Jesus neede dto live out a ministry of teaching and healing. He had to make sure he properly USHERED IN THE KINGDOM!

Imagine a bad usher:

Runs to your spot, and your like, I don’t want to be here?

Secret:

JESUS IS THE KING SENT FROM HEAVEN AS THE SON OF GOD.

What is the KINGDOM?

It’s a KINGDOM based on destruction—the crucifixion—but results in NEW LIFE—the RESURRECTION!

How is this Parable a one about the Kingdom?

And so when we enter into the explanation of the Story of the Sower, we do so with the Cross both behind and before us. The Kingdom is no longer a secret. Jesus’ identity is no longer a secret. The Gospel has been fully revealed, but as we now see its message continues to receive mixed reactions.

Path:

Jesus shares with his disciples that the sower sows the word. Some people will be like a path. No matter how many seeds fall on this path, their hearts are just too hard to accept the Gospel. These aren’t passive listeners of the Gospel, they are aggressive opponents to it. They are the Judases who frame Jesus to be something he is not. They are the Pharisees who want Jesus to disappear. They are the ones who want the cross without the resurrection. They are those who write books calling God an illusion. They see war and poverty and famine as a natural weaning out process. They see the cross and spit on it. They seek to infest the cross like termites, eating away at its truth and necessity.

Rocky Ground:

There are others who receive the word of God much differently, at first. At first, they receive the word with joy. They hear the word and even endure for a little bit. They see the cross as a great idea. It makes sense and sounds inspirational. They went to a convention and said they would change their lives forever.  But at the end of the day, joy fades. The joy of salvation doesn’t translate into discipleship.  Without roots, the word can’t grow. Have you ever seen a cross section of a tree? It’s amazing, isn’t it, how large the roots really are. Sometimes the roots cover a greater area then what you see on the outside. But without deep roots, it can easily be uprooted. When I was around 16 a powerful storm suddenly hit our property in the middle of a summer afternoon. The wind was so strong we ran down stairs just in case. Sure enough a gust of wind hit a tree near our house. This large tree was on it side, creating a perfect 90 degree angle in the grass. On the other side of this wall of grass was a maze of roots dangling out of the ground. This tree couldn’t handle the wind, just like some people can’t handle the cross. Once the joy fades, and Christianity becomes something that actually changes your life, the word tumbles out of the soul. See, happiness depends on what happens to us. It’s conditional. But God’s word must dig deep so that we can take the winds of life. When cross-like experiences happen, rocky-soil faith can’t last. Is your faith able to withstand the winds of life? Is God’s word rooted deep enough? Has it consumed you like your nervous system does? Although sometimes it looks like it, Christianity is not merely a happy-clappy faith? Great programs, fun experiences, smiles and nice facilities don’t make deep disciples. Faith in the crucified Christ does.

Thorns:

Other people receive the word in yet another different way. The word gets thrown into a heap of a list-of-things-to-do. The list-of-things-to-do, and the list-of-things-to-have add up to the point where the sown word no longer has any priority. This may be one of our own biggest challenges in life, isn’t it? Busyness is a sign of success. Doing lots of things means productivity. Having lots of things shows others that we’re pretty awesome. We are a culture of doing and accumulating. It’s no wonder the church is shrinking here. It’s getting choked. It’s dying to stuff rather than the cross. Our culture’s natural inclination of reducing pain and suffering even at the expense of others has infiltrated the church. Has it become a Crossless Christian Culture?  The point of being sown is to produce fruit, and plants with thorny company can’t produce fruit. And so for us…  what is it in our lives that we need to cut out and root out around us so that God’s word can grow? What is it that distracts us from fruitful faith so that when people look at us they don’t see stuff or success or greed? They don’t see our idols of family, or technology, or sex.  Instead, they see a faith that boast in our crucified LORD.

Good Soil:

But there are others still who do receive the word and do produce fruit. Jesus says that good soil folk hear the word and accept it. Roots take hold and the plant grows healthy. In the end rather than just die like all the others, it produces a huge crop- a miraculous and seemingly impossible crop. These are the disciples of Jesus. They are the cross-centered folk who withstand the rain and the wind. These are the one James writes about in his Gospel: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only (James 1:22).” Or later in James: “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Again James writes: “Faith apart from works is useless.” Ungrounded faith eventually dies. A priority list more important than faith eventually dies. The type of faith that lives… produces.

This past spring we had a serious problem with our plumbing. For some reason things weren’t getting flushed. Well, they were getting flushed, just not in the right places.  Is that too much information? So after trying to fix the problem with my amateur ways, we called a plumber. Two young boys looking like 17 year olds stopped by- the first time I wrote up this story I spelt by- buy.  I think it’s because after a 2 minute yet surprisingly expensive assessment, these two young lads went back to the truck to pulled out The Snake! For those of you who don’t know, a plumbers snake is this long coil that goes through your plumbing pipes. That morning I bought one at Home Depot that was about 100 times smaller than this anaconda type snake they pulled out of the truck. With a large electric snake vibrator machine, they pushed this steal snake through our main pipe that runs under our house. TRTRRTRTRTRTRTRTR… TRTRRRTRTRTRTRT….TRTRTRTRTRRTRTRTRT. 20 feet of steal coil went in, 20 feet of steal coil came back out. The tip of the snake revealed the culprit of our plumbing problem. Anyone guess what it was? Roots! That’s right. We have a beautiful large oak tree on our property, and the roots grew from beneath our house back up to what one I guess could call a water source. I can’t imagine how large that root system is at the corner of Howe and East 17th.

Our hearts are meant to be like the fertile ground at the corner of Howe and East 17th where I live. Our hearts must be fertile for God’s Cross-Kingdom. The Gospel must dig and pry and mess around inside us. When Satan comes slithering about, he can’t get to the core of our faith. The word has grown such powerful roots in our hearts, that the spiritual roots will keep growing.  Unfortunately the physical ones will continue to grow underneath my house as well. 

Are our hearts open to receive the Kingdom of the Crucified LORD?  Are our hearts fertile and ready to produce a harvest for the Cross-Kingdom?  In some ways, when I go through the list of different type of soils, it amazing that we can identify with almost all of them at different points in life.  Some of us have flat out rejected God’s word.  Some of us may still have rootless faiths.  Some of us, if not all of us need to declutter and prioritize.   But at the end of the day, the sower is coming to collect his harvest.  He is coming and he wants you to be a big part of it.  Will you continue to take up your cross and daily follow him?