True Faith Is a Gift

Introduction, Outline, & Prayer

One of my favorite games to play with my son right now is hide and seek. I’m not 100% sure that he gets the point of the game yet but he seems to enjoy chasing me around and finding my painfully obvious, comically bad hiding spots. I’ll hide behind curtains that only go down to my knees or behind a door that’s a quarter of the way open or sometimes I’ll just duck down around a corner and cover my face. I purposely hide in plain view because I’m playing with a 10 month old and because I love look on his face when he finds me.

Today’s passage is another instance of something hidden in plain view, only for a very different reason. As we will see, Jesus hid truth about God’s kingdom in the plain view of parables. If you remember from last week, we saw that parables are special kinds of stories that use simple, familiar ideas to help us understand complex, unfamiliar ideas. They help us learn things we don’t know by showing how they are similar to things we do know. So, the parables themselves are simple—they are in one sense like hiding behind a curtain—but Jesus has a rather surprising reason for hiding the truth in these simple stories. It is not to show us how easy and fun it is to discover the truth of God’s kingdom on our own but to reveal how tragically blind and deaf we are to the truth apart from His gracious help.

That’s what we will see in today’s passage, Mark 4:10–12. These three verses are surrounded by a parable. On one side, in vv. 1–9, Jesus tells a parable to a large crowd about a farmer who plants seed in 4 different places: on a sidewalk, in gravel, among weeds, and in a rich, healthy garden plot. Only in that last place—the good soil of the garden—does the seed grow into a healthy, fruit-bearing plant. On the other side, in vv. 13–20, Jesus privately explains the hidden-in-plain-view-lesson of the parable to His followers. He and they preach the gospel like farmers plant seeds in the earth. Those who hear it respond to it in one of the four ways, each resembling a different kind of soil in the parable. Only the people like the good soil respond rightly, by receiving the gospel, enduring trials, and harnessing its life-giving power, growing into a spiritual garden that nourishes not only their lives but also the lives of those around them.

That’s a pretty simple, straightforward story because Jesus explains it clearly for us. But He pauses in vv. 10–12 to reveal why He teaches in parables. He wants us to know not only what He taught but also why He taught it the way He did. He wants us to know that He hid truth about God’s kingdom in the plain view of parables for two reasons: 1) to reveal truth to the “insiders” and 2) to conceal truth from the “outsiders.” This is one of the most difficult passages in the Gospel of Mark because it seems to contradict Jesus’s mission to proclaim the gospel of God and to call people to repentance and faith. You’ll hear the tension in just a moment when I read the text. Jesus seems to say that He taught in parables so that people would remain blind and ignorant and would not turn from their sins and be forgiven. It seems to imply that Jesus could have taught in a way that would have brought about repentance, faith, and forgiveness but He intentionally did not teach that way. We will wrestle with this as we look at The Insiders and Outsiders (vv. 10–11) and then at The Purpose of the Parables (v. 12). Let’s read the text, pray for God’s help, then dig in.

“ 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, 12 so that ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’’” – Mark 4:10–12

Point 1: Insiders and Outsiders (vv. 10–11) [11 minutes]

What Jesus meant by “alone” is very different than what most of us would mean. Did you catch it? “And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.” So, “those around Him”—that’s plural; so, at least 2—“with the twelve” have a conversation with Jesus while He is “alone.” By my count, that means there were at least 14 people (but probably more) with Jesus when Mark says He was “alone.” I don’t know about you but I would never say I was alone if there were 14 people with me. I don’t point this out to say, “You are wasting your life and being disobedient whenever you are all by yourself—you should always be with people.” I point this out to say, “Look at how Jesus lived to love, serve, and disciple people even in His ‘down time.’” This group of at least 14 sought Him in private so they could ask Him about the parables He had told. Jesus responds in v. 11 by saying, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables.”

So, there are two different groups: “those around [Jesus]” and “those outside.” For a group to be “outside,” there has to be an inside, right? Outside only makes sense if there’s also an inside. Players go out of bounds by crossing the boundary of the court—they always want to stay inside that boundary and if there was no boundary they would never be out of bounds. So, Jesus means that there is some kind of boundary and “those outside” are on the wrong side of that boundary. So what is the boundary? It seems like “those around [Jesus]” are the insiders. But if that were the case, we would all be in trouble because Jesus isn’t physically here right now; He is with His Father in heaven. Thankfully, being physically close to Jesus really has nothing to do with being on the inside. For example, there was at least one person physically with him at that point who definitely wasn’t an insider: Judas. The Bible calls him a betrayer, not an insider. So, how can we tell who is in and who is out? It’s not being in the physical presence of Jesus but being in His kingdom. The kingdom Jesus brought, the kingdom of God, is what we are either on the inside or outside of. We see this in five different “dividing lines” drawn in the sand of this passage.

Dividing Lines

If we consider why “those around [Jesus]” came to Him at all, we find the first dividing line. They sought Jesus because they believed He told the truth and had the answers they needed. So, insiders are those who seek Jesus because they need truth, desire truth, and believe He is the truth. They are inside the kingdom of God not because of what they have but because of who they seek and why. Those outside either don’t seek Jesus at all or seek Him for the wrong reasons.

Based on what Jesus says in v. 12, we find the next three dividing lines. Outsiders are those who see but don’t perceive, hear but don’t understand, and fail to turn and find forgiveness. The opposite is true for insiders. They see Jesus and perceive that He is the King, they hear Jesus and understand that He speaks divine truth, and they turn to Him and find forgiveness.

The fifth and most important dividing line deals with being “given the secret of the kingdom of God.” Being inside the kingdom has nothing to do with popularity, looks, intelligence, or a good track record. There’s no minimum amount of Bible IQ God requires of you before He will save you. No one is in the kingdom because they associate with the right people or go to the right church or go to church enough or do the right things or avoid the wrong things or dress the right way or say the right words. There is one and only one thing that determines whether you are in or out and it is whether or not you have received a gift from God. Have you been given the secret of the kingdom? Jesus doesn’t explicitly tell us who gives the secret but who could it be but the King? He also doesn’t explicitly tell us what the secret is but I think we see it in action and it goes back to seeking Jesus as the King.

It amazes me that, when approached by a crowd of people who don’t understand His parables and need Him to explain, Jesus tells them “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God.” The verb translated “has been given” means it was given in the past and continues to be theirs now into the future. This isn’t simply something that happened in the past—it has an ongoing presence in their lives. How can Jesus tell a group of ignorant people that, despite their ignorance, they have already been given the secret of the kingdom of God and still have it even now? Isn’t their ignorance evidence that they haven’t been given the secret of the kingdom of God? Obviously not. Evidently knowing all of the answers ourselves is not the secret; knowing who has the answers is the secret. We know the secret is at work in them not because they have the answers but because they go to Jesus for the answers.

One commentator explains that the “secret” doesn’t refer to “knowledge reserved for select initiates; nor, as in modern detective stories, to unknown information that must be pried out by stealth and wit… No amount of research can unlock the mystery of God… the mystery must be revealed [by God] in order to be known… it is received by faith as a result of hearing.”[1]

Unless God gives us the secret and brings us inside the kingdom, we will forever be ignorant outsiders. When “those outside” heard Jesus’s parable, they heard nothing more than a story. When the insiders heard Jesus’s parable, they heard something more wrapped in a story—they might not have known exactly what it was but they knew Jesus could explain it. So, anyone who genuinely seeks Jesus for the truth and perseveres in it shows that they have received the secret of the kingdom of God. Understanding that Jesus is the King is the secret.

Point 2: The Purpose of the Parables (v. 12)

Now it’s time to focus on the purpose of the parables. Jesus said, “for those outside everything is in parables, so that ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” This passage makes people squirm and long to find some way to interpret it other than at face value. Some try to explain that v. 12 is an unintended result of the parables—that Jesus meant to reveal truth in His parables but the unintentional side effect revealed people’s blindness and ignorance. Others say v. 12 merely confirms what was already present in the hearts of those outside, people who had already blinded themselves and hardened their own hearts to the truth. Others go so far as to claim Jesus never said this—that it is either a mistranslation of the original manuscript or someone changed or added it years later.

However, none of those explanations make more sense or have more grammatical or theological justification than accepting the passage at face value. Jesus’s parables humbled the insiders and hardened the outsiders. I am not claiming that this is an easy teaching or that there is no mystery to it. But I am calling us to make our theology fit the Bible rather than trying to make the Bible fit our theology. We should always be open to God’s wisdom through others to help us see the plain meaning of the passage—that’s what it means to be teachable—but we shouldn’t alter or soften the force of God’s word just because we are uncomfortable with something about it. I believe Mark 4:10–12 plainly shows that Jesus intended His parables to humble the insiders by showing that they had been given the secret of the kingdom—they could boast in nothing except God’s grace as the reason for being inside His kingdom. I believe Mark 4:10–12 also plainly shows that Jesus intended His parables to harden outsiders by keeping them imperceptive, ignorant, and unforgiven.

So, what theological conclusions can we draw from Jesus’s humbling and hardening parables? Let’s look at two hard truths and two encouraging truths.

Hard Truths

God does not sin by withholding salvation

I don’t think I am easily angered unless I get a parking ticket. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, it pretty much guarantees that I’m going to have some things to repent of later. The most recent one happened this winter. There was a moderate snowfall and Eau Claire decided to enforce what they call the “alternate side parking” rule. Last winter, we lived in an apartment in Altoona and, therefore, only paid attention to our landlord’s snow removal laws. So, this was our first winter in Eau Claire and, having no idea that this “alternate side parking” rule existed, I got a ticket for parking on the wrong side of the street. The reason listed on the ticket itself read, “Parking in a posted no parking zone.” I walked up and down the street to make sure I had not missed some kind of no parking post but there was absolutely nothing.

So, about a week later after I cooled off, I went to the police station to ask 1) why I got a ticket and 2) how I could contest it. The officer informed me about the “alternate side rule” and said that none of the tickets issued for breaking it were even eligible to contest—citizens have no choice but to pay the fine, they are guilty with no chance of being proven innocent. As calmly as I could, I mentioned that the ticket was unjust because I was being penalized for disobeying a sign that didn’t exist. The officer responded by listing the four places where it was “posted”: in the newspaper (which we don’t subscribe to), on the news (which we don’t get), on Facebook (which Angela has but it never even crossed our mind that the city of Eau Claire had a Facebook page), and on some sign off of some highway on the opposite side of town. At that point I knew I had to leave while they would still let me; so, my final words were informing them that every other Midwest city I’ve lived in posts the signs they penalize people for breaking and suggested they put my fine toward buying a sign for my street.

I mention all of this because my ignorance did not change the fact that I had broken the law and as a lawbreaker, the police department did not owe me mercy whatsoever. I still think the ticket was unjust; however, it taught me a lesson about God. He is altogether just and righteous and does not owe sinners like us anything but judgment. In other words, God does not sin if He withholds salvation. Think about it. The outsiders in this passage don’t find forgiveness but why do they need forgiveness in the first place? Because they have sinned against God.

I don’t know if it’s an American thing or a human thing but I think there is a high and unjust sense of entitlement in many people’s hearts. When someone speeds past you off in traffic, what do you want? Justice! “Where’s a cop when I need one!” But when that cop pulls you over for speeding what do you want? Not justice—you want grace and I think we often to feel entitled to it, which is a complete contradiction. If we are entitled to it, it isn’t grace and if it is grace, we aren’t entitled to it. This passage and others like it will not make sense to us until we realize that God doesn’t owe salvation to anyone.

God’s will is complex

Jesus came to make the gospel and kingdom of God known and to call people to repent and believe (Mark 1:14–15). Jesus told parables for the sake of preventing people from repenting and believing (Mark 4:10–12). Same Jesus. Same biographer. Same Gospel. Same God. This means that God’s desires are either contradictory or complex and I’m arguing for complex.

It is strange to me that the scandal of the cross doesn’t seem to bother us but the scandal of the parables does. I think it’s because the scandal of the cross benefits humanity and the scandal of the parables seems to injure humanity.

The scandal of the cross is seen in that it was God’s will for Jesus to die on a cross. “For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” – Acts 4:27–28. So, in one sense, everything that happened to Jesus—from being betrayed in the garden of Gethsemane to being crucified on the hill of Golgotha—happened by the predestined plan and will of God. I think that scandal bothers us less because it benefits us with eternal life by grace through faith in Jesus and because we know God’s plan didn’t stop at the cross. It included the resurrection, ascension, reign, and return of Jesus Christ.

But the scandal of the parables—that Jesus would teach them for the sake of keeping people imperceptive, ignorant, and unforgiven—just seems to bother us more because we don’t see a benefit to humanity and don’t see God’s appointed end for doing things this way. I cannot explain why God does things in this way. I wish there was more explanation in this passage. There isn’t. I’m not pretending to have all the answers. I’m not pretending that this passage doesn’t get under my skin a bit. However, I am proclaiming that God is trustworthy. When we watch the rerun of history with God in heaven, it will make sense. We will see the good and glorious purpose behind everything He has done. Rather than suspecting evil of God and trusting our wisdom, I am calling us to suspect our wisdom and to trust the goodness and sovereignty of God.

Encouraging Truths

The parables are not the same as the gospel

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:8–11

I think God sent the parables for one purpose and the message of the gospel for another. Parables reveal people’s hearts, showing who is an outsider and who is an insider. The gospel changes people’s hearts, transforming outsiders into insiders. Parables are like the walls that surround a kingdom and tell a person whether they are inside it or outside it. The gospel is like the only door into the kingdom that allows a person to enter.

The door is open until we die

Nothing in this passage says that outsiders can’t become insiders. In fact, chapter 5 of Mark will show 3 astonishing stories of the least likely candidates being welcomed into the kingdom. Jesus will give the secret of the kingdom to those who seem to be on the outside. Jesus calls us to proclaim the gospel so He can continue doing the same thing through us.

1. James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Mark, PNTC (Grand Rapids; Apollos, 2002), 131. ↑