Parables: Stories with a Punch (Mk. 4:10-12)

Introduction

· Please turn to Mark 4

· Think back for a moment to your days growing up in school. If you had to pick one teacher who was your favorite above all others, who would it be? Get that person in your mind and thank God for them.

· All of us have at least one teacher who inspired us, and perhaps even changed the course of our life.

· Jesus of Nazareth was a Master Teacher. Brilliant use of questions. (3:4) Saw the value of relationships. (3:13-19) Spoke with authority. (1:27-28) One of the most unique and powerful teaching devices were parables.

· Introduced last week (3:23), but now we encounter a whole chapter of them.

· Read 4:1-13

· New phase of ministry. Disciples confused.

· THE PARABLES HAD TWO GREAT PURPOSES…

1. Parables Reveal Truth to the Humble Heart

· “Parable” has been defined as “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” It was originally a Greek Word. Ballo = to throw or cast. Para = alongside. To throw something up alongside of another. To use one thing familiar in the physical realm to describe something new in the spiritual realm.

· There are about 40 major parables. Depending on count, up to 80 in the Gospels. Parable of the 4 soils, of the wheat and tares, of the fishnet, of the unforgiving servant, the prodigal son, the yeast, the mustard seed, and many more. Some are listed in only one gospel. Others appear in two or three.

· Usually dealt with ordinary subjects – nature (fig tree, wheat, seed), work (vineyard, tenant, shrewd manager), or special occasions (children in marketplace, ten virgins, great supper, wedding banquet). Also lost and found (coin, sheep, son). Anyone who has lost wallet or keys understands the frustration of losing something important, and the subsequent joy of finding it.

· Basic Rules of Interpretation – grammatical, historical, contextual method of hermeneutics.

· Special Rules of Interpretation. It is not an allegory. NOT like Augustine – parable of the great banquet, people began to make excuses; poor and crippled and blind invited instead. One man makes the excuse that he bought 5 yoke of livestock in a business deals and wants to go to inspect them. Augustine interprets the five yoke of oxen (v. 19) to be the five senses; seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. They are in pairs; two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the tongue and the palate, and the inner and outer touch. These senses are double; the eyes see light and darkness, the ears hear harsh and musical sounds, the nose smells sweet and offensive odors, the mouth tastes bitter and sweet, and the touch feels smooth and rough

· Mark Bailey wrote an article back in 1998 called “Guidelines for Interpreting Parables” in Bib Sac.

1. Understand the Setting. Cultural and historical background.

2. Uncover the Need that Prompted the Parable. Who is he talking to? Answering a question? Meeting a challenge? Inviting hearers to think differently? Illustrating a point or principles?

3. Analyze the Structure and Details of the Parable. Progress. Look for the hub vs. spokes.

4. State the Central Truth of the Parable and its relation to the Kingdom.

Sometimes, the key is supplied for us (Lk 18:9; Lk 19:10-11; Mt 25:1-2; Lk 16:9; Mt 18:23-34) Kingdom – Rule of God on Earth. Now…Not Yet.

There may even be the call for an immediate response, such as the parable of the Good Samaritan - “You go, and do likewise” (Lk 10:37)

· This is a good reminder for all scripture. Truth always demands a response. James 1:22–25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

· Obedience is critical. Growth in knowledge without a corresponding growth in obedience will only lead to greater damnation. To whom much is given, much will be required.

· The parables are meant to reveal divine truth that leads to change. They are ‘stories with a punch.’ But not all will read them that way.

· >>Color Blindness Test

2. Parables Conceal Truth to the Hardened Heart

· Read vv. 11-12

· Physical Blindness, deafness.

· OT Theme of spiritual blindness, deafness.

· Reference back to Isaiah 6:9–10 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

· Judicial hardening. See Romans 11:7-10.

· Various stages of unbelief. Simple (naïve, ignorant, undiscerning). Seeker (God beginning to move). Skeptic (Doubts, questions, intellectual). Sinner (justify sin). Scoffer (talk big, mock, ridicule).

· Parables are a kind of judicial hardening. Jesus turns them over to Satan. Will not ‘cast pearls before swine.’ While still giving truth.

· Halloween outreach – Jason lifted his mask off.

· Parables are a disguise for truth to sneak through the crowd of scoffers.

Conclusion

· Lee Strobel was a spiritual cynic, and he shares his journey toward Christ. “I became an atheist in high school. To me the mere concept of an all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe was so absurd on the surface that it didn’t even warrant serious consideration. I believed that God didn’t create people, but that people created God out of their fear of death and their desire to live forever in a utopia they called heaven. I married an agnostic named Leslie. Several years later she came to me with the worst news I thought I could ever get: She had decided to become a follower of Jesus. My initial thought was that she was going to turn into an irrational holy roller who would waste all of her time serving the poor in a soup kitchen somewhere. Divorce, I figured, was inevitable. Then something amazing occurred. During the ensuing months, I began to see positive changes in her character, her values, and the way she related to me and to the children. The transformation was winsome and attractive. So one day when she invited me to go to church with her, I decided to comply. [goes on to describe going to church, hearing gospel, on a mission to disprove Bible, but physics, archaeology, biology, and comparative religion all seem to prove there is a Creator who works by intelligent design.”

· Need for illumination – Divine enablement. We are all blind, deaf, mute, and dead apart from God’s sovereign work of opening our eyes and giving us an understanding of divine truth. “Open my eyes to see wonderful things from Thy law.”

· Then let us go and obey.