Digging In 4/17-23/22

Responses to Jesus

In Mark’s gospel account Jesus just burst onto the scene, seemingly coming from nowhere

He preaches, calls His first disciples, casts out demons, heals people, cleanses a leper all within the first chapter

Curiosity about who Jesus is builds, the crowds grow with people coming from all over to see Him, to be healed by Him.

Curiosity grows within the religious establishment as well, as they question His words, His methods, and His timing, appearing to be a Law breaker in their eyes.

As we entered into chapter 3, we are going to see a variety of responses to Jesus.

It seems like a set up, a man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath, the Pharisees watching like hawks to see what Jesus would do.

He heals the man, calls out their hypocrisy, their response, to conspire with religious enemies to destroy Jesus.

In the next story, people are flocking to Him, to come in contact with the healer and liberator of demon possession.

We even have demons bowing down before Jesus, declaring Him to be the Son of God

Then the 12 come to Him as He calls them, appoints them to be apostles

But then Jesus’ family shows up, and they think He’s crazy

Scribes show up and they accuse Him of being demon possessed,

What a wide range of responses.

It’s not Jesus, He was the same, it’s how He’s being perceived, what prejudices or bias are pre-existent within the people, what their expectations were,

How can one man have such a wide range of responses, who is this man, that is the question.

Well, from chapter 3, Jesus is a law breaker to some, a threat to some, a healer to some, a Rabbi to some, a lunatic to some, a demon possessed worker to some,

Understanding this might help chapter 4 make more sense.

In chapter 4 Jesus teaches in parables, using earthly examples and stories to communicate truth about the kingdom of heaven and the disciples place within it.

Now most if not all rabbi’s taught in parables, this wasn’t unique to Jesus, but His disciples ask Him why, why do you teach in parables, that’s from Matthew 13

Jesus’ response is interesting.

He basically says, so they won’t understand, I teach in parables so, here’s the key, so those outside the kingdom won’t understand.

He says they can see, but they don’t perceive

they can hear, but they don’t understand, because if they did they would turn and be forgiven.

Now, we as western learners, and people who want things to be fair, think, that’s not fair.

Why not just teach plainly so it’s easy to understand, so everyone can believe, so everyone can turn and be forgiven.

We want to blame Jesus for not doing a good thing, the right thing in our eyes.

What we fail to understand is the method of eastern teaching.

Eastern teaching methods lead people to find the answer, they don’t just give it to them.

It’s not that they make it hard to find, but finding it, understanding it takes effort by the learner, they have to dig a little.

Think about it, Jesus isn’t using some crazy example or story in His first parable in chapter 4, it’s a farming analogy giving to a farming community.

On the surface the message is extremely easy to understand, and some are satisfied with that.

But those that know their rabbi is trying to teach them something, they know there is a deeper meaning within the story.

Now one thing I forgot to mention is the audience Jesus is addressing, it says a very large crowd gathered around Him.

Almost without exception, the crowds consisted of a variety of people, from religious leaders to seekers, from those outside of the kingdom to those within it.

If we think about the variety of responses to Jesus from chapter 3, we see Him in chapter 4 teaching those who are listening, who want to understand, not to those who are against Him or just want a healing.

For those listening, Jesus is asking for a response, if I’m your teacher, will you hear, work to understand, and then put into practice what I’m teaching.

Jesus actually called people out in other sections of the gospels for this very thing.

Why do you call me Lord Lord and not do what I say

Or, if you love Me you’ll do what I say

So what is He teaching in the parable of the soils?

What we see is a sower, a seed scatterer, and this sower is sowing seed on 4 different types of soils.

Now this parable is not about us as the sower, Jesus tells us that the sower is God and the seed is His word.

This parable is about the soils, the 4 types of soil

Now if this message is for those seeking to understand, then it leads us to believe that Jesus, in true rabbi style, is asking His students to dig, to work for the understanding, and by doing so, they will have a greater appreciation for the teaching, and a greater understanding of it.

So, the unasked question within this parable is this, which soil are you? Are you seeing yourself in one of these soils?

The even deeper question, also unasked, is this, what are you going to do about it?

It’s one thing to identify the problem, but quite another to do something about it.

I got to the big leagues with the Atlanta Braves after having some pretty productive offensive season in the minors.

One thing became pretty apparent and it happened rather quickly, the pitchers in the big leagues are good, real good.

They have a couple of really good pitches, they can throw them all for strikes, they can mix it up when they throw those pitches, and they can locate.

The favorite location for most pitchers back then, was down and away, fastballs down and away, and sliders that started on the plate and broke even further down and away.

It also became apparent rather quickly, that I was not a very good hitter on pitches down and away, or of really good sliders, actually not swinging at them was the answer.

So, after 2 seasons in the big leagues, I got released by Atlanta, signed with Tampa Bay and went back to AAA

What was needed was obvious, I needed to be able to hit pitches that were down and away, and also to lay off of sliders that were breaking down and away and off the plate.

So the big question was, what was I going to do about it? I started doing some new drills, adopted a new mentality about hitting, made some swing adjustments, grew in my understanding of pitching, and then put all of these practices into the game.

It was the only way I was going to get back to the big leagues and the only way I would be able to stay in the big leagues.

This isn’t about Jesus , not doing what He can do.

We must remember that our God is a God who reveals himself. First to Adam and Eve, then to Abraham, Moses, heck, our God even came and took on flesh so He could be known and understood.

So, it’s not that Jesus doesn’t want to be understood, it’s not on Him, it’s on the people, there’s a bunch in the group who don’t want to know, don’t want to understand.

So how about us, do we want to understand, are we willing to do something about what God reveals to us?

The hard path, hard hearted, closed off to God, can’t receive His word. This isn’t just non-believers, remember Jesus is talking to those who want to understand, want to know Him.

Anyone who’s suffered trauma, or tragedy, who is struggling to trust God, believe He’s good, it’ll be hard to hear God say go and to trust Him and go.

The rocky, this is a shallow faith, no deep roots, maybe an emotional decision or one that just wants the benefits of having Jesus, what Jesus can do for them, false promises, prosperity gospel, etc.

The weeds, the ones who are trying to live as a follower of Jesus and at the same time live fully in this world, trying to expand their kingdom, accumulate wealth and possessions, etc.

The good soil, these are the ones who’ve dealt with their past, their traumas, who can trust God. They’ve developed deep roots, over time, through trial and difficulty and remained faithful. They’ve detached from the false promises of the world, they know it’s not about getting rich, and having a comfortable easy life, but living for Jesus, taking up their cross, denying themselves and living to grow His kingdom.