This is a homily for the Urban Outreach Ministry and the Bible Study Group of Second Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, TN
OT Reading Ezekiel 17: 22-24
Gospel Reading: Mark 4:26-34
I want to begin by doing an exposition of the test, then I will offer a reflection on it.
First an exposition of
the text:
Mark 4: 26-34 – These are two
“seed” parables with an explanation (of sorts).
Mark 4:26
He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter
seed on the ground, 27 and
would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does
not know how. 28 The
earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain
in the head. 29 But
when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest
has come.”
1.
What do we know about agriculture and botany today?
2.
What did people of the Roman era know about it?
3.
How and why seed turned into fruiting plant was a mystery
given to us from the Lord!
If we
read the “seed” parable the lectionary overlooks (4:3-9), we see that it seems
every one who has ears may not hear.
Mark 4:30
He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what
parable will we use for it? 31 It is
like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all
the seeds on earth; 32 yet
when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts
forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its
shade.”
On the Mustard Plant: It
was not the smallest seed. It was not a tree. No one wanted birds around when
seed was planted. Mustard is an invasive weed and no one planted weeds in
farmland.
1.
What is Jesus getting at here?
2.
Is the Kingdom of God something subversive to the orderly
fields (kingdom) of Rome and collaborating Jewish leaders?
3.
Is Jesus talking to his small band of believers giving
them courage?
As usual, what the parable
means seems to depend on our exact mindset, or what we hear. An old
counseling adage is “When you tell someone something, what they hear is what
they get, not necessarily what you said.
Mark 4:33
With many such parables he [spoke the word]* to them, as they were
able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them except in
parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
* can be translated “preach.”
Questions:
1.
Why would
Jesus choose to teach/preach in oblique parables?
2.
Why does
Jesus choose to preach/teach differently to insiders and outsiders?
3.
Do these two
parables reveal the Kingdom of God? If so, what does it say about it?
4.
Is the
Kingdom of God revealed as a mystery?
5.
What do you
think “as they were able to hear it” in
v33 means?
6.
What is a
mystery?
7.
Does Mark
reveal to the reader exactly what Jesus explained to the Disciples? (!)
In Jesus’ time,
especially in the Greek world, mystery
did not imply something unable to be understood, but rather it implies that one
was in possession of special knowledge granted to insiders.
The passage 3:13 through
6:6 is a long discourse of parables and teaching about the Kingdom of God. We
also read in our earlier verses in Mark (3:8):
“”The wind blows where it chooses,
and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know
where it comes from or where
it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Jesus tells the listener that the power of revelation is
beyond our abilities and rests only
in the will of the Lord. (Hence Jesus
explaining the parables to the Disciples.)
My thesis is that the
entire Gospel story of Mark begins and ends with Jesus in Galilee, (a
“sandwich”) and the innards of the sandwich fully digested reveal the entire
story of the mystery of the Kingdom of God to those whose faith empowers their
ears to hear and minds to understand. Read the first word of 4:3 – “Listen!”…,
and read the caution after the first
parable (4:9) “And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”
Thus perhaps, as Jesus
took aside the Disciples to explain these parables. There is a message for us
today as interpreters and ministers (remember-we are all ministers), we should
communicate not in words that trivialize and minimalize the Gospel, or in
complex language that obscures it, but with words and action that relates to
our every day experiences and shows what Christian behavior living in the
Kingdom of God really is.
Now, a reflection on the text
If we had been following along reading Mark carefully from the first
verse up to now, we would notice at least three things. First we would see that
Jesus teaches people about his message of Good News mostly in parables that by nature are obscure and occasional (depends on the mindset of the listener).
Second
we would see that since the beginning of Chapter 3, Jesus has been talking
about the Kingdom of God. Finally we would discover that we have no power to
understand this message, understanding is given to us by the Holy Spirit.
Let’s think about these verses by considering the last two verses
first.
Do you know what the word parable
means? The Greek word means to put something beside something else. That is, as
an example, put something refractory against something
obvious. The Greek word Parable is
derived from a Hebrew word riddle (see
the Septuagint, the Greek version of the OT).
If Jesus wants to convey to us his message, why does he do it in
ways that seem to obscure it? Perhaps it is to make us really think about what
has been spoken?
Parables were spoken, not read, thus what our ears hear is the
message. What we hear is not always the words that are spoken to us.
For example, a few weeks back I met with one of my associates with
whom I have been working on and off. His ministry really is going to take a lot
of effort and time but so does mine. We have argued on and of about strategy
and how to go about our advocacy. In this meeting, I told him that my time was
really in demand and that I was considering
resigning from his board possibly at sometime in the near future in order to
fulfill my own duties.
The next thing I hear is that he has told his board that I resigned!
I never said I resigned but that is exactly what he wanted to hear!
That is how parables go. What we hear is usually determined (biased) by what
our mindset is when the words are spoken.
Hence in 4:9 we read Jesus saying,” “Let anyone with ears to
hear listen!”
This is why Jesus made sure
to explain the parables to his Disciples.
So let’s turn to the first parable in 4:26-29:
Mark 4:26
He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter
seed on the ground, 27 and
would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does
not know how. 28 The
earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain
in the head. 29 But
when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest
has come.”
Today we know all about botany and
biology and exactly how plants grow and reproduce. In the days of the time of
Jesus, people had no knowledge of how plants grow and reproduce other than what
we read. You cast seeds of wheat in the soil, it gets watered, sprouts, grows
into a plant, flowers and yields seeds of grain. It was just a big unexplained
mystery.
So Jesus is telling people that the
Kingdom of God, its appearance and nature, are a mystery. We can see its
visible effects, but do not understand anything about how it happens.
Now mystery in the time of Jesus did not mean some inexplicable or
puzzling thing (parable though does mean
puzzling). Mystery was knowledge that was reserved for insiders, or those in the know. I guess we could
say it is sort of like a secret handshake, or “keys to the kingdom.”
This is probably why Jesus explained
the parables to his Disciples, so they would understand and be able to preach
and teach the Gospel as Jesus did.
Let’s look at the
second parable, Mark 4: 30-32.
Mark 4:30
He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what
parable will we use for it? 31 It is
like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all
the seeds on earth; 32 yet
when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts
forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its
shade.”
Now this parable has some things in
it that would cause laughter, or at least surprise in the Hebrew listener. It
would cause a person to sit up and wonder exactly what was just said.
For example the mustard plant did not
have the smallest seed. Furthermore, if it was a tree that attracted birds,
there is no way it would be sown in a field where crops were planted.
But even more outrageous, the mustard
plant was not a tree but a bush. Not only was it a bush, it was a
weed that no good Roman farmer would have willingly allow to be planted in
their field.
So what exactly is Jesus saying about
the Kingdom of God here? Is he implying the
Kingdom of God is something subversive to the orderly fields (kingdom) of Rome
and collaborating Jewish leaders? Is Jesus talking to his small band of
believers, telling them they are going to be a pervasive as the mustard weed giving
them courage?
My thesis is that the entire Gospel story of Mark begins and ends
with Jesus in Galilee, (a “sandwich”) and the innards of the sandwich, fully
digested, reveal the entire story of faith in the mystery of the Kingdom of God
to those whose faith empowers their ears to hear and minds to understand. Read
the first word of 4:3 – “Listen!”…, and read the caution after the first parable (4:9) “And he said,
“Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”
Thus
perhaps, as Jesus took aside the Disciples to explain these parables. There is
a message for us today as interpreters and ministers (remember-we are all
ministers), we should communicate not in words that trivialize and minimalize
the Gospel, or in complex language that obscures it, but with words and action
that relates to our every day experiences and shows what Christian behavior
living in the Kingdom of God really is.
Let me ask you a question. If our duty is to spread the Gospel then
what must we do to equip ourselves?
The most important thing is to understand the message so we can
communicate it our self. How do we do that?
We
have to get serious about it.
We have
to listen and read the Word.
We
have to listen for the Holy Spirit.
How do
you do all that? There is only one way.
You
have to get serious about it in every thing you do.
You
have to turn around and go a different direction.
Do you
know another word for to turn around and go in a different direction?
Repent.
Repent
does not mean to start speaking in tongues, or to start yelling “praise the
Lord,” (although that can help) or falling on the floor in a fit of frenzy, or
shaming or doing a guilt trip on folks. It means listening and asking for
guidance so every single thing you do every day is worth people copying to
become a good Christian.
It
means listening and asking for guidance so every single thing you do every day is
worth to people seeking to copy Christ's behavior to become a good Christian and citizen of the Kingdom of God.
Amen .
No comments:
Post a Comment