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+--- Thread: NT Doctrine -- Mark 4:1-20 (/thread-944.html)
NT Doctrine -- Mark 4:1-20 - Ed Hurst - 12-04-2021
We are about midway through the Galilean ministry period. By this time there was a crowd of supporters often following Him, including a handful of women who consistently served in various ways and helped fund this ministry.
A primary feature of Jesus' teaching was the Ancient Near Eastern method of parables. It's important to grasp that the symbols were flexible, best understood in context. This was the way scholars talked to each other for centuries regarding subjects that could not be described in mere human language. The intent is to draw a word picture that was familiar, but in which various symbols gave clues to something that was otherworldly. This was outside the disciples' experience and education, so Jesus had to teach them how to listen to parables.
As was typically the case, there was more room for the crowds of people outside away from buildings. Jesus often held sessions on the shore of Galilee. In one particular session, Jesus used several parables to help people understand moral truths regarding the Messianic Kingdom. Mark tells us that Jesus took advantage of the way sound could be amplified to a very large audience by using the calm waters of the shore. He sat down in the prow of a fishing boat and had the disciples push it back out on the water just a short distance.
Jesus told about the method of sowing seed by hand. It took practice to get a fairly even spread that used the soil optimally without crowding the plants. This was the common means for growing grain. The soil was already plowed. Sowing took place the next day, typically in the morning after a nice dew or rain fell overnight.
Naturally some of the seed fell in places that weren't the best soil. If seed fell on the road, it was too easy for the birds to pick it up, because it would lie in plain sight on the hard-packed ground. In places where shallow soil covered rocks, the seed would spring up all too quickly, only to wither in the heat of the day because any moisture would evaporate quickly. And if seeds got tossed onto the edges of the field, as soon as the seeds would sprout, so would the thorny vines, wrapping around the stalks and stealing all the free nutrients, choking out the grain.
Jesus made it a pun, referring to the expected ears of grain and saying that those with ears to hear and grasp the message should heed the warning. After their teaching session, when the crowds were gone, the disciples came and queried Jesus about the meaning of the parable. Jesus replied that they probably already understood it, but didn't realize it yet. Parables are designed to provoke the heart, not the intellect. Those who lived in their minds wouldn't get it, and shouldn't. Those who lived in their hearts would eventually understand. If His disciples couldn't get this one critical parable, how would they get any of the others?
The gospel message is like seeds for sowing. The road symbolized a soul trapped by Satan; there's too much traffic in the things of this world, and so the message simply bounces off the outside. Satan takes away the blessings. The stony ground is like people with no moral depth; everything for them is just a curiosity of the moment. They can embrace the gospel immediately like some new and entertaining thing, but the least little inconvenience and they forget all about it. The gospel never took root. The unplowed edges of the field represent worldly people. They simply care too much about this life, and their divided loyalty would choke out the gospel message.
Keep in mind: All of these different kinds of people were among the Jewish nation. The word of the gospel is the restoration of the Covenant. This is the varied reception Jesus' teaching had already faced among Jews. But there were some who represented nicely plowed rich soil. When the gospel comes to them, they embrace it and bear fruit. Sure, it takes a while, but like any good head of grain, there's no telling how much blessing they'll manifest.
The only way to have a heart plowed and ready is to stay on your face before the Lord.