On Line Bible Study - For the week February 16 - 25, 2009

Lesson 375

I'm going to ask you to do some work this week. Because we are considering a fairly large chunk of the 4th chapter of Mark's gospel, I encourage you either to have your Bible at hand, or to consult the following link:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=4&version=31

This should bring you to the New International Bible translation of Mark 4. We are considering Mark 4:1-34.

Last week we discussed the "Parable of the Sower" with reference to our having "ears to hear". This week I want to invite us to look at the text itself, with some of its complexities, and perhaps glean more meaning for having taken the time to dig a bit deeper. Here are the major points for our consideration:

• Donahue and Harrington regard this passage (Mark 4:1-34) as "awkward" from a compositional perspective, as if there are several different stories or scenes converging, with the evangelist trying to put them all together in a way that makes unified sense. Consider the following:
• Jesus speaks to "crowds", then to the Twelve (verse 10). In verse 13, Jesus is speaking "to them" - but we aren't certain to whom - the crowds again? Or the disciples? As the section closes, we can't really be certain who the "them" are - we read: 33. With similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
• In your Bible, Mark 4 probably has a heading that says something like: The Parable of the Sower. But is this really a parable? Or is it an allegory? Whereas other parables of Jesus might leave room for interpretation, this story is spelled out very specifically by Christ. There is no doubt what he is saying here.
• Are the parables meant to explain? Or to confuse? In Verses 11-12 Jesus tells the Twelve that he speaks in parables so the people "on the outside" might not get it - seeing but not perceiving, hearing but not understanding. But in Verse 33 we read: "With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them as much as they could understand ..."
• Verses 10-12 are, according to Donahue and Harrington, "among the most obscure and debated [verses] in the whole New Testament". The language of "insiders" and "outsiders" on the lips of Jesus has to be interpreted with the "predestinarian thrust of much biblical and early Jewish thought" as its backdrop. Remember in Exodus 4:21 it is God who hardens the heart of Pharaoh. Verses like those in Exodus (and also in Isaiah 6:10 and passages in Jeremiah ...) are apocalyptic in nature, and gnostic in their tone. That Jesus adopts such a tone might seem foreign to us, but would be heard by First Century Jews in the light of those traditions. It is also important to note that the passage from Isaiah 6:9-10 (quoted in Mark 4:12) is also quoted in John 12:40 and Acts 28:23 - in those verses the tension between the emerging Christian Church and their Jewish heritage is obvious. Clearly, the Christians believed themselves to be the ones "in the know".
• What is the "mystery", the "secret" (Mark 4:11), the thing hidden and about to be revealed? Put simply, it is this: Messiah will not be a powerful king, but a humble servant. Messiah will not be a wealthy Lord, but a persecuted, crucified Christ. Jesus discerns this to be God's will for him. The challenge is convincing others.
  
• A final point (though many more could be made ...) is this: You will all fall away ... - this is what Jesus says to his disciples in Mark 14:27. It is also what he says of the seed that lands on rocky places (Mark 4:17) - while there is an initial spurt of growth, as soon as persecution comes, what had grown "falls away". Literally, the Greek text says that persecution creates "scandal" (from the Greek noun - σκάνδαλον - skandalon). So, it's not just that new believers drop out; it's that they are scandalized by the message.
  

I hope as you read through these "bullet points" you get a sense of the complexity, the questions, perhaps even the struggle that Mark may have had as he puts together the story of Jesus. Popularity mixed with confusion; miracles mixed with scandals; commitments both deeply felt and supericial. Secrets, mysteries, and the incredible challenge of convincing people that the crucifixion and death of Jesus were part of a bigger plan - a plan that made absolutely no sense to the early followers of Jesus. How could he tell the story such that it made sense to those devotees in that day, to say nothing of meeting the expectations and needs of the generations to come!