Jesus, the Storyteller

From New Testament Everyday Bible Study: Mark, with questions for reflection by Becky Castle Miller. [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]

Mark 4:1-20

4:1      Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

9        Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

10       When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables  12 so that,

          “ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,

                   and ever hearing but never understanding;

          otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”

13       Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

         Not only did Jesus tell people not to talk about him, and not only did he withdraw from the crowds, but he told stories shorter than short stories that subverted the stories of those representing Rome and the temple authorities. These stories are called “parables,” and a parable is something laid down next to something else that helps to explain what is next to it. So he tells these parables to help his audiences understand the kingdom of God. Yet, his stories were cryptic enough that many did not understand what he was getting at. Even more, part of Jesus’ subversive strategy of going underground as much as possible was so his opponents would not understand what he was teaching his followers. His strategy of going underground, let’s face the facts, did not work very well. The crowds were not about to be silenced.

A Parable Explained

         Jesus tells a short story about a farmer who tossed out seeds onto four different soils: a hard path, on rocky places, among thorns, on fertile soil (4:1-8). Only the good soil yielded a good harvest. Jesus then explains this story to the disciples who did not comprehend what he was saying (4:10, 13). In an allegorical style, the farmer sows the “word.” The hard path describes Satan snatching the seeds; the rocky soil points to those who respond to the kingdom mission immediately but don’t stick around when opposition knocks on the door; the thorns reveal that some seeds get choked out by the world’s worries and wealth; while the good soil paints a picture of those who respond in faith and allegiance to Jesus and so flourish in the life God wants (4:14-20).

Parables Defined

What’s a Parable?

         Jesus was not alone in telling parables as they were favorites of Jewish teachers. Parables are imaginative analogies, that is uber short-stories, designed to offer an alternative worldview. That is, Jesus tells a little story with a character or two or three and the attentive listener enters through the imagination to envision that short story occurring. In entering into that story Jesus often surprises the reader with some little detail that is designed to shift that person’s worldview. Jesus’s parables invite us to “imagine a world like this,” and the world he wants us to imagine is the kingdom of God.

How to Interpret a Parable?

         To interpret a parable of Jesus we need to read the story carefully in a quest to determine the central analogy Jesus is making. The short story is “laid next to” (that’s a literal translation of “parable” in Greek) something about a kingdom worldview, so the quest is to figure out what connects them. That is, what is the comparison? It is important as well to stick to the 1^st Century Jewish world of Jesus to make sense of the parable. We should not think in this passage of farming in Iowa and Nebraska. As well, we can keep our eyes on the individual’s Gospel’s themes and bigger context for helping us see what Jesus teaches here. And, remember that reading a parable is more than exercise in detecting a purpose. These parables are meant to transform the hearers and, now that they are written out, the readers (like you and me).

         One warning: avoid getting cute and finding hidden treasures that distract us from the central analogy. The rocky soil is not something specific, like the Sadducees. We can imagine seed falling on rocky soil where seeds can’t take root. That gives us plenty of space for our imaginations to kick in to experience such a reality in our world.

                  From New Testament Everyday Bible Study: Luke (McKnight), pp. 123-125

A Parable Strategy

         The disciples, though they have listened carefully, don’t quite get the point of the parable when Jesus first tells it. So they ask and, in asking, will hear a response from Jesus that clarifies his strategy for parables. He tells them for his disciples to whom “the secret of the kingdom of God has been given” (4:11). Puffy chests were visible on the disciples to know how privileged they were, even if some of their minds were still baffled. A proud person with confusion is not ready for the conflict that is mounting in Galilee and Jerusalem. One has to wonder if the puffiness was not poked by Jesus with a pin. The “secret” of the kingdom, as Tim Gombis concludes, “has to do with its cross-shaped character. Jesus is a cross-oriented Messiah who defies the expectations of his culture. He is not impressive by human standards. He is not a military hero who will play to the national longings for vengeance against the Romans. He will not confer social capital and prestige on those who follow him” (Gombis, Mark, 141).

         More significantly, Jesus ties his strategy for going underground with parables to the prophet Isaiah, who made it clear that, because some were so hard-hearted and resistant to the message of the prophet, some teachings were given that blinded the minds of those who heard them (4:10-12). Morna Hooker’s summary statement expresses the purpose of parables well: “the parables both reveal and conceal: for those who have ears to hear they convey the good news of the Kingdom, to those who refuse to listen their message is obscure” (Hooker, Mark, 120).

You would not be alone to think this seems harsh, almost like God had a list of the unworthy away from whom God had turned. But such a view not only crashes into the God of love in the Bible, but it fails to hear these words in the context of the mission of Jesus that is opposed by the strategies of the temple state to maintain control. Jesus is on a mission to disrupt their power. To do that, he tells stories that outsiders will not comprehend so he can deepen discipleship for the disciples and stall the opposition as he mentors his followers. Those who respond affirmatively to Jesus are like those in the house who are encircling Jesus to listen to him and who are doing God’s will (3:31-35).

A Parable’s Truth

         The truth of this parable is crystal clear: kingdom mission will often involve opposition to kingdom mission. Or, to put it differently, not everyone’s gonna jump on board. Not that we can calculate three out of four will not become faithful followers. These soils represent Jesus’ earliest sketch of how people are responding to the mission. Mark’s Gospel so far makes it look like everyone loves Jesus except those sent by the temple authorities to clue in the crowds that Jesus is off the rails and might get us all in trouble. That “everyone loves Jesus” of Mark exaggerates the reality, and we know this because in this parable Jesus paints various forms of final rejection of the mission. Mark, like most preachers, exaggerates.

         If kingdom mission means liberation from evil, forgiveness of sinners otherwise deemed marginal, and a summons to turn one’s life over to Jesus, then kingdom mission will not be popular. Those in power and benefiting from evil will often fight against liberation; those who think the marginal, the weak, the disabled, women, and minorities should be ignored will resist forgiveness and restoration. Have a conversation with peace advocates, with those fighting for symbolic memory of what we did to Native Americans, or with those who know our farming methods are destroying the world’s topsoils. Or, as I have done for three years, seek to get those in power to form policies and procedures that protect and even favor those abused and victimized by church authorities. Worse yet, more people will not care – the thorns imagery – because they’d rather be caught up in their worries and wealth.

         The conflict in Galilee between the temple authorities and Jesus’ kingdom mission are fueled by cosmic theft (Satan; 4:15), discipleship shallowness (4:17), physical and bodily threats (4:17), and satisfaction with the pleasures of life (4:19). As it was then, so it is now. The kingdom mission invades life with a challenge to take up the cross and follow the Jesus of the Cross who is just ahead of us on the path to the kingdom of God.

         Perhaps you ask, what makes for a flourishing and fruitful fertile soil? It means being with Jesus and that means trusting him, listening to him, adoring and worshiping him, watching him, and learning to walk – as a child learns to pedal and balance a bicycle – on the cross-path when we can’t see Jesus.

Questions for Reflection and Application

1. Why does Jesus speak in parables?

2. What is the purpose of these short stories?

3. How does Jesus say different people will respond to him?

4. In which “soil” do you see yourself?

5. What is your favorite parable from Jesus, either from Mark or another Gospel?