HEARTLIGHT ® Magazine: Special Feature: "Mark's Promise to Seekers"


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ing called at least five of his disciples in the first section of the book ( Mark 1:1-3:6), Jesus continues to preach his message to all who will hear. By the beginning of the second section ( 3:7-6:6), He is being followed by a “large crowd.” This group is so intrusive that Jesus has difficulty finding time to eat ( 3:20) or enough personal space in which to teach ( 3:4, 3:9). The crowd represented a mixture of society. Some had left occupations ( 1:18) and family ( 1:20) to follow Jesus. Some were ill or demon possessed ( 1:23, 1:32, 2:3, 3:10-11). Some were members of his own family ( 3:21). Some were even religious leaders ( 3:22). Jesus taught them and he healed those who were ill as he moved among them.

The reactions of those in the crowd were as diverse as the groups attracted to him. Certainly they were amazed ( 1:22, 1:27, 2:12). Some even praised God ( 2:12). But most asked questions:

Others accused Him: “He is possessed by Beelzebub. By the Prince of Demons he is driving out demons!”

With fewer than three years to accomplish his mission, Jesus pushed forward in his ministry. He called and appointed twelve apostles and gave them a share in his mission along with his authority to minister ( 3:14). Anticipating the day he would send them out alone ( 6:6), Jesus begins to teach them in parables. In this defining sub-section of his Gospel— 4:1-25—Mark offers Jesus’ followers a standard by which they might measure their own hearts and an explanation for one of the great mysteries of faith: “Why do some fail to see Jesus clearly when others hear, follow, mature, and produce fruit?” Mark’s answer? Jesus’ answer? The attitude of the hearer.

Jesus begins and ends the section’s key thought with admonitions to hear. “Listen!” he says at the beginning. He then concludes, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The well-known parable that lies between these warnings seems simple. A farmer sows seed that falls in four types of soil. Some falls on a path, where it is eaten by the birds of the air before it has opportunity to penetrate the hard earth. Some falls in rocky places. Without sufficient soil and nourishment, the plants that readily spring up, wither and die. Other seed falls among the thorns. This seed also sprouts quickly and would mature, except for the thorns and weeds that have grown and have become so dense that they choke the out the new plants. Some of the seed, however, fell in “good soil” where it sprouts, matures, and produces an abundant crop.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

The text includes no other information that was given to the crowd that day. What did they make of the Parable of the Sower? A few in the crowd may have caught some meaning. For most, however, the Parable of the Sower was like the other parables Jesus told: it was just another interesting story told by an entertaining, curious man, who had stood in a boat to teach. Even those closest to Jesus were confused: “When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.” ( 4:10).

Jesus’ answer further underlines the theme of this passage. The “secret” of God’s kingdom is “given” to some and not given to others, he says. In fact, the parables are instruments by which that “secret” may be hidden from some, but disclosed to others.

The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside, everything is said in parables so that “they may be ever seeing, but never perceiving . And ever hearing, but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.” ( 4:11-12)

This curious explanation, a partial quote from Isaiah 6:9-10, has alarmed and confused many, and been ignored by others. Many Christians are uncomfortable with the idea that the parables seem to have been told to leave some in the dark. Parables, Jesus explains, are like top secret codes by which only the chosen might interpret the message.

For most, objections spring to mind. “Didn’t Jesus come to teach all people?” “Doesn’t he call all of us to him?” “Don’t we all have the same opportunity?” “If he chooses us, then isn’t our salvation left totally out of our own hands?” “If God would play games with the teachings of Jesus, then He could not be the God I believe Him to be, could He?”

Jesus’ teaching is no game. When Jesus offers this definition of parables, he is only midway to his key point. Eventually, the dark hopelessness of the teaching will dissolve in the beauty of promise. The mystery in the first half of the passage begins to crumble with Jesus’ explanation. The importance of understanding a parable is underlined again in verse 13. “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will understand any parable?” he asks them. In the explanation, beginning at verse 14, the listener hears that the determining factor in whether the seed will produce a crop is the person himself. The Word has been spread evenly and randomly. All have the opportunity to hear. Whether one possesses the “ears to hear,” however, depends on the person and his or her personal choices and attitude.

Anticipating the charge that God would play games with His message or that He would hide the message of salvation from anyone, Jesus immediately tells another parable, the “Lamp on a Stand.”

Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. ( Mark 4:21-23)

As the lamp of God, Jesus did not come to be hidden. Who would hide a lamp? Rather, Jesus’ message was like a lamp on a stand, shining its light to all would come near and listen. God did not hide the message of salvation from anyone. Rather, everything that had been hidden in the mystery of salvation was meant to be disclosed. For that reason, Jesus tells each of us that we must “consider carefully what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.”

The proverbial tennis ball is now served into the court of each listener. Rather than be secretive and selective, God’s desire is to give abundantly to anyone in proportion to the manner in which he or she is willing to listen. (He who has ears to hear, let him hear!) In that way, the wholehearted listener will find no end to his continued understanding, but the one who does not seek, will only find that his small bit of understanding will be taken away ( 4:25).

This promise adds weight to the listener’s responsibility. “Listen!” Jesus had warned at both the beginning and the end of his teaching. “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus says it again for a second time at the end of the Parable of the Lamp. “Consider carefully what you hear.”

Is there anything more important to our conversion or our walk in the Lord than how we listen to his teaching? Is there anything that determines how we listen more than our attitude? In Jesus’ day, many walked behind him on the paths he traveled, running from place to place to be near him. Many sought his aid and healing. They made up the “large crowd.” But among the crowd, few truly heard his message. The twelve made an excellent decision when they are alone with Jesus after he has taught the Parable of the Sower on the boat. They asked. Because they desired to understand, they were taught. The promise that accompanies the Parable of the Lamp should encourage all of us to not only to listen, but to also be eternal seekers. The deep waters in the well of spiritual understanding are available to all who seek. The well never runs dry.

Read Karen's previous installment
in her study of Mark

Author’s Note: This teaching has been obscured because the Parable of the Sower has routinely been separated from its context and its connection with the parable of the Lamp on a Stand. It is essentially no different from Matthew’s record of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. ( Matthew 7:7-8)

Luke also records this parable in his Gospel and returns to the key point a few chapters later ( Luke 10:42) when Martha seeks the Lord’s influence in gaining her sister’s assistance with dinner.

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Mary had chosen to sit at Jesus’ feet, listening. Martha, who was tending to the dinner and the “worries” of this world, was missing an opportunity to hear.

Like Martha, many of us spend far too much time chasing the worries of the world — excelling at work and seeking perfection in things that don’t matter eternally. The interesting and convicting thing about Jesus’ teaching to Mary’s busy sister is that Martha was serving the Lord. Even our “church work” cannot come before what we hear. “Only one thing is needed,” Jesus said.