Parables of the Seeds

(Gospel of Mark 4:01 - 4:34)

Jesus once again began teaching by the Sea of Galilee.  So large a crowd gathered around him that he boarded a boat on the lake.  He sat in it while the crowd remained on the land, lining the edge of the water.  He taught them many things by using parables, for example, during his teaching, he said, “Listen, a farmer went out to plant his seed, but as he scattered it, some fell outside the furrow and birds flew down and ate it up.  Other seed fell upon rocky ground where dirt was sparse.  Because the soil was not deep, seedlings quickly sprouted.  However, when the sun came up, the plants wilted, and, since they had little root, they withered away.  Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked off the plants, which thus produced no grain.  But other seeds fell upon good soil.  They sprung up, flourished, and produced a crop, 30, 60, even 100 times what was planted.”

Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him listen.”

Later, when Jesus was alone with his Twelve Disciples, others who gathered around him asked about the parable.  He replied, “It is given to you to understand the secret truth of God’s dominion, but to those on the outside, all these truths are expressed in parables.  And so, in seeing, they may see, but not perceive, and so, in hearing, they may hear, but not comprehend.  Otherwise, they might be converted and their sins forgiven.”

Jesus then said to them, “You don’t understand this parable?  How, then, will you understand the rest of the parables?  The farmer plants — the Message of God.  Some people are like the seeds that fall outside the furrow; Satan immediately comes and takes away the Message of God that was planted within them.  Some are like the seeds on the rocky ground; they hear the Message and at once joyfully receive it.  But, because they have no roots, the Message does not take, for as soon as there is some trouble or some persecution connected with it, they immediately lapse.  Still others, like the seed that is sown among the thorns, hear the Message, but because worries about the state of the world, the seductiveness of wealth, and desires for other things intrude and stifle the Message, it has no effect.  But there are those who are like the seed fallen upon good soil: they hear the Message, accept it, and produce a crop, 30, 60, or a 100 times what had been planted.”

Jesus also said to them, “ Is a lamp brought in so that it may be put under a basket or under a bed, and not on the lamp stand?  Indeed there is nothing that is it hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is there anything secret that will not be revealed.

“If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.”  He added, “Listen carefully to what you hear.  The more you listen, the more you will understand and the more understanding will be given to you.  For he who has understanding, more will be given to him, but he who does not, even the little understanding he has will be taken from him.”

He also said, “This is the coming of God’s rule: when a man scatters seeds upon the ground, night day, whether he is asleep or awake, the seeds sprout and grow — he knows not how.  On its own the land brings forth a crop, first the stalk, then the ear, then the kernel that ripens within it.  As soon as the grain is ripe, he promptly puts a sickle to it, for the time for harvesting has come.”

Jesus said as well, “How can we describe the coming of God’s rule, what parable may we use to illustrate it?  It is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all the seeds on earth.  Yet, after it is planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants; it brings forth branches so great that under the shade of their foliage the birds of the sky may find repose.”

Jesus employed many other parables as he spoke as much of his message as the people were able to understand.  Indeed he spoke to them of nothing without use of parables, but in private he would expound on all things to his disciples.

Notes
1. Jesus, who is famous for teaching in parables, explains here why he does so.  He doesn’t use analogies and symbolic moral tales to illustrate his teachings and make his points clearer — quite the contrary.  He uses parables to obscure the meaning of his teachings.  This seems counterintuitive.  Most teachers and preachers try to enlighten as many in their audience as possible and make their message easily comprehensible.  Jesus, though, is unabashedly elitist.  He only wants his message to be understood by a select group.  It’s almost as if he is saying to his would-be followers, “If you’re too stupid to understand my parables, then I don’t want you as my disciple.  I don’t want to be obliged to forgive the sins of those who don’t ‘get it.’”

2. The First Parable of the Seeds divides those who are exposed to Jesus’ Message into four categories:
    1. Those who ignore it and quickly fall into the clutches of Satan and,         presumably, sin and disbelief. 
    2. Those who are eager to believe and are easily converted, but who lack         the strength of character to remain faithful when they are tested. 
    3. Those who are simply too immersed in material things, too preoccupied     with their own affairs, and too susceptible to worldly desires to care                about receiving the Message. 
    4. Those who do receive it and are true to it.

3. The second parable involving seeds illustrate the manner in which God’s rule will spread, like a seed that grows and matures by itself without the need for cultivation.  In another words, man is not a necesary instrument for the propagation of his rule.  It will not occur because of the work of preachers and prophets, an assertion that seems in conflict with a long-accepted tenant of Christianity and one which Jesus would later espouse, evangelism, the seeking of converts.  The third seed parable, that of the mustard seed, alludes to the enormous growth potential of God’s rule, like many things in nature that begin as something very small and grow into something very large.

4. What is rendered here as “God’s rule,” or the “rule of God” is almost universally translated as “Kingdom of God” or “Kingdom of Heaven.”  In modern English, “kingdom” means a country ruled over by a king, or a monarchial form of government.  Although it is understandable why the ancients or 17th Century Bible translators would choose to use this term to describe the rule of God, it is no longer apt and can only be misleading. Unfortunately, neither Jesus nor any of the gospel writers ever really defined what they meant by the term, which seemed to have been employed in various ways.  Whether this was owing to an assumption that it would be readily understood or to the intention that it would remain nebulous and undefined cannot be known.  In the present context “God’s rule” likely refers to the beliefs, laws, customs, and  practices to which the believer, the faithful must submit himself.  God’s rule, therefore, is something that exists within, a result of acceptance, faith, and righteous devotion.  (A believer places himself under the “rule of God” when he becomes a Christian.)  But the rule of God refers at other times to direct political dominion over the earth by the divinity, which will occur in the future, after the Second Coming.  Sometimes, though, it may refer not only to God’s authority, but to the earth itself under his rule — a closer match to the common use of “kingdom.”  Other meanings and shades of meanings are possible.  One of the most frustrating ambiguities in the New Testament, the definition of “Kingdom of God” is still a matter of theological debate and controversy.

5. Like many religions, especially cults, Jesus has one set of teachings for the hoi polloi and another for his inner circle of disciples.  Even the teachings he vouchsafed to the former were obscured by being couched in parables.  It was, therefore, accepted that only the disciples, in particular, the 12 apostles would know in totality Jesus’ teachings.  This system was preserved in part by the later Catholic church, consisting of priests who were in the know and privy to God’s message and the mostly illiterate believers who would not be expected to understand theological concepts.  The printing press and expanded literacy endangered this set up during the Renaissance.  In contrast to the Catholic Church, Protestant churches expressly required believers to have personal knowledge and understanding of the Bible — no secret doctrine, but a universal set of beliefs.