06132021 – Mark 4. 26-34
Remember, Mark is the first Gospel to be written.
Yeah, I know Matthew comes first in the order of the Gospels…weird, right?
But that’s because Matthew is being written for a Jewish audience. It is the most Hebraic of the four gospels. As a matter of fact, Matthew has always been considered to be “the Bridge between the Hebrew Bible and the Early Christian Writings…
To get from one to the other…you have to go through Matthew first…
Therefore, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John bless the bed that I lay on…
So first written Mark, appears second, go figure!
So, now we are in Mark…a brand-new form of literature, called “a gospel.” A never-before-seen kind of literature. Something new and different. Intriguing. Gospel means “good news.”
And Jesus mostly speaks cryptically.
Strangely…
Oddly…
He talks in riddles.
He is “a little bit confusing,” this new upstart of a teacher.
Every once and a while the scriptures will declare, “And he spoke plainly.”
Well, why didn’t he just speak plainly all the time? That would have made a heck of a lot more sense! It would have saved people a lot of work. A lot of time spent on verbal and mental gymnastics. Why not just be clear, in the first place?
Did he mean this?
Or did he mean that?
What was he implying?
What was he really saying…?
Do we always have to second-guess this Hebrew teacher?
People had to figure things out for themselves…like it or not.
And then, there were “these things called parables.” Stories with hidden meanings…layered.
Oh boy, even harder to figure out.
Remember, there were all kinds of people in his audience listening to him.
Most of them had no education at all. The vast majority could neither read nor write.
Farmers, fishermen, tax collectors, men, women, children, young, old, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Members of the Sanhedrin (or the council of 70-72 elders), widows, widowers, priests, rabbis, some Roman soldiers, the sick and the hurting, why there was even a prostitute or two thrown into the mix…
It was really-truly “a mixed bag of people.”
So, in his public speaking, Jesus used metaphor and story. He attempted to paint a picture. He liked to use everyday things…things people were accustomed to seeing. Things, people knew about and were familiar with…
And with a twist of words, he molded them into a story about something else. He made comparisons…
Perhaps he liked parables so much…because by using this “teaching technique” he could avoid saying something publicly…that might later get him into big trouble, with the powers that be.
Things were just implied.
They were never spoken of openly…or plainly…
And he loved using a kind of “oriental exaggeration” … making things bigger-larger, more grandiose, than they seemed.
Oh, not that he was spinning yarns or anything…but he was making a point…
So, everyone knew a mustard seed is not the smallest of seeds…that was an exaggeration. It is small, but not that small, and definitely not the smallest of the small. There were a lot of smaller seeds. But it was little.
And as for the bush, yeah, it grew big, it was a nuisance actually. And birds really did nest in its branches…
But it was far from big…we are not talking the great cedars of Lebanon, here…
He said this was about the KINGDOM OF GOD. GOD’S KINGDOM…it would start out really small…teeny, tiny, miniscule, and eventually, gradually, slowly, over time, it would become huge.
Really big. Bigger than big. Maybe even all encompassing.
But behind it all, unbeknownst to humankind…unbeknownst to you…and unbeknownst to me…
Out of sight. Quietly. Leading. Guiding.
Directing. Making things happen. Tying up all the loose ends. Crossing the t’s.
Dotting all the I’s. Biding his ever-loving-time…Getting everything just so…Allowing all the pieces to fall into place…Is God, the Father. Working for our good. Doing things quietly on our behalf.
And the cool thing is, he has always been doing this. And he continues to do it, just for you! Amen.