Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!” (Mark 4:9)
Have you got “ears to hear”? At one level this saying from Jesus which appears twice in Mark 4 seems to imply that deaf people are excluded and those who are not deaf should listen. But Mark 4 is a chapter full of parables, short stories or images that mean one thing on the surface but are meant to point to a deeper meaning.
Doctor Who – Episode 5 – Dot and Bubble
This week Fiona and I watched episode 5 of the latest Doctor Who series.
The Doctor Who episode, told a story about young people living on an alien planet in the distant future. The weird thing was that they quite literally lived in a bubble. From when they woke up until when they went to sleep they had a futuristic dot that projected a bubble around their head, so that they could communicate with their friends by video link in a manic non-stop social media kind of way. The problem was they were so engrossed in their bubble that they could not see what was going on around them in the real world. This was a problem, because there were big slug like creatures eating them one by one!
The story focuses on one of these young people, whom the Doctor and his companion try to communicate with to warn them about the danger. At first they refuse to listen to these two strangers talking what seems like rubbish, but eventually they are convinced to look more carefully at what is going on in the world around them and they see the monsters.
In a way, the episode is a not a very subtle parable. A parable at its simplest is a comparison between one idea, image or story with another idea, image or story.
In this case, the story and setting in the future is meant to be compared with our world where the bubble is like the mobile phones that distract them non-stop.
We can only guess what the futuristic monsters are meant to represent in today’s world? Perhaps the mental health crisis caused by addiction to social media?
The voice of the doctor would then represent the warnings from people about the dangers of addiction to social media. Will today’s young people listen to such warnings? Or will they reject the warnings in favour of the non-stop distraction of social media on their phones?
Of course many people will have just enjoyed the fun of watching a good story and completely missed the blatant connections. It is after all just meant to be entertainment isn’t it? Some, though, may be made to think more carefully about what addiction to social media on phones is doing to them.
Parables: Hidden Truth – vs. 33-34 and 10-12
At the end of today’s reading from Mark we are told that Jesus spoke almost exclusively in parables.
Unlike the Doctor Who episode his parables were not so much science fiction as Gardener’s World, in Mark 4 especially, they are based on something much more mundane and quite literally down to earth – planting and growing seeds!
Also, unlike the Doctor Who episode his parables were much more subtle and obscure. Take the famous Parable of the Sower he tells at the start of chapter 4. Imagine you were hearing it for the first time, sitting on the beach in first century Galilee as Jesus speaks from a boat. Jesus tells you about a man sowing seed, the seed sown on a path gets eaten by birds, the seed sown in shallow ground grows to start with then withers and the seed sown among weeds is choked, but the seed sown in good soil produces a good crop. This feels more like a school biology lesson than deep spiritual truth. Would it really be obvious what Jesus was getting at? I don’t think so. What’s more those closest to him didn’t think so, either. In verse 10, we are told they had to ask Jesus what the parable was all about. Jesus then seems to imply that teaching in parables was designed to conceal the truth. In verse 12, he quotes Isaiah, which says, “in order that they may be ever hearing but never understanding, otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.”
But, the parables do not remain obscure to everyone. Those who are intrigued by them and come to Jesus to find out more are told what they mean. That happens in verse 10 and verse 34 tells us this was a common pattern. For these people a parable explained or understood is a much more powerful and memorable teaching method than just being told something. For those on the inside, who seek the truth, who come to Jesus and do not dismiss him, the hidden truths in the parables are disclosed and they end up with a much deeper understanding.
The issue then is one of how willing people are to hear what Jesus is saying. In this sense, Jesus’ parables are just like the Doctor Who episode. It is only when the person listens properly to Jesus rather than dismissing him that she is saved from the monsters. The Parables are a barrier to those not willing to listen, but treasure to those who are. As Jesus says, twice in the chapter, if anyone has ears to hear let them hear.
Indeed, that is the whole point of the first parable in chapter 4, the Parable of the Sower. It is not simply about what the best soil is for the seed to fall on. Jesus repeatedly says in his explanation that the seed refers to the ‘word.’ That is his ‘word’ about what God is doing and God wants, the good news about the Kingdom of God. In the end Jesus is saying it is only those who value his word as the most essential thing who hear it in a way that allows it to take root and flourish in their hearts. If it is not truly valued, then peer pressure, ridicule or bullying will lead to ultimate rejection or the distractions and worries of life, will choke it off.
- So do you, truly value the words of Christ. Do you see them as words of salvation, words that bring forgiveness, words that help us live the good lives God made us to live, words of eternal life? Are you someone who has ears to hear?
The parables as a whole are Jesus’ way of reaching those who will truly hear, whilst leaving his identity and mission obscure to those who reject him. But each parable also adds its own perspective. In particular, Jesus says that the two in our reading show us what the Kingdom of God is like.
Mysterious Growth – vs. 26-29
The first of the two is unique to Mark’s gospel and compares the Kingdom of God to the mysterious growth of crops.
But wait a minute. If you start with the phrase, “The Kingdom of God is like…” you might be expecting something grand, magnificent or powerful. After all how do kingdoms become large and powerful? By brute force and bullying. Surely, if Jesus was bringing in a Kingdom, you would expect him to be raising an army, leading a military revolution. You would expect him to say the Kingdom of God is like a lion, able to overpower its enemies.
But Jesus uses neither a magnificent or a powerful image but one of the most mundane images you could imagine. The Kingdom of God is like a man scattering seed… Then the mad doesn’t even do anything. He gets on with his day to day life and leaves the seed to it, not really understanding what is happening until finally the seed is ready and the harvest comes. How on earth is that like any kind of kingdom you have ever thought of? What is Jesus going on about?
Well the biggest clue is that in the Parable of the Sower, Jesus repeatedly refers to the seed being sown as the ‘word’, his message about the coming Kingdom of God. It makes sense then to see the seed in this parable as also referring to the word. All the man does in the story is sow the seed. Jesus seems to be saying the way you build the kingdom is by declaring the word of God, and letting that word do its work.
- This is a warning for us: The Kingdom of God does not grow through military crusades, spectacular buildings or multimedia advertising campaigns, but by the proclamation of his word. We should be careful then not to try and make the Kingdom of God come about by brute human force. Rather we should focus on sowing the seed of God’s word and allow it to work in God’s mysterious way.
- It is also an encouragement. When we do not have much power or influence or strength in human terms, we can rejoice that we can still sow the seed of the word and God will still work despite our lack of power and strength. This point is also underlined by the second parable, which is about unimagined growth.
Unimagined Growth – vs. 30-34
It is easy for us to look at the weakness, struggles and decline of the church in our society and the fact that so few seem to have ears to hear the good news and despair that the church will ever grow. But the same was true for Jesus when he spoke these parables.
We have seen over the last couple of weeks that the response to Jesus setting himself up as a rebel king was that the powers that be plotted to murder him and people accused him of being the Prince of Demons. Even his own family thought he was mad. The Kingdom of God was not taking the world by storm! Rather it appeared tiny and insignificant. Just Jesus and the small number of people who chose to follow him and listen to him. Compared to the religious powers in Judea they were a tiny faction. Compared to the might or Rome they were like a gnat taking on a lion.
Jesus says the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. The mustard seed was believed to be the tiniest seed around and it was pretty small. Jesus says, yes, as you look at the Kingdom of God now, it is tiny and insignificant. It seems to be making very little impact. But Jesus says, it is like the mustard seed. It starts small, but it grows into the largest of the garden shrubs. In the same way from these tiny insignificant beginnings the Kingdom of God will grow into something amazing.
When you think about Jesus speaking to his disciples in the first years of his ministry, facing rejection from the religious leaders and even his own family this was a bold and radical claim. Now, we look around the world and we see billions of people who would call themselves followers of Jesus and whole civilizations built on values that are rooted on Christ. His words and kingdom have spread beyond Galilee and Judea to be embraced by people in places as different and far flung as Korea, Nigeria, India and even the United Kingdom. Whether people follow Jesus or not, most would accept that he has had a bigger impact on the world than anyone who has ever lived. From the perspective of Jesus and a handful of followers that is an utterly massive growth!
- And this should encourage us. Even though in our own context in England, where the kingdom of God has been shrinking for decades or even centuries, we should be encouraged by this. Even as the church shrinks to a tiny size, the potential for incredible transformational growth remains. That won’t happen overnight, growth is a slow gradual process with growth spurts and periods of stagnation or even falling back. But the growth potential remains in the seed of the word of Christ – no matter how small the church becomes. Why? Because despite appearances the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. All it needs is for people to begin to have ears to hear.
St. Luke's Church Ramsgate 