He [Jesus] also said, 'This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.'
Again he said, 'What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.'
With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
(Mark 4:24-36)
Reading this just before at
Sacred Space, I wondered about whether it mattered for Jesus whether the people understood what his parables meant, and why he only explained them to his disciples. Is it necessary for us to understand what they mean?
1 comment:
yeah dude that is a good question, one i have often wondered about too.
did they have to know and understand did it matter? were thier hearts hard and so they would not have got it even if he explained it. would they have worked out who he really was and not killed him? did He tell them the stories now, but it was not for them to understand until after his death, ressurection and the Holy Spirit came to give them understanding. or was it a story that is to be interpreted as art can be, from your own perspective to mean what ever it means to you.
Post a Comment