I read this the other day and caught something i never really had before...it was Mark 4:10-12...
in this Jesus says to the twelve "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."
why this cuaght my attention is becuase the way i read it it seemed as though Jesus was intentionally keeping others besides the twelve in the dark...not letting the understand fully what he was saying to them...was he doing that just to fullfil a scripture...or becuase those apart from the disciples werent ready for Jesus' full messege? it just struck some interest becuase i couldnt understand why Jesus would let some people in on this "secret of the kingdom of God" and leave others to scratch their heads over it...does this mean the kingdom of God is not for everyone? or am i just looking to much into it and it is really nothing big..i just read it the wrong way and thats not what it means...i dont know...just thought maybe you would have a few words to say about it...
3 comments:
This is a very important question. I interacted with some atheists online some time ago and they brought this up as a criticism. Why was Jesus so abstruse (ab‧struse 1. hard to understand; recondite; esoteric: abstruse theories. 2. Obsolete. secret; hidden.)?
Do you think verse 9 has something to do with this?
You can google the question and get some good discussion of why Jesus spoke in parables. Actually, about 1/3 of the time he did. A couple of things to consider. Teaching through parables is common, and was common among teachers in his day. Socrates and Aristotle used this method.
Why? One reason may be because it is an effective way of getting the listener (at least the ones that care) to ponder the meaning and to think deeply about it. It challenged the listener.
As suggested in these verses, it was prophesized that he would.
Also, in this context, what was Jesus trying to communicate in the preceding parable? What was he wanting his audience to do?
You got it. He is talking about what life in the kingdom of heaven is like.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear. How to you get those types of spiritual ears?
What is the good soil?
The good soil is life in the kingdom now. Jesus is casting a vision here.
Ears to hear...lots to talk about here. Maybe meditate on that one a while, seek out an answer, ask for guidance, talk with spiritually minded people about it.
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