Jesus Invites Us In to Keep Listening
Epiphany + 2 – January
16/19, 2020
Parables in Mark
Me as kind of kid who
felt like I needed to know everything
·
Embarrassed if I didn’t know or understand something right away
·
So, someone would try to teach me something or help me with something I
was struggling with and I would immediately retort, “I know!”
o Some vulnerability in
admitting I didn’t know everything right out of the gate; who knows why
·
Would have taken Jesus’ words to his disciples after this (1st)
parable as rebuke: “Do you not understand this parable?” Uh… is it supposed to
be obvious, Jesus?
Jesus teaches parables
that seem easy to understand, but are really not quite what they may seem on
the surface
·
See this in the first parable of Mark 4 with the story of the sower and
the seed and the soils
·
We tend to be quick to think we understand what is going on here
o Hear these words as
cautionary tale about becoming better soil where the word can take root and
grow
·
Wasn’t so obvious to the disciples – because they asked Jesus about the
parable once they were alone with him (maybe they didn’t want to make their
lack of understanding known to everyone in the crowd – I get it!)
·
And Mark has Jesus explain it (it’s possible that Mark is putting his
interpretation in Jesus’ mouth) – but even with the explanation, there are
questions to be wrestled with.
o Who is the sower? (God,
Jesus, us??)
o Is the soil to be blamed for
being a trampled, packed-down path? Or for being rocky? Or there being thorns
where some of the seed landed?
o Shouldn’t the farmer have
done a better job preparing the soil to receive the seed before just throwing
it around willy nilly? Or at least have paid better attention and been more
careful about where he or she planted?
·
“Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” Jesus cries out
We live in an age where
lots of people want the clear/black & white answer or explanation
·
Think that faith should be straightforward and obvious to everyone
·
Like my dad once asked me when I was working on an in-depth paper on a
biblical passage – one that was supposed to explore the meanings of the
original Greek words and the historical context when it was written and
connections to other biblical passages and so and so forth – “Doesn’t it just
mean what it says on the surface?”
o Not exactly
·
And we come to these parables, which have these common
agricultural or household references and we think that we should just be able
to figure them out, or maybe we do
think that we’ve figured them out
o We may be like me as a kid,
thinking that we’re supposed to be
able to figure them out, and feeling embarrassed or reluctant to admit that
maybe these stories are more complicated than they seem at first glance…
·
Especially when we hear Jesus quoting the book of Isaiah (ch. 6): “but
for those outside, everything comes in parable, in order that ‘they may indeed
look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand…’”
o So if we don’t get it, we’re
on the outside?
·
Over and over in Mark’s gospel, we will see not just the crowds, but
Jesus’ closest followers who don’t get it
·
And yet they stick with Jesus
o They ask questions
o They listen
o They pay attention
o They don’t give up – they
are teachable, open, willing to admit they don’t get it all
·
And Jesus doesn’t give up on them
·
Though they may fear ending up on the outside, Jesus keeps inviting
them in, to learn and grow
o He tends the soil of their
hearts and their lives so that they can receive the seed of God’s word
o And it grows and grows
within them –
o Producing an abundant
harvest that exceeds expectations
o Until they become not only
soil, but sowers, entrusted with the work of sharing the gospel, scattering the
seed of God’s word on all kinds of soil…
o And the harvest keeps
growing!
Jesus keeps inviting us
in to listen
·
Even when we don’t get it
·
Even when we’re embarrassed to admit we don’t get it ;)
·
Even when we stubbornly refuse to see that maybe we don’t get it even
when we think we absolutely do
·
Jesus keeps calling to us to walk with him, to listen to him, to learn
from him
·
To have what they call a growth mindset – that understands that we
don’t have to know everything
o That mistakes are natural
and normal and a sign of learning
o To keep asking the
questions, looking for deeper understanding
·
Trusting the sower who plants the seed in our hearts to tend to the
soil, so that it can take root and grow, sending us to do the same
·
And what a harvest it will be!
·
Thanks be to God! Amen.
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