Are You Listening #6 Series

Great Lessons from the Life of Christ #6

ARE YOU LISTENING (Mark 4:1-20)

How many parents have taken their child’s face in their hands and asked “Are you listening to me? Do you hear what I am saying?” And how many children have completely closed out what their parents were saying, but for safety reasons answered, “Yes mam” or “Yes sir?” Their mind, a thousand miles away on a thousand different things.

It’s frustrating as a parent when you have something important to say to your child and you know they are not listening. There is something they need to hear and understand, but you know they are not going to get it. In Biblical terminology – “They have ears to hear but they do not hear.” And your message is lost, because they are not going to listen.

Wonder if God ever feels that way when He has such an important message? Since the day He created man, He has been trying to get His message across, even sending His Son to model His truth before us, and yet often we just do not seem to get it. Over and over the Bible tells us how important it is that we hear and understand.

We are going to look at a well-known parable, but before we do, I want to quickly consider its context and make a couple of comments about parables in general. Jesus has been passing through Galilee and huge crowds are following Him. Some estimate in the thousands. The problem is – most in the crowd could care less about what Jesus is saying, the truths He is teaching. They are following because of the miracles being performed.

• Some need His healing. Others are following out of curiosity. For some, Jesus is simply the best show in town. People everywhere are talking, and everyone wants to see this guy.

• Remember chapter 1 – having cast out a demon in the synagogue, vs. 28 says that “news about Him spread over the entire region of Galilee.” Phillips paraphrases it well – “His reputation spread like wildfire.”

• Some do need Him…most just want to see Him.

There is a prophecy about Jesus in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel that is interesting – God through Ezekiel says, “people will follow Him but pay no attention to Him.”

• Ezek. 33:32 – “Behold you are to them a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well upon the instrument. For they hear your words, but they do not do them.”

• To many, Jesus was nothing more than entertainment. And that is a lot of what is happening here in the book of Mark. Thousands are following, but most could care less about what He is saying, nor are they interested in the truths He is teaching. They want to see Him perform another miracle, maybe in their minds, another trick.

Against this background, Jesus begins to teach in parables.

The gospels record some sixty different parables, none of which are found in the book of John. About 1/3 of Jesus’ teaching is found in the parables.

We have always defined a parable as “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.”

• Let’s be a little clearer – the word parable means “a placing of one thing beside another for the sake of comparison.” Jesus would take the physical, that which those listening would understand, and talk about it in such a way that a spiritual truth could be understood.

• But even as good as Jesus was at presenting such a truth, there was a problem. Most had no concept of the spiritual and could not make the application. That is why Jesus says in verses 11-12:

“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.”

• To those who had no spiritual understanding (for example, those who looked for a physical king who would restore the nation of Israel to its former place of prominence) - those who had no concept of what Jesus was about, what the kingdom of God was about - they would struggle to understand any parable Jesus taught.

• In fact, even Jesus’ closest disciples struggled at times to understand. We will see that in this parable today.

Mark shares a story about something everyone was familiar with – everyone listening was familiar with the sowing of seed and the soil that seed would fall on.

• We read those few verses, and we tend to analyze every detail of the parable.

• Please understand this – that is not the way a parable is designed. A parable is meant to convey one primary idea, one primary message.