He told them, “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!’ [Mark 4:11-12 NIV]
Jesus is explaining why there is a significant difference in understanding and interpretation of spiritual matters between a Christian and a non-Christian. The believer in the Lord Jesus understands spiritual truths that are completely misunderstood by the unbeliever. There are many examples of this. The believer sees God's hand in every day events while the unbelievers attribute events to chance. The Christian has a tender conscience about sin which seems so strange to the non-Christian. "Go on, nobody will see you," are the persuasive words of the non-Christian but the Christian is so aware that God is watching our every action.
However, there is a deeper message in these verses. Jesus is stating clearly that he is deliberately speaking in parables so that there will be those who do not understand the message. This might seem strange. After all, we normally think of parables as a way of making an abstract theological point much clearer. You will notice that one of my favourite tactics is to use an illustration to help to explain a difficult idea in a Bible passage. And that was something I learned as a history teacher - some of my classes nicknamed me as 'Jackanory' (after the TV series which ran from 1965 to 1996 with a celebrity reading stories to try to develop an interest in reading among children). There are times when the parable does help us to grasp the message but Jesus was referring to parables which did the opposite. So what is that all about.
These verses come just after the disciples enquire about a parable which he has taught - the parable of the sower. When the crowds have left, the disciples ask Jesus about the meaning of this parable. So that is when Jesus spoke about "seeing but never perceiving," and "hearing but never understanding."
All of this relates to a very difficult Biblical truth - the truth of election. God choses his own people before the creation. From the divine point of view, God knows who will choose to follow His Son Jesus Christ. This is a controversial subject and those who deny the Word of God will challenge this and say how can there be free choice and free will if all of our lives have been determined before we were born. The Bible presents both of these perspectives which are apparently contradictory and the believer in the Lord Jesus accepts them by faith. The use of parables to hide the truth is part of God's plan. This means that there needs to be some definite choice to find out the truth. If the message was simply presented in easy terms and without any real need for commitment and understanding on our part, this would devalue the message. And yet the message of the Gospel is straightforward and simple. Some preachers used to describe is as 'heaven's easy artless, unencumbered plan.' But humans have presented mental barriers to understanding and this devil has exploited this [See Day Share entitled, Our Gospel is veiled * 30/09/2021]. The work of the Holy Spirit is to guide us in our understanding of the Word of God.
But there are many deep truths associated with the Gospel which are difficult to grasp and Jesus presented many of these truths in parables. In 2020 we looked at 10 parables which were only found in Luke's Gospel . Here is the list
1. The Good Samaritan [Luke 10:29-37]
2. The Rich Fool [Luke 12:16-21]
3. The Barren Fig Tree [Luke 13:6-9]
4. The Wedding Feast [Luke 14:7-11]
5. The Lost Coin [Luke 15:8-10]
6. The Prodigal Son [Luke 15:11-32]
7. The Dishonest Manager [Luke 16:1-9]
8. The Rich Man and Lazarus [Luke 16: 19-31]
9. The Persistent Widow [Luke 18: 1-8]
10. The Pharisee & the Tax Collector [Luke 18:9-14]
[See Day Share entitled, Parables in Luke's Gospel 06/01/2020].
Some of these are straightforward and the story Jesus told helps us to understand the message being conveyed. The best example is the first one on the list - the Good Samaritan. This was to illustrate the point of who is our neighbour. It was a Samaritan who showed kindness to this Jew while the religious Jews left him lying helpless. The message that there are no barriers with God is fairly straightforward. There are other parables which are more difficult to interpret such as number 3 - the Barren Fig Tree or number 7 - the Dishonest Manager. We need to dig deep in order to discover the real message from God in His Word.
I have always found that something which is handed to us on a plate requiring no effort on our part is less satisfying than when we are required to invest time and effort into the matter. We live in a convenience world - where we expect everything to be provided for us. The most obvious example is food. In my lifetime, there has been a significant increase in processed and packaged food. I am not criticising anyone for using ready-made meals but there is a great thrill from creating a meal from raw ingredients. The same principle applies to reading the Word of God and praying. God expects and rewards commitment.
[Bernard Cribbins on Jackanory]
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