Mark 4:10-20 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Mark 4:10-20. With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage. Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage? After you’ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
Mark 4:10-12 (NIV)
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.
11 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
12 so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'”
On verses 10-12: Yesterday we learned one reason why Jesus taught in parables: to make truth about the kingdom of God easier for his disciples to understand and remember. But here we learn a second reason why Jesus taught in parables and, paradoxically, it’s the opposite of the first reason: Jesus taught in parables in part to make it difficult for those whom God had not chosen to understand what Jesus was saying.
Jesus’ parables were, in a way, a secret code by which he would communicate with his followers, while at the same time confusing “those on the outside” (v11) who did not follow him.
Why would Jesus do that? Didn’t Jesus want everyone to hear and understand him? Isn’t it unfair to those who couldn’t understand what Jesus was saying? Here’s the short answer, but it won’t be that satisfying to people who insist that everything God does must make sense to them: God is God and He can do whatever He wants. He is sovereign.
But another part of the answer is this: God will not cheapen spiritual truth so that people who don’t have a heart for Him can grasp it. Truth about God is precious and to really get it requires that your heart be in the right place. Jesus’ parables effectively were drawing those who were humble enough and hungry enough to cherish God’s truth, while distancing those who were too prideful to give God the time of day. In other words, the condition of your heart as you come to God’s Word – how humble, open and hungry you are – is absolutely crucial.
Mark 4:13-20 (NIV)
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?
14 The farmer sows the word.
15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;
19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop–thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
On verses 13-20: Jesus explains to his disciples the meaning of his parable about the four soils. The farmer represents God and the seed represents God’s Word. The four soils represent four heart conditions that people tend to have when they hear God’s Word:
– The hardened path represents those whose hearts are too hard to receive God’s Word. Pridefully they reject it without really considering it. Their pride becomes the reason Satan can take away God’s Word from their heart so quickly.
– The rocky soil represents those who never bother to deepen their relationship with God. They are superficial hearers. At first they receive God’s Word with emotion but because they never bother to develop or deepen their relationship with God beyond that emotional moment, their faith does not last and they fall away.
– The soil among thorns represents those with a distracted heart. Instead of making room for God’s Word to grow in their lives, they allow many other things to compete for their attention. So, even when it grows in their lives, God’s Word gets choked out by other things.
– The good soil represents those with a teachable and humble heart who make room for God’s Word to grow in their lives. Because their heart is humble and they make room for God’s Word, God’s Word not only takes root but also bears fruit that far exceeds whatever was originally sown.
The great news for us is that it is up to us what kind of soil we will be. You have an important part to play in whether the Word you have heard dies a quick death or bears great fruit for the long term.
Father, I pray that my heart would be like good soil, humble, hungry and ready to hear You. I pray that I would not be easily distracted or so prideful that I miss what You are saying to me. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
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