Three Small Verses

Mark 6:1-3 is another of my off-topic side-trips. Given there is so much of the Bible to read, small details are not dwelt upon long enough to clearly understand. That is the case of these three verses in Mark Six. So, I would like us all to simply stop. Stop racing forward. Stop awhile and dwell on these three small verses.

Jesus had entered his own country of Judea; his disciples followed him. Jesus' hometown of Bethlehem was just five or six miles south of Jerusalem. On the Sabbath, he taught at the synagogue. We are impressed, initially, with the familiarity of the locals. It is a familiarity that makes us suspect that the events of these three verses took place in Bethlehem.


We gather much from the attitudes and thoughts of the locals. Not only is divine authority brought into question, but also, we see that Jesus' Rabbinic status is seen as less than credible. Now, we are familiar with the habit of Jesus teaching in synagogues, but in actuality, there was no formal synagogue hierarchy – they had no specified preachers and the customs allowed for any man to read and speak.


However, we also know that the elders and Pharisees and Sadducees, etc., were received with attitudes of respect. Their knowledge of scripture and authority was a given among the lower echelons of society. Their deeds, while mundane, were rarely doubted. That is not the case with Jesus in this particular synagogue. The attitude of the people was, from the beginning, one of incredulity. Note how they reasoned among themselves about his knowledge, his authority, his reputation.


Mark 6:2 give us this: “Many hearing him were astonished, saying, from whence hath this man these things?” In other words, just who did Jesus think he was? They questioned the source of knowledge and wisdom he drew upon, for it smacked of not being the ordinary doctrine of the Rabbis to which they were accustomed. By extension, if his doctrine was so different, how far afield was he in his deeds?


We know little of the Rabbis in the day of Jesus. For instance, did they wear a particular type of clothing or hat that might quickly identify them. A Rabbi seen in his Rabbi threads would have been more immediately accepted – in the Pavlovian sense of acceptance. Rabbis might also have been more sedentary, preferring to travel less than Jesus did. In fact, Jesus may have been the only man called Rabbi, at that time, who made house calls. Yet, being called Rabbi by a small troupe of followers is not the same thing as being among the bonafide elite.


We have a saying that goes: 'familiarity breeds contempt.' They found it hard to believe that one of their own, a commoner like themselves, should reach so far above his station in life. While they seem to have certainly known him and his family, their familiarity with Jesus seems not to have extended to any knowledge of formal training or credentials on Jesus' part. What did they base their attitude on, we must ask? When they asked among themselves, “Is not this the carpenter?” I get no sense that they meant the twelve-year-old boy learning the trade from his father Joseph. 'The carpenter' indicates someone who made a living in that trade. The people viewed Jesus as a common laborer – just as ordinary and small as themselves. They galled, 'How dare he be so big'?


Somehow, I see a message bubbling just under the surface of this incident. As a message, it is vague and elusive, but I suspect that in it familiarity, contempt, and faithlessness are interwoven. It is asserted that because they did not believe, Jesus could only do a few incidental miracles in the country of his birth.


Their knowledge of Jesus demands a bit more scrutiny. In their familiarity, certain family members are listed. Mary, James, Joses, Juda, and Simon are listed, plus a plurality of sisters. Jesus came from a large family, and that demands some investigation. We are looking at a family with seven or eight children. This should key thoughts about the logistics of feeding such a family, which in turn should lend credence to the statement of the people: 'the carpenter.' It seems altogether plausible that the carpenter worked along with father and brothers in the ongoing routine of putting bread on the table. Because of their familiarity of Jesus and his family, I can see the adult Jesus in the role of a carpenter.


When we think of a family, we think of the years it takes for children to grow up in their community. If Jesus was the first child of Joseph and Mary, some scholars believing she married at age 14, and if Jesus was in his thirties when he returned to preach in his own country, that would suggest that some of his siblings were in their twenties. Perhaps some of Jesus' sisters had already been married into the community. Mary would certainly be in her mid to upper forties at that time.


Jesus was perhaps near the half-way mark in his three and a half year ministry, so he may have been away from home for two or three years before this return. The locals would have had a clear memory of Jesus as 'the carpenter.' That is in contradiction, I realize, to those who believe Christ had been absent from his country since his early teens – perhaps in India. I also realize that many think the siblings of Jesus came from a previous marriage on the part of Joseph, but what if that was not the case?


What if Joseph had been around longer than many want to believe. I am not suggesting that the sex life of revered saints was prolific, but if a woman has one child a year, fourteen years plus eight would have Joseph around in Mary's twenties and when Jesus was eight. We know Joseph was around when Jesus was twelve. With such a large family, why did Joseph and Mary travel to Jerusalem with just a twelve-year-old Jesus? If they left all the other children in the care of others and just took Jesus, that would suggest a specific purpose.


I could go on. Three small verses can -- given enough thought, bring many new questions to bear. It is obvious that I think on these matters. Such thoughts are a joy, for they are elevated above the everyday. If any follow my writings, I would sincerely hope that it is for the same reason. May the Holy Spirit answer our every question.

First John Three

A topical study of First John Three

There is no better way to celebrate Christmas than to honor Christ in our spirits. By that I mean our every thought and emotion. What we know, we know through the spirit which was sent to us by Christ from God. No book of the Bible better explains what we know through the spirit than First John. The third chapter of that book breaks down the issues of right and wrong in a manner that is easy to understand.

This is the case of what we know in spirit, not what we know in worldly facts and figures. The spirit is not measured by our hand, but it is measured to each of us according to the will of God. Now, before we go any further, let me explain what the Bible writers meant by spirit. You can look this up for yourselves. Whenever the Bible mentions the heart, it is a reference to the seat of our thoughts. In other words, the heart is the mind, therefore, the mind is the spirit. Similarly, it was believed that the emotions and passions were seated in the bowels.

The case that First John Three makes is a case about our thoughts and emotions – what we know, how we know it, and the exact location our minds and hearts anchor into the mind of God in Christ. Follow with me as John makes his case.



What we know about the sinner's mindset

John divides our spiritual knowledge into the two broad categories of right and wrong, good and bad, righteous and wicked, love and hatred. These extremes are opposing sides in an ongoing struggle. Love and good and righteousness are one and the same. Sin and hatred and lawlessness are one and the same.

We know for example that, “Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” We are also told, “He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil (has) sinned from the beginning.” Furthermore, the child of God knows his relationship with God by and through his relationship with the world: “Whosoever does not righteousness is not of God, whosoever sins hath not seen him, neither known him. Therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”



What we know about the absence of love

The sinner is explained, in spirit, as the opposite of God. God is love, the sinner is anything but. Just as God acts upon the principle of love, and the child of God acts upon the principle of love, the sinner acts upon the opposing principle: hatred. The result of the sinner's principle in action is always seen as independence, isolation, resistance, rebellion, defiance, rejection, and ultimately, as violence and destruction.

John explains the difference between love and hatred thus: “Whoso hath this world's good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him?” The Christian knows that all ties are not the ties of love; we are admonished to love our brothers, but “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.” Christ plainly told us that if we hate our brothers with our thoughts, we have already committed murder. That is why the spirit, and John, instruct us with these words: “Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. He that loves not his brother abides in death.”



The difference between the children of God and the children of the devil

The world is filled with sinners. They are a hateful bunch. This is exactly how we know that we are different from the world. This is how we know just how saved we are – for we used to be them. Christ redeemed us from them, and now they hate us as much as the righteous son of God. This is how we know that we share the mind of Christ and the mind of God – it is what we mean when we say we are born of God.

John said, “Marvel not, my brethren if the world hates you.” We know it hated God first. Since it opposed God, it is only to be expected that it would also oppose his son. Is it any wonder it rejects those who are one with Christ? The children will be like their father. The enemy of God the Father will also fight his children. All that the enemy of God has perpetrated against God's children, the coming of Christ is meant to undo: “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

We know that Christ wages a war against the enemy of God's children. It is a war of attrition. Christ deflates the ranks of sinners by removing us. Therefore we “Know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin. Whosoever abides in him sins not.” We disown the enemy of God and adopt God as our new father. God plants his seed in our thinking. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”


What we know about truth and confidence

God replaces our hatred with love. It is no ruse on our part; it is the very thing we are. God planted love in our thinking, therefore, we are love. The enemy of God can express love as well as the child of God, but that is where it ends for them. We go a step further and actually walk the walk. We love in actual deed. We love in actual fact. We love God; we love our brothers. That is why John urges us to be sure.

“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” Christ is the truth. By that, I mean that Christ is the perfection of man by the planting of God's seed. Christ is one with God – he is the same. We are one with Christ – we are the same. It is through that spirit that we are consoled and made confident in our relationship: “Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.”

Our new spiritual relationship comes with software to make it integrate seamlessly, and John wants the child of God to keep that in mind: “Beloved, if our heart condemns us not, then have we confidence toward God.” It can not be overstated that our new mind is both the desire of the father and the acquiescence of the child. It is because of that mental oneness, not only between God and you but also between you and I, that the spiritual wheel moves forward. John concludes,  “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” In deed and in truth.



How we perceive God's love

There is a perception of the love that is God. It is a perception in which the child of God views his father and his brother as indistinguishable from self. It is a mental image in which the planted seed of God shines so brightly that love becomes the new self. That is why John said this: “Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Laying down one's life is not a result of the perception – it is the perception.

God is who we are; Christ is who we are; love is who we are. It is seen by the child of God that Christ is both the messenger and the message. For this reason, John said, “This is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” It is a truth of the spirit; the upgrade is both personal and obvious: “We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.” The message we have heard from the beginning is not something we have to guess at, nor is it a hidden thing that we must search high and low for it; the message is in black and white. It is there in The Bible for all of us to read. It is the command of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. John added, “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”

It is a spiritual thing – a matter of the mind, for God planted his mind in Christ, who in turn, planted that same mind in you and I. Again, it can not be overstated that our new mind is both the desire of the father and the acquiescence of the child. John tells us this: “He that keeps his (Christ's) commandments dwells in him, and he in him. And hereby (or, it is because of this indwelling that) we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit (the mind) which he hath given us.”



What we know of our kinship with Christ

We know in our spirits and believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God. He is that because of the mind of God indwelling him. He has shared that mind with us, and because we share the mind of the son, God calls us his children. It is a spiritual love so finely tuned that we, like John, must stand in awe of it. As John said in praise, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.”

It is a love planned from the very beginning, and as such, it is a divine instrument that unites the future (the Father's desire) with the present (the son's acquiescence). The future is seen in 'shall appear' and the present is seen in 'see him as he is'. Even without concrete and verifiable evidence, this is a real truth that both lives in us and brings life to us who were dead in our sins. The truth written in First John Three claims and exclaims  the honor we give to Christ in the celebration of his birth: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

Furthermore, John shows us that our hopes and our works unite in one forward moving momentum, but more importantly that the mindset we all strive toward is the same mindset found in the timeless and perfected Christ: “Every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he (Christ) is pure.”



The most important message a Christian can hear

It must be noted that the most important message the faithful will ever receive is the messenger himself. “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as he (Christ) is righteous.” So, let our celebration of Christmas not only embrace and lift up our savior but acknowledge our own like-mindedness with the son of God.

Do you have an eye for details?

I turned my attention to Mark, chapter five, in search of the next parable but found none. Instead, I found so much more. I have always been impressed that those who chronicled these deeds of Christ chose the words that we now read. If a thing was written down, that was because the writer thought it important enough to mention. They could have lingered on the major points – that Christ was a priest/king, or that Christ was a healer, or a prophet, savior, or the very son of almighty God. Yet, they thought certain small details merited mention.

I see the authenticity of the Bible in those small details. They prove to me the humanity of Christ or the dismay of ordinary people faced with the unimaginable. I have often said that I see the things that others overlook, but in truth, we all see the details. They are there before us in black and white. A person with a blind spot will not immediately catch on, neither will the person with something to prove, nor yet again will the person who assumes, presumes, or predetermines.

Do you have an eye for details? If so, I invite you to reexamine with me the fifth chapter of the book of Mark. It is, at once, a book both of mesmerizing miracles and convincing real-life details. Christ had just taught the multitudes from a hired ship by the western shore of the sea of Galilee. He had crossed to the eastern side, calming a storm in transit. Chapter five presents us with three miracles.

The first of these is the man possessed by Legion. After the miracle, the gentiles of that region gathered to find that not only was the man dressed and in his right mind, but 2000 dead pigs were floating in the sea of Galilee. That second point affected them more than the first, for their livelihoods had been diminished. The people feared his destructive power and asked him to leave.

Back on the other side, likely at the very place from which he had departed, the leader of that city's synagogue kneeled before him to beg a favor. It is possible that Jairus was one of those who had taunted him and schemed with the Herodians for his destruction. Times and fates, however, defy the most stalwart of lives. Things change. When they do, we must change with them. Christ, having the reputation as a Master and healer was the last hope for a daughter loved, but upon death's very door. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Jairus begs for his daughter's life and Christ answers the plea. Yet, even before he raises that 12-year-old girl from the dead, he heals a woman with an issue of blood. Mark five displays three wonderful and wrenching miracles. Now, it might be enough, if the writer had only some major point to express, if only the miracles had been recounted, for indeed they showed the divine in Christ, they showed his healing power. Yet, more than these alone, the writer felt that certain small details were important enough to write about. Let us examine those details together.

We turn first to the possessed. Might it not have been enough to state that the man had an evil spirit? Would it not have been sufficient to show the power of the son of God over so many evil spirits that they were named Legion? If you just had that to report, no more needed to be said. Yet, more was said. Why? I think it is because the writer was amazed at what had occurred. The list of reported facts went well beyond the comfortable realm of that which was considered 'normal'. These are the small details that amazed the writer.

The possessed man was strong – no one could tame him. Obviously, previous attempts to subdue the man had failed. They had failed with ropes, they had failed with fetters, they had even failed with chains. The man always managed to remove them, even in some cases breaking them into pieces. Myths are built around such men, and stories of this type continue from generation to generation. As an example of such, I was once incarcerated in a jail in the city of Leesville, Louisiana. The jail had stood since the late 1880s. A story was told to me of a man so strong, that when he awoke from a drunk to find himself in jail, he bent the bars on the door with his bare hands. I saw those bars with my own eyes, they were one inch thick and made from blue steel. As I say, authenticity may be found in the details.

So, this strong wild man was important to the writer. This was the type of man that Jesus faced – a man known to inhabit the mountain wilds and tombs of the dead – a man heard by many to cry pathetically, and known for such a lamentable state that he would even cut himself with rocks. He was feared by the locals and left to his own devices. This was the man that ran at Christ while those with him watched, amazed and helpless to act. Christ commanded the spirit to depart from the man, who then fell at Jesus' feet and worshiped him.

“What have I to do with you, Jesus, son of the most high God?” said the man in a loud voice, upon which Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” The man answered, “My name is Legion: for we are many.” Now, throughout this exchange, those who attended Jesus stood quietly watching. Legion begged to retain their corporal host, desperate enough to accept the bodies of 2000 pigs. The command of Christ could not be denied, for Christ would not suffer the evil spirits, and when the swine had been possessed, Christ sent them in a panic to their deaths.

So, what is the important message in this report? The story could have begun and concluded on the power of Christ over a legion of evil spirits. Yet, there are details about the wild man – and something else the writer felt was important. The locals saw their livelihoods dead in the sea. They feared him who was stronger than Legion. They rejected him who had trimmed their purse strings so short.

Then, there is the miracle of the raised girl. It would have been enough to show the healer so willing to heal. It would have been enough to show a powerful man on his knees before Jesus. But there are details, and as we are coming to see, there is truth in the details. Let us look at the details. He was back on the other side again. He was near the sea of Galilee in the same area in which he taught the multitudes in parables. There was still enough of a crowd that Jesus again was thronged. Despite the press, one of the rulers of the synagogue made his way to Jesus and fell at his feet, humble, prostrate, desperate.

Now, Jesus traveled with a sizable entourage, and upon his return to the western banks of Galilee, this number was compounded by the crowd that surrounded him. One man, proud in his station, pushed through the multitude, but his station and his pride no longer mattered: his daughter was dying, and Jesus could heal her. He had healed others. It was a father's desperation that threw this leader at the feet of a man his order rejected.

Who ruled the synagogues? A council of elders which may have been constituted of Pharisees and other religious rulers. Perhaps Jairus witnessed the healing of the withered hand. Whether his take on the law set him at disagreement with Jesus, or he had been named among those that chapter three of this book called 'friends', the healer's reputation was undeniable. Jairus humbly begged the life of his daughter.

It is the small details that make a story real. Those unsung tidbits of scripture describe the human nature. They paint a vivid portrait of the moment, and the spirit in which the facts go down. It seems rather immediate, but Jesus went with the ruler of the synagogue. Jesus' entourage went with him, and a large following of people filled in every empty space so that the writer wrote that Jesus was 'thronged'.

Under these circumstances, Jesus was bumped and jostled to the point that even his disciples could not guard his person. I don't doubt they tried. I don't doubt there was a measure of frustration in that event. Into that pressed scenario came a woman with a disease. She touched the clothing of Jesus and was healed. Skeptics will always be more of what they practice. Naturally, they will say this event is just too fantastic to believe.

There is no record that anyone knew of her until the incident. Information for the record would have had to be gathered after the fact. Again, the writer felt that information warranted mention. What are the details? The woman had an issue of blood. Her ailment had blighted her life for 12 years. She had spent all her money on Doctors, but had not improved, rather it is said that she got worse. Furthermore, the writer wanted the reader to know a small but important detail – a very human detail – the woman had suffered at the hands of those who could not really help. That represents 12 years of dashed hopes.

Yet, she had enough faith left, and enough desperation, to push through the throng and touch the clothing of Jesus. No doubt, she had been part of the multitudes since chapter three, in which the withered hand was healed. No doubt, she also heard of the man who had been possessed on the eastern banks of the Galilee. Whether in the council of friends or not, faith drove her to act.

Jesus stopped because of a detail. That detail was that he 'felt' the healing virtue leave his person. I have always found this particular story very telling. Imagine the hustle, the bustle. Imagine the jostling and the clamor of voices, the dust rising up from the road. Imagine the focus of the disciples to get Jesus to Jairus' house – and Jesus stops and turns. The voices vanish as he calls out, “Who touched my clothes?”

This is where the human factor convinces me of the truth of the miracle: his disciples responded thus, “You see the multitude thronging you, and yet you ask, who touched me?” They were incredulous. They were perplexed at his words. How could he say such a thing under those conditions? I wonder if I am the only one who sees that Jesus perceived the 'virtue' going out of him as an energy taking direction? Virtue seems a vague concept to many, but I wish the reader of this study to see virtue as energy and power, effective in its discharge. The woman, it is said, knew immediately that her plague was gone. She also felt the weight of Jesus' question as wholly personal.

I relate to that, and I'll tell you why. In elementary school, I was trying to read a comic book during a class. I had it concealed inside the school book I held so that if the teacher should look my way, he would see the jacket of the school book. A sort of charged silence overtook the classroom, and the teacher cleared his throat. A wave of adrenaline flooded my system, telling me I was the target of the throat-clearing. I knew without a doubt that I had been found out.

The woman, I have little doubt, felt much the same. She was compelled to confess her deed – not that she was guilty of any wrong doing – but still, she threw herself before him and confessed all. He said, “Your faith has made you whole.” Can you see it? Jesus deliberately and knowingly healed many people. She was not one of them. It was the woman and her faith that tapped into the energy of Christ. She effected her own healing. Jesus' words were not platitudinous but spoke of the real connection between such power and the spirit of the person.

While that transpired, people came from the house of Jairus. They were not a part of the crowd that day but surely were as privy to all the word-of-mouth that flew around the actions of Jesus. They would have known of his reputation and formed an opinion. These might have been servants of the house of Jairus, or they might have been friends or fellow elders of the synagogue. One line is attributed to them, but it speaks volumes for such an overlooked detail.

They said, “Your daughter is dead: why trouble the Master any further?” Was it mere servants who thought of Jesus as 'the Master'? Was it friends, or family, or fellow elders who used the word 'Master'? It is telling that this detail was retained in the account, more so that the writer, or translator, thought to capitalize the word.

Must have been a wrenching moment for the father of the girl, but how close to Jairus' house were they when that occurred? Probably quite close, for it was at a point where Jesus, Jairus, and three disciples could go on alone. Christ would have had to deliberately turn back the crowd that had followed him. Remember, he was thronged by a multitude. His command to the crowd to would need to be forceful. While not a part of the story, I can imagine those of the household meeting Jesus and Jairus at the outer gates of the property.

Let us look at what Jesus told Jairus. He said, “Be not afraid, only believe.” He said this on the heels of having told the woman that her faith had made her whole. I bring this up because it points to a connection between faith and fear as if they are opposites – the one being fully able to cancel out the other. Faith powers miracles and that spiritual frame of mind cannot be achieved through fear.

So, Christ enters the house to heal the girl. Obviously, there are people still there – family members, neighbors, friends of the family – grieving and mourning in the cultural fashion. Jesus rebukes the custom and is “laughed to scorn”, as the scripture puts it. Without the small details, it may be assumed a writer of such an account need only present the core matter, that being to show Jesus as the healer, and or the son of God. If such propaganda is the tactic, then all coincidental characters will have their hands in the air and be singing praises, but people knew when someone was dead, so of course, they would laugh and scorn and ridicule – that was part and parcel of who they were. That shows me they were real.

Jesus puts them all out of the room. The only others there are the parents and the three disciples. Jesus takes the girl's hand and says, “Talitha cumi.” This is a Syriac expression, which according to my inquiry, Jesus used regularly, as it was the common language in which he communicated. The writer of Mark thought this particular expression was important enough to keep in Syriac and to translate for the reader. It is confusing to me because if Jesus normally spoke in this dialect of Aramaic, then the writer was already translating what Jesus said for the reader. Why not simply do the same with this expression and say that Jesus took the hand of the maid and said arise little maid. This detail is intriguing in that the Syriac expression is treated as an incantation.

Finally, the girl arises from her state (Jesus had said that she only slept) and everyone is duly and rightfully amazed. In closing, I would like to illuminate a final detail, one that shows me the veracity of the account of a miracle. It's a little thing, but it stands tall in my estimation. Jesus turns to the parents and tells them to be sure to make the girl eat some food. Sounds like a physician. Sounds like someone who knew the first need of a body that comes from such a state as that girl was certainly in. Do you have an eye for details? Think on these. It may be the story takes on an added dimension for you – the dimension of a spiritually awakened reader.

The Seeds of Mark Four

Jump with me. I shall move from point to point as I examine the entire fourth chapter of Mark. This is where the ship comes into play. As you might recall, our study in Mark three informed us that Christ had arranged in advance to have a ship ready. Mark Four is a soapbox chapter. Christ used the ship as a platform from which to preach to a sold out crowd. It was a multitude comprised from seven separate geographical regions. It was standing room only.

The text claims that Jesus spoke to the multitude only in parables and that he taught them many things, the expression “in his doctrine” shows us that the writer picked certain of the parables to bring forward. It seems noteworthy that the parables mentioned in Mark four are those that deal with seeds. Let us count them off.

The first parable (Mk. 4:3-8) was the one about the sowing of seeds in divergent growing conditions, the one that Jesus explained in detail to his disciples in Mark 4:14-20. The second seed parable is found in Mark 4:26-29. It is the one that shows us the goal of the exercise – the harvest. The third is found in Mark 4:30-32. It is the one that compares the kingdom to a mustard seed, that is the making of something large and wonderful from a thing that seems insignificant.

In this study, I will not deal so much with the parables as I will the connective tissue that binds muscle to bone, as it were. We must keep in mind that these parables were not preached to the Pharisees, or to anyone proficient in the law, but to the uneducated masses. Many of them knew all too well how the thing with seeds worked. They were results-driven individuals who knew, for instance, that you had to plant seeds in good soil. They knew the tiny mustard seed produced a large tree. So despite their total lack of scientific knowledge about how the seeds took on and grew, they understood perfectly that if you wanted to eat, the harvest was the whole point.

I believe many of them understood the parables, and the rest of them had the necessary experience to work it out – if only they would apply themselves. Christ even explained his parables with common knowledge and understatements. His words never went over their heads. Mark 4:21 is an example of the understatement. It is a question that needs no answer and explains perfectly that things are done for a reason. You light a candle for the light, not the dark. You plant the seeds to get something predetermined. You speak not to the nose, but to the ear. “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mk. 4:23)

It is just as obvious that we, today can work these things out – if only we apply ourselves. Sometimes we are just too lazy. We want the answers handed to us on a silver platter. Even the disciples failed in that regard, asking for the meaning of the parable rather than working it out. So Christ explained it to them and made it very clear. What I want us all to see, however, is the connective wording between the parable and the truth.

Christ said this in Mark 4:13, “Know ye not this parable? And how then will ye know all parables?” What did he mean? People like you and I need to be quite clear on this. A parable can be a locked door to many, but what is the key that opens a parable? It may surprise you to be told this, but the parable is the key. The parable has a predetermined structure which may be used to determine any truth. Through the parable, all spiritual truths will open to us.

Many of us look and don't look at the same time. We look right at something and fail to see it. When Christ stilled the raging sea, how many boats were in the water? I had always thought there was just the one, but as it turns out, other boats launched out with his. Mark 4:36 says this, “And there were also with him other little ships.” I present that as proof that we don't always see what we are looking at. Our focus can be limiting.

It should not surprise you, then, that I say many who read the Bible miss the finer details and deeper truths. Christ, himself, said as much in the statement, “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.” You simply have to work at it. The man who always looks at his feet will neither see the moon nor will he be convinced of it by another's words.

In this regard, I present the finer details and deeper truths found in Mark 4:24-25. “Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.” It's like a universal law of direction. Which direction do you choose?

Augmentation might be considered another law. By augmentation I mean direction, practice, work, development. For example, you look at the moon and you see the face, but you want more details. You build a crude telescope and the craters begin to take shape. It is the desire that brings the means, and you know that if you can refine the telescope, more will come to you.

The majority of us have to work for what we get. If we want to eat, we must work the harvest. Our nature dictates that we will do what we must to obtain what we need. The same is as true of our spiritual needs as it is of our physical needs. Many of us don't realize our spiritual needs, therefore, there is no work in that direction. We look at our shoes and ignore the moon. Others of us do, at some point, adopt a notion of the moon – if we can wear them on our feet.

Jesus explained things to his disciples, the others had parables, which is the same thing, they just had to choose a direction and do the work. Many do more than ignore the moon, they campaign against it. They fight it tooth and nail. They belittle it as fantasy and wish fulfillment. It is an isolationist scenario in which they refuse to be instructed, for that would require they looked up from their own sense of self.

This is why Jesus spoke in parables. Some would take the high and glorious and soil it, utilize it in a low manner. Mark 4:11-12, “Unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted . . .” They have chosen their direction. It is pro-self and anti-truth, for they fear the loss of identity.

Do you see what I see?

I am between parables again, but I feel I have a responsibility to the truth. If the Spirit will take the time to bring something to my attention, I can certainly take the time to see what it means. There are points in Mark 3 we need to examine. In the past, I am sure that I have been as guilty as anyone else of racing past these points, of overlooking these points. In doing so, we are all guilty of robbing ourselves of the clarity we need in such matters.

Christ had just healed the withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath. In a list of 40 miracles, that one was number 11. It was still fairly early in the three-year ministry. The importance of this point will be made clear in a moment. The context in which this point belongs must first be made plain. After the healing, the Pharisees left and consulted with the Herodians (Mk. 3:6) on how to destroy Jesus. Why, because he did something good?

After the healing, Jesus left and went down to the sea of Galilee. There he arranged to have a boat ready to launch at a moments notice. People followed him there. Not only the twelve, not only the women and children but literal crowds from each and every town. Makes you wonder how fast word got around. Something wonderful was occurring, and they all wanted to go and see. There was a crowd from Galilee, a crowd from Judaea, a crowd from Jerusalem, a crowd from Idumaea, a crowd from beyond Jordan, a crowd from Tyre, and a crowd from Sidon (Mk. 3:7-8). Altogether, it was nothing short of a multitude.

Is it any wonder he arranged for a boat? So many people followed, seeking to be healed, it was impossible to sit down and eat. The possessed fell prostrate before him and confessed that he was the Son of God. Plague victims pressed in from all sides. Jesus was surrounded, so he took his closest followers and retreated to a mountainous area above the maddening crowd. Here is a point I had overlooked before.

The twelve were called disciples elsewhere, but it was here on this hilltop that they were ordained. What does it mean to be ordained? Who is authorized in such practices? A quick search of the internet shows this from Wikipedia: 'Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies'. Jesus was called a Rabbi. Did he ordain the twelve into a rabbinical order? Was this the new school making a break from the old school?

Can we assume that the anger and violence of the Pharisees were due to a sense of being betrayed by one of their own? The Pharisees, as is all too plain, followed Jesus from the beginning and went with him everywhere. Many scholars make the assumption that Jesus was a member of some order or the other. Some like to place Jesus among the Essenes, but it was the scribes and Rabbis, taken collectively, that comprised the group known as the Pharisees. Of all the religious and political groups of that day, the Pharisees are known as the most progressive. Could it have been that Jesus was their star pupil? Why did the Pharisees consult with the purely political Herodians rather than the Sadducees?

Here is another point most of us have gravely underestimated. Christ had just ordained the twelve, and now, they were returned and in a house, with the multitude pressing in on them in an unpredictable and unmanageable manner. In Mark 3:21 we find this odd statement, “And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.”

Out from where, we ask? As an addendum, the very next verse adds this information: Mark 3:22, “And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.” Then in the following verse, 23, Jesus “called them unto him.” Through his closest followers, but also throngs from seven geographic regions, Jesus called those who went out and came down. In other words, he called the scribes and Pharisees. He called them because they had said that he was beside himself and that he had an unclean spirit.

He rebuked them with a parable that spoke in terms of a kingdom and a house. The authority of either must be united, else it is not what it claims to be, and by small digressions it will whittle itself into non-existence. Then Jesus says this in verse 27, “No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoils his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.” More than the reference to a kingdom, we should look at his reference to a house, and the authority of that house.

Two possibilities stand out. Either Christ spoke of the house of Satan, or he spoke of the house of the scribes and Pharisees. If it was the former, Christ forewarned of his attack on sin and death, and his victory through man's redemption. If it was the latter, then Christ was letting the Pharisees know that his plan to bring them down was going as planned. Jesus may then be seen in the light of a purist whose intent was to put religion right. As later verses clearly show, what mattered to him was obedience to the will of God and devotion to the Holy Spirit of Truth. In the context of those two parameters, every deficiency, spiritual, physical, or political, could be rectified.