1 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:14,600 Hi everyone, and welcome back to the podcast, where we take a 2 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:19,500 look at the Gospel reading from the mass today, and then we're 3 00:00:19,508 --> 00:00:22,300 going to have a look at an exegesis of that passage. 4 00:00:22,300 --> 00:00:28,400 So in today's mass, you'll hear from Mark, Chapter 4, verses 26 5 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,400 to 34, so Let's have a look at the passage. 6 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:36,500 Jesus said to the crowds. This is what the kingdom of God 7 00:00:36,500 --> 00:00:42,600 is like a man throws seed on the land night and day while he 8 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:46,900 sleeps when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing, 9 00:00:47,900 --> 00:00:52,200 how he does not know of its own accord, the land produces first 10 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:56,000 the shoot, then the ear then the full grain in the ear. 11 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,100 And when the crop is ready, he loses no time. 12 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:07,200 He starts to reap because the Harvest has come He also said, 13 00:01:07,900 --> 00:01:11,600 what can we say the kingdom of God is like, what Parable can we 14 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:15,200 find for it? It is like a mustard seed, which 15 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,300 at the time of its sewing in the soil is the smallest of all the 16 00:01:19,300 --> 00:01:23,600 seeds on Earth yet once it is sown, it grows into the biggest 17 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,900 shrub of the mall and puts our big branches. 18 00:01:26,900 --> 00:01:32,300 So that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade Using many 19 00:01:32,300 --> 00:01:36,600 parables like these, he spoke the word to them so far as they 20 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,900 were capable of understanding. He would not speak to them 21 00:01:40,900 --> 00:01:44,300 except in Parables, but he explained everything to his 22 00:01:44,300 --> 00:01:52,500 disciples when they were alone. So we're continuing in Mark 23 00:01:52,500 --> 00:01:55,100 chapter 4, which is a whole chapter of parables. 24 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,100 And so we have two small Parables today, both which 25 00:01:59,100 --> 00:02:05,000 involve plants now again, like, yesterday the lectionary at the 26 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:06,600 start of this passage is a little bit misleading. 27 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:11,700 Because the first, the first part of today's passage in the 28 00:02:11,708 --> 00:02:14,100 lectionary says Jesus said to the crowds. 29 00:02:14,100 --> 00:02:18,700 But in the actual text, if you look at a Bible verse 26 here, 30 00:02:18,700 --> 00:02:22,100 just says, Jesus said to them. So it's not entirely clear. 31 00:02:22,100 --> 00:02:25,800 Who Jesus is talking to. Probably is the crowds giving 32 00:02:25,900 --> 00:02:30,100 That he speaks of the parable to the crowd in Parables but this 33 00:02:30,100 --> 00:02:33,800 is one of the places where the lectionary creators have 34 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:38,600 deliberately put a word in that's not any original just to 35 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,600 make it perhaps a bit more readable for masses. 36 00:02:43,500 --> 00:02:45,900 Verse 26. So, Jesus starts his first 37 00:02:45,900 --> 00:02:47,900 little Parable. He says, this is what the 38 00:02:47,900 --> 00:02:52,400 kingdom of God is like. So that tells us as marks 39 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,300 readers the purpose of the parable that Jesus is about to 40 00:02:55,300 --> 00:02:58,000 give, he's telling them this Parable. 41 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,000 So that his hearers the crowds, no. 42 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Other kingdom of God is, like why does Jesus spend so much 43 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,500 time on these kingdom of God? Parables, why doesn't he say, 44 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,100 you know, he would be great if he had more Parables about 45 00:03:10,100 --> 00:03:11,700 heaven and hell, or something like that. 46 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,300 But it's because for him, the kingdom of God is, what his come 47 00:03:15,300 --> 00:03:17,400 to reveal. That's his most important thing. 48 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,700 He wants people to understand, is how to be a part of the 49 00:03:20,700 --> 00:03:24,200 kingdom of God in the here and now in their daily life. 50 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,400 In the time of Jesus, there were heaps of different ideas about 51 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:31,800 what the kingdom of God was. A lot of people thought it was 52 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:33,900 going to be a political revolution that would happen 53 00:03:33,900 --> 00:03:36,000 straight away and take over the entire Earth. 54 00:03:36,700 --> 00:03:39,500 So, Jesus primary focus. During his preaching is to 55 00:03:39,500 --> 00:03:44,000 reveal the true kingdom of God, but still in a partial way, even 56 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,700 when he does give them information, its sin, a kind of 57 00:03:46,700 --> 00:03:49,800 cryptic way, as we've talked about in the last couple of days 58 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,400 podcasts he sets up The Parables deliberately in a way that 59 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:56,200 they're still kind of concealed. So the not everyone will 60 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,500 understand them. So he begins to Power the 61 00:03:59,500 --> 00:04:02,400 parable and man through his seed, on the land. 62 00:04:03,500 --> 00:04:06,000 So this recalls the power of the parable of the sower that we 63 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:07,800 looked at yesterday. You remember that was about 64 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:09,600 throwing seed on the land as well. 65 00:04:10,300 --> 00:04:13,800 And remember in that Parable Jesus said, if you don't 66 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,100 understand the parable of the sower, you won't understand 67 00:04:16,100 --> 00:04:18,700 anything else. So the parable of the sower is 68 00:04:18,700 --> 00:04:21,399 foundational to what we're looking at in this Parable. 69 00:04:22,100 --> 00:04:25,300 So, what's the seed? Remember from yesterday? 70 00:04:25,300 --> 00:04:26,900 It's the good news about the kingdom. 71 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,100 And the sower is God, and Jesus. Yes. 72 00:04:30,500 --> 00:04:34,200 He then goes on to describe how the seed grows and Sprouts 73 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:40,000 little by little day and night verse 27, how he does not know. 74 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,400 So at this time in history, when Jesus is talking, people didn't 75 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,900 have the biological knowledge to understand how grain works and 76 00:04:47,900 --> 00:04:49,600 grows. They didn't know all the farmers 77 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:53,900 knew is that if they plant the seed, it grows still today. 78 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:58,300 We don't really understand how life grows What's the re still 79 00:04:58,300 --> 00:05:02,500 mysterious element to it verse 28 of its own accord. 80 00:05:02,500 --> 00:05:05,700 The land produces first the shoot, then the ear then the 81 00:05:05,700 --> 00:05:10,300 full grain in the ear. So Jesus here, intends his 82 00:05:10,300 --> 00:05:13,600 readers to understand that the kingdom of God, grows gradually 83 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,200 and in stages. So first the shoot, then the 84 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:21,500 ear, then, the full grain. So he wants them to know that 85 00:05:21,500 --> 00:05:24,000 it's not an immediate automatic thing. 86 00:05:24,700 --> 00:05:28,200 So farming the farmer puts you see it in and he has to wait a 87 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,400 while. So farming requires an element 88 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,500 of trust and patience. Just as those who are seeking 89 00:05:34,500 --> 00:05:37,100 the kingdom of God require trust and patience. 90 00:05:37,100 --> 00:05:41,900 So that's one thing. Jesus is saying here Verse 29, 91 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:44,700 when the crop is ready. He loses. 92 00:05:44,700 --> 00:05:46,800 No time. He begins to reap because the 93 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:51,000 Harvest has come. So Jesus will say in later 94 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,300 Parables that when the kingdom of God is fully grown, and one 95 00:05:54,300 --> 00:05:56,900 day, there will be a decisive time when the kingdom of God 96 00:05:56,900 --> 00:06:00,300 fully arrives on Earth, God will harvest. 97 00:06:00,300 --> 00:06:03,300 So this metaphor of harvest is actually used a few times later 98 00:06:03,300 --> 00:06:06,200 on. So, we'll talk about this idea 99 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:08,900 of the final coming of the kingdom of God later, in later 100 00:06:08,900 --> 00:06:13,000 parables in Harvest paradigm. But a good passage to look at 101 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,500 his Revelation 14, which really develops. 102 00:06:15,500 --> 00:06:19,200 This idea of the day of judgement being a day of 103 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,800 harvest. For now, Jesus just wants his 104 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,800 readers to understand that the kingdom of God will go gradually 105 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,100 grow gradually, not immediately take over the world. 106 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:33,100 So their idea of the kingdom of God, the Jews idea was basically 107 00:06:33,100 --> 00:06:35,700 that the Messiah would come immediately. 108 00:06:36,900 --> 00:06:38,300 They'd Wipe Out the he'd Wipe Out. 109 00:06:38,300 --> 00:06:41,000 The Romans, the Jews would take over the world and immediately, 110 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,500 the kingdom of God would come. That was their idea of the 111 00:06:43,508 --> 00:06:47,400 kingdom of God. Jesus is saying the kingdom of 112 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:49,800 God is going to go great, grow gradually. 113 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:52,500 This is something new. They didn't realize that. 114 00:06:53,500 --> 00:06:55,800 There's another element of the parable here that we can take 115 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,400 away. And his readers probably would 116 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:00,600 have realized this as well from the parable. 117 00:07:00,900 --> 00:07:03,100 The kingdom of God, is a Divine work? 118 00:07:03,100 --> 00:07:07,100 Not a human achievement. God causes the gradual growth of 119 00:07:07,100 --> 00:07:09,900 the Kingdom, even if we don't fully understand what he's 120 00:07:09,900 --> 00:07:13,800 doing. So as humans, we can cooperate 121 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:15,900 with what God is doing in the growth of the Kingdom. 122 00:07:15,900 --> 00:07:19,000 But we can't hurry it up. We can't make the kingdom come 123 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,900 and he quicker. Any more than the farmer can 124 00:07:22,300 --> 00:07:25,100 hasten the growth of his grain. He just has to trudge. 125 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:30,500 Just has to trust. Verse 30. 126 00:07:30,500 --> 00:07:34,000 So that was our first Parable the second Parable, he's going 127 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,000 to kind of reiterate the same point. 128 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,000 This second Parable has the same basic meaning and it's the 129 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:41,200 famous parable of the Mustard Seed. 130 00:07:43,500 --> 00:07:46,600 Verse 30, Jesus says, what Parable shall we use to describe 131 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:48,900 the kingdom of God? So you can hear Jesus, kind of 132 00:07:48,900 --> 00:07:52,000 captivating, the crowd drawing them in what Parable can we use? 133 00:07:53,100 --> 00:07:56,600 And he decides the best Parable for describing this point. 134 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:58,200 He's making about the kingdom of God. 135 00:07:58,300 --> 00:08:02,100 God is a mustard seed, so to the Jews at the time, they would 136 00:08:02,100 --> 00:08:04,800 have been quite familiar with mustard seeds, mustard trees 137 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:08,700 were quite common in Israel, and he says, they're the smallest of 138 00:08:08,700 --> 00:08:12,500 all the seeds on the Earth. Now some Skeptics would look at 139 00:08:12,500 --> 00:08:17,400 this and say, this is an error, Jesus was wrong about this. 140 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,500 The mustard seed is not the small seed on Earth therefore, 141 00:08:20,500 --> 00:08:22,700 he's wrong. Therefore, he can't be God. 142 00:08:23,100 --> 00:08:27,100 So things along that line, but Jesus is not intention intending 143 00:08:27,100 --> 00:08:30,000 to teach botany here. He is kind of using Hyperbole 144 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:33,000 and exaggeration. He's speaking in terms of that 145 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:34,200 they would have been familiar with. 146 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,900 So, the Jews often would say, things like the seat, this 147 00:08:37,900 --> 00:08:40,799 Mustard Seed is the smallest on earth and the mustard tree. 148 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,000 Is the largest on Earth and they knew full well that that wasn't 149 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:45,500 true. So he's used to using a 150 00:08:45,500 --> 00:08:47,300 conventional manner of speech here. 151 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,500 It was actually the smallest known ceding Israel, even if 152 00:08:52,500 --> 00:08:55,600 they weren't aware of other bigger seeds, in other parts of 153 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:58,900 the world. But the fact that he mentions 154 00:08:58,900 --> 00:09:02,100 the kingdom of God, is like a mustard seed to us, that's 155 00:09:02,100 --> 00:09:02,900 lucky. Okay. 156 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:06,200 But that will be shocking to the Jews because they would have 157 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:10,200 expected a good image for the kingdom of God would be an army, 158 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:12,100 something like an army or an explosion. 159 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:14,900 That's how the kingdom of God is going to overtake the world, but 160 00:09:14,900 --> 00:09:17,500 actually Jesus says, no, it's like a mustard seed. 161 00:09:18,300 --> 00:09:21,200 Once it is sown. It grows into the biggest shrub 162 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,800 of them all So, Jesus wants his hearers to understand that the 163 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:31,000 kingdom of God will start small. So, and that is exactly what 164 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:32,700 happened. It started small with his 165 00:09:32,700 --> 00:09:35,200 preaching in Galilee and the northern part of Israel. 166 00:09:35,700 --> 00:09:39,100 But over the coming next three years and beyond that and 167 00:09:39,100 --> 00:09:42,300 centuries, the kingdom of God would spread over the entire 168 00:09:42,300 --> 00:09:45,100 world. So it's important for Jesus to 169 00:09:45,100 --> 00:09:48,900 emphasize this to his crowd again, because many Jews were 170 00:09:48,900 --> 00:09:52,800 expecting the kingdom of God to come suddenly quickly done deal. 171 00:09:53,300 --> 00:09:56,900 So Jesus really needs to stress to his audience that the kingdom 172 00:09:56,900 --> 00:10:00,000 of God is coming, and it has started But it's going to 173 00:10:00,300 --> 00:10:04,500 develop slowly. Continues in verse 32. 174 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,800 The tree Once grown puts forth, large branches. 175 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:11,800 So that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade. 176 00:10:12,500 --> 00:10:14,800 Now, this is one of these passages that I think is 177 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:17,700 susceptible to some wrong interpretations. 178 00:10:17,700 --> 00:10:20,900 Although well-meaning interpretations some people have 179 00:10:20,900 --> 00:10:25,500 thought that the birds of the air resting in that shade is a 180 00:10:25,500 --> 00:10:28,600 reference to Demons. Because remember in the parable 181 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,700 of the sower, which is just said the birds do represent the works 182 00:10:32,700 --> 00:10:35,000 of Satan in that particular parable. 183 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:38,700 But I think it's pressing the metaphor a little bit too far. 184 00:10:38,700 --> 00:10:42,100 Jesus is not giving some cryptic hidden meaning to the birds 185 00:10:42,100 --> 00:10:45,200 here. His focus is on the mustard 186 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:48,200 plant and birds in the natural residents of the plant. 187 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:51,400 So, Jesus is just going with that metaphor who lives in 188 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:53,400 trees. Birds, do who lives in the 189 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:54,500 Kingdom? People do? 190 00:10:54,500 --> 00:10:56,500 So the birds represent people here. 191 00:10:58,700 --> 00:11:01,900 It's understandable though, because often in Parables, Jesus 192 00:11:01,900 --> 00:11:05,500 uses the same image to mean. The same thing like the seed 193 00:11:05,500 --> 00:11:07,700 represents pretty much the same thing all the way through. 194 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,200 But there are some Parables where, you know, things like 195 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:14,700 lamps and money, can represent different things and I think 196 00:11:14,700 --> 00:11:20,000 here the birds represent people, whereas in the previous passage, 197 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:22,100 Jesus use the birds to represent Satan. 198 00:11:24,500 --> 00:11:27,700 So Jesus, here, tells us that eventually many people will come 199 00:11:27,700 --> 00:11:30,100 into the kingdom of God. That's what the birds represent, 200 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:32,400 once the kingdom of wants a tree. 201 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,100 The kingdom of God tree, if you like, is fully grown people will 202 00:11:36,100 --> 00:11:39,600 come in. And this Echo is the growth of 203 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,900 the Kingdom in Daniel 49. If you look at Daniel chapter 4 204 00:11:42,900 --> 00:11:46,700 verse 9 and has this image of the kingdom of God, gradually 205 00:11:46,700 --> 00:11:50,300 growing until all sorts of creatures can fit in the 206 00:11:50,300 --> 00:11:52,900 Kingdom. So Jesus might have that in mind 207 00:11:52,900 --> 00:11:58,700 as he tells the story, So Jesus is told to Parables about the 208 00:11:58,700 --> 00:12:02,400 growth of plants and so for his listeners both of these parables 209 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:06,500 are a call to patients and to recognize that the work of 210 00:12:06,500 --> 00:12:09,200 growing, the kingdom is God's Not man's. 211 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,000 So two main points from these Parables be patient, the kingdom 212 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:16,300 of God will develop slowly. And secondly, it's the work of 213 00:12:16,300 --> 00:12:19,800 God. Not man verse 33. 214 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,600 He continues using many parables like these who spoke the word to 215 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:25,500 them so far as they were concerned. 216 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:28,500 Capable of understanding it. So this is Mark telling his 217 00:12:28,500 --> 00:12:30,900 readers. It's like a summary statement. 218 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:36,200 So this part here, where he says so far as they were capable of 219 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:40,700 understanding it, Mark is suggesting to his readers that 220 00:12:40,700 --> 00:12:44,100 Jesus is giving Parables that are within the spiritual reach 221 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:47,300 over the crowd. He's not giving him things that 222 00:12:47,300 --> 00:12:49,900 will be way too complex, and they don't have a chance of 223 00:12:49,900 --> 00:12:54,200 understanding his giving them Parables that they are capable 224 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:59,200 of understanding. Every Parable Jesus gives could 225 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:01,300 be understood by his original hearers. 226 00:13:01,700 --> 00:13:05,300 If the A person goes away and reflects on it and asks God, to 227 00:13:05,300 --> 00:13:07,800 Enlighten their mind. I think another area you'll 228 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:12,400 sometimes hear preachers say is that Parables were designed to 229 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:16,600 Be hard to understand and not many people would have 230 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:18,400 understood them. I don't think that's true. 231 00:13:20,300 --> 00:13:23,200 They were designed to be hard for some people to understand, 232 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:26,800 but their cleverly constructed in such a way that those who are 233 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:28,700 genuinely seeking will understand. 234 00:13:28,700 --> 00:13:31,300 So, it's got to put a positive spin on it. 235 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:34,700 Those who ask God to Enlighten their mind and help them 236 00:13:34,700 --> 00:13:37,800 understand the mysteries of the Kingdom would understand the 237 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,600 meaning of these Parables. There's not some hidden message 238 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:45,300 or hidden secret that has been planted in The Parables for us 239 00:13:45,300 --> 00:13:47,600 to come and understand in the 21st century. 240 00:13:48,700 --> 00:13:51,200 They're designed for his audience in the first century. 241 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:55,000 Now notice though, this is more of a spiritual reflection than 242 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:58,000 an intellectual one. It's not like only smart people 243 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,000 or learned people could understand The Parables. 244 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,800 It's those who are spiritually receptive and who asked God, to 245 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:08,800 Enlighten their minds, those who are spiritually capable will 246 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:12,400 understand the parables. So he's deliberately avoiding 247 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:16,100 Parables that are too complex. He wants his readers to 248 00:14:16,100 --> 00:14:21,800 understand the kingdom of God is here, is that is verse 34? 249 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,600 Mark now tells us something else, he did not speak to them 250 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:29,000 except in Parables. So Mark tells us whenever Jesus 251 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,600 speaks of the crowds at this point in his ministry. 252 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,800 It's only in Parables, this is his preferred mode of speaking 253 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:37,700 to the crowd. Remember what's the purpose of 254 00:14:37,700 --> 00:14:40,500 the parable overall, it's for the purposes of revealing and 255 00:14:40,500 --> 00:14:44,100 concealing some people in the crowd and not going to be open 256 00:14:44,100 --> 00:14:45,300 to it. Some people in the crowd are 257 00:14:45,300 --> 00:14:47,800 going to be open to it, and Jesus has to work with that. 258 00:14:48,100 --> 00:14:51,900 So he constructs Parables that, we'll both reveal for those who 259 00:14:51,900 --> 00:14:54,900 are open, but keep concealed for those who are closed. 260 00:14:56,900 --> 00:15:00,100 That should be a reminder to us. That Jesus, that God cares about 261 00:15:00,100 --> 00:15:02,700 the effort that we put in. God, is not going to force 262 00:15:02,700 --> 00:15:04,900 himself or any of his teaching is honest. 263 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,100 If we're not open to it, he's not going to give us more. 264 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:10,200 That's an important theological principle. 265 00:15:12,300 --> 00:15:16,300 But then Mark tells us something else about how Jesus worked in 266 00:15:16,300 --> 00:15:19,500 this period of his ministry. Says he explained everything to 267 00:15:19,500 --> 00:15:21,500 his disciples when they were alone. 268 00:15:21,500 --> 00:15:24,300 So we didn't explain everything to the crowds. 269 00:15:24,300 --> 00:15:27,300 You just spoke in Parables to the crowds, but to his inner 270 00:15:27,300 --> 00:15:29,600 circle, he explained much more plainly. 271 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,900 See has no need to conceal things from his inner crowd for, 272 00:15:33,900 --> 00:15:38,100 they're already in the presence of the kingdom of God, so he can 273 00:15:38,100 --> 00:15:40,600 explain to them privately the meaning of The Parables and he 274 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:42,600 probably did for most of the Bubbles. 275 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:47,300 We have some of Jesus private explanations recorded in the 276 00:15:47,308 --> 00:15:51,300 gospels and also, the apostles, and his inner circle are going 277 00:15:51,300 --> 00:15:54,200 to be the ones that will be required to teach people once 278 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,400 Jesus is gone. So, he wants to speak as plainly 279 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:03,200 to them as possible. So that's our passage today. 280 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,300 That was analysis of Mark, 4. Verse 26, to 34? 281 00:16:08,100 --> 00:16:10,000 How does the Catholic Church? Develop teaching. 282 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:14,900 Based on what we hear, hear paragraph 546 of the catechism 283 00:16:14,900 --> 00:16:18,800 has a really really good summary of the purpose of Parables. 284 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:20,600 So I'll read out that entire paragraph. 285 00:16:21,500 --> 00:16:25,200 Jesus invitation to enter, his kingdom, comes in the form of 286 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,500 Parables a characteristic feature of his teaching. 287 00:16:29,500 --> 00:16:32,400 Through his Parables. He invites people to enter the 288 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:37,500 Feast of the Kingdom, but he also asks for radical choice. 289 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,200 To gain the kingdom. One must give everything words 290 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:44,600 are not enough. Deeds are required. 291 00:16:45,300 --> 00:16:47,500 The parables are like mirrors for man. 292 00:16:47,900 --> 00:16:51,100 Will he be hard soil or Good Earth for the word? 293 00:16:52,300 --> 00:16:54,300 What use has he made of the talents? 294 00:16:54,300 --> 00:16:58,000 He has received Jesus and the presence of the Kingdom in this 295 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,600 world are secretly of the heart of The Parables. 296 00:17:01,300 --> 00:17:04,800 One must enter the kingdom. That is become a disciple of 297 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:08,099 Christ in order to know the secrets of the Kingdom of 298 00:17:08,099 --> 00:17:11,400 Heaven. For those who stay outside 299 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:17,400 everything remains enigmatic So you'll hear Echoes from Mark 300 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:21,400 chapter 4 about secrets of the Kingdom about those who stay 301 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:25,900 outside about the seeds, the soil, all those kinds of things 302 00:17:25,900 --> 00:17:29,800 are reference there. Hopefully, you found that a 303 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:31,900 useful analysis of Mark chapter 4. 304 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:36,100 Remember you can always send in questions via the email address 305 00:17:36,100 --> 00:17:39,000 in the show notes, or by leaving a voice message, the link for 306 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:40,400 that is in the show notes as well. 307 00:17:41,100 --> 00:17:42,400 And we'll see you again tomorrow.