WEBVTT 00:00:02.670 --> 00:00:04.990 Hello, you're listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:05.129 --> 00:00:07.969 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:08.589 --> 00:00:11.029 This epiphany in Lent, we're back in the Gospels, 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:14.189 specifically the Gospel of Mark. We are seeing 00:00:14.189 --> 00:00:17.390 the revelation of God in Jesus. Mark is showing 00:00:17.390 --> 00:00:21.030 us the true King becomes a servant for us. He 00:00:21.030 --> 00:00:23.769 says right at the heart, the Son of Man came 00:00:23.769 --> 00:00:26.489 not to be served, but to serve and to give his 00:00:26.489 --> 00:00:30.519 life as a ransom for many. And Mark is nearly 00:00:30.519 --> 00:00:33.539 always asking his audience, what do you make 00:00:33.539 --> 00:00:38.700 of that? So, what do you make of this good news? 00:00:40.979 --> 00:00:43.240 We'd love to meet you and we hope you'll consider 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:45.320 coming and joining with us each Sunday morning 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:47.380 at 10 a .m. in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:47.899 --> 00:00:50.119 You can find us online at SecondCityChurch .org 00:00:50.119 --> 00:00:53.039 and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We hope 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:57.689 you enjoy this sermon. God bless. We pray that 00:00:57.689 --> 00:01:01.229 you would bear much fruit in us, that we would 00:01:01.229 --> 00:01:10.670 receive your word. Throw your seed upon us, God. 00:01:13.510 --> 00:01:16.450 And would we be those who desire to understand 00:01:16.450 --> 00:01:20.650 and to bear the fruit of the kingdom of God. 00:01:21.670 --> 00:01:28.409 Amen. the Gospel of Mark and we're starting chapter 00:01:28.409 --> 00:01:31.969 four as you just heard and We're getting to some 00:01:31.969 --> 00:01:35.069 of Jesus parables And this is actually one of 00:01:35.069 --> 00:01:37.090 the longer teachings in mark mark doesn't have 00:01:37.090 --> 00:01:39.870 the same kind of long teachings that say John 00:01:39.870 --> 00:01:43.609 or Certainly Matthew even Luke Luke has quite 00:01:43.609 --> 00:01:45.569 a few longer parables mark doesn't have as many 00:01:45.569 --> 00:01:49.609 of those mark is kind of a fast gospel But this 00:01:49.609 --> 00:01:51.629 morning we actually have a rather long section 00:01:51.629 --> 00:01:55.299 for mark on a parable And before we get into 00:01:55.299 --> 00:01:58.760 that, I want to tell you a parable that I was 00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:02.319 told in seminary in my Gospels course by Dan 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:06.760 Doriani. And he began his lecture on the parables 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:12.439 with this. In the mountainous regions of northern 00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:14.840 Italy, there was a monastery which overlooked 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:18.120 a small alpine village. Every day a monk winded 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:20.520 his way down the mountain path to St. Mass at 00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:24.599 the village church. One cold fall day. He noticed 00:02:24.599 --> 00:02:27.379 the bird lying in the path nearly expired from 00:02:27.379 --> 00:02:30.219 the cold. He looked at the bird and then without 00:02:30.219 --> 00:02:34.419 hesitation he put it inside his habit next to 00:02:34.419 --> 00:02:39.139 his warm body. By the time he was to enter the 00:02:39.139 --> 00:02:42.139 church the bird warmed by the monk's body and 00:02:42.139 --> 00:02:44.219 clothes had begun to wiggle about and he knew 00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:45.919 that it wouldn't be right to take this bird into 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:48.939 the church with him and so he sort of scanned 00:02:48.939 --> 00:02:53.520 the piazza that he found himself in and he saw 00:02:53.759 --> 00:03:00.879 cow pie warm steaming gelatinous cow pie and 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:04.599 so rather carefully he took this bird and gently 00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:12.080 but firmly he pushed it in to the cow pie of 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:13.900 course what happened is that the bird continued 00:03:13.900 --> 00:03:21.219 to be revived by this warmth this steaming warmth 00:03:22.189 --> 00:03:25.810 And the bird began to chirp. The bird began to 00:03:25.810 --> 00:03:30.530 sing. Have new life. Well, unfortunately, at 00:03:30.530 --> 00:03:32.729 that same moment, there was a fox that was going 00:03:32.729 --> 00:03:36.090 along the wall of this little village, the wall 00:03:36.090 --> 00:03:38.610 that surrounded this little village. And the 00:03:38.610 --> 00:03:41.449 fox looked down and he heard and he saw this 00:03:41.449 --> 00:03:45.189 bird. He jumped down into the piazza. He went 00:03:45.189 --> 00:03:47.189 over and he snatched the bird out of the cow 00:03:47.189 --> 00:03:55.460 pie. Here are the lessons of the parable. At 00:03:55.460 --> 00:03:58.680 least the initial points of this story. One, 00:03:59.460 --> 00:04:02.500 the one who puts you into it is not necessarily 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:07.259 your enemy. Two, the one who gets you out of 00:04:07.259 --> 00:04:12.759 it is not necessarily your friend. Three, when 00:04:12.759 --> 00:04:15.520 you find yourself up to your beak in the stuff, 00:04:16.080 --> 00:04:23.540 It's best to keep your mouth shut. There are 00:04:23.540 --> 00:04:28.819 lots of good parables. And a lot of times, actually, 00:04:28.980 --> 00:04:31.399 parables function like jokes, don't they? Or 00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:34.980 a good riddle. They kind of make you have to 00:04:34.980 --> 00:04:38.040 think and pay attention and follow. And oftentimes, 00:04:38.060 --> 00:04:40.180 they actually are very humorous because the end 00:04:40.180 --> 00:04:41.759 is not always what you think and the meaning 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:44.120 is not always sort of what you initially think 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:49.040 the meaning may be. We have to kind of slow down 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:52.480 and give our attention to them. Sometimes we 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:55.180 really don't know even what the ending is. Think 00:04:55.180 --> 00:04:57.959 about the famous parable of the prodigal son 00:04:57.959 --> 00:05:00.660 with me if you know that story. We actually don't 00:05:00.660 --> 00:05:04.079 really know the ending. Part of the point is 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:08.379 will the old brother come into the party? We 00:05:08.379 --> 00:05:11.519 don't know what happens. That's part of its point. 00:05:14.039 --> 00:05:16.800 Some people define a parable as an earthly story 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:18.920 with a heavenly meaning. Maybe you've heard that. 00:05:19.860 --> 00:05:21.339 But parables are really interesting. Sometimes 00:05:21.339 --> 00:05:23.000 we have these long parables like the parable 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:24.959 of the prodigal son, and sometimes Jesus' parables 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:29.300 are just a sentence or two. But this parable 00:05:29.300 --> 00:05:32.319 that we have this morning for us, I will say 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:35.560 is a foundational parable, kind of a paradigmatic 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:39.639 parable. Jesus actually says this in verse 13. 00:05:39.660 --> 00:05:42.720 He says, do you not understand this parable? 00:05:43.739 --> 00:05:48.240 How then will you understand all of the other 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:51.420 parables? You know, this is the one that you 00:05:51.420 --> 00:05:55.259 kind of need to get in order to sort of get the 00:05:55.259 --> 00:05:58.779 others. The story here is the main story of what 00:05:58.779 --> 00:06:03.639 I'm doing in teaching parables. Interestingly, 00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:10.100 actually Mark in verse 2 there, he says, and 00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:12.540 he was teaching them many things in parables. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:18.100 Plural. But then he highlights this one. Now 00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:19.680 he's going to give us some other ones. We'll 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:21.639 look at some of those next week. But it says, 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:24.279 though, he's saying this is the big one, that 00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:26.060 if you want to understand what Jesus is doing 00:06:26.060 --> 00:06:30.639 in parables, pay attention here. And I think 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:32.860 these two questions for us, do you not understand 00:06:32.860 --> 00:06:36.459 this parable? Do you not understand this word, 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:40.189 these parables, from me? How will you not understand 00:06:40.189 --> 00:06:41.930 all the other characters? I think this kind of 00:06:41.930 --> 00:06:44.329 gets at this point that Jesus is making here, 00:06:44.389 --> 00:06:46.069 and that has to do with this interaction between 00:06:46.069 --> 00:06:48.529 the seed and the soil, okay? Sometimes it's very 00:06:48.529 --> 00:06:52.110 simple. Seed and soil. Well, let's consider the 00:06:52.110 --> 00:06:56.310 seed first, okay? So, Jesus has another large 00:06:56.310 --> 00:06:58.209 crowd gathered before him, and we know this is 00:06:58.209 --> 00:07:00.009 not the first time. I mean, we've just been in 00:07:00.009 --> 00:07:02.689 this gospel for a couple short months, and we've 00:07:02.689 --> 00:07:06.720 already seen this happen. But a large crowd gathers 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:08.860 around Jesus so much so that he gets out into 00:07:08.860 --> 00:07:11.199 a boat and he kind of pushes off from the shore 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:15.399 where all the crowd had gathered around. Actually, 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:18.600 if you just look in chapter three, literally 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:21.860 what we saw last week in verse nine, it actually 00:07:21.860 --> 00:07:24.079 says this, and he told his disciples to have 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:27.860 a boat ready for him because of the crowd. So 00:07:27.860 --> 00:07:30.699 this was a dynamic that Jesus was maybe already 00:07:30.699 --> 00:07:32.740 accustomed to even early on in his ministry. 00:07:33.459 --> 00:07:35.839 But one thing that's kind of interesting is that 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:38.300 they're actually along the Sea of Galilee to 00:07:38.300 --> 00:07:41.560 the south, and actually to the southwest of Capernaum, 00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:45.180 Capernaum being along the sea there, there's 00:07:45.180 --> 00:07:48.459 actually a natural amphitheater that comes sort 00:07:48.459 --> 00:07:51.519 of off the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and it 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:55.079 slopes gently up, you know, along this hillside. 00:07:55.699 --> 00:07:59.079 The bay there in the Sea of Galilee is actually 00:07:59.079 --> 00:08:03.879 today known as the Bay of Peripers. And it has 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:06.680 been studied, Israeli scientists have verified 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:12.959 that given a certain location of a speaker in 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:15.240 that bay of parables, a speaker could easily, 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.779 without modern amplification, speak to a few 00:08:18.779 --> 00:08:21.819 thousand people just speaking. fuse out in a 00:08:21.819 --> 00:08:23.779 boat like this. And so you can kind of picture 00:08:23.779 --> 00:08:26.160 this is what Jesus is doing. He's got this huge 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:28.160 crowd that's gathered together, and it makes 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:29.819 sense wherever you'd be doing that. He'd come 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:31.560 up, go out to the boat, and he'd speak. You know, 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:34.000 the water would maybe work to reverberate the 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.960 sound. And so he's teaching this large crowd, 00:08:38.460 --> 00:08:40.379 and Mark specifically highlights that he's teaching 00:08:40.379 --> 00:08:44.139 this parable for us. And on the face of it, I 00:08:44.139 --> 00:08:46.500 want to say this parable is like pretty simple. 00:08:47.029 --> 00:08:49.370 My guess is if you've been around with Christians 00:08:49.370 --> 00:08:50.750 for a while, you've been in the church for a 00:08:50.750 --> 00:08:52.889 while, you've probably engaged with this parable. 00:08:52.970 --> 00:08:55.809 It's a fairly simple parable, but there's also 00:08:55.809 --> 00:08:57.470 some really odd things. There's some odd things 00:08:57.470 --> 00:09:00.169 for our ears, and then there's some odd things 00:09:00.169 --> 00:09:04.789 for the original audience. So the parable tells 00:09:04.789 --> 00:09:08.309 us of the sower who's sowing a seed. And literally, 00:09:08.350 --> 00:09:10.970 you can just picture this man having a bag of 00:09:10.970 --> 00:09:15.799 seed and kind of throwing it out. And I think 00:09:15.799 --> 00:09:17.460 additionally, it just seems odd to us because 00:09:17.460 --> 00:09:20.639 the first place that he sows it, it says is along 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:23.059 a path. That's what our translation says, but 00:09:23.059 --> 00:09:25.759 some translations will say it's a road. And we 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:28.340 think, why would you do that? course keep in 00:09:28.340 --> 00:09:30.879 mind that you know they're not driving cars around 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:33.299 their paths and their roads aren't paved i mean 00:09:33.299 --> 00:09:35.899 this path literally might go right through somebody's 00:09:35.899 --> 00:09:37.679 field that actually happened too like the path 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:38.820 would just go right through somebody's field 00:09:38.820 --> 00:09:41.059 so he's sewing it and he's thinking maybe i'll 00:09:41.059 --> 00:09:43.700 reclaim this path it's not terribly odd to them 00:09:43.700 --> 00:09:46.559 even though it actually sounds very odd to us 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:50.299 um the other thing i think that seems rather 00:09:50.299 --> 00:09:54.850 odd is that uh He doesn't till up his land. There's 00:09:54.850 --> 00:09:56.970 no mention of that. And that's such a significant 00:09:56.970 --> 00:09:58.929 thing for us. It's more about kind of the act 00:09:58.929 --> 00:10:01.230 of doing it first before you throw out all the 00:10:01.230 --> 00:10:02.389 seed into all these different places. You would 00:10:02.389 --> 00:10:04.809 just, for us, we'd like, we'll just throw it 00:10:04.809 --> 00:10:08.309 on the part that is tilled up. But actually that 00:10:08.309 --> 00:10:10.309 didn't work that way. Oftentimes you'd actually 00:10:10.309 --> 00:10:11.970 throw out the seed. And this wasn't just for 00:10:11.970 --> 00:10:13.289 Israel. This was sort of an ancient practice. 00:10:13.669 --> 00:10:15.250 Throw out the seed and then you would till it 00:10:15.250 --> 00:10:18.179 into the ground. So picture like this. I know 00:10:18.179 --> 00:10:20.200 some of you have had great gardens at least in 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:24.059 your day. Maybe you do now and you've grown like 00:10:24.059 --> 00:10:27.860 a bell pepper or something like that and You 00:10:27.860 --> 00:10:30.039 didn't pick them all because you had so many 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:31.860 I feel like I should be using zucchini because 00:10:31.860 --> 00:10:33.559 zucchini is always the one that goes so crazy 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:35.120 that you've got to like What do I do with this 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:37.500 huge thing? but you know you leave some of it 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:39.799 in your garden and then then you know it dies 00:10:39.799 --> 00:10:41.600 and then there's some seed that kind of sits 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:44.259 there and You didn't plant the bell pepper the 00:10:44.259 --> 00:10:47.240 zucchini, but bam there they are Right? So you 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:48.860 kind of understand it, you know, that kind of 00:10:48.860 --> 00:10:51.000 thing. You throw it out and you don't till it 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:53.440 up until after the fact. So it's a little bit 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.860 strange for us to engage with this parable. There's 00:10:55.860 --> 00:10:58.539 a distance between us and the parable that might 00:10:58.539 --> 00:11:01.539 seem kind of odd to us in this seed that's sown. 00:11:03.299 --> 00:11:05.679 But there's something, so those things might 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:07.120 seem odd to us, but there's something really 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:10.120 odd to the original audience here. It's deeply 00:11:10.120 --> 00:11:13.200 strange to the original audience. And the strange 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.840 thing for the original audience is the yield 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:21.460 of this seed. So you all know, right, that we 00:11:21.460 --> 00:11:25.820 live in a Monsanto world. You know, we put fertilizer 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:28.840 all over our crops. And a lot of times you can 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:30.960 only buy certain seeds that have been genetically 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:33.740 modified to produce massive amounts of crops. 00:11:34.460 --> 00:11:36.620 And it's actually very hard to get some old seeds. 00:11:38.599 --> 00:11:42.519 And so what we assume is that when you sow something, 00:11:42.580 --> 00:11:44.460 you're gonna actually get a pretty substantial 00:11:44.460 --> 00:11:47.659 crop out of it. But back then, actually, if you 00:11:47.659 --> 00:11:50.120 sowed a seed, or actually if you even sowed some 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:52.259 corn, maybe you've seen pictures of old varieties 00:11:52.259 --> 00:11:57.340 of corn, you wouldn't get some huge corn on the 00:11:57.340 --> 00:12:00.779 cob like we think of. You would maybe get six, 00:12:00.820 --> 00:12:04.200 eight, maybe 10 -fold from the seed you've sown, 00:12:04.299 --> 00:12:08.990 okay? That would be a good yield. You sow one 00:12:08.990 --> 00:12:11.750 seed and the head comes up and it produces 10 00:12:11.750 --> 00:12:16.190 seeds on it. This is great. But Jesus here tells 00:12:16.190 --> 00:12:19.730 us, some of the seed didn't just bear fruit, 00:12:20.129 --> 00:12:23.070 but it bore fruit 30 -fold, 60 -fold, 100 -fold. 00:12:24.110 --> 00:12:26.470 And people then would have been like, well, they 00:12:26.470 --> 00:12:28.470 would actually, wow, give me that seed, or they 00:12:28.470 --> 00:12:34.899 think this guy's crazy. What an absurdity. So 00:12:34.899 --> 00:12:39.000 anyway, so here's the seed. As I explained kind 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:41.299 of what's happening and we could just stop and 00:12:41.299 --> 00:12:43.100 we could say, okay, what do you think of this? 00:12:44.200 --> 00:12:45.740 What do you think of this initial parable that 00:12:45.740 --> 00:12:48.539 Jesus gives us? And one thing that you could 00:12:48.539 --> 00:12:51.340 think is, you could say the takeaway is, isn't 00:12:51.340 --> 00:12:55.299 this just like life? Sometimes you win, sometimes 00:12:55.299 --> 00:12:57.139 you lose. You're just throwing stuff out there 00:12:57.139 --> 00:12:58.980 and sometimes it goes well and sometimes it doesn't 00:12:58.980 --> 00:13:02.159 go well. You know, sometimes you study for that 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:05.399 test for like five minutes. and you get everything 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:07.340 right and the extra credit. You're like, what? 00:13:07.700 --> 00:13:10.480 It's amazing. And sometimes you study for that 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:12.539 test for like three hours and it doesn't go so 00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:15.100 well. You're like, what is this? Yeah, so you 00:13:15.100 --> 00:13:16.559 approach what Jesus says here and you're like, 00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:19.440 oh, this is just like life. These seeds are just 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:21.779 kind of scattered here and scattered there. And 00:13:21.779 --> 00:13:24.200 it all just feels a little random maybe. And 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:26.360 sometimes things go well, sometimes things don't 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:29.600 go well. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. 00:13:31.199 --> 00:13:33.679 Sometimes the day goes well and sometimes it 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:36.799 doesn't. Maybe the lesson is you've got to at 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:40.360 least ask the girl out. Or you've got to at least 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:42.940 say yes in order to find out. It's just kind 00:13:42.940 --> 00:13:45.139 of random. Just try something out. Throw it out 00:13:45.139 --> 00:13:46.919 there. And maybe that's what some of the people 00:13:46.919 --> 00:13:48.500 initially thought. They're like, oh, Jesus is 00:13:48.500 --> 00:13:52.539 just talking about life. Interesting, Jesus. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:57.220 Sometimes things seem really great. You make 00:13:57.220 --> 00:14:00.570 a bunch of sales call. One day nobody buys anything 00:14:00.570 --> 00:14:04.470 the next day ten does he got us in sort of like 00:14:04.470 --> 00:14:10.370 a pep talk in a way And I'm sure actually on 00:14:10.370 --> 00:14:12.370 some level when those people all these crowds 00:14:12.370 --> 00:14:14.809 thousands of people probably came to hear Jesus 00:14:14.809 --> 00:14:19.129 Some of them probably thought uh Good motivational 00:14:19.129 --> 00:14:23.169 speaker stay in the game these kinds of takeaways 00:14:23.169 --> 00:14:28.309 They went home and they were just kind of like 00:14:28.890 --> 00:14:30.889 I don't know. And their friend was like, hey, 00:14:30.970 --> 00:14:32.450 what'd you think of that Jesus guy that you went 00:14:32.450 --> 00:14:35.529 to go see down at the parable bay? Probably wasn't 00:14:35.529 --> 00:14:38.370 called that then. And they told their buddy like, 00:14:38.370 --> 00:14:42.029 I don't know, he's interesting. Take it or leave 00:14:42.029 --> 00:14:47.350 it. Maybe I'll go see him again. He gave us some 00:14:47.350 --> 00:14:50.210 stuff that we already know. Okay, whatever. I 00:14:50.210 --> 00:14:52.669 also bet there were some folk that were actually 00:14:52.669 --> 00:14:56.210 a little bit mad about what he had said. I mean, 00:14:56.269 --> 00:14:59.309 they had... they'd heard that this man Jesus 00:14:59.309 --> 00:15:01.629 was you know proclaiming the good news of the 00:15:01.629 --> 00:15:03.690 kingdom of God and he was doing things like healing 00:15:03.690 --> 00:15:06.009 people and they were like man I had traveled 00:15:06.009 --> 00:15:09.169 days to come see you and you're just telling 00:15:09.169 --> 00:15:11.710 me like stay in the game or something like that 00:15:11.710 --> 00:15:14.409 you know I'm no doubt I bet there were some people 00:15:14.409 --> 00:15:16.169 that were actually a little bit furious that 00:15:16.169 --> 00:15:22.730 day this is all you're giving us what a waste 00:15:22.730 --> 00:15:25.860 of time and energy they thought But of course 00:15:25.860 --> 00:15:27.299 there were some that were really interesting. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:30.779 There's something more here. There's something 00:15:30.779 --> 00:15:34.580 that this guy is telling me, and I don't quite 00:15:34.580 --> 00:15:41.600 get it. And I want to. The possibility of bearing 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:45.600 so much fruit? What is it? What's going on here? 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:49.179 Kind of interestingly, if you do have your Bibles 00:15:49.179 --> 00:15:52.279 open still, verse 10 says, and when he was alone, 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:57.539 now, you know. Alone in the in the context so 00:15:57.539 --> 00:16:00.960 when it wasn't the huge crowd Those around him 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:04.620 with the 12 asked him about the purpose So there's 00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:06.799 at least 12 and there's a handful of others around 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:09.240 him, but it's not a lot But they're the ones 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:11.460 that are saying wait a second Jesus You've got 00:16:11.460 --> 00:16:14.399 something going on here, and we really want to 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:19.600 hear from you So right here in actually our own 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:21.679 story it seems as though the parable is playing 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:29.539 itself out Seed that's sown and some of it seems 00:16:29.539 --> 00:16:33.039 to produce very little and some seems to produce 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:38.340 so much. That's partly the point, of course. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.240 The seed and the soil, as I mentioned before, 00:16:42.340 --> 00:16:45.639 they go hand -in -hand in this story. So we got 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:48.799 to consider the soil here. Again, this is somewhat 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:52.100 self -explanatory and yet we'll see there's more 00:16:52.100 --> 00:16:56.070 going on here than initially meets the eye. So 00:16:56.070 --> 00:16:59.429 when Jesus explains this parable about this seed 00:16:59.429 --> 00:17:02.269 being sown on this different kind of terrain, 00:17:03.149 --> 00:17:05.650 the path and the rocky soil and the soil with 00:17:05.650 --> 00:17:09.410 the thorns and the fertile soil, when he explains 00:17:09.410 --> 00:17:13.029 it, it's this soil that gets the most attention. 00:17:14.670 --> 00:17:16.809 So he says, some of the seed is sown on the path 00:17:16.809 --> 00:17:19.970 and the birds come and grab it. He says, it's 00:17:19.970 --> 00:17:23.009 like Satan. There's actually working against 00:17:23.009 --> 00:17:25.569 something's working against the seed bearing 00:17:25.569 --> 00:17:29.390 fruit and so just comes it's like The other it 00:17:29.390 --> 00:17:33.130 has no time at all You know, there's no kind 00:17:33.130 --> 00:17:35.710 of percolating. There's no germination that's 00:17:35.710 --> 00:17:37.829 taking place. No real interest in the things 00:17:37.829 --> 00:17:41.490 of God No desire really to engage with Jesus 00:17:41.490 --> 00:17:43.569 and then there's the kind of so that's like this 00:17:43.569 --> 00:17:47.450 rocky ground the Word of God Seems to grab a 00:17:47.450 --> 00:17:51.470 hold In fact, it actually says, you know, with 00:17:51.470 --> 00:17:55.849 joy, there's this initial burst, this flame that 00:17:55.849 --> 00:18:00.630 goes up. But then when the winds of trial and 00:18:00.630 --> 00:18:05.450 persecution come, when they always come, when 00:18:05.450 --> 00:18:10.269 life seems to get too hard, they think, you know 00:18:10.269 --> 00:18:12.950 what, maybe this isn't what I thought. Maybe 00:18:12.950 --> 00:18:14.990 this isn't what I'd been promised. I'd been promised 00:18:14.990 --> 00:18:16.690 health and wealth and now I've got trial and 00:18:16.690 --> 00:18:20.670 persecution. Forget about it. And then there's 00:18:20.670 --> 00:18:23.549 some seed that's sown among thorns, and these 00:18:23.549 --> 00:18:26.569 people also hear the word of God. And again, 00:18:26.609 --> 00:18:29.369 this does not just go in one ear and out the 00:18:29.369 --> 00:18:33.589 other, like that which is sown on the path. And 00:18:33.589 --> 00:18:36.109 this time it's also not the trial and the persecution 00:18:36.109 --> 00:18:40.029 that harm the growth, but this time it's actually 00:18:40.029 --> 00:18:43.490 sort of the good things in life. It's the deceitfulness 00:18:43.490 --> 00:18:46.700 of riches and the desire for other things. Not 00:18:46.700 --> 00:18:48.599 just trial and persecution, but sometimes our 00:18:48.599 --> 00:18:51.579 attention is taken away from Jesus by even the 00:18:51.579 --> 00:18:55.180 good things of this world that then cause the 00:18:55.180 --> 00:19:01.640 word to be choked and life in Christ to die and 00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:05.500 no fruit to be born. And then finally he says 00:19:05.500 --> 00:19:07.720 there is another type. There's a type of soil 00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:12.319 in which my seed sinks deep down and when that 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:15.200 happens The fruit is something like you would 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:18.700 never expect. Something beyond your imagining. 00:19:19.420 --> 00:19:23.019 Some people get on board. Some people stay far 00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:27.480 off. Some people they hear and they forget right 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:32.640 away. Some are enthusiastic. But for a little 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:35.799 while. Some just have too much on their minds. 00:19:36.019 --> 00:19:38.940 Too many things on their minds. So many bad things. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.900 So many good things. But the seed does not sink 00:19:41.900 --> 00:19:45.680 down. And yet some become unbelievably fruitful. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:50.660 And of course, just right there, there's a huge 00:19:50.660 --> 00:19:52.940 lesson for us. There's a huge encouragement for 00:19:52.940 --> 00:19:58.160 us, right? To be those who desire to be fruitful 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:02.740 soil, to be receptive soil. There's a lesson 00:20:02.740 --> 00:20:06.619 in this, to pursue the work of God in such a 00:20:06.619 --> 00:20:09.559 way that we might bear fruit, right? To receive 00:20:09.559 --> 00:20:13.680 it. To let it soak again. to let it germinate 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:17.619 and to be cautious of those trials and persecutions 00:20:17.619 --> 00:20:20.420 and those good things in life that get in the 00:20:20.420 --> 00:20:23.259 way. There's a good lesson in all that. It's 00:20:23.259 --> 00:20:27.680 a significant part of the lesson. But there is 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:30.019 also something else going on here that's very 00:20:30.019 --> 00:20:32.240 important and there's like something deeper that's 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:36.099 happening here. So I told you that there were 00:20:36.099 --> 00:20:39.180 three points to the initial parable right that 00:20:39.180 --> 00:20:42.410 my professor Dan Doriani told us. at Covenant 00:20:42.410 --> 00:20:47.890 Seminary. But what if I told you in the context 00:20:47.890 --> 00:20:50.349 in which he heard that? Because he also told 00:20:50.349 --> 00:20:54.069 us this. He told us that that story was told 00:20:54.069 --> 00:20:57.349 by a Christian scholar, an older seasoned Christian 00:20:57.349 --> 00:21:00.890 scholar, who is addressing a group of younger 00:21:00.890 --> 00:21:04.029 and older Christian scholars who were almost 00:21:04.029 --> 00:21:09.609 all teaching at large public universities. And 00:21:09.609 --> 00:21:13.619 when you hear that, Well, the context almost 00:21:13.619 --> 00:21:16.940 changes the meaning of it. Not completely changes 00:21:16.940 --> 00:21:18.700 the meaning, but it actually sort of helps you 00:21:18.700 --> 00:21:21.359 understand why he might be saying it. And partly 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:23.380 why you might think you'd be saying in that context 00:21:23.380 --> 00:21:27.259 is, hey, if you want to actually survive in this 00:21:27.259 --> 00:21:30.579 kind of setting, if you want to make it long 00:21:30.579 --> 00:21:34.859 term, if you want to live to the next day, you 00:21:34.859 --> 00:21:37.420 better keep your mouth shut and your head down. 00:21:38.610 --> 00:21:41.410 It kind of changes the context itself makes you 00:21:41.410 --> 00:21:43.569 go wait a second here There's something else 00:21:43.569 --> 00:21:46.970 going on telling us telling it in this time in 00:21:46.970 --> 00:21:51.890 this place context always matters immensely So 00:21:51.890 --> 00:21:55.190 in the gospel mark mark does this literary device 00:21:55.190 --> 00:21:57.490 that we've talked about before it's called an 00:21:57.490 --> 00:22:01.829 inclusio It's like a mini chiasm chiasm. We saw 00:22:01.829 --> 00:22:04.910 a lot in Genesis where you go a B C D C D C B 00:22:04.910 --> 00:22:07.910 A right and it makes us like be shaped and the 00:22:07.910 --> 00:22:10.049 point is often right in the middle. An occlusio 00:22:10.049 --> 00:22:13.210 is kind of like an envelope that's wrapping around 00:22:13.210 --> 00:22:16.470 the main thing. Or you could think of it like 00:22:16.470 --> 00:22:19.650 a sandwich. So you have like a piece of bread 00:22:19.650 --> 00:22:22.349 on one side, a piece of bread on the other side, 00:22:22.509 --> 00:22:24.150 and then you got the main thing in the middle. 00:22:24.750 --> 00:22:27.130 And mostly, you know, we define things by what's 00:22:27.130 --> 00:22:29.369 in the middle, right? We say it's a ham sandwich. 00:22:29.789 --> 00:22:31.650 We say it's a turkey sandwich, or we say it's 00:22:31.650 --> 00:22:34.390 a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, right? This 00:22:34.390 --> 00:22:37.220 is not too tricky. It's an occlusio. And Mark 00:22:37.220 --> 00:22:40.039 does this a lot. And actually he's doing this 00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:42.640 right here. He tells us the parable, and then 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:44.700 more or less he tells it again, even though he's 00:22:44.700 --> 00:22:46.339 explaining it. And right there in the middle 00:22:46.339 --> 00:22:49.339 is sort of the main thing that's happening. The 00:22:49.339 --> 00:22:51.759 main thing that's going on in this narrative 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:55.599 here in Mark chapter four is this middle part, 00:22:56.140 --> 00:22:58.319 which is 10 through 12. Let me read them again 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:04.160 for you. And when he was alone, those around 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:06.750 him with the 12, Asked him about the parables 00:23:06.750 --> 00:23:09.309 and he said to them to you has been given the 00:23:09.309 --> 00:23:12.809 secret of the kingdom of God But for those outside 00:23:12.809 --> 00:23:16.349 everything is in parables So that they may indeed 00:23:16.349 --> 00:23:20.210 see but not perceive and may indeed hear but 00:23:20.210 --> 00:23:24.910 not understand Lest they should turn and be forgiven 00:23:24.910 --> 00:23:29.109 now I'll say this he's quoting from what we heard 00:23:29.109 --> 00:23:33.029 Chuck read to us from Isaiah chapter 6 which 00:23:33.029 --> 00:23:35.289 is the message of Isaiah, which is a message 00:23:35.289 --> 00:23:40.549 both of judgment and of grace, as most prophetic 00:23:40.549 --> 00:23:44.289 messages were. And I think when we first hear 00:23:44.289 --> 00:23:46.170 this and we think, wow, this is the point of 00:23:46.170 --> 00:23:47.849 Mark, what Mark is doing. He's putting this thing 00:23:47.849 --> 00:23:50.529 in the middle and he's saying, hey, this is the 00:23:50.529 --> 00:23:53.369 interpretive sandwich right here. One of the 00:23:53.369 --> 00:23:55.410 questions that you ask is you say, well, does 00:23:55.410 --> 00:23:58.289 Jesus then want people to understand? It says, 00:23:58.490 --> 00:24:03.710 lest they should turn and be forgiven. But again, 00:24:03.930 --> 00:24:08.150 context is key here. And I want you to think 00:24:08.150 --> 00:24:10.329 with me, let's just quickly think about what's 00:24:10.329 --> 00:24:12.349 happened in the gospel of Mark. Mark began, he 00:24:12.349 --> 00:24:14.170 said, this is the gospel of Jesus that I'm giving, 00:24:14.490 --> 00:24:16.509 that I'm telling you. And then right in that 00:24:16.509 --> 00:24:19.950 first chapter, what we learn is that Jesus was 00:24:19.950 --> 00:24:22.710 going about Galilee, this St. Mary, and he was 00:24:22.710 --> 00:24:25.349 proclaiming the gospel, the good news of the 00:24:25.349 --> 00:24:28.940 kingdom of God. And as he was proclaiming that, 00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:31.339 what we then learned as sort of these chapters, 00:24:31.400 --> 00:24:33.160 these early chapters went on is he was doing 00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:36.579 all kinds of good and healing and bringing about 00:24:36.579 --> 00:24:38.940 this reality of God's reign in the world, bringing 00:24:38.940 --> 00:24:43.079 things as they were meant to be, doing the things 00:24:43.079 --> 00:24:45.200 that would sort of reestablish the reality of 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:48.640 who God is and how he's made his world. And so 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.319 he does stuff like he heals a person of unclean 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:56.269 spirit. And he heals the leper and he heals the 00:24:56.269 --> 00:24:58.170 paralytic and he heals the man with the withered 00:24:58.170 --> 00:25:01.230 hand and he's doing all this stuff. He's proclaiming 00:25:01.230 --> 00:25:07.450 this good news, this gospel. He calls the 12th 00:25:07.450 --> 00:25:09.109 to himself. Right, we saw this last week and 00:25:09.109 --> 00:25:12.029 he sort of reestablishes this unification. And 00:25:12.029 --> 00:25:14.789 all these things are what any Israelite would 00:25:14.789 --> 00:25:17.839 have wanted in a way. They would have said, yeah, 00:25:17.900 --> 00:25:22.799 we desire God's reign on earth. We desire the 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:25.200 goodness of other people. We want the forgiveness 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:30.039 of sins. You know, we want the reestablishment 00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:32.980 of the people of God. What Jesus is doing in 00:25:32.980 --> 00:25:35.960 the, you know, bringing the 12 disciples together. 00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:41.099 And yet, what did we just see last week? Just 00:25:41.099 --> 00:25:43.019 last week, we saw all these people actually saying 00:25:43.019 --> 00:25:47.900 things like this. He's got a demon. He's a son 00:25:47.900 --> 00:25:53.900 of Beosebol. He's unclean. He's crazy The very 00:25:53.900 --> 00:25:56.799 people that you would think would say let's receive 00:25:56.799 --> 00:26:00.079 him Let's hear his word. Let's receive what he 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:02.559 has to say or ask the people to say no in one 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:05.500 ear out the other or better yet I can't believe 00:26:05.500 --> 00:26:07.599 that you're coming to me this way You're not 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:09.660 meeting my expectations of what the Messiah was 00:26:09.660 --> 00:26:15.539 supposed to be. Let's do away with you It certainly 00:26:15.539 --> 00:26:18.690 didn't want Somebody questioning their religious 00:26:18.690 --> 00:26:23.410 practices the way Jesus questioned them. Challenging 00:26:23.410 --> 00:26:25.410 their life the way Jesus challenged them. Instead 00:26:25.410 --> 00:26:28.009 they wanted a king that would come and oust the 00:26:28.009 --> 00:26:32.569 Romans. Show the power of Israel. King on the 00:26:32.569 --> 00:26:37.210 throne. And so so many people came and they listened 00:26:37.210 --> 00:26:39.269 to Jesus. Religious people, keep in mind, these 00:26:39.269 --> 00:26:41.029 are the people of Israel that came. They listened 00:26:41.029 --> 00:26:42.809 to Jesus and they went away and they said, I 00:26:42.809 --> 00:26:46.480 don't think I want much to do with him. I don't 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:49.259 really think I want much to do with him. He's 00:26:49.259 --> 00:26:51.559 out of his mind. He has an unclean spirit. He's 00:26:51.559 --> 00:26:53.200 not interesting enough. He's just telling us 00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:55.960 some good motivational speech. We can hear that 00:26:55.960 --> 00:26:59.680 elsewhere. And part of what Jesus is saying is 00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:02.819 that parables are actually a way of putting the 00:27:02.819 --> 00:27:09.140 dividing line. Who's really in? Who's really 00:27:09.140 --> 00:27:11.880 committed to understanding, to devoting themselves 00:27:11.880 --> 00:27:16.579 to God among them, God teaching them? God giving 00:27:16.579 --> 00:27:23.579 Himself for them. I mean, it's interesting. Jesus 00:27:23.579 --> 00:27:25.559 has this amazing message, this good news of the 00:27:25.559 --> 00:27:27.559 Kingdom of God. He does these amazing things 00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:29.839 and He offers things like the forgiveness of 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:34.539 sins, no guilt, no shame. And He comes and He 00:27:34.539 --> 00:27:36.539 actually touches people and He heals them. What 00:27:36.539 --> 00:27:39.000 we have at this moment is actually Jesus has 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:41.799 done so much good and already only in chapter, 00:27:41.980 --> 00:27:43.440 we have so many people saying, I actually don't 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:47.440 want anything of this. I don't want this. And 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:49.140 so part of what Jesus is doing from the beginning 00:27:49.140 --> 00:27:51.279 with these parables is saying, who are you going 00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:57.480 to be? Who are you going to be? Are you going 00:27:57.480 --> 00:28:02.380 to actually receive me as I come to you? And 00:28:02.380 --> 00:28:03.900 it's just interesting to think about this because 00:28:03.900 --> 00:28:05.480 of course this is what happens today. I mean, 00:28:05.480 --> 00:28:07.680 think about the message that we have. Think about 00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:11.700 the message of Christianity. God who made all 00:28:11.700 --> 00:28:15.779 things. The one who says that actually, you know, 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:17.359 the whole Bible begins with this idea that God 00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:20.359 speaks and he makes people in his image, every 00:28:20.359 --> 00:28:24.160 single person. This is a religion that says every 00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:26.900 single person has dignity and worth and value. 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:30.880 And what a message for the world. Isn't that 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:32.579 something that everybody would say the world 00:28:32.579 --> 00:28:37.099 needs this? With how often we just lambast others, 00:28:37.539 --> 00:28:40.759 with rampant racism, all this stuff. Just one 00:28:40.759 --> 00:28:44.359 idea. One idea alone that every single person 00:28:44.359 --> 00:28:47.079 has made in the image of God and has intrinsic 00:28:47.079 --> 00:28:49.000 value and worth. That is something that everybody 00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:51.380 should, let's grab onto that. How about this 00:28:51.380 --> 00:28:54.460 idea that actually, I think it's very freeing 00:28:54.460 --> 00:28:56.960 to say, hey, everybody's a sinner. You know, 00:28:57.039 --> 00:28:59.140 it's a humbling thing in a good way where we 00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:00.940 don't just have to look down on other people, 00:29:01.380 --> 00:29:04.059 right? Oh, look, I'm so good. Or look how other 00:29:04.059 --> 00:29:06.279 people, man, I'm the only one that's like this. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:08.480 There's something that's so freeing about these 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:12.200 messages of Christian faith. Or of course think 00:29:12.200 --> 00:29:14.700 about this core idea that God who made all things 00:29:14.700 --> 00:29:17.700 actually takes on flesh for us and Actually dies 00:29:17.700 --> 00:29:20.460 for us that our sins would be gone and says hey 00:29:20.460 --> 00:29:23.039 you are guilt free you're here All of your guilt 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:25.400 was taken away. That is a message that should 00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:28.519 lift you up and I mean I feel like why wouldn't 00:29:28.519 --> 00:29:30.319 somebody want that and yet so many people have 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:34.119 no desire for them? Right. That's true. So people 00:29:34.119 --> 00:29:36.819 go that is crazy. That's silly. Okay, maybe a 00:29:36.819 --> 00:29:38.759 good motivational speech Let me go home and just 00:29:38.759 --> 00:29:42.599 do my own thing The same thing that was happening 00:29:42.599 --> 00:29:47.079 in Jesus' day happens in our day. And Jesus is 00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:49.119 saying, hey, I'm giving you this parable sandwich 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:54.440 with the meaning right in the middle because... 00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:58.480 Where are you gonna be? I mean, you could put 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:04.519 it this way too. What soil are you? Do you receive 00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:08.480 the words of God? and one ear out the other. 00:30:08.619 --> 00:30:11.500 Do you receive the word of God to say, ah, life 00:30:11.500 --> 00:30:14.660 is too hard? Do you receive the word of God and 00:30:14.660 --> 00:30:16.420 say, ah, there's other things that are shinier? 00:30:18.359 --> 00:30:27.960 Do you receive the word of God, bear fruit? Jesus 00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:30.819 doesn't actually interpret a lot of the parables 00:30:30.819 --> 00:30:33.279 for us. You know that, right? A lot of them he 00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:36.450 doesn't interpret. And he's telling us here, 00:30:36.450 --> 00:30:42.190 that's actually part of the point. When you first 00:30:42.190 --> 00:30:44.730 come to these verses that explain the reason 00:30:44.730 --> 00:30:47.650 for parables, particularly verses 11 and 12, 00:30:49.150 --> 00:30:51.109 oddly it also seems like there's some kind of 00:30:51.109 --> 00:30:53.630 determinism going on. To you has been given, 00:30:53.670 --> 00:30:55.769 which is sort of a divine passive in the Bible, 00:30:56.269 --> 00:30:58.410 the has been given often refers to the idea that 00:30:58.410 --> 00:31:00.849 God is the one giving it, right? To you has been 00:31:00.849 --> 00:31:03.450 given the secret of the kingdom of God. But for 00:31:03.450 --> 00:31:05.650 those outside, everything's in pairs. Almost 00:31:05.650 --> 00:31:07.250 as though it's just like, hey, it's a you and 00:31:07.250 --> 00:31:10.009 a them. And I'm just putting this dividing line 00:31:10.009 --> 00:31:12.869 here. This is kind of hard determinism to play. 00:31:13.589 --> 00:31:16.410 And I will say this, the Bible does speak most 00:31:16.410 --> 00:31:18.210 certainly about the sovereignty of God and the 00:31:18.210 --> 00:31:21.170 fact that the grace of God is only ever a gift. 00:31:23.190 --> 00:31:25.869 But it's so inestimating that that there is put 00:31:25.869 --> 00:31:28.210 right in the context of these people who have 00:31:28.210 --> 00:31:32.059 come to Him And he's been saying, what's going 00:31:32.059 --> 00:31:36.400 on with these parables? Right? And if that's 00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:37.839 the kind of part that's right in the middle, 00:31:37.859 --> 00:31:40.799 that's what Jesus and Mark is driving at was, 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:44.880 go to him. Go to him and say, Jesus, what are 00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:49.440 you doing? Jesus, teach me. Jesus, bear fruit 00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:56.920 in me. God is teaching us here about the necessity 00:31:56.920 --> 00:31:59.759 of fertile receptive soil. And he's teaching 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:03.279 us also the power of the seed, but he's also 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:07.059 laying before us this question. How do you come 00:32:07.059 --> 00:32:15.440 to him? What kind of soil are you? You come down 00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:19.539 with a hard heart. Come to him desiring to be 00:32:19.539 --> 00:32:27.539 taught, to grow and to change and to learn. I 00:32:27.539 --> 00:32:30.839 didn't tell you the other context of this parable 00:32:30.839 --> 00:32:34.500 that my professor told us about. And that was 00:32:34.500 --> 00:32:37.880 that this guy, this older seasoned scholar who 00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:40.960 told these younger scholars, they were working 00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:43.259 in secular universities, these Christian scholars 00:32:43.259 --> 00:32:46.920 that work in secular universities. He told them 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:49.099 this parable, but he actually told them also 00:32:49.099 --> 00:32:53.420 where he first heard it. And he was first told 00:32:53.420 --> 00:32:57.140 that parable. by the president of the university 00:32:57.140 --> 00:33:01.200 where he worked to all of the first year students. 00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:04.279 All the first year, sorry, not first year students, 00:33:04.380 --> 00:33:08.200 first year professors. And when you heard it 00:33:08.200 --> 00:33:11.019 in that context, it almost seemed to mean a totally 00:33:11.019 --> 00:33:14.880 other thing. And that other thing that they were 00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:17.799 hearing was, you better keep your mouth shut 00:33:17.799 --> 00:33:23.799 and toe the line where you'll be eaten. It was 00:33:23.799 --> 00:33:29.660 a threat. Here's what I'm suggesting to you in 00:33:29.660 --> 00:33:34.019 all this. We actually need ears to hear Jesus 00:33:34.019 --> 00:33:39.579 properly and to receive Him properly. And these 00:33:39.579 --> 00:33:41.579 little verses that may seem dismissive, right? 00:33:41.579 --> 00:33:43.599 They may indeed see but not perceive. They may 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:45.400 indeed hear but not understand unless they should 00:33:45.400 --> 00:33:48.859 turn and be forgiven. We need to hear this as 00:33:48.859 --> 00:33:53.539 this greater prophet Isaiah. Jesus coming and 00:33:53.539 --> 00:33:57.480 offering both grace and the possibility of judgment. 00:33:59.389 --> 00:34:02.349 But he's saying to those who have ears to hear, 00:34:02.849 --> 00:34:05.670 let them hear and let them receive and let them 00:34:05.670 --> 00:34:09.309 bear fruit. The question for the original audience, 00:34:09.349 --> 00:34:13.170 the question for us is just simply this. Do you 00:34:13.170 --> 00:34:22.170 have ears to hear? Do you receive the seed? And 00:34:22.170 --> 00:34:25.409 then the promise is, if you do, you will bear 00:34:25.409 --> 00:34:33.139 much fruit. Let me pray for us. Lord This parable 00:34:33.139 --> 00:34:36.539 that is so familiar to so many of us and yet 00:34:36.539 --> 00:34:40.480 has such a simple yet profound message Gotta 00:34:40.480 --> 00:34:42.920 pray that we would have ears to hear gotta pray 00:34:42.920 --> 00:34:45.519 that we wouldn't be those that simply hear and 00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:48.920 quickly pass on from your words to us or simply 00:34:48.920 --> 00:34:52.960 those who hear and think a Good moral speaker, 00:34:53.480 --> 00:34:56.139 but those who sit with you like these few that 00:34:56.139 --> 00:34:59.670 were gathered together with the 12 and desire 00:34:59.670 --> 00:35:02.510 to learn from you. God, I pray that we would 00:35:02.510 --> 00:35:05.530 be a church that desires to hear your word, that 00:35:05.530 --> 00:35:07.630 it would sink deep within us and that it would 00:35:07.630 --> 00:35:12.809 bear much fruit in our lives. God, I pray that 00:35:12.809 --> 00:35:17.150 even the strange challenge that you give in this 00:35:17.150 --> 00:35:21.389 setting, of the difficulty sometimes of hearing 00:35:21.389 --> 00:35:23.110 you. God, if that would be a challenge that we 00:35:23.110 --> 00:35:27.630 would rise to, that we would be desirous to actually 00:35:27.630 --> 00:35:32.449 understand you, to let that seed soak in and 00:35:32.449 --> 00:35:35.289 germinate and bear fruit. God, please do that 00:35:35.289 --> 00:35:39.130 in us. Please bear this fruit in us. Give us 00:35:39.130 --> 00:35:41.610 a great love for your holy word. We pray in Jesus' 00:35:41.889 --> 00:35:46.090 name, amen. Thank you for listening to Second 00:35:46.090 --> 00:35:48.900 City Sermons Podcast. We hope this sermon has 00:35:48.900 --> 00:35:50.900 encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate 00:35:50.900 --> 00:35:54.099 the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing 00:35:54.099 --> 00:35:56.760 to this podcast and joining us in person each 00:35:56.760 --> 00:35:59.599 Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us online at 00:35:59.599 --> 00:36:02.059 SecondCityChurch .org and on Instagram, Facebook, 00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:05.039 and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. God 00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:05.380 bless.