Mark 4...

Mark 4...

Mark 4 is one parable after another...boom, boom, boom...

It’s like, pay attention to what I am saying, teaching ...learn...

Here, Jesus is sitting by the sea in a very agricultural area talking to these farmers, fishermen, anyone gathered....some skeptical, some hearing with receptive hearts, others wandering through-not caring one way or another...a multitude of attitudes and understanding...exactly the people he describes in the parable of the sower...they are all there...listening, questioning, some soaking in the words like dry parched ground, others scoffing and turning away...

In my notes, a parable is defined as “a short story or saying composed as a kind of metaphor that uses some element of the everyday life to present a moral or spiritual lesson” and “were commonly used in ancient rabbinic literature “...ESV Archaeology Study Bible

The admonition in verses 24 and 25 strike my heart..

24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”

Mark 4:24-25 

How I long for more and more understanding, more of Jesus...not just hearing, but heart and soul depth...

And then reaching the verses about the growing seed...

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

Mark 4:26-29

I just started broccoli seeds for fresh sprouts to include In my salads ...placing them on a wet sheet of webbed coconut fiber... I just made the assumption that they would burst forth out of their hard shells and start growing, which they did...but I really just take for granted that they will grow and don’t know the science of all the miracles of growth...God causes the growth, the miraculous wonder of that seed and the growth of the kingdom...He knows...

Or the mustard seed...

Having been raised in the redwoods of Northern California, redwoods were part of our landscaping...they added their cones and branches to the graveled driveways, added shade to the flower beds...their cones are about the size of my thumb finger nail, the seeds the size of  a large pin head...this is my comparison to the mustard seed parable...

The seed grows and grows, hundreds of years , adding height and breadth, reaching the sky in its majesty and strength...housing animal life both in its branches and its trunk, protected from fires...a kingdom in itself...

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

Mark 4:30-32 

And the last parable of this chapter...one for today’s headlines...

He calms the sea in the midst of a storm...”Peace! Be still!”...saying that to my heart as well as others around the world...

Jesus the creator, God of the universe really does have it under his control...

“Even the wind and sea obey him!”

Thank YOU....the blessed controller of all....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYy1f6VjDHU