Mark part seven

We are at Mark 4:17.  Jesus has just told the disciples that he will explain parables to them but not to outsiders. He then proceeds to chastise them for not understanding the parable of the sower. The farmer is the person "sowing" the word of god. The different types of soil are the different types of people who hear the message. Their receptiveness and retention of the word  determines whether or not they become "fruitful." Being fruitful is open to interpretation here. Perhaps it just means producing more people willing to sow the word, kind of like multi-level marketing.

Next, without any context or explanation, Jesus tells the disciples, " Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or bed? Instead don't you put it on a stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open." I am not going to talk about how the other gospels interpret this. We are reading Mark as if it is a stand alone book, which it must have been when it was written. In Mark, there seems to be very little to take away unless you assume that "lamp" refers to the word of god, as in Old Testament poetry. If what is hidden is meant to be disclosed, why doesn't Jesus disclose the meaning of the parables to everyone?

Next, again without context or explanation, Jesus says, ..."with the measure you use, it will be measured to you--and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." What are we measuring? What do we have or not have? Your guess is as good as mine. It could be money/generosity. It could be faith. It could be something else. Whatever it is, it seems patently unfair to give someone who has abundance of something more, while depriving the person who has less.

In verses 26-29, Jesus tells a parable about the kingdom of god. Again, a man scatters seed. Whatever the man does during the other parts of his life, the seed grows, in spite if his level of understanding  of the growth process. It reaches maturity and is harvested. Jesus does not explain this parable. Presumably the seed is still the word of god. What is the harvest?

The next passage is another parable about the kingdom of god. This time it is like a mustard seed, "the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet....it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade." This author was obviously not a gardener, or he was not talking about the plant we know as mustard today. That plant in never any larger than a small shrub. My study bible says the point is that the kingdom of god appeared to start out insignificantly but will grow to magnificent proportions. If it is like the mustard plant mentioned, it won't even exist. The chapter ends by saying Jesus continued to speak in parables  and to explain them to his disciples when he was alone with them.

"That day when evening came," (what day was that?) Jesus and his disciples got in a boat on the lake. There were other boats as well. There came a bad storm with waves crashing over the boat. Jesus was  asleep. The disciples woke him up. Jesus told the storm to sit down and shut up. Jesus berated his disciples for the perfectly natural fear that they experienced, accusing them of having no faith. The disciples were terrified by Jesus's power over the elements. I'm guessing that most people instinctively know that gods are not usually available in times of natural peril. Even those that have faith can still be killed by drowning while they pray. Not many people are keen on dying.