Parables: The Secret Waiting to Be Let Out
[Originally posted on my Rabbisaul blog Jan 31 2006]
Last week, I preached on the parable of the sower, seed, and soils (Mk 4.1-20), and drew attention to the fact that Jesus did not use parables so that people could better understand via His helpful illustrations; rather, He used them because He was turning those people over to the hardness of their hearts and deadness of their ears. The explanations were left for the “insiders” (4.10).
While that is all interesting and important, it is only part of the story. In the next passage, Jesus goes on to clarify. Here is a literal translation of Mark 4.21-22:
And He said to them, “Does a light come in order that it may be placed under a measure, or under the couch? Is it not in order that upon a lampstand it may be placed? For it is not hidden, except in order to be manifest, nor did it become secret, but in order that it may become manifest.”
He then goes on in succeeding parables to speak of how the seed is hidden in the ground, but nonetheless sprouts and grows beyond human reason, coming to fruition as harvestable grain (4.28-29) or as a bush with great branches which shade the birds (4.32).
It seems to me, then, that there is a lot more going on here than at first meets the eye. The point of the “hiddenness” of Jesus’ message of the kingdom – spoken in parables – is not that the Word become privatized among the “insiders,” but that it break forth and give light to all. If I’m right, that’s an interesting balance with the judgment language of 4.10ff. By “hiding” the kingdom Word among His disciples, Jesus is nonetheless still aiming at its public triumph.