Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Once again, this Sunday, we are going to pick up in Mark’s Gospel where we left off the previous week.  At the end of last Sunday’s text, the conflict between Jesus and his opponents had escalated to the point that his opponents began to plot how they might kill him.  As a result, Jesus no longer goes to the synagogue to proclaim his message of God’s kingdom.  Instead, he takes his message directly to the people in their towns, their homes and on the hillsides by the Sea of Galilee.  At the beginning of chapter four we’re told that Jesus began to teach them beside the Sea, and he began to teach them many things in parables.

Up until this point in Mark’s Gospel Jesus has spoken in parables amid his conflicts with the religious authorities, but now he speaks in parables as part of his preaching about the Kingdom of God.  Many scholars have pondered the reason for this change in Jesus’ ministry.  Why would he speak in parables?  A parable is basically a comparison.  Some have said it is an earthly story with a spiritual meaning.  The idea being that a spiritual truth may be better grasped in light of the earthly illustration. Yet, sometimes, when we listen to Jesus’ parables, they are not easy to understand.

We might wonder why Jesus spoke in parables.  Why not just speak the plain truth?  Well, Jesus spoke in parables for many reasons and the parable of the sower in Mark 4:1-9 and the verses which follow are an explanation for Jesus’ use of parables.  However, they are not just an explanation of why Jesus spoke in parables, they are also an invitation to us, the hearers, to listen to Jesus’ parables.  “Listen!  Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” Let us listen to Jesus’ parables this Sunday.

See you on Zoom on Sunday!

Pastor David

p.s. If you want to listen to Jesus’ parables before Sunday, you can listen to Max McLean’s dramatized version of the Gospel.  Chapter three and four of Mark runs from about 11 minutes to 17 minutes.

 

 

David Braneky

Pastor

Grace Baptist Church of Blue Bell

P.O. Box 122, 437 Skippack Pike & Lewis Lane

Blue Bell, PA 19422

www.gbcbb.org

(O)215-628-2077

(C)215-609-2224

 

 

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Preview YouTube video Mark’s Gospel: On Stage with Max McLean – Full Movie | Max McLean

Mark’s Gospel: On Stage with Max McLean – Full Movie | Max McLean