“He replied, ‘You are permitted to understand the secret of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: “When they see what I do, they will learn nothing. When they hear what I say, they will not understand. Otherwise, they will turn to me and be forgiven.”’” (Mark 4:11-12 NLT)
To many, including me, the verses above have been among the most troubling in Scripture. They seem to imply that Jesus used parables to further confuse and prevent those who were unfamiliar with Biblical instruction from opening their hearts and lives to Him. In fact, Jesus used parables to simplify the truth and make it more understandable, so, why the apparent contradiction?
Suppose you meet someone who is middle-aged but has never darkened the doors of a church. He knows nothing about Christianity. The only time he’s heard the name of Jesus was someone swearing. So, being a good Christian, you say to him: “Hey, buddy, I’d like you to come to the Ekklesia on Sunday. We’re going to enjoy some koinonia, talk about the Parousia, and we might even share the Eucharist. What do you say?” How do you spell dumbfounded?
Why would anyone expect someone unfamiliar with these Christian terms to respond to an invitation like that? That’s exactly why Jesus used parables – to make things more simple to understand. The term “secret” in the verse above literally means “mystery.” To whom is something a mystery? To anyone who doesn’t know its meaning.
Jesus was a mystery to me until I responded to an invitation to attend church and began to listen to the Word of God explained in ways I could understand. As William Barclay put it: “This word mystery has in Greek a technical meaning; it does not mean something which is complicated and mysterious in our sense of the term. It means something which is quite unintelligible to the person who has not been initiated into its meaning, but is perfectly plain to the person who has been so initiated.”
And regarding these words of Isaiah 6:9-10 Barclay says: “If we read this, hearing not a tone of bitter exasperation, but a tone of regretful love, it will sound quite different. It will tell us not of a God who deliberately blinded men and hid his truth, but of men who were so dully uncomprehending that it seemed no use even for God to try to penetrate the iron curtain of their lazy incomprehension. God save us from hearing his truth like that!”
Unfortunately, when we profess forgiveness of sin and new life in Christ, yet, still live like the devil, ignoring the clear instruction of God’s Word and defying the life-transforming presence of His Holy Spirit in our hearts, we teach contradictions to those in our spheres of influence. We complicate the Gospel by speaking with our life “words” that contradict the words of our mouth and that violate the Scriptures by making Jesus to be someone He clearly is not.
The best way to influence those we most want to come to Christ is to live a consistent life of purity of heart, mind, soul, and strength. But how is that even possible? It’s not! That’s the point, but the Lord can live it out in and through us each day when we yield our life and allegiance to Him.
It’s the only way some stubborn, God-defiant, person can catch a glimpse of the reality of who Jesus is and what He’s capable of doing in the life of a very ordinary, very lost, very ignorant-of-Christ and His Church person like me and you before we came to the Lord.
Forgiveness leads to transformation of heart, mind, soul, and body, or it’s not from Jesus. If you’ve had your sins forgiven, please live like it. You’re the only Bible some people will ever read.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 