Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS024030S
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00:11 ♪♪♪ 00:15 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:17 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:18 We're glad that you are able to join us today. 00:21 We're taking a look at the book of Mark, 00:23 a fascinating Gospel. 00:25 It's really a story of a journey, 00:28 the journey of Jesus. 00:29 And we're taking a look at that journey in great detail. 00:33 We are looking at lesson number four today, "Parables." 00:35 Jesus told many parables, and today we're going to delve 00:39 into some of those and see what we can learn from them. 00:42 We want to begin today, though, as we do each day, with prayer. 00:45 Let's pray. Father, thank You for giving us an opportunity 00:49 to learn more about You and Your character, 00:52 about Jesus and His love for us. 00:54 We ask that You'll bless our time together 00:56 as we spend it in the book of Mark today, 00:58 and help us to understand why Jesus told so many parables 01:03 and what the lessons are that He wishes us 01:05 to learn from them. 01:07 We thank You in Jesus' name, amen. 01:10 Well, we're happy to be here again. 01:12 Not just with you, certainly with you, 01:13 but not just with you, but also with the author 01:16 of this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson, 01:18 that is Tom Shepherd. 01:19 He is the senior research professor 01:21 of New Testament at Andrews University. 01:24 Tom, thanks for joining us once again. 01:26 >>Tom Shepherd: It's good to be with you. 01:28 >>Eric: So, we're looking at parables this week. 01:30 What is a parable? 01:32 If we're going to spend some time digging into them, 01:34 we need to know what they are. What's a parable? 01:36 >>Tom: Well, so first of all, the English word "parable," 01:41 people usually think of it as some kind of a story, 01:44 maybe not a-- maybe a fictional story, 01:47 made-up story, that makes some kind of point, 01:50 some kind of lesson. 01:52 Usually, people think of parables as rather simple, 01:56 and that it's not hard to get the idea. 01:59 Now, there's a long history 02:01 of interpreting the parables of Jesus. 02:05 The word "parable" is actually from a Greek word, 02:08 "parabole," which actually has a wider set of meanings 02:12 than we usually think of in English. 02:14 It could also refer to a riddle that people, 02:19 that somebody could not understand, 02:20 you know, what it meant. 02:21 So its meaning was wider than what we usually have. 02:25 So here in Mark 4, though, we have the typical parables, okay? 02:31 And He speaks to them in many parables. 02:33 And the first one, of course, is the parable of the sower. 02:38 And so, maybe we should read that, 02:40 the story of the parable of the sower, 02:43 and you can read it for us. 02:44 It started in verse 3 of Mark, chapter 4. 02:48 >>Eric: "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 02:51 "And it happened, as he sowed, 02:52 "that some seed fell by the wayside; 02:54 "and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 02:57 "Some fell on stony ground, 02:59 "where it did not have much earth; 03:00 "and immediately it sprang up 03:02 "because it had no depth of earth. 03:04 "But when the sun was up it was scorched, 03:06 "and because it had no root it withered away. 03:09 "And some seed fell among thorns; 03:11 "and the thorns grew up and choked it, 03:13 "and it yielded no crop. 03:14 "But other seed fell on good ground 03:16 "and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: 03:21 some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred." 03:24 >>Tom: Okay, so, it's a very interesting little story, 03:28 one that people at that time could easily understand. 03:32 They were an agricultural society. 03:35 There's a lot of people today that, you know, don't, 03:38 aren't farming people and don't live in farm areas. 03:42 And so, they may not understand it as well, though. 03:46 You know, it's not too hard to see what's going on here. 03:49 And there's actually four little stories 03:53 that are told from beginning to end. 03:57 He doesn't just tell them interlinked. 04:02 It's like four separate stories, okay? 04:05 So, there's four different places where the seed falls. 04:09 So, the first place it falls is on the hard beaten path, 04:15 and birds come along and devour it. All right, 04:20 the second place where it falls is on rocky ground. 04:25 So, there's a bit of soil, but it's hard rocks underneath, 04:30 and it springs up, and it withers away because it-- 04:36 the sun scorches it, 04:38 because it doesn't have any depth of soil. 04:40 Then there's the one that falls among the thorns, 04:43 and the thorns grow up and choke it. 04:44 And finally there's the seed that falls on the good soil. 04:47 Now, so let me ask you a few questions as a teacher. 04:51 How long would it take for the path soil, 04:57 for the seed that fell there, 05:00 how long would it take for that story 05:02 to come to a conclusion with the birds eating it up? 05:05 >>Eric: Probably not very long. 05:06 >>Tom: Yeah, the birds would-- if you've ever seen farmers 05:09 with--they're plowing the field and they're putting things in, 05:12 there's all these birds. [laughs] 05:14 They're at the--what are the birds doing? 05:16 Well, they're having their supper, you know. 05:18 The--there's some that doesn't get down 05:20 when the farmer plants it, 05:22 and, of course, if it fell on the path, 05:24 it would just bounce and, you know, 05:26 there would be the seed, and birds are always looking 05:28 for something to eat, so they would eat it right up. 05:31 So it would be immediate, you know; 05:34 it would be with just moments of it being thrown there or, 05:37 you know, within a few minutes. All right, well, how about 05:40 the rocky ground, where it doesn't have much soil, 05:43 but it springs up, and then the sun comes up 05:47 and scorches it, and it withers away. 05:50 How long would that take? 05:52 >>Eric: Probably take a little bit longer anyway 05:54 because you've got to have time for that seed to germinate. 05:57 >>Tom: Yeah, you know, I remember as a kid 05:58 the seeds that sprouted the most quick were radishes. 06:04 I really don't like radishes, 06:05 but, you know, they grew quickly. 06:07 For little kids, they'd say, "Oh, it's coming up." 06:10 So, yeah, it would, it would take some time 06:12 for it to come up, and, of course, 06:15 it would also take some time for it to dry out. 06:18 All right, so the first soil is the same day. 06:20 The second soil is probably several weeks, right? 06:25 Then the third soil is the soil with the thorns, 06:33 and the thorns have to sprout up and grow up and choke it, 06:36 so it yields no grain. How long would that take? 06:38 >>Eric: It's gonna take even longer. 06:40 >>Tom: Yeah, probably a month or, you know, 06:42 maybe a couple of months where we-- 06:45 and then finally the good soil where it produces grain, 06:48 and it yields thirty, sixty, 06:50 and a hundredfold. How long would that take? 06:52 >>Eric: Well, if it's producing crops, that's gonna take 06:53 longer still. >>Tom: Yeah, those would be like 06:55 for what--so, each of these stories is a little bit longer 06:58 than the previous one. Now, 06:59 usually when people are reading these stories, 07:02 they, they're quick to just kind of-- 07:05 they say, "What does the story mean? 07:07 I want to know what the story means." [laughs] 07:09 And they miss the story aspect of it, 07:12 which is really, really interesting and helpful 07:15 for understanding the interpretation of the story. 07:18 You get kind of the idea here that to really produce a crop, 07:23 you have to--and here we're talking about a spiritual crop-- 07:27 you have to be in it for the long haul. 07:30 You have to be in it-- you have to have 07:32 a commitment that goes on for a period of time. 07:34 Even before you get to Jesus' interpretation and explanation 07:37 of the story, you see that you have, you know, 07:41 a period of time that is gonna be involved. 07:43 Now, let's jump down. We're gonna jump past verses 10 to 12 07:47 and go down to verses 13 through 20. 07:51 We want to see how Jesus interpreted this parable. 07:55 >>Eric: "And He said to them, 'Do you not understand 07:57 "'this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 08:01 "'The sower sows the word. And these are the ones 08:04 "'by the wayside where the word is sown. 08:06 "'When they hear, Satan comes immediately 08:09 "'and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. 08:12 "'These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, 08:15 "'when they hear the word, 08:17 "'immediately receive it with gladness; 08:19 "'and they have no root in themselves, 08:21 "'and so endure only for a time. 08:23 "'Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises 08:26 "'for the word's sake, immediately they stumble. 08:29 "'Now these are the ones sown among thorns; 08:31 "'they are the ones who hear the word, 08:33 "'and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, 08:36 "'and the desires for other things 08:37 "'entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 08:41 "'But these are the ones sown on good ground, 08:43 "'those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: 08:46 some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.'" 08:49 >>Tom: Okay, so it's very interesting here 08:52 that you start to see when you take a little time 08:56 to analyze the story-- 08:57 I teach students how to-- it's called narrative analysis, 09:01 how to analyze stories, and there's characters, 09:03 there's settings, and there's time, 09:05 and there's all these different things that go on. 09:07 And so, when you analyze the story itself, 09:12 it meshes with how-- what Jesus has to say 09:16 and actually helps you to understand the-- 09:17 understand it better. 09:19 So, those along the path where the word is sown, 09:22 and so it's-- the soil is the people. 09:25 The seed is the Word of God, and just like seeds are amazing 09:30 that they have, you know, they have life in them, 09:33 they're seeds, but they have life in them, 09:35 and that springs up. 09:37 That's the way the Word of God is. It contains life. 09:40 It can change our lives; it changes our lives. 09:42 It makes us better people. 09:45 So the people along the path, they hear it, it says, and it-- 09:49 Satan immediately comes and takes away the word 09:52 that is sown in them. So, somebody says, "Well, wow. 09:54 "Does that mean there's no hope for those people? 09:56 They, you know, they-- that Satan just, 10:00 you know--they're predestined to be lost?" 10:02 No, they're hard; they're not really susceptible 10:07 or open to spiritual things. 10:08 I've seen this with a number of people where people are not, 10:11 you know, open to hearing the Word of God. 10:15 And, you know, you try. 10:17 You try to reach out to them, but they just don't listen. 10:21 So, that's not because God doesn't want them saved, 10:25 but because they have not opened their hearts to follow. 10:28 Now, then there's the one sown on the rocky soil, 10:33 and these are the ones that when they hear the Word of God, 10:35 they receive it with joy. 10:37 Now, these folk are the people who, 10:41 they don't have root, you know, but they endure for a while. 10:45 Then when tribulation, the sun comes up, 10:46 the heat of the day, then they fall away. 10:49 And these folk are those who do not--what should I say? 10:55 They don't count the cost of discipleship. 10:58 The third group are those who are not harmed by tribulation, 11:04 but by a nice life. 11:07 Maybe here, people in the United States 11:09 can especially relate to that. It's a good life. 11:12 You know, you have nice things, 11:14 and you may not take the gospel so seriously. 11:17 But it's only those who really take it seriously that-- 11:20 you see, the last soil is different from all the others 11:23 in that those that are sown on the good soil 11:26 are the ones who hear the Word. 11:28 They don't, they--well, everybody hears the Word, 11:30 but they accept it, not like the people with the hard ground. 11:35 They bear fruit, not like the people who didn't, 11:39 you know, that it was scorched or was messed up by the thorns, 11:44 but they actually bear fruit for God, and they produce, 11:47 and it becomes a harvest for the kingdom of God. 11:51 So it's a great story, you know, 11:53 and we'll have to see a little bit more 11:55 about what comes in between both the story 11:58 and the interpretation of the story. 12:02 >>Eric: We're going to come back to that in just a moment 12:04 after we take a break. But before we go to break, 12:06 take a moment and share with us about that companion book 12:09 and what's in the companion book, 12:11 especially for this week, that people are going 12:14 to want to learn a little bit more about. 12:15 >>Tom: All right, so this companion book 12:17 is the one that I wrote, and it goes along with the lesson. 12:19 So, every chapter has a link to that. It's the same number. 12:23 So, the 4th week is with the chapter 4. 12:26 It's got the same title as the lesson quarterly. 12:29 So, here you see about the parable of the sower, 12:32 and you find out the story's meaning and the parallels. 12:36 We talked about some of those kinds of things 12:38 here in this--I have a section on verses 10 to 12, 12:43 which is a very problematic section 12:45 and that I took some more time to describe here. 12:49 Actually, my commentary, I took 6,000 words to describe it-- 12:52 not in this book--so this is 12:53 just a little foretaste of where we're going to go with that. 12:55 >>Eric: The condensed version of the commentary. 12:56 >>Tom: The condensed version. >>Eric: Fantastic. 12:58 >>Tom: Very condensed. >>Eric: And it's very easy 13:00 to pick that one up if you would like to, 13:02 and I would encourage you to do so. 13:03 You can find it at itiswritten.shop. 13:06 Again, itiswritten.shop, 13:08 and you will find the companion book 13:09 to this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson there. 13:12 Just deeper information, more information, 13:15 delving into it and deeper insights, 13:17 so, if you're enjoying this journey 13:19 through the book of Mark, you want to make sure 13:21 that you pick up that companion book as well. 13:24 And as you delve into it, as you dig into it, 13:26 you're going to find that you are blessed, 13:28 and you're gonna have more that you can share 13:30 in your Sabbath school class. 13:32 But even more important than that, 13:34 it's going to richen, 13:35 enrich, and deepen your life and your spiritual walk 13:39 with Christ as well. 13:41 So that's the companion book found at itiswritten.shop. 13:46 We're going to be back in just a moment 13:47 as we continue taking a look at the parables 13:49 here in the book of Mark. 13:51 ♪♪♪ 13:55 >>male announcer: Discover the powerful ways 13:57 that God is part of the healing process. 13:59 Go beyond what the media and popular trends say 14:02 about health care and learn from an expert 14:04 what it really means to be healthy. 14:06 In his book "The Ultimate Prescription," 14:08 Dr. James L. 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And He said to them, 17:17 "'To you it has been given to know the mystery 17:20 "'of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, 17:23 "'all things come in parables, 17:25 "'so that "Seeing they may see and not perceive, 17:28 "'"and hearing they may hear and not understand; 17:31 lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them."'" 17:34 >>Tom: Wow, you know, you read that and it's like, 17:38 my goodness, is Jesus-- 17:39 Jesus is telling these parables to keep them in the dark, 17:43 you know? He wants them to be lost. 17:46 Well, that actually doesn't match 17:48 with some of the other things 17:49 that we've read already in this book. 17:52 If you read-- if you go back to Mark 3, 17:55 we didn't read this part. 17:56 But at the beginning of Mark 3 in that controversy story, 18:00 there's the man with the withered hand, 18:02 and Jesus asked the question in Mark 3, verse 4: 18:06 "He said to them, 'Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good 18:09 "or to do harm, to save life or to kill?' But they were silent. 18:15 "And He looked around at them with anger, 18:18 "grieved at their hardness of [their] heart, 18:21 "and said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' 18:23 He stretched it out, and his hand was restored." 18:26 Now, here's the interesting thing: 18:28 "He looked around at them with anger." 18:32 He was angry. 18:33 Now, in Greek that reference to anger is a-- 18:39 in a past tense, which gives the idea 18:42 of a momentary kind of anger. 18:45 But the word "grieved" is a continuous kind of a thing. 18:48 He's--He continues to be grieved. 18:51 So, it was--it made Jesus angry or He became angry 18:57 when they would not, you know, admit the truth, 19:02 but immediately His compassion for people, 19:06 His sorrow comes in, 19:08 He's grieved at the hardness of their heart, 19:10 so, this is not a Man who wants people to, you know, 19:14 stay out of the kingdom. 19:15 This is not a Man who wants people to be lost. 19:19 So, we have to look for a different explanation 19:22 as we look at this passage. 19:24 So, in verse 10, we go back to Mark 4, 19:27 and we look at verse 10: "When He was alone, 19:30 those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parables." 19:37 The group of people illustrate the soils. 19:40 There's a group of people that are listening to Him. 19:43 He tells the story, He finishes teaching, 19:46 and what happens? They leave. 19:49 Most of them leave, but some stay, they want more, 19:55 they want to hear more, 19:56 and it's not just the 12; there's these other people. 19:59 "Those around Him with the twelve asked Him 20:02 about the parables." 20:04 Now, that's a very important verse 20:06 because it's the context for what Jesus is gonna say. 20:09 "He said to them, 'To you has been given 20:11 the secret of the kingdom.'" Because they were interested, 20:15 they wanted to know, you know, what it was all about. 20:19 "But [to] those outside everything is in parables"-- 20:21 or in riddles. Why is it in riddles? 20:25 Because they're not serious about it. 20:27 They don't wanna know. They, you know, there are some people 20:30 that they will hear the gospel message, 20:32 and...they'll just hear it, 20:36 and they'll say, "Well, that's nice. 20:39 It's a good story, you know, and it's okay." 20:42 The gospel for them is a little point of-- 20:47 a little dip of paint on their canvas of their life 20:50 here and there, a little color. 20:52 Ellen White uses this illustration of a canvas. 20:54 She says that's not the way the gospel is supposed to work 20:56 in your life. 20:57 The gospel in your life is to be like the whole canvas 21:00 is dipped down into that paint and dipped down again 21:04 until it just permeates everything in that, 21:08 in your life. And that's what it is. 21:11 "So that 'They may indeed see but not perceive, 21:14 "'and may indeed hear but not understand, 21:16 lest they should turn and be forgiven.'" 21:18 If they would just turn, 21:20 they would be forgiven of their sins. 21:22 So this--I, like I said, I think, before, 21:27 I spent 6,000 words in my commentary 21:30 explaining this passage because there's a whole lot more. 21:33 There's a whole lot more to it than just what I've just said. 21:37 But that gives you the basic gist of what this is about. 21:41 >>Eric: So a powerful parable here of the-- 21:43 of the different soils and the different types of people 21:45 and how they respond or don't respond to the gospel. 21:48 Jesus also emphasizes some things in this parable 21:52 of the lamp in Mark 4:21-23. 21:54 >>Tom: Yeah, I think we should read that. 21:55 >>Eric: All right. "Also He said to them, 22:00 "'Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? 22:03 "'Is it not to be set on a lampstand? 22:05 "'For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, 22:08 "'nor has anything been kept secret 22:10 "'but that it should come to light. 22:12 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.'" 22:14 >>Tom: Okay, so this is, actually it says here 22:19 "a" lamp and "a" basket. 22:22 But if I recall correctly in the Greek, 22:24 actually it's "the" lamp and "the" basket, 22:27 probably because this was a poorhouse 22:28 where they had one lamp and they had one basket. 22:31 And do you light a lamp just to hide it away? 22:35 And of course, the answer is, well, no, nobody does that. 22:38 You wouldn't do that. 22:39 And of course, that's what you wouldn't do 22:41 with the gospel message. 22:42 Nothing is hidden except to be made manifest. 22:45 Now, this is linking in again to that secrecy relation motif 22:49 that we've talked about 22:50 that the things are going to come out, 22:52 the truth is going to come out; it's not going to stay hidden. 22:55 So, He says that "nor is anything secret 22:58 except it come to light." 23:00 So, He says, if you have ears to hear, 23:02 listen to what He's saying. 23:04 And actually, that's a point for us as Christians. 23:09 We didn't get the gospel message just to hide it away 23:12 in our own little church or in our own life and say, 23:16 "Oh, this is such a wonderful treasure. I'm so glad." 23:19 No, we're supposed to share it with other people 23:22 who haven't had this good news 23:24 and whose lives are messed up and who need that hope. 23:28 And so, it's really a call. 23:31 When you get the light of the gospel, 23:33 you're not supposed to just keep it to yourself. 23:36 You're supposed to share it with other people. 23:38 I like the idea that we have what are called GLOW tracts 23:42 and that you have something, 23:44 oh yes, it's really kind of the light of the gospel message. 23:46 You have something to share, a little GLOW. 23:48 We at one of my churches, we do something called 23:51 Feeding America, 23:53 and it's a program to help people who need food. 23:56 So I, as the pastor, what I do is I go from car-- 24:00 the people stay in their cars-- 24:01 and I go from car to car praying with people. 24:04 And I often give them some, like a GLOW tract 24:07 or some piece of literature to, you know, 24:09 help encourage their life. So, yeah, yeah, share the message. 24:12 >>Eric: Very good. 24:14 So, we've looked at the soils; we've looked at the, this lamp. 24:17 What about the parable of the mustard seed 24:19 that we find in this chapter? 24:20 >>Tom: Yeah. It's in verses 30-32. It's interesting. 24:23 It says, "And He said, 24:25 "'With what can we compare the kingdom of God, 24:27 "'or what parable shall we use for it? 24:29 "'It is like a grain of mustard seed, 24:32 "'which, when sown on the ground, 24:33 "'is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 24:35 "'yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes 24:37 "'larger than all the garden plants 24:39 "'and puts out large branches, 24:41 so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.'" 24:45 That's interesting. 24:46 The mustard seed was, you now, the mustard seed is very tiny. 24:50 Now, it's actually not the smallest seed in the world. 24:53 Actually, I think, of all things, 24:55 tobacco is this little teeny tiny seed. 24:59 But it was the smallest seed in Palestine and, you know, 25:03 that commonly people knew about. 25:06 So, it was the smallest of the seeds. 25:08 And yet when you planted it, 25:10 it would become this great big plant, you know? 25:12 So, a little tiny seed, 25:14 and it becomes a great big plant. 25:17 So, you know, that's actually an encouragement for people 25:21 who are--there's just a few believers, and that is, 25:27 there's hope that things can change, 25:30 hope that things can grow. 25:33 Small churches--I'm the pastor of two smaller churches; 25:36 one is smaller than the other. 25:38 And we have believers in some places 25:41 where there's just a handful, 25:43 just a handful of believers, and it can be a little discouraging. 25:47 But basically, I think what we should do in small churches, 25:51 and I guess since I'm the pastor of a small church, 25:53 I have some knowledge of some of this, 25:56 is not try to do everything. 25:58 If you look at the church manual, 26:00 you got, like, 50 offices. 26:02 Well, you know, don't fill all the offices. 26:05 Fill the ones that you can do, don't overwhelm people, 26:08 but try to do something. 26:10 Try to do something where you can share. 26:12 And the church has a whole variety of resources available 26:15 that you can make use of in your conference office. 26:18 And those GLOW tracts we mentioned, 26:20 go and share something with somebody and get started, 26:24 and it can be a blessing to reach out to those folk. 26:27 >>Eric: So, it doesn't have to be big. 26:29 It doesn't have to start big; you just start like-- 26:32 we just looked at the parable of the lamp-- 26:36 just start with what you have. 26:37 That little spark is-- that's where a fire-- 26:40 >>Tom: Start with what you have is a good-- 26:42 start with what you have is a good example 26:44 or a good way to begin. Start with that. 26:47 >>Eric: The simple thing is to say, "Well, we don't have much, 26:49 so there's not much we can do." 26:51 But if you don't have much, that implies you've got something. 26:54 >>Tom: Yep. >>Eric: And so start with 26:55 that something and share that something, share the gospel, 26:58 and you'll find that it makes a big difference, 27:01 in fact, an eternal difference in someone's life. 27:05 And so, if you'll take that and share it, 27:07 gather together with like-minded people, 27:09 if they're around, and share what you do have. 27:12 We're looking at the book of Mark. 27:14 It's a journey-- 27:16 a journey that helps us to see Jesus more clearly. 27:19 And if we look carefully, it's a journey that helps us 27:21 to see us a little bit more clearly as well 27:24 because our stories are woven throughout the book of Mark, 27:28 and we can see where Jesus touches each one of us 27:30 along the way of His journey. 27:33 And we are continuing that journey 27:35 for another 9 weeks or so, 27:38 and we're continuing to delve into the story of Jesus 27:41 and the gospel and what we can learn from the book of Mark. 27:44 And we're excited that you are on this journey with us, 27:47 and we look forward to having you continue 27:49 that journey with us as we look at the book of Mark, 27:52 the beautiful picture of Jesus' ministry, 27:54 here on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. 27:58 ♪♪♪ 28:27 [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.abercap.com] |
Revised 2024-07-16