Bible Study Day: The Sower and the Seeds (Annnndddd...)

It's hard to start blogging again when one has fallen out of the habit. I have plenty of false starts (aka "drafts") in my blog. I sit down, I write a post, and then I stare at it and think "why?" When I'm blogging daily (or almost daily) I'll just post anything. When I've stopped blogging it's hard to post again. Because... why?

So, in an attempt to get back in I'll tell you about what I've learned studying Mark this week (the Gospel that is, not my father in law) because I'm blown away by learning something NEW. Without further a do, prepare to be blown away by Mark (unless of course you already know this in which case here you go).

The Gospel of Mark is meant to be read rapidly with a feeling of frantic movement to the cross. It should give the reader that kind of hyper nervous foreboding feeling. John the Baptist is arrested for his ministry right as Jesus begins his. That can't be good. Jesus is in conflict with the religious authority. Good versus evil with spirits being cast out right and left. It is a hyper kind of book. Need more on that? If you were reading it in Greek you would find that many of the sequences are linked by the word "and" or "and immediately" causing you to keep reading and reading and reading. It's meant to be a page turner that you carry into the bathroom and then ignore your family as you screech out, "I just have to finish this part!" even though you know Mark is tricking you because "this part" will end with "and immediately..." and you'll just have to finish the next part as well (I learned that from my Oxford Annotated).

All of that kind of gets lost in English (here you go) because in English all of those "ands" and "and immediatelys" would just slow us down so editors took a lot of them out. But in Koine Greek... ohhhh yeahhh. It would be awesome. SOOOO... now knowing that. Go read Mark 4:1-32. Yes, really, all of that. Just plug it in here. And, as I like to tell my Sunday School classes, you don't have to read it slowly and carefully and painstakingly with a fine tooth comb. Really. It's okay. Just read it like you're reading this.

Okay, read it? Did you notice anything? Sower and the seeds... yeah yeah yeah. We know about that. And then Jesus is kind enough to work it all out for us. Thanks (Son of) Man, we needed that. BUT THEN... HE KEEPS GOING!!!!

WHAT?!?!?!?!

I've never noticed that before now. No one has ever shown me that. I've always been taught Sower and the Seeds as standing kind of alone. But here, in Mark, IT DOESN'T!! Jesus teaches the parable to a big group of people in Mark 4:1-9 then in 10 were told that he is now alone with the twelve and a small group and he begins to teach again. He explains the parable to them (notice here that HE is the sower - not us) and then Mark pulls his little "and then" maneuver. Jesus is STILL SITTING with this same group. He is STILL TEACHING on this same topic. And he KEEPS GOING! So why do we stop there?!

Let's keep going! I'm using the New Oxford Annotated Bible and the New Interpreter's Bible Commentary (VIII) and my own reason (Episcopalian, Hollah!).

I feel like it is fairly safe to say we can just rest with Sower and the Seeds as is. Jesus did a pretty good job of explaining his parable so I'll leave it at that. And then he keeps going. Jesus says  

"Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?" (Mark 4:21)

This makes sense doesn't it? Let's go to simple reason for this one. I read before bed every night (or at least fall asleep snuggling with a book). I turn on my bedside lamp, snuggle with my book, and read. What would you think if I turned on my lamp, threw a wool blanket over it, and plopped down with a book? Or turned on my lamp, shoved it under my bed, and opened a magazine, squinting to read the fine print? Nuts, right? Okay... that makes sense... but what does this have to do with the Sower and the Seeds? Jesus is flipping metaphors here so to speak. You were soil... now you are a lamp. Your job isn't to worry about what kind of soil everyone else is. Your job is to be light. Don't toss a blanket on your head or hide under the bed. Sit on the bedstand and shine shine shine. That's what the good soil does. It turns into a lamp (very logical) and shines. It doesn't judge whether or not other soil is good or not. It just shines.

But wait! There's more!
Jesus then tells this small group that the things he is telling them here in this smaller group in this more private setting are not in fact meant to be private. This isn't a big secret forever. It's meant to be told (Mark 4:22-23). Context matters greatly - in life, in reading anything, in reading Scripture. This part makes sense only if you know that Jesus is sitting and explaining a parable to a small group.

But wait! There's more!
Jesus keeps going. Remember how Mark loves "and then"?

"and then he said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away" (Mark 4:24-5).

Now, speaking for myself here, what?! If I were just reading and not studying (yes, I see a difference) I would skip that part. But alas, studying requires stopping. What the heck is Jesus talking about? Oh... wait... FAITH (thanks NIBC!). Reread that and think about faith. Think about faith as muscles (hellllo cliche!). The more you exercise your faith the greater and stronger it will grow. Those who don't live in faith and hide it (or throw a basket over their lamp so to speak) will snuff themselves out. Ah, makes sense.

But wait! There's more!
Yes, the teaching surrounding the Sower and the Seeds KEEPS GOING. This is all still in the context of sitting and talking with a small group discussing the parable. "He also said...

'The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come" (Mark 4:26-29).

Wow. Miraculous. Have you ever grown anything? It's kind of like that. We grew sunflowers this year and it was actually exactly like that. I tossed a bunch of seeds in some pots (not in rows, just tossed) and literally stirred the soil with my hands. And then I walked away. And they grew. Those suckers grew like crazy. They flowered and the flowers were full of seeds and I popped them open and did it again. And they are growing again. I like to stand by them and think, "wow. This has nothing to do with me" and marvel at the miracle. Jesus says that's what the kingdom of God is like. Here you get to be the sower. Notice again that you aren't to worry about anything. You just go back to being light so to speak. You toss out the Word of God and just do your thing and in some crazy way in which you "don't know how" (Mark 4:27) it grows. You leave the worrying about the Kingdom to God. You just go be light and throw seeds out indiscriminately and "sleep and rise night and day." God will worry about the watering and tending and soil fertilizing. Yes, for heaven's sake, no fertilizing the soil. No one wants you dumping manure in their soil.

But wait! There's more!
Yes, the Sower and the Seeds explanation and teaching KEEPS GOING. "He also said...

"He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade" (Mark 4:30-32).

If you grew up going to church then you have seen a mustard seed. At some point in your childhood or youth some adult showed up to Sunday School and passed around the smallest seed ever. An impossibly small seed. And you held it in your little paw and being a modern American who has no concept of growing seeds thought in some child capacity of thoughts, "Hey! A mustard seed. yummm... mustard... hotdogs..." If you haven't seen a mustard seed (ever or in adulthood) the next time you're in the grocery store stop by the herbs. Check out the mustard seeds. They are in fact insanely small. And just for good measure, pop "mustard tree" into Google images. It's fun. Trust me. {uh oh... when I did that actual mustard trees came up... hopefully that's what comes up when you do it and not something weird...}

But wait! There's more!
Just kidding. That's it. But really... that's it?! Wow. Jesus actually had a tremendous amount to say in light of the Sower and the Seeds parable. Why do we cut it short? We leave it off at 4:20. But Jesus keeps going... and going... and going. And reread (or at least scan) and you'll see it's obvious. "He said to them" and "he also said" and "And he said to them" and "he also said" - it's all back to back to back teachings to the same group of people about the one teaching. Holding all of these teachings together makes more sense. They all go together to paint a larger picture for us. Sure, you can pull Sower and Seeds out on its own. We do it all of the time. But look at what happens when we keep going. Look at the beauty of following Mark with all of his run ons and "and thens." Pretty cool. Pretty cool.

Go be light my friends. Let us go forth into the world rejoicing in the power of the Spirit!