January 27th, 2024

This Sunday for many churches is the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany. And the Epiphany season is one of enlightenment (in the Jesus-centered sense of the word), manifestation, and good things like that. The Gospel text for this Sunday continues in the first chapter of the Gospel according to Mark (1:21-28), but we are going at our own pace through that gospel account on this website.

In these writings there has been a closer look at what is commonly termed as the historical present (where a past tense verb is expected, but a present tense is given). Sometimes those verbs would be connected to actions, and sometimes they would be connected to the action of speaking. They have appeared somewhat frequently during these last chapters we have been studying. But in the majority of this fourth chapter, they are not so frequent. That is because the emphasis is not so much on Jesus’ actions or his teaching, but the response to his teaching is now the focus, and it should not be surprising that this happens in the form of a parable. A parable—or a story with a point—would draw the followers of Jesus closer, and it would push the enemies even farther away.

Some significant things have already happened within these first three chapters. One may see this buildup in the use of another peculiarity within this gospel account, that of the use of the word ‘again’. Since it is used AGAIN at the beginning of this chapter, it may be helpful to see the use of the word ‘again’ in terms of teaching.

It is interesting that the first time Jesus goes to Capernaum, in the first chapter, he teaches in the synagogue, and the response, in a literal translation, is that they are ‘pounded out’ at his teaching (1:22). This is usually translated as being amazed. Then, ‘again’, he goes to Capernaum, in the second chapter, and this is the time that Jesus is so popular that he has a large crowd around him, and he ends up healing a paralyzed man, and the response at that time was that they ‘stood out’ (2:12), also often translated as being amazed. And, to top it all off, the popularity of Jesus continues to grow, and with all the unusual things happening around him, in Mark 3:21, it says that ‘those around him came out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is standing out.”’ It is the same word to define the previously amazed crowd in the previous chapter. (But in this case, it basically means that he is ‘beside himself’, i.e., crazy.)

It does not seem that Jesus and some of the people around him are ‘in’ with others and make a lot of special friendships. They are ‘out’ when it comes to lots of things. And this is especially true when it comes to Jesus. After all, Jesus did not come to be a friend to lots of people—or even to a few; he came to be the Savior for ALL. And he did that on a cross, outside of Jerusalem.

And there is a large continuum of response to what Jesus does in this fourfold gospel. And the parable that is given below is a good summary of the wide range of responses. And you might note that the crowd is ‘greatest’ at this time—and that word will not appear elsewhere within this gospel account.

So what follows is this author’s attempt at a somewhat-literal translation of the first part of that chapter (4:1-20; the one historical present within this text is in bold print; and you may wish to look at a study bible or another translation to help with the meaning):

And again, he began to teach along the sea; and it is assembled to him, a crowd, greatest, so that him, into a boat, having stepped in to sit, in the sea, and all the crowd, toward the sea, upon the land, they were. And he was teaching them in parables, many things, and he was saying to them in the teaching of him:

“Listen; look; he came out, the one sowing, to sow, and it happened, in the to sow, some fell along the way, and they came, the birds, and they devoured it. And other fell upon the rocky place where not it had earth, much, and immediately it sprang up, on account of the not-to-have depth of earth; and when it rose, the sun, it was scorched, and on account of the not-to-have root, it was withered. And other fell into the thorns, and they came up, the thorns, and they choked it, and fruit, not it gave. And others fell into the earth, the good, and it was giving fruit, coming up and growing, and it was bearing, one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred.” And he was saying, “Who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

And when he became according to alone, they were asking him, the ones around him, with the twelve, the parables. And he was saying to them, “To you, the mystery has been given of the kingdom of the God; now to those, the ones outside, in parables, the everything, it is; that seeing, they may see, and not perceive, and hearing, they may hear, and not understand, lest they may turn and it may be forgiven to them.”

And he says to them, “You do know, do you not, the parable, this? And how all the parables will you know?”
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“The one sowing, the word he sows. Now those are the ones along the way, where it is sown, the word, and when they hear, immediately he comes, the Satan, and he takes the word, the one having been sown into them. And these are the ones upon the rocky places being sown, who, when they hear the word, immediately with joy they receive it, and not they have root in themselves, but on the contrary, temporary they are, then happening affliction or persecution on account of the word, immediately they are scandalized. And others are the ones into the thorns being sown; these are the ones, the word having heard, and the cares of the age and the deceitfulness of the riches and the about-the-other-things desires, entering into, they choke the word, and unfruitful it becomes. And those are the ones upon the earth, the good, having been sown, who hear the word, and they welcome, and they bear fruit, one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred.”