Who doesn’t love a good story? They are written in books, told around tables, put into film versions, even sung in songs. Stories have a way of capturing our attention, housing powerful and deep meaning, providing indirect ways to explain difficult issues, warming our hearts and challenging who we are. Long or short, I just love a good story. It just doesn’t take much for me to be transported to a different world or time with a phrase like, “I knew a woman named . . .” or “Once upon a time there was a kingdom . . .” In every story we seem to identify with a character or image, launching our lives into the life of the story.
But what if we took a step back and looked at the author of a story and learned something even more than the point of the story? What if we took a moment to study the fact that sometimes a kingdom tells us more about a king? I would like us to look at some of the parables that Jesus told, not as stories that tell us how to be Christians, but stories that reveal even more about who he is as King and what his kingdom is really like.
In today’s passage of Scripture, Jesus has just turned from unbelieving religious leaders, and even his own family, to his larger and more diverse human family to tell some stories about his kingdom. The kind of stories that Jesus told were called parables. A parable is usually a short story intended to convey a meaning—brief or expansive—for both immediate teaching and in after-thoughts. Parables are often illustrations or pictures of a truth that are designed to resonate in people who hear them. Daniel Powers describes why Jesus would use such story-telling: “The cryptic and engaging content of the parables enabled Jesus to disarm His audience with His message before they could reject His teaching outright.”[1]
It was a very common thing that rabbis would tell parables in order to teach their followers or students particular principles. Jesus is no different than any other rabbi in this sense. Many of his parables cluster around the subject of his kingdom—the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God. For this study we will be looking at only five of the parables that Jesus told with an eye on his kingdom. The setting of these parables in Mark’s writing is found in 3:20-23. This is quite a contentious scene filled with accusations by religious leaders of demon possession and pressures from his family concerned about his mental health.
Regarding the subject of the kingdom of heaven, we must remember Matthew 3:1-3. In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” This concept of God’s kingdom represented the hopeful promise of God’s great rule of the earth, the coming of a Messiah-King, and the final destruction of evil. For every Jewish listener this made their hearts beat loudly with hope and joy. By telling stories about this kingdom, Jesus certainly got their attention.
The other reality about these stories are their agricultural and domestic settings. Jesus told these stories to a group of people who lived off the land and used oil and wicks for lighting. They farmed the region day in and day out. The struck flint to stone to light wicks every day of their lives. But what do these stories mean in describing the Kingdom of Heaven? I’m sure the listeners had that same question in mind as Jesus, and even his disciples pressed him for answers in private.
Recall the setting they had just come from. Jesus had been in confrontational scenes with religious leaders in the synagogues. He and the disciples had been in the thick of theological debate and avoiding ecclesiastical traps. Now they stood out in the open, the sea breezes blew against their faces and they were surrounded by a huge crowd of people wanting to hear from this man Jesus. It might seem natural that Jesus would explain the Kingdom of God in theological terms. But Jesus is for the people, not just the intellectual and theological elites, and he knows that everyone loves a good story.
Read the first parable, of Kingdom seeds, in Mark 4:3-9.
Q: What does this first parable tell us about the Kingdom of God?
A1: The Kingdom of God is everywhere it has been sown and received.
A2: The Gospel is broadcast to the world unreservedly. When a sower casts the seed, it falls randomly and broadly.
Q: What does this tell us about the King?
A1: He will offer entrance into his kingdom to anyone at any time. His offers of grace, forgiveness, love and outreach are great and magnificent and bountiful.
A2: The King will not coerce anyone into his Kingdom. His graciousness, kindness and patience allow for people to take time to accept or reject him. 2 Peter 3:9 describes the King’s patience so that everyone can come to him.
After the telling of this parable, the disciples were wracking their brains trying to discern the meaning of it. In Mark 4:10-20 he describes its meaning thoroughly. The reply Jesus made was a truth and a warning. Because the disciples had accepted him as their King-Teacher, they were given secrets. These secrets involved the heart-knowledge of a Kingdom far greater and more cosmic than any they had ever known. This knowledge comes out of relationship with Him. Only those who accepted him as Messiah-King can receive this.
In the next few verses Jesus described the reality that many of the story-loving people he spoke to were not yet Kingdom-believers. He wanted them to be, but he needed to tell them stories to explain who he was, who they could be and what dangers lay on the path to believing. So, he carefully and poetically explained to the disciples by quoting poetry from an ancient prophet in Isaiah 6: 9-10.
Q: What does Jesus’ explanation of this parable tell us about who he is as King?
A1: He is aware of the spiritual battles that we face and that we have an enemy of our souls. He tells the truth about how people do not except or withdraw from his Kingdom – by means of Satan’s work, by being beleaguered and persecuted, by being drawn away with greed.
A2: The King declares that it is possible as a Kingdom citizen to be filled with his power to accept his Gospel and grow in it—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown. Can we hear the joy in his voice as he declares what is possible and probable for those who accept his citizenship?
Jesus kindly and respectfully left the story to work into the hearts of the people. Perhaps as they weeded their fields, they would realize what it meant. Perhaps as they saw the shrunken and brittle stems in the rocky places they would understand. Perhaps as they watched a stalk grow strong, tall and fruitful they would come to know what the Kingdom of God is like.
Read the second parable, of Kingdom light, in Mark 4:21-23.
Q: What does this parable tell us about the Kingdom of God?
A1: The Kingdom spreads light in a dark world.
A2: By its nature, it reveals all things—good and bad.
A3: It shines a light of truth where there are lies and deceptions. It gives people living in great darkness a beacon by which to guide them into the full light of God’s love and righteousness.
Q: What does this tell us about the King?
A: He is the Light of the world!
Perhaps every time they lit a wick, they would think of the Kingdom engulfing the world in its light. Perhaps when a darkened room was filled with light from a candle, they would recognize the unquenchable light of the King!
Read the third parable, of Kingdom measures, in Mark 4:24-25.
Q: What does this parable tell us about the Kingdom of God?
A1: There are consequences for not being in and of the Kingdom. Being outside of the Kingdom wreaks havoc and loss.
A2: Being a Kingdom-citizen has benefits of abundance.
Q: What does this tell us about the King?
A1: The King wishes to help, sustain, provide and increase the Kingdom-citizens’ spirits and lives.
A2: The King will visit retribution on those who act willfully against him and his people. Judgment is not far off and will be appropriately administered.
Read the fourth parable, of Kingdom growth, in Mark 4:26-29.
Q: What does this parable tell us about the Kingdom of God?
A1: Kara Lyons-Pardue wrote: “The divine miracle of growth happens while we are not forcing it. In fact, this parable illustrates that we cannot prod, manipulate, or control the kingdom’s growth. Only the God who gives life can be given credit for the miraculous product.”[2]
A2: Matthew Henry wrote: “When it is sprung up, it will go forward; nature will have its courses, and though the beginning be small, that latter end will greatly increase . . . Nature does nothing abruptly.”[3]
Q: What does this tell us about the King?
A1: Matthew Henry again: “Christ’s interest, both in the world and in the heart, is, and will be a growing interest . . . God carries on his work insensibly [without perception or knowing] without noise, but insuperably and without fail.”[4]
A2: The King is intent on fruitfulness and nothing can stand against him.
Read the fifth parable, of Kingdom of small beginnings, in Mark 4:30-32
Q: What does this parable tell us about the Kingdom of God?
A1: His Kingdom will grow to such strength that it will provide for all who come into it.
A2: Zechariah 4:10 yells out, “Who dares despise the day of small things . . . ?” Just as Christ came to us humble as a baby, so his Kingdom comes unexpectedly.
Q: What does this tell us about the King?
A1: The King’s purposes are loving and true, prevailing when it seems that they cannot.
A2: The King is powerful and mighty and bent on the care for his creation.
Mark summarizes the King’s teaching in this way. “With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.” (Mark 4: 33-34) King Jesus told us stories about his Kingdom—the one full of promise, joy, light, truth and redemption—so that we could know him personally, be grounded firmly, have our path lighted and so that we could be part of his great work in spreading his Kingdom further to provide protection to those who would come into his great Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is alive and well today because our King lives!
See, a king will reign in righteousness
and rulers will rule with justice.
~Isaiah 32:1
Lift up your heads, you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory
The Lord Almighty—
he is the King of glory.
~Psalm 24:7-10
Amen
© M.R. Hyde 2021
Points to Ponder
Why would the King need to tell you these stories today?
What are some other answers to what the parables teach us about the Kingdom of God and the King?
“Rather than agricultural metaphors, what are some scenes from daily life that could reflect facets of God’s kingdom in our world today?” (taken from Faith Connections: Bible Study Guide)
