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“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.””

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptised by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed,

“The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandal. I have baptised you with water but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.

In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
NRSV

Reflections

Mark begins his Gospel by rooting it in God’s promises and actions in the past. For instance, Mark makes clear, with his quotation from Isaiah, that the events which unfold in his gospel are a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy, explicitly linking Isaiah’s prophecy to John the Baptist and Jesus. Mark also introduces several important themes that will be developed throughout the rest of the book. Mark, unlike the other synoptic gospels (Matthew and Luke), does not begin with an account of Jesus’ birth. Instead, his story begins with the start of Jesus’ ministry. Nevertheless, it is clear from the very beginning who Mark thinks Jesus is: He is the Christ, which is a translation of the Jewish ‘Messiah,’ God’s anointed king, prophesied in the Old Testament and awaited by the Jews. Mark also states in the very first verse, that Jesus is the Son of God. Although, what this title means will only become clear during the course of the gospel.

1. Read the quotation at the beginning of this passage. Who do you think is sending out his messenger? Who is the messenger? For whom is a way being prepared?

2. How does John’s ministry prepare the way for Jesus? How can we use this as an example for how we should prepare to meet Jesus?

3. As we have explored above, Mark makes it clear that the coming of the Christ is rooted in Israelite history. What difference does it make to you that the gospel is so deeply rooted in history?

4. What does the crowd’s response to John’s message suggest about their sense of need?

5. Why do you think the crowd felt the need to be baptised as a sign of repentance and forgiveness in addition to following the Jewish sacrificial system?

6. How does John emphasize the greatness of the one who will come after him? Despite his greatness Jesus came to John for baptism. What does this tell us about Jesus’ relationship to us?

7. Why do you think Satan tempted Jesus directly after his baptism? Do you think that Satan continued to tempt Jesus during his ministry? How do you think Jesus withstood temptation?

8. Have you ever had an experience of being tempted either in the same way as Jesus was tempted in the desert, or in more subtle ways? Which do you find harder to withstand?

Prayer Pointers

· Ask God to continue working in your heart to make you more like John the Baptist; embracing Jesus as the Christ, God’s anointed king and helping to prepare others to meet him.
· Pray that God would strengthen you to withstand temptation and to remind you that Jesus was also tempted.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.”

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea – for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed hi. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

They went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching – with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed by demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Reflections

This passage follows straight on from Mark’s account of John the Baptist, Jesus’ baptism and his temptation in the wilderness. Here, Mark begins his telling of Jesus’ ministry, including the calling of the first disciples and Jesus’ first miracles.

In the opening of his gospel, Mark has already made clear that Jesus is the coming king, the Messiah, prophesied in the Old Testament. In his account of Jesus’ ministry, Mark gives us a hint of what kind of king Jesus might be. The passage above contains four separate ‘scenes’ involving Jesus:
i) The calling of Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John
ii) Preaching and healing/exorcism in the synagogue
iii) The healing of Simon’s mother-in-law, and the subsequent healing of the sick people in Capernaum
iv) Jesus retreating to pray in private

What do each of these scenes tell us about Jesus? What do they have in common and/or what differences are there between them? It might be helpful to think both about the messianic activities of Jesus (healing, exorcism, etc.) and the more human activities (visiting his friend’s sick mother-in-law, finding somewhere deserted to pray) and how these two interact.

Why do you think Jesus felt the need to get up early in the morning and find somewhere quiet to pray?

The ‘good news’ (the gospel) brought by Jesus is often portrayed as a message about the forgiveness of sins. How far is this portrayal accurate – is there more to Jesus’ proclamation of the good news?

Look at the scene where Jesus is preaching in the synagogue. How did the people react? How do you think the religious leaders would have reacted?

How does the authority with which Jesus teaches differ from that traditionally associated with kings, religious leaders or other human authorities?

Does this make a difference to how we react to Jesus’ authority?

Prayer Pointers

· Jesus spent a lot of time helping people, meeting their needs, but also made time to be quiet with his Father. Pray that God might help us to strike the right balance between ‘doing’ and spending time quietly with God.
· Pray that like the earliest disciples, who immediately left their everyday lives to follow Jesus, and like those in the synagogue who recognised the authority with which he spoke, we might also recognise Jesus’ authority and identity as God’s Son, and try to follow him in our own lives.

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man, “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning. “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralysed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves. “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the ‘sinners’ and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

NIV

Reflections

This passage focuses on his compassion toward those we normally avoid. In order for us to better understand this passage, it will help to look at leprosy in the historical context. Leviticus 13:45-46 states that a leper:
“Must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alive; he must live outside the camp.” (NIV)
The religious wisdom of Jesus’ day demanded that a holy man keep away from various social outcasts, the ‘sinners’ and the unclean. With this in mind, the reaction and opposition Jesus faces is not unexpected.

Questions

1. Compare the difference in the pace of this passage, with that of Mark 1:1-39. What do you think is the significance of this change of pace?

2. Jesus encounters lots of resistance, particularly from the Pharisees. What seem to be the main causes for their resistance?

3. Bear in mind our comments above about leprosy. What risks did the leper take in coming to Jesus? What risks did Jesus take in responding to him as he did?

4. How can we learn from the way the leper approached Jesus? Look in particular both at his humility and his confidence in Jesus’ power.

5. How does Jesus respond to the man’s total need? How does he respond to our total needs?

6. The paralytic’s friends provide a model of caring. What are some practical ways we can follow their example?

7. Jesus heals the paralytic. Why do you think he chose to do so in the way that he did? In what ways does it call attention to his authority?

8. What do Jesus’ words tell us about his priorities and his greatest concern about humanity? In what ways do we need to learn from Jesus’ priorities? (E.g. Do we realise how big a problem sin is in our own lives? Are there areas we need to change? Are we as concerned for our friends’ needs as Jesus was for the needs of the paralytic?)

9. Contrast the Pharisees’ attitude towards tax collectors and ‘sinners’ with Jesus’. What are the modern equivalents of these people? What is our attitude towards them? What practical steps can we take to be more like Jesus in our attitude towards today’s unreachable?

10. Jesus compares himself to a doctor, in answering the Pharisees’ complaints about his eating with tax collectors and ‘sinners.’ In what ways has he acted like a doctor, throughout the passage? How is sin like an illness, especially leprosy and paralysis?

11. Jesus says he came to call sinners. What change needs to take place for the Pharisees to answer his call? What about ourselves – Have we answered Jesus’ call? If not, how do we need to change? What about our friends? How can we help them to respond?

Prayer points

· Pray that God would enable us to see others as he does and to act towards them as he does, with great compassion and love.
· Pray that our friends would recognize who Jesus is and respond to his call.

The Question about Fasting
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ 19Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
21 ‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’
Pronouncement about the Sabbath
23 One Sabbath he was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?’ 25And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.’ 27Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath; 28so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.’

Reflections
Mark here tells two different but related stories about Jesus’ ministry.

In the first, we learn that John the Baptist’s disciples fasted, as did the Pharisees, but that Jesus’ disciples did not. At that time, it was customary for Jews to fast for two days each week.

Unusually in Mark, the question to Jesus does not come from the Pharisees or scribes, but from ‘some people’. Jesus’ answer is startling – in the Old Testament, the God of Israel likens himself to a bridegroom and Israel to the bride (see, for example, Isaiah 62.5). Jesus is therefore claiming that fasting is unnecessary because he is the bridegroom who is ushering in the Messianic age, drawing a direct analogy between himself and God.

Jesus follows his answer to the people with two parables. Both of these are related to the presence of the Messiah amongst his people. Like the bridegroom saying, both answers are in the form of questions – this is the typical way Rabbis interact with their students. In these parables, the “new” age of the Messianic kingdom is contrasted with the “old” age of Judaism. The new kingdom is too large to be absorbed into the old, instead Jesus is bringing something completely new.

Jesus returns to the theme of new and old in the upper room at the Last Supper (Mark 14.23-25), when he talks about the new covenant his death will establish. In v.20 of this chapter, he hints mysteriously at his death by saying the bridegroom will soon be taken away.

The second account is also one of Jesus’ provocative actions. In the last study, we saw how Jesus cleansed a leper, healed a paralytic and called Levi – a tax-collector – to be one of his disciples. Here, his disciples begin to pluck and eat grain on the Sabbath, a violation of the Pharisees’ interpretation of the Law.

Jesus points out that the Pharisees are being stricter than David, the most famous of Israel’s kings. He concludes by saying that the Sabbath was made for mankind, not mankind for the Sabbath. This echoes the teaching of Deuteronomy 5.12-15, where it explains that the Sabbath was instituted as a day of rest for the people of Israel.

Questions/Prayer Points

1. From what we’ve read of Mark so far, what do you think would be some of the features of the new messianic age?

2. Do you think the disciples understood Jesus’ analogy of the bridegroom?

3. What do you think is at the root of the Pharisees attacks on Jesus?

4. Who does Jesus mean when he refers to the ‘Son of Man’.

5. What does it mean that he’s ‘Lord of the Sabbath’?

6. How would you react to Jesus’ teaching about wine and wineskins if you had been a Jew in his time?

7. How do you react now?

8. Is Jesus saying you don’t need to keep the Jewish law anymore? What do you do on the ‘Sabbath’. Perhaps ask God whether you should set aside a ‘day of rest’. What would you do on it?

1 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Come forward.’ 4 Then he said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. 5 He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved a their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Reflections

This meeting between Jesus and the Pharisees stands out. Here it is not a tricky question being put to Jesus by the scribes or Pharisees but Jesus putting the question to them. They who have asked him questions in the past to try and “catch him out” by making him say something controversial are themselves put to the test. And in the story, they choose the safe response: silence. They cannot be trapped into a controversial claim about the law if they don’t actually make the claim.

But Jesus is not interested in theory, but in practice. He forces the question to be one of immediate relevance by telling the man with the withered hand to come forward. The Pharisees are forced to look into the eyes of the disabled man as they decide whether and how to answer the question of his being healed. Jesus is not even asking them to do anything: he is not demanding that they heal this man. He is only asking them to affirm that such a healing would be to the good and hence a part of the divine plan. Since that divine plan is carried out in and by Jesus, such an affirmation would mean a taking part, a co-operation with the divine will.

The question is put, but Jesus does not wait forever. There is an urgency here. The question must be answered today, now. It cannot be put off. God will neither be constrained by our unwillingness to take part in his good works nor our reticence at taking a risk by co-operating.

It is easy to see Jesus as a frightening figure here: he commands the man with the withered hand, demands an answer from the Pharisees, and is then angered and grieved. But this is to be distracted from the central point, the direction of the whole story. The ultimate end is healing. This is the story of an act of mercy, of love. Jesus’ anger is not at the Pharisees intellectual timidity or even their hostility toward him — they are trying to find cause to accuse him, remember — but at “their hardness of heart”, their lack of compassion for the man with the withered hand. The political, religious, and legal implications of his actions are wholly irrelevant to Jesus: everything he does and says is motivated by love, both for the man with the withered hand and the Pharisees with the hardened hearts.

Jesus sometimes calls the Pharisees blind; in the context of this story, it is easy to see why. Jesus performs a miraculous healing in front of several witnesses in the synagogue — but on the sabbath. It is only this last piece of information which the Pharisees seem to see, only that part of the event which is a basis for an accusation. Their decision that Jesus is a dangerous blasphemer obscures their ability to see the evidence that this just isn’t so. And so the story has a bittersweet ending: only one person is healed of his crippling injury, only the man whose hand is withered goes away whole. The Pharisees remain blind and with injury in their hearts. They conspire to do violence to Jesus, “to destroy him”. But they cannot. They can humiliate, torture, and murder him, but they cannot destroy him. The only place in the world that they can prevent his love from penetrating is into their own hearts.

Jesus calls us to “Come forward”, even though this means demonstrating our flaws to everyone around us. What flaws are we most ashamed of? Would we prefer that they remain unscrutinized rather than be healed? Let us pray for the courage to come forward and to stretch out our hands to him, and for the wisdom to know how love bids us answer.

20. Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
22. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23. And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24. If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. 28. “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29. but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30. for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

31. And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33. And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34. And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35. For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Reflections

This passage splits into two sections, the first v. 20, 21 and 31 – 35, the second v.22-30.

The first deals with Jesus’ family – twice they try and protect him, to bring him home, to look after him – they think ‘he is out of his mind!’ (v.21). And why should they not? After all, he is their brother, he is Mary’s son, and he appears to be doing rather crazy things in their eyes (think back over the Jesus in Mark so far). But they are forgetting one crucial point – beyond these earthly relations Jesus belongs to God. He is God’s son. He was given to this earth as a sacrifice – a brief look at his earlier life reveals the extraordinary person Jesus was. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, worshipped by Wise men from the East, teaching and questioning the Pharisee’s in the temple at the age of 12, performing miracles, healing people, casting out demons – he was no ordinary person! This was the son of God.

I think this was the reason for v.33, in which he appears to disown those who brought him up, who loved and nurtured his early life. He reminds his family, and in doing so, reminds us, that whilst he may be in this world, he is most certainly not of it. Looking beyond what we would conceive as his earthly family, looking past tangible relations, Jesus sees a spiritual family, one that surpasses natural relations, to one that unites all who follow him – ‘for whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother’. (v.35)

Throughout the bible we are reminded of the great truth of God’s family, how all who follow him are adopted into his parenthood – God becomes their father, and fellow Christians around the world become our brothers and sisters!

As well as this affirming truth, this section poses some challenges for us. Firstly, Jesus wasn’t afraid to be different. He was radical – to the point even his family thought he was mad. The Christian life calls us to be different; it calls us to be, like Jesus, in the world, but not of it. Are we prepared to accept that? To go against the grain, even, perhaps to a point in which our family might find us mad? It also challenges us to remember that Jesus was God’s son. In our Christian lives, too often we can limit ourselves to thinking down, to thinking as the world would think, to limit our view. Jesus’ family did, and subsequently they couldn’t see what Jesus saw. We are challenged to look up, to see beyond earthly things, to think, to see, to live with a heavenly viewpoint, an eternal viewpoint. How our perspectives, our desires our ambitions might change with such a view…
The second section, deals with similar issues – Jesus as the son of God, and able to command the spiritual world, a forcible reminder that a spiritual war is raging, God against Satan, but that ultimately God will triumph. However this passage is also a striking call to unity. As it is a powerful illustration of Jesus’ unity with his father (v.23, how could Jesus work against or without God?), it also challenges our unity, on a personal level with Christ. Using the parable of divided Kingdoms, Jesus highlights how we cannot fight the battle against Satan, and thus sin and temptation alone, we need help! Personally, if we are not right with God, if we have unconfessed sin, if we are trying to ignore him, we cannot expect to beat temptation – we are divided from the one who gave us life. What a challenge, but what a delight it would be to live daily in harmony with the one who created us, the one who saved us, and the one who helps us here on earth.

21. And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. 23 If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. 25 For to him who has more will be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 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.”

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Reflections

Taken as a whole, this passage may be a confusing accumulation of mixed metaphors. It also contains the rather alarming verse 25, which seems to require particular care in interpretation. “For to him who has more will be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away”: if Jesus is talking of material things here, this is a terrible injustice which hardly seems consistent with the teaching of a man who exhorts us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. It seems we must read Jesus’ words here not as prescriptive, but as descriptive: he uses a proverb which starkly represents the realities of his society – and we can certainly recognise the truth of this proverb in the economics of our society today.

Alternatively, we may read verse 25 spiritually, as seems to make particularly good sense in the light of verse 24. God measures us by our measuring of truth: if we have some capacity to see the truth, we will receive more, but if we lack truth, we will lose even what insight we once had and will become more and more confused. This reading thus relates neatly, too, to the illumination and revelation offered by the light which is put on the stand in verses 21-2.

There is then an apparently rather sudden shift in verses 26-9, which tell a parable peculiar to Mark’s Gospel. Since this parable follows hard on the heels of the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-9) it may seem logical to interpret its imagery in the same way as Jesus instructs his disciples to understand that of the Parable of the Sower, so that the seed is the word of God, and the Sower is Jesus (Matt. 13:37). But it may seem odd that Jesus should “know not how” the seed grows. Eschatological readings of these verses suggest that the focus should be on the fact that the harvest – of souls? – is ready for the Sower’s reaping. But to me, the parable speaks most tellingly of “a sower who has accomplished his work in the sowing, and can then only follow his daily round, unable to explain the mystery of life and growth.” The phrase is Vincent Taylor’s, in his annotated edition of Mark’s Gospel, and it occurs very much in passing in his scholarly discussion of competing readings of the parable. But to me, it summarises the reading of this parable which perhaps most fully reflects the simplicity and profundity of the story itself.

We sow seed as an act of faith: the seed represents our lives, or all the things in our lives or in our selves or in our futures which we entrust to God, not knowing what will come of them. We do not know how the seed grows, but it does. The harvest which we reap, which sustains us, is mysterious, bounteous gift. It comes to us as we go about our ordinary, daily life, sleeping and rising, night and day, sometimes perhaps looking for the coming harvest, sometimes, perhaps, concentrating on other things, until on one day, a date we cannot entirely predict, we suddenly realise that the harvest is ripe, the gift given. Stunned at the serendipity, we gather in the fruits of God’s inexplicable bounty – the desperate situation now strangely full of hope, the thing we couldn’t do now transformed to a source of strength, the bitterness now melted and moulded into humble love.

The parable of the mustard seed in verses 30-32 then emphasises the greatness of God’s work, in bringing great things from little beginnings.

But, both the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the seed growing to the harvest are introduced by phrases explicitly noting that they are images of the Kingdom of God. This does not present problems to a reading of the parables as revealing spiritual truths about our lives here and now – after all, the Kingdom of heaven is among us. But, if Jesus’ words, “to him who has more will be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away”, are to be taken as descriptions of the harsh realities of society, then should we not also see a pointed juxtaposition between these words and the parables which follow?

The world of men is one of material injustice and inequality – but the Kingdom of God is one in which abundant material provision for all springs from tiny seeds. This material provision does not depend on our offering or receiving enlightenment, for all the talk of lamps under bushels: the sower emphatically “knows not how” the seed will grow. God showers us with sustaining bounty whether we feel enlightened or very much in the dark. This is very much a material as well as a spiritual provision, and if we wish to be part of His kingdom rather than the kingdom of the world we should seek to imitate His material as well as spiritual generosity. God matches our generosity and raises the stakes:

“Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.”