Just a closing thought to end the day. Earlier I was translating the Gospel of Mark for an exegesis class. I came to a section a parables and noticed some pretty blatant irony on the lips of Jesus as he was quoting the prophet Isaiah. The crowd who had been coming to hear him speak was dumbfounded by the parables he gave. They had no idea what he was talking about; no idea what anything he said meant. So, like any good Bible student, they asked Jesus. His response is priceless (*disclaimer: I acknowledge this is a liberal translation. I’m no scholar, just an amateur).
Beginning in 4:11, Jesus says to them, “It has been given to you to understand the mystery of God’s kingdom, but to those outside all things are in parables, so that [here begins the OT quotation] ‘Seeing, they may see and not see, and hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they would turn around and be forgiven.” So that “Seeing, they may see and not see.”
I’m not trying to give any deep theological interpretation on the parables here. I just wanted to point out the irony… and also the tragedy. We are so far removed from the truth of God’s kingdom that even if we gazed upon it we would not see to understand. How terrible is our condition, and how great is the grace of God that He would grant us repentance to turn around and be forgiven… and keep a sense of humor when speaking to his children.
