Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 2 Study # 1
February 11, 2020
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(142)
1901 ASV
10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parables.
11 And he said unto them, Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all things are done in parables:
12 that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest haply they should turn again, and it should be forgiven them.
- I. Jesus' Explanation Regarding "Parables".
- A. The introductory comment is "And when He came to be according to the standard of 'alone'...".
- 1. This is an interesting introduction in that the immediately following phrase indicates that He was not, in our sense of the word, "alone".
- a. There were "those around Him", not being The Twelve.
- b. There were "The Twelve" that "those around Him" were "together with".
- c. This, in the context, signals that there was no "crowd" present.
- 1) Earlier, Mark had said that "there was a great multitude" present when He spoke the words of this first "parable" (4:1).
- 2) It is beyond possible that Jesus did not just speak the words of this first parable and then send the multitude away, but it is clear from Mark's record that the issue in his mind was this parable and not any of the multitude of other things Jesus may have said.
- a) Mark had already said that Jesus "taught them many things by parables" (4:2).
- b) But Mark also said that Jesus highlighted "this parable" (4:13) as a kind of "key" to the others.
- 2. This raises the question of why Mark took some pains to make us understand that Jesus was not addressing a "crowd" when He said what He did about His use of parables.
- a. The answer is not difficult: Jesus didn't wish to reveal to the crowds that His interest was focused only upon "some" who were in the midst of them. This might have taken on a kind of significance to some among the great multitude ("He must not want us to know what He is saying, or He wouldn't be telling us ambiguous stories..."), but the majority probably didn't go that deep, settling for "I wonder what He was driving at when He told those stories."
- b. It is a significant stumbling block to "the many" to be introduced to the fact that God has "an elect" that are the focus of His efforts (Note Paul's claim in 2 Timothy 2:10), so there is no need to deliberately put that reality before "all men" unless there is a compelling reason (as in John 6 and 8:43 and 47 where He is actually telling "those outside" why they are "outside").
- c. Thus, we can conclude that Mark's description of Jesus becoming "according to the standard of 'alone' " was for the purpose of drawing a line between what should be "broadcast" upon the soils and what should be held back. In other words, Jesus' words were purposefully "discipleship material" and not "preaching-the-Gospel material". Mark's focus is, after all, upon Jesus having His disciples "with Him" (3:14) at this point so that He might later "send them forth to preach" (6:7 as a fulfillment of 3:14).
- B. "They were asking" (Imperfect Indicative) "the parables" (accusative plural, with no guidance by means of some preposition).
- 1. First, the question was about "parables" in the plural; not specifically "this parable".
- 2. Second, the questions (they "were asking" implies more than one question), apparently, were not all about the meaning of the parables (since the later issue is the meaning of "this parable": 4:13), but were more in line with His "answer": i.e., "why are You teaching in parables?". His "answer" (4:11-12) is to this issue. Only afterwards did He go into "...do you not know this parable...?"
- 3. Third, the questions were coming from "those round about Him" as well as from "The Twelve".
- a. The phrase "round about" is my translation of "peri"; a word that is used 24 times by Mark and has this significance: in 3:32 and 34 "those round about" Him are deliberately set in contrast to His "family by flesh" as "My mother and My brethren" because they are "doing the will of God".
- b. Jesus, in 4:11, identified those who were of the great multitude, but not of those who were "round about Him" as "those who are without" (meaning "those who are outside of this group"; 1:45; 3:31, and 32).
- c. The accompanying phrase "together with The Twelve" indicates that the "asking" was of common interest to all of those "alone with Him": What is the point of teaching by means of parables?
- C. "And He was saying (imperfect, indicative) to them...".
- 1. "The mystery of the Kingdom of The God has been given (perfect, passive, indicative) to you...".
- a. It is not "mysteries": there is, apparently, an overarching "mystery" that serves as an over-all, organizing concept, under which many "mysteries" are set in their particular places.
- b. It is in a "has been (already) given" kind of setting which does not mean that they already know the "mystery" but are among those who eventually will. This is "divine determination" being directly introduced into the mix...a "mix" that is sometimes not for everyone's ears.
