Bible Study series: Mark 4:33-34. Parables keep everyone keen and reveal who leans in to pursue truth.

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If you would like to see the original Greek, please click here:

Mark 4

At that link, I also offer more commentary and a Summary and Conclusion, geared towards discipleship. Scroll down to the bottom and check it out!

Let’s begin.

Scripture: Mark 4:33-34

³³ He was speaking the word to them in many such parables, as they were able to understand. ³⁴ Without the parable form he did not speak to them, but privately he explained everything to his own disciples. (Mark 4:33-34)

Comments

What Is a Parable?

“parable form”: the word form is implied, because the word parable is singular. So we could translate it literally: “Without the parable he did not speak to them.”

Sometimes the crowds did hear direct teaching. Thus, “without the parable form he did not speak to them” is a Semitic way of saying he emphasized parables over direct discourse.

Why, though, did Jesus use parables for the crowds? The answer is found in my comments at vv. 10-12. It is about knowledge and ignorance and hunger and complacency. Are they hungry enough to push through spiritual dullness and thick-headedness (ignorance) and learn about who God really is (true knowledge)? Many listeners of his message delivered by the church today will remain in ignorance. But they do not have stay that way.

Pray for your wayward sons and daughters and relatives. Pray for your co-workers. Ask God to change their hearts and save them. Never give up! Never stop praying!

GrowApp for Mark 4:33-34

1. See my questions and challenges at vv. 10-12. Do you wish to add to or revise your earlier answers?

RELATED

10. Eyewitness Testimony in Mark’s Gospel

2. Church Fathers and Mark’s Gospel

2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels

14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels

1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series

SOURCES

For bibliographical data, please click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:

Mark 4