Kata Markon

["Rick Frommich" <eugor3 AT hotmail.com>]

It seems to me that the story about the soils as presented in the Gospel of Mark is pregnant with symbolism and most of it relates to how one hears "the word". The use of parables in the Markan scheme is best seen in light of the Septuagint from which the compiler appears to have drawn his quotation.

LXX Isaiah 6:9 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send and who will go to this people?" and I said, "behold I am here, send me. And he said,

"Go and say to this people Ye shall hear indeed, but ye shall not understand, ye shall see indeed but ye shall not perceive. For the heart of this people has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them.

Note that in this reference, the fault is on them as they have entered into their obtuse condition on their on account : they no longer want to hear and they have closed their eyes in order not to perceive and be converted. They appear to be unwilling to change their mind and be converted. This attitude makes people outsiders according to the Gospel of Mark.

RSV Mark 4:10 And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables.11 And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables;12 so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven."13 And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

I would maintain that the parable of the soils, is intended to be a metaphor for how people respond to the word as preached by Jesus. The rocky soil model cleary foreshadows Peter's responses to Jesus as they appear in the narrative (note the use of the root of Peter's name and the singular pronoun). In similar fashion, the seed sown among the thorns seems to foreshadow Judas' greed and betrayal for money. The singular form of the pronoun is used here as well.  In referring to the seed that falls into the "good soil" the pronoun is plural. The seed that falls along the path may refer to the effect the word spoken by Jesus had on the followers of John "along side the way".

I hope this will help stimulate more conversation on this issue.

Rick Richmond

 

>From: Steve Black

>Reply-To: "Kata Markon"

>To: "Kata Markon"

>Subject: [gmark] Ch 4

>Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 13:49:57 -0800

>

>Verses 4:33-34 seem to me to be a puzzle.

>

>(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.

>

>On one hand V. 33 implies the parables were told to illuminate, V34

>refers back to V.11-12 where the purpose of parables is to conceal.

>

>Guelich suggests in his commentary that this flaw in Mark's

>narrative

>world is due to a conflict in Mark's received tradition and. Mark's

>redaction.

>

>That seems a plausible enough possibility, yet I'm not content with

>it.

>Was Mark that much of a slave to tradition as to permit this kind of

>contradiction?

>

>Perhaps the disciples play two roles in this passage.

>1. Stand ins for the readers who presumably "get it"

>2. The "historical" disciples, who ultimately prove not to "get it"

>

>On the other hand, I wonder if Mark's narrative is not ultimately

>able to bear the heavy weight that our careful scrutiny places on

>it.

>Perhaps Mark merely wasn't being consistent in his thinking - a

>human

>enough possibility.

>

>Any thoughts?

>

>--

>Steve Black

>

>Dig deep for dreams, or you will be toppled by slogans...

> ee cummings

>

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