1.

( parabol: ) mashal ( 4:23) ( 14:7-11) ( 7:15-17)( 12:16-21)( 4:33)( 5:14) ( 12:1-9) ( 12) . 1. 2. 3. 4.

- - : ( 10:11-18) ()( ) -------- ----------------- -------------------------- -------------------------- --------------------------- --------------------------- ---------------------------

2. ()
() ( )()

3.
3.1.

 3.2. ? - ( 12: 9) - ( 21:31) - ( 20:16) - ( 12:20) 3.3. - 99 ( 18:12-14) - ( 15:11-32) - ( 22:11) 3.4.

 ( 20:1-16) - () - ()

4.
4.1. ( 4:3-9) ( 4:26-29) ( 4:30-32)

4.2. ( ) 4

 ( 12:1-12) 4.3. () ( 20:1-16) ( 12:16-20) ( 24:45-51 12:42-48)

5. THE PARABLES IN MARKS GOSPEL

5.1. List of the parables Mk Mk Mk Mk Mk Mk Mk Mk Mk Mk Mk 2:21: The new garments. 2:22: The new wineskins. 3:27: The strong man. 4:3-20: The sower and its interpretation. 4:21-23: The lamp on a stand. 4:24-26: The measure. 4:26-29: The seed growing secretly. 4:30-32: The mustard seed. 12:1-12: The wicked tenants. 13:28-29: The fig tree. 13:33-37: The gatekeeper.

Looking at this chart, it seems that Mark wrote many parables of Jesus. If we take into consideration what we said about the parables above, most of these passages are just comparisons, popular sayings, metaphors, parabolic sentences, or proverbs. However, only four of them follow the pattern of a parable: The sower (4:3-9); The growing seed (4:26-29); The mustard seed (4:30-32); 5

The wicked tenants (12:1-12).

5.2. The general meaning of the parables in Marks gospel ( 4:2) ( 4:1-34) (4:10-11)

6. SHORT STUDIES ON THE PARABLES

6.1. THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER (4:1-20) A. Context. This is the first public teaching of Jesus after leaving Nazareth and his family. He preaches about the coming of the kingdom of God (1:14-15), but the religious leaders (Scribes and Pharisees) consider him a blasphemer (2:6-7), he is possessed by Beelzebul (3:22), and therefore should be condemned to death (3:6; cf. Lev 24:16). Even his family believes he is out of his mind (crazy) and plans to bring him back home to avoid shame and dishonor (3:21.31-33). In this dramatic situation, the only positive fact is that the crowd still follows Jesus and listens to him. B. Literary structure. This parable is part of a sandwich story: - Setting of the parable (vv. 1-2). a. The parable of the sower (vv. 3-9). b. The meaning of the parables (vv. 10-13). a. The interpretation of the parable (vv. 14-20). C. The setting of the parable (vv. 1-2). The location of the parable is the shore of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus began to teach the crowd. The crowd was so large that he had to get into a boat to avoid being squeezed. Then, Jesus sat down on the boat, like the teachers who have an important message to convey. Jesus teaches them with parables because they are easy to understand and the common way to communicate.

D. The parable of the sower (vv. 3-9): This parable uses the experience of the Galilean farmers and only takes into consideration the activity of sowing the seed and at the end, the harvest of the crop. We must remember that the farmers of Galilee first sow the seed on the ground and later plough the field. The seeds fell on four different types of ground present in the same field: - On the path: the birds ate it up; - On rocky ground: it had no roots and withered away. - Into thorns: they choked it; - Into rich soil: grew tall and strong and produce good crop: they produce thirty, sixty, and even a hundredfold (the number refers to the grains found in every single wheat plant). The accent of the parable is placed on the great harvest that pays for the losses of the farmer. The abundance of the harvest is the sign of Gods blessing (Genesis 26:12). The parable began and with an invitation to listening (v. 3) and ends with an exhortation to listening and understand (v. 9). In this way Jesus emphasizes the importance of listening. E. The meaning of the parables (vv. 10-13). In order to understand this enigmatic text, we must understand the difference between those inside and those outside, insiders and outsiders. The insiders are the twelve and other followers of Jesus: they share his daily life, teachings and miracles, so they should comprehend the mystery of the kingdom of God (Gods love, justice, and peace for the world, for all the nations). On the other hand, the outsiders (the crowd) only have the parables which make it hard to comprehend Jesus message of the kingdom; they do not have enough information. What do they have to do then? They must convert and become Jesus disciples if they want to understand his teachings and enter the kingdom; this is the only way. However, Jesus teachings are not easy to comprehend because the disciples themselves ask him to explain the meaning of the parable. In a way, the disciples are like the outsiders because they still keep their human mentality: they do not see things from Gods perspective, just from the human one. F. The interpretation of the parable (vv. 14-20). - Jesus is the sower. - The seed is his word: It refers to his words and actions as his way of preaching the kingdom of God.

- The soil is the people who receive Jesus word. - Three unproductive soils: a) the path (v. 15): it does not penetrate deep in their hearts and Satan takes it away easily (makes them forget); b) the rocky ground (vv. 1617): they welcome the word with joy at first, but reject it when it puts them in difficult situations: trials, persecutions; c) thorns (vv. 18-19): they listen to it, but the worries of the world, the lure of riches, and all the other passions choke it to death. - The rich soil (v. 20): They listen to the word and produce abundant fruit (thirty, sixty, and hundredfold). Accepting Gods word leads a person to the greatest development or to the fullness of life. 6.2. THE PARABLE OF THE GROWING SEED (4:26-29) This parable compares the growing seed to the kingdom of God. The attention is centered not only on the sower or the seed, but on the whole process of growth and its connection to the kingdom. The only person in the parable is a farmer (called a man) who sows the seed on the field. Once he has done his job, he abandons the field and leaves the seed to grow or die. The soil allows the seed to produce fruit by itself without any help from the farmer. What makes it grow and develop is unknown to the farmer. However, at harvest time, he will have to work again. Basically, the job of the farmer is to sow the seed and harvest the crops, the process of growth is a mystery to him. What does it say about the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is already present in the world, but it is small in size and grows slowly. Therefore, the disciples of Jesus must not worry about obtaining great results or think that the growth of the kingdom depends on them. On the contrary, no matter what we do, the process of growth is still a mystery to us because the time of God is different from ours. However, the seed, in Gods hands, will produce a great harvest.

6.3. THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED (4:30-32) In verse 30, the narrator pretends to attract the attention of the people who are listening by letting them know that he is going to tell a parable about the kingdom of God.

The center of the parable is the mustard plant: t is one of the smallest seeds but when becoming a plant at the Sea of Galilee, it could reach 3 meters high (the tallest of all the vegetables). The kingdom of God, at the present time, is still very small (like a mustard seed), but when it grows it will be bigger than anything seen before (tall plant): it will be a big surprise for everyone. The birds sheltering in its shade could easily represent all the gentile nations of the world willing to join the kingdom of God (see Ezekiel 31:6).

6.4. THE PARABLE OF THE WICKED TENANTS (12:1-12) A. Context of the parable. Jesus has already arrived to Jerusalem. When seeing that the Temple had become a marketplace, Jesus decided to cleanse it from merchants and money changers (11:15-19). This action triggered the reaction of the religious leaders, who questioned him about his authority for acting like that (11:27-33). Jesus answer is found in the parable of the wicked tenants (12:1-12). After the parable, the conflict of the religious leaders with Jesus becomes more intense and dangerous: they seek any opportunity or reason to arrest him and put him to death. B. Literary structure. This allegoric parable can be divided in three parts: a. The parable story (vv.1-8): the vineyard and the tenants; b. Jesus reaction to the parable (vv. 9-11); c. Reaction of the religious leaders (v. 12). C. The vineyard and the tenants (vv. 1-8): The parable seems to reflect the real situation in many regions of Israel: a) the landlords were rich foreigners who obtained their lands as a reward for their loyalty and collaboration with the Romans or the king; b) the behavior of the tenants also reflects the revolutionary feelings of many Galilean farmers against these rich and foreign landlords. However, Jesus uses this real situation to emphasize a different point. In the introduction (v.1), Jesus uses parables to speak to the religious leaders, which is his usual way of talking to those outside (4:11). Then, Jesus begins by presenting the characters and their behavior:

1. A man: What actions did he do? a) He planted a vineyard; b) put a fence around it; c) made a hole for the winepress; d) built a tower; e) rented it to some tenants; f) went abroad. This parable reminds us of the vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7. The description of the vineyard with the fence, the winepress, and the tower highlights the standard procedure for the owner who wants to obtain benefits from it. We must remember that the vineyards at Jesus time were not like ours; they planted other things as well: fruit trees, olive trees, cereals The vineyard must be very big because he needs several tenants to take care of it. For the tenants, the normal way to pay their rent was to return to the owner the agreed share of the harvest (10%, 20%, 30%, etc). The owner probably lives in a foreign country or far away from the vineyard; for that reason he has to send the servants to collect his part of the deal. At harvest time, the owner sent his servants to collect his share: A servant: they beat him up and sent him away empty handed; Another servant: they beat him up and treated him shamefully; Another servant: They killed him; A number of servants: they beat some up and killed others; Finally, his beloved son: They killed him and threw him out of the vineyard thinking that now that the heir is dead, nobody can take it away from them. 2. The tenants: They are of course farmers who know how to take care of the vineyard and make as much profit as possible. They should be happy and grateful that the owner chose them for this job by giving him back his share of the harvest. If the farmers accepted the deal of the owner, it means that it was good for both of them How did the respond to the owners deal? They beat some of his servants up, they killed others, and finally they also killed his only and beloved son. They are filled with greed and willing to do whatever it takes to keep the vineyard for themselves: They will never share the profit or the property with anyone. No one can stop them and whoever interferes will be killed as well. 3. The servants: They are faithful and loyal servants because they obey the words of their master. For the first servant was easy to go and collect the owners share, he never thought that the farmers will react by beating him up. For the second, third, and the group of servants, it is more difficult to obey his commands because they are aware of what happened to the first one. They may receive the same treatment. However, they behaved like obedient servants and fulfilled their mission even though they had to put their own lives at risk.

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4. The beloved son: Once the farmers have killed all the servants, the owner sends his beloved son thinking that they will respect him because he is the representative of the father (owner): Killing the son is like killing the father. The son, obedient and faithful to his father, goes to the vineyard knowing that he could have the same end as the servants. For him, the most important thing is not his life, but the fulfilling the mission given to him for love of his father. He only wants what belongs to the owner and, when the farmers try to kill him, he did not fight back; he just accepted his destiny. D. Jesus reaction to the parable (vv.9-11): Jesus does not finish the parable; on the contrary, to those listening (mainly the religious leaders and the crowd), he asks a question: What will the owner of the vineyard do? He does not wait for the answer, he knows they will not respond (see 11:33), but offers them the answer right away: He will come and make an end of the tenants and give the vineyard to others (v. 9). Until now, the owner of the vineyard has been very patient, understanding, and forgiving, but once they have killed his only and beloved son, his wrath will be unstoppable and therefore he will destroy the farmers. Finally, the vineyard will be given to other farmers who will respect the deal with the owner and give the share of the harvest at the proper time. Jesus, in order to clarify his point, chose a passage from Psalm 118:2223: The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this is the Lords doing, and we marvel at it? Jesus is the stone rejected (crucified) by the religious leaders, but God has made him the cornerstone (resurrection): He is the Savior of world. And this is something really wonderful. E. Reaction of the religious leaders (v. 12): The religious leaders understood immediately that the parable was addressed to them. For that reason, they wanted to arrest him and put him to death. Their only obstacle between Jesus and the authorities is the crowd; they are on Jesus side and will not allow them to take him away. Consequently, they must wait for a better chance. So, what did the religious leaders understand about the parable? Why do they think that the parable is aimed at them? This episode is what we normally call an allegoric parable because all the main characters and elements in it represent someone or something: Owner -----------------God Vineyard -----------------People of Israel Tenants -----------------Religious leaders (Sanhedrin) 11

Servant -----------------Prophets Beloved son -----------------Jesus New tenants -----------------Follower of Jesus, Jewsgentiles Some writers see more symbolism within the parable: the fence in the vineyard is the Jewish Law; the tower is the Temple.

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