Mark 4:21-34
He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the
bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? For there is nothing
hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to
light. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ And he said to them, ‘Pay
attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get,
and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be given;
and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’
He also said, ‘The
kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would
sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not
know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then
the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with
his sickle, because the harvest has come.’
He also said, ‘With
what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It
is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of
all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the
greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the
air can make nests in its shade.’
With many such
parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not
speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his
disciples.
This seems to begin with the antidote to the harshness of the previous reading (everything in parables so that they might hear and not understand). Here - nothing is hidden, except to then be disclosed. Instead, we are left with Parables of encouragement - the Kingdom of Heaven will grow here on earth. Even if it sometimes seems unlikely (there's so many places it can't/won't grow, or it seems so small and insignificant at first).
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