March 22 – Depth of Understanding

        Mark 4:11, 12, 33 – "Jesus told [the Twelve], 'The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside, everything is said in parables, so that "they may be always seeing, but never perceiving; always hearing, but never understanding; otherwise they might repent and be forgiven....with many similar parables, Jesus spoke the word to [the crowds], as much as they could understand."

         Verses 12 and 33 almost seem to contradict each other. Does Jesus want me to understand God's truth, or does he not? Does he want me to follow God's ways, or does he care that I persist in my folly? Please make up your mind, Jesus. The crux of the matter, however, goes deeper than surface appearances. Let's start with God's heart.

        The Scripture is plain in 2 Peter 3:9 – "....Yahweh is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish [spiritually], but wanting everyone to arrive at a place of repentance." Therefore, God does not take pleasure in us humans persisting in our sinful lifestyles. Then, why do verses 11 and 12 in the opening scripture, seem so mean-spirited on the surface?

        One must go back to the Old Testament scripture to which these verses point. Isaiah 6:9-13 is the reference point. Isaiah prophesied during the point in time, in which the kingdoms of Israel and Judah had mostly lost their way in being obedient in serving God. How did this happen? Psalm 80:11, 12 gives us the answer: "But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own devices." That sounds exactly like what happened to Pharoah when he would not allow the Israelites and Moses to leave Egypt. It is exactly what happens to sinners, who are described in Romans 1:18-32. When we allow our stubborn hearts to become calloused, it takes much more work to get us to repent. That is why Jesus had to speak in parables as "much as they could understand". It takes persistent chipping away of hard callousness to get to the soft flesh. It takes the blasting of time to sand down the hard grittiness.

        So, Isaiah 6:11, 12 asks the question, " 'For how long, O Adonai?' And he answered "Until the cities lie ruined, and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted, and fields ruined and ravaged, until Yahweh has sent everyone far away, and the land is utterly forsaken." We get the picture that one might have to hit rock bottom before the eyes are opened to see the need to repent of our sinful ways. Obversly, verse 13 in Isaiah 6 gives us hope for those who have hit rock bottom. "As the terebinth and oaks leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land." How often do we see new shoots of growth spring from a stump that is left just above the ground level? Sometimes we do see them, depending on the hardiness of the tree that was cut. The word of God is telling us that there is hope for the worst of us – that new life can spring from what appears to be ruins.

        Let us allow ourselves a greater depth of understanding of what Jesus is trying to teach us, by not letting our hearts become hardened. Let us turn again to him, and to following God's ways with our entire hearts. We should desire to say to God, "Thy will be done." Let us not get to the point where God says to us "Alright, your will be done." Our depth of understanding, at that point, will have become very shallow.