He Was Speaking the Word to Them, So Far As They Were Able to Hear It
Posted by Pastor Pat on May 22, 2009
With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it; and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.
Read Mark 4:33, 34
Verses 33 and 34 are Mark’s editorial on the teaching ministry of Jesus Christ. They form a fitting conclusion to the parables found in verses one and following. There are two questions confronting us in these two verses. Was what Jesus taught understandable by His immediate audience? And secondly, why did Jesus not explain everything to everyone rather than only to His disciples?
First, it must be understood how He taught with plainness and simplicity (v. 33). He did not preach what he could not illustrate; and when he was finished, the people who heard him understood what he had said. “Our Lord spoke in parables, adjusting His discourse to their capacity to understand. The implication is clear that parables were employed to make truth plain.”[1] They understood what He said in a context. The circumstances of the moment lent itself to interpreting the story. What might appear confusing to us was possibly apparent to His immediate audience. The larger idea presented by our Lord was clear. What He wanted them to understand could be understood.
