The closed heart sees only parables: How will you understand?

An Exegesis Analysis of Mark 4:10-13

Mark 4:10-13 ​And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him
about the parables.
He answered them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those
outside everything comes in parables,
so that ‘they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order
that they may not be converted and be forgiven.’”
Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of
the parables?

Joseph J. Serwach
Exegesis Paper
April 24, 2017
SS Cyril & Methodius Seminary
“Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest,” ​- Simon & Garfunkel, The Boxer.
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself,” ​- Leo Tolstoy.
“A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that way, he becomes
immortal.” ​- Will Bloom, describing his father in Big FIsh​.

I. Delimiting the text, scope of this paper.

What is the purpose of parables? Jesus answers in Mark 4:10-13, speaking to his Disciples

and a larger group, recognizing that many will listen but few will truly “get it.’’ The differences

between the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John show how four devoted followers -

brothers paying devoted to the same Lord and recalling the same events - can capture and

agree upon the same main lessons and experiences yet nonetheless each see the truth from

their own unique perspectives. While Raymond Brown notes that 80 percent of Mark’s verses

are “reproduced’’ in Matthew and 65 percent in Luke, he explains “a parable that appears in all

three Synoptic Gospels can have different meanings depending on the context in which each

evangelist has placed it,’’ 1

Mark 4 is a “collection of parables,’’ Brown notes, with Mark laying out three “seed parables’’

each looking at a different aspect of how chosen souls can grow far beyond their expectations

to make room for “the Kingdom of God.’’ Many hear the call but few respond, Mark argues, in a

reference to Isaiah 6:9-10, where an earlier prophet failed to convert the masses, when people

would “Listen carefully but do not understand! Look intently but do not perceive’’ failing to “see

with their eyes and hear with their ears.’’ Jesus alludes to this Old Testament passage,

explaining why he needed to speak in parables even as so many were unable to understand.2

​“We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are,”​ Rabbi Shmuel ben Nachmani said

in the Talmudic tractate Berakhot. Considering the source of information is typically just as important

as the information itself since our own culture, values, history, expectations and desires tend to color

the way we process, digest, retain and remember information. Perhaps this partially explains why

1
Brown, Raymond E., An Introduction to the New Testament, Doubleday, 1997, page 111.
2
Brown, Raymond E., An Introduction to the New Testament, Doubleday, 1997, page 133.
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pride is considered a sin and why we need the gift of humility to humble souls, replacing “my will’’

with “Thy Will,’’ to silence our egos so we can better hear the voice of God and see more of what He

wants us to see: “We live by faith, not by sight,’’ - 2 Corinthians 5:7. As Mother Mary Angela

Truskowska, founder of the Felician Sisters, wrote more than a century ago, “I have always felt a

particular attraction to obedience. It was for me the basis of all perfection. I have always placed

obedience above everything else…I dread nothing as much as my own will.’’3

II Setting the Text (textural criticism)

While Biblical scholars focus on 27 Jesus parables, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary

notes commentators focus on six “Marcan’’ parables including the three “seed’’ parables in Mark

4: the parable of the sower (Mark 4:3-9), the seed that grows secretly (Mark 4:26-29), the

mustard seed (4:30-32) plus the wicked husbandmen (Mark 12:1-11), the fig tree (13: 28-29)

and the parable of the doorkeeper (13:34-37). But of all of these, New Jerome dubs Mark

4:10-12 “one of the most discussed New Testament passages,’’ while reinforcing the important

Marcan themes of christology and discipleship. They add that the disciples are meant to “see’’

through these parables while others are “blinded’’ to the ways Satan can distract, delay and

divide. But ultimately, Jesus is stronger. 4

10.​ ​And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him
about the parables.

11. ​He answered them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been granted to you.
But to those outside everything comes in parables,

12. ​so that ‘they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not
understand, in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.’”

13. ​Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you
understand any of the parables?

3
Winowska, Maria, Go Repair My House: Biography of Mother Mary Angela Truszkowska, Congregation
of the Sisters of St. Felix, 1976, page 159.
4
Brown, Raymond E; Fitzmyer, Joseph A; Murphy, Roland E.; The New Jerome Biblical Commentary,
Prentice Hall, 1990., page 1367-38
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III Working up the Text (grammar and syntax) with Analysis and Interpretation

Biblical scholars have long focused on a multitude of ways to define the parables of Jesus

spending a great deal of energy debating Mark 4:12, that someone could look but not see, hear

and listen but not understand “in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven?’’ Was

Jesus saying that He spoke in parables because He didn’t want those in the outer circles to

hear and be converted?​ ​Dwight Pentecost asks whether Jesus used parables to intentionally

reach chosen souls and leave behind those who were not worthy.5 Quite the opposite, many

conclude. Michael Barber explains that “​Parables were typically used to speak truth to power,’’

arguing that one reason that parables dominate Mark, Matthew and Luke rather than John is

that Mark/Matthew/Luke focused more on the last year of Jesus’ ministry when he was

considered a revolutionary and a threat to the established order, making parables a kind of

“code’’ to use that would be readily understood by followers and less obvious to outsiders and

potential adversaries. 6
Brown and numerous other scholars note that parables are also

considered to be “riddles’’ and that riddles create an appealing “mystery’’ for listeners to solve in

order to make the story more interesting, memorable and to engage listeners emotionally.

Conflict, journalists are taught, is the “essential element’’ of any true news story. If there is no

conflict, then you are merely sharing “Good Information’’ (which can be easily forgotten) rather

than the “Good News.’’ Anglican Bishop ​Ashton Oxenden concluded that Christ, "knew what

was in man "better than we know ourselves,’’ and taught with parables because he was the

ultimate teacher, who knew “this was the kind of teaching best suited to our wants.’’7

5
Pentecost, J. Dwight, “The Parables of Jesus: Lessons in Life from the Master Teacher, Kregel
Publications, 1981.
6
Barber, Michael, “Why are there no parables in the Fourth Gospel?’’ The Sacred Page
http://www.thesacredpage.com/2011/12/why-are-there-no-parables-in-fourth.html

7
Oxenden, Ashton, “The Parables of Our Lord, William Macintosh Publishers, 1864, page 1.
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IV. Parallels

While Mark focuses on deeds, Matthew’s perspective on this same episode focuses more on

Christ’s authoritative teaching, incorporating many of the same parables as Mark but adding

more to the story. In Matthew 13:10-23, Jesus is similarly asked why he teaches in parables and

Jesus similarly explains His disciples have been “granted to know the mysteries of the King of

Heaven’’ but explains that gift has “not been granted’’ to the outsiders. Jesus then adds “For

whoever has, to him more shall be given and he will have an abundance but whoever does not

have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.’’ Sociologist Robert Merton called this

“the Matthew Effect’’8 in 1968 to explain conditions in science allowing “the rich to get richer

while the poor get poorer.’’ Educators and political advocates alike use the Matthew Effect as an

example of how equal opportunities do not produce equal outcomes.

VI. Pastoral Application (Accommodated Sense) - Homiletic and pastoral considerations

"God made Man because He loves stories,''​ - Elie Wiesel

On Easter Sunday 2017, I found myself doing something I’ve never done on any Easter:

driving 300 miles north (alone) to be at the funeral of my stepmother. On the way up, a favorite

song came on the radio, “My Way,’’ by Frank Sinatra. The song became etched in my psyche

on October 2, 1977 when CBS aired Elvis Presley’s final concert special two months after his

death where Presley concluded the concert with that same iconic song: “Yes, there were times,

I’m sure you knew, when I bit off more than I could chew, but through it all when there was

doubt, I ate it up and spit it out. I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way.’’ It struck me then

that the words clearly and boldly capture the spirit of a leader, the individualistic, entrepreneurial

and original America where I grew up: Sinatra once referred to the song as “our national

8
Merton, Robert K., “The Matthew Effect in Science: The reward and communication systems of science
are considered,’’ Science, 159(3810):L 56-63, January 5, 1968.
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anthem” and Donald Trump danced to it at his Inaugural Balls. Yet, as I listened to the words

again, I realized the same words can also be interpreted as offering the opposite of the

teachings learned in a Catholic Seminary. These same words could, in fact, have been sung by

Satan as he won over Eve and everyone he’s tempted since: “For what is a man, what has he

got, if not himself then he has not, to say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who

kneels.’’ Woa! From an “American’’ standpoint, those words are powerful and inspiring but from

a Catholic perspective, the same words can seem sad and upsetting: doing things “my way,’’

rather than “God’s way’’ and even seeming to diminish the people who kneel praying to God

(though it is, of course, assumed lyricist Paul Anka was actually writing of men who bow down

and kneel to other men rather than those who kneel to God). A clear example of American

values and Catholic values seeming to be diametrically opposed to each other even as they

each offer beneficial lessons and guidance?

When I arrived at my father’s house on the eve of the funeral, I found my family, where each

child responded to Patricia Serwach’s death in a different way, particularly in a time when

definitions of family seem to change for each individual: I am the oldest of five children and my

mom is still alive yet my stepmother and I shared the same last name and family for 36 years

and I knew her long before that (for most of my life). I prepared her obituary, her life story

naming her five children (putting myself in the middle of the list though I am actually the oldest)

and accounting for her nine grandchildren and one great grandchild (though it occurred to me

than most of her children and friends would not even know she was a great grandmother. Truth

doesn’t have to be widely known to be true). Like my father, I am the eldest son of the eldest

son of the eldest son and we both know what it’s like to be a stepson as well as a stepfather

(two of the most difficult jobs in the world). We both think about the “big picture’’ of leading a

family, concentrating on “what’s best for the family” or as 21st century CEOs say “What’s good

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for the brand.’’ Patricia’s first children, my younger stepsister and stepbrother, lost “Mom’’ and

when they prepared tributes they mentioned themselves and our youngest brother but not their

own step siblings. My sister Kristine introduced me to her daughter and said “Joe is my

stepbrother’’ while I thought to myself “I’ve met your daughter before and aren’t I actually her

Uncle Joe?’’ My brother John (the only other person on the planet sharing the same mother and

father as me) has always had an easier time understanding and relating to Mark and Kristine

(the three of them are closest to each other in age, all being born within a two-year period of

each other between 1968-1970). My baby brother, Matt, at 34, is the sole child born of the

marriage of my dad and stepmom. Matt was the quietest of the bunch though he was technically

the only soul in the room related to everyone “by blood.’’ He is arguably the glue who forever

holds us all together.

For my father and stepmom, family was always family: whether you were connected via

blood or marriage was immaterial and they disliked references to “step,’’ “half’’ or “ours, mine

and yours.’’ They would shoot you a dirty look if you tried to correct anyone who might call a

stepmother a mom. They seldom or never talked about being married more than once. That

ideal only backfired on them once, when a friend asked my stepmom’s age, then asked my age

(realizing we are just 16 years apart to the day) and wondered if my dad married a minor (he

didn’t. He married at age 21 and again at age 38 though he never thought of having two families

or sets of children - it was always one family). I’ve learned to share that “We are all family’’ value

while recognizing it’s more complicated when both mothers are alive or even when one just died

(and is making news) while the other one is a phone call away. My daughter, in fact, wanted to

post my stepmom’s obit on Facebook but didn’t because she didn’t want to risk making my

mother feel bad. All these different perspectives on family invite pushback from individuals who

want to carve out and preserve “my way,” their own unique perspective (we all seem to see life

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as feeling like it’s ourselves vs. the world). Despite the competing narratives at the funeral, my

father and I both eventually noticed that “people hear what they want to hear.’’ The multitude

who saw Patricia Serwach in a certain way continued to do so, tuning out or missing statements

that contradicted their perceptions. Yet in Mass, we refer to the faithful as “Brothers and

Sisters,’’ Jesus told John Mary was now our mother and if you go the route of science and

enter your DNA sample with Ancestry.com, it soon becomes clear that we are all, in fact,

somehow related to one another. But if we can’t even agree on how to define brothers and

sisters and mothers and fathers within small families, how can we even hope to communicate

and connect with one another?

Jesus shows us the way through parables where we shift from “me telling you how to

change,’’ to “me offering an illustration by talking about people we all can relate to,” a teaching

technique that pre-dates Jesus and perhaps the Bible itself. In ​The Storytelling Animal: How

Stories Make Us Human​, Jonathan Gottschall argues, "We are, as a species, addicted to story.

Even as the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories... Human minds

yield helplessly to the suction of story.''9 A large body of business research as well as

psychology research on self esteem shows that people get defensive and “put up a wall’’ when

they are challenged with experts concluding people need to hear five or more positive

comments before they will fairly address a single negative comment (a 5-1 ratio of positive vs.

negative comments is necessary to even be heard).10 In ​Shortcut: How Analogies Reveal

Connections, 11Spark Innovation, and Sell Our Greatest Ideas​, former White House

speechwriter John Pollack argues, "Analogies offer us conceptual and emotional shortcuts.

9
Gottschall, Jonathan, Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human, Mariner Books, 2013.
Zenger, Jack and Folkman, Joseph, “The Ideal Praise-to-Criticism Ratio,’’ Harvard Business Review,
10

March 15, 2013. ​https://hbr.org/2013/03/the-ideal-praise-to-criticism

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Pollack, John, Shortcut: How Analogies Reveal Connections, Spark Innovation and Sell Our Greatest
Ideas, Penguin Group 2014.
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The art of analogy is the art of cultivating and communicating ideas - revealing fresh

connections and relationships between things that are not only useful but make intuitive sense

and also bear up under honest scrutiny. Because while all analogies obscure complexity and

some reveal simplicity, only the very best approach truth.'' In a story that sounds remarkably like

the way Jesus taught us to pray for guidance, Pollack explained how the late Steve Jobs said

creative people "feel a little guilty'' because rather than "doing something,'' they actually see

things others miss: "they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.''

Patricia Serwach sang. For much of my life, my dad took us to church to hear her sing and

before long, he was serving as lector while she sang and played guitar with the choir. I found

myself listening to another song, a week after her death and was astounded to learn a story I’d

never known. While “My Way,’’ seems so uniquely American, it was actually more popular in the

United Kingdom than the United States and peaked at 27 on the Hot 100 charts for Frank

Sinatra and went to No. 22 for Elvis. Sinatra’s daughter Nancy said “My Way’’ stuck to her father

like gum to a shoe but he was often uncomfortable with the song because it made him feel too

self-centered. I was startled to learn a very different song lasted a solid 10 weeks at No. 1

(longer than any other single song released during the 1960s or 1970s): the 1977 song “You

Light Up My Life’’ by Debby Boone. It’s a simpler, shorter song expressing devotion: “You light

up my life, you give me hope to carry on, you light up my days and fill my nights with song.’’

More startling: “You Light Up My Life’’ was written as a love song (to accompany a film with the

same title) but Boone said she instead sung it to God. Light coming from God, of course, is a

major theme in the Book of Mark.

​ "Analogies offer us conceptual and emotional shortcuts,'' Pollack writes. "The art of analogy

is the art of cultivating and communicating ideas - revealing fresh connections and relationships

between things that are not only useful but make intuitive sense and also bear up under honest

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scrutiny. Because while all analogies obscure complexity and some reveal simplicity, only the

very best approach truth.'' The best analogies, Pollack argues: 1. Use the familiar to explain the

unfamiliar. 2. Highlight similarities and obscure differences. 3. Identify useful abstraction. 4. Tell

a coherent story. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, the phonograph and modern

motion pictures, concluded most mathematicians "stick too close to the rules'' while the best

inventor "is a logical mind that sees analogies.'' Inspired by Edison’s invention, to this day, we

show an image of a lightbulb “turning on’’ to illustrate the birth of a great idea. Mark used

agriculture-related parables in an agrarian age. Can 21st century humans be explained in a

parable related to light and electricity?

Fr. Bryan Patterson offers his own parable connecting the light of God with the work we do

as God’s Children. What if we are all are like refrigerators? A refrigerator is the main appliance

in nearly every dwelling from houses to apartments to dorm rooms. The refrigerator is the only

home appliance that needs to be “turned on and left running’’ 24 hours a day, seven days a

week to work properly. Like a father or home owner, the main job of the refrigerator is to protect

and preserve its contents from the degradations and dangers of the world around it. Every time

we lose power, we are reminded that working electricity is “everything’’ in our modern age just

as we realize we are lost when it dawns on us that we have somehow managed to lose our

essential connection with God. Leave a child (or an item of food) alone too long and they will

“get spoiled’’ or fall prey to a parasite or animal seeking to swallow them up. The refrigerator,

like man, must be connected to its energy supply to work properly (electricity for a refrigerator or

God for humans).

If you shut off the power to your house, the refrigerator will immediately stop working but the

food will remain safe for a certain period of time because the work of the electricity lingers. But

slowly, the lack of fresh power causes conditions to degrade and ultimately the food will be no

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safer in the refrigerator than it would be in the wild, outside world. Similarly, every time we allow

our connection (our lifeline, our line of connection) to God to be cut off, we invite all the

unhealthy forces of the outside world into our life. Ultimately, our job (to protect the contents of

our home and family) becomes harder and harder and subject to decay because our connection

to the light of God has been cut off. We can restore that connection by calling to Him but we

must maintain it to function as we were designed to function. When we are continually

connected to God, every part of His plan can make sense. We can live up to our full, healthiest

potential: we are, in fact, designed to do many things “My Way’’ because God gave us unique

missions and callings and specific gifts we alone possess. But to function as we were designed,

as Children of God and ultimately as saints, we must maintain, preserve and protect our

connection to the Light of God.

The word “author,’’ meaning the creator or writer of a story, derives from the word “authority’’

because an author is the ultimate authority and all-knowing expert on the stories he or she

creates. God is similarly, the author of the Universe and the ultimate authority on all of us, the

characters in the ongoing story of this world he created. In life, we often play many characters

and many roles (starting as children, later adolescents and perhaps fathers, mothers and

grandparents). We sometimes play “the hero’’running to someone else’s rescue and other

times, often unintentionally, we must plan “the heavy’’ who takes rather than receives. Other

times, we are the victim, the winner and the loser. By playing so many different parts in the ever

changing story, we can be parts of many parables others can learn from (in life we tend to copy

our parents or learn to do the exact opposite but either way, we are learning from their stories).

Like the readers of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, we ultimately see one big story from many

different perspectives and ultimately, slowly but surely understand the stories Jesus began

explaining to us. As author Sean O’Casey said of writers, “He must be able to see things no one

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else sees and hear things no one else hears and he must be able to put them in front of readers

so they see and hear them clearly - whether they like them or not.’’12

12
Murray, Christopher, Sean O’Casey: Writer at Work: The Definitive Biography of the Last Great Writer
of the Irish Literary Revival, 2004.
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