66 At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. 67 “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”
On one hand, I understand their frustration. If Jesus is the Messiah why doesn’t he campaign under that banner. Why doesn’t He just clearly say, “I am the Messiah”?
On the other hand, their question exposes their foolishness and stubbornness. If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck. The duck doesn’t need to say “I’m a duck” for us to give it that moniker.
And it’s a bit disingenuous to say “He didn’t give enough evidence” when I never truly put the evidence under a microscope.
I think there is an assumption here that if Jesus is truly the Messiah, then it ought to be easy. It should be undeniable, slap you across the face with a board, kind of clarity. But that’s really not taking into account what Jesus said about parables in Mark 4.
Mark 4:1-20 is another one of those Markan sandwiches. The top bun is the parable of the soils. The bottom bun is the explanation of that parable. (Don’t you just love it when Jesus explains his parables?) The meat, though, is tricky.
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
I’ve heard it said before that Jesus speaks in parables because they are like sermon illustrations. They are heavenly truths given to us in earthly garb. That sounds great, but it’s not what Jesus said about parables. Parables are invitations. They aren’t obvious. They aren’t explicit. They require a bit more digging. They aren’t easy.
And Jesus tells us why by quoting Isaiah 6:9-10. He says that parables are given so that things aren’t obvious or easy. Now why does he do this? Why not just make things easy? I mean, if this is life or death type stuff why play around here with difficult parables that could be misunderstood?
Because it’s really not about understanding as much as it is about the desire to understand. The kingdom of God isn’t about getting all the right answers on a trivia question. It’s about having a heart that desires God.
Parables Are Windows
I’ve always been small of stature. That means that if a crowd gathers around to see something, I either need to be near the front or I need to pull a Zacchaeus and climb a sycamore tree. But that’s only if I want to see what all the commotion is about.
If I’m at the zoo and I see a crowd of people huddled up and excitedly viewing the monkey exhibit, I figure they must be doing something awesome or horrifyingly disgusting. Because that’s what monkeys do. Monkeys are worth watching. And so, I’ll put in the effort to see.
At the same time, if a group of people are huddled up at the capybara exhibit, I’m probably not going to put in the effort to squirm my way to the front. It’s a capybara. It might be cute in its weirdness but it’s probably not going to put on much of a show.
Parables are windows into the kingdom of God. They open up for us what God is like. They tell us about reality. They paint a picture what life is like both now and in the future for those who dwell with God.
But they are also windows into our own hearts. A parable is a bit like that line forming outside the exhibit. It will expose whether or not I think its a monkey or a capybara exhibit. Parables reveal to us whether or not we want to know the kingdom of God. Do we have the kind of heart that peers into the window.
Why Not Make It Easy?
But we must came back to our core question. Why not make it easy? If you’re the Messiah why not put that on a placard for all to see? Why does it feel like Jesus is playing hide and seek with us?
It’s because we’re broken.
We’ve turned an invitation of delight into a hurdle to overcome. Jesus is shining but our eyes have grown dim. We don’t see as we ought. And so the Lord must work differently with our desires. He speaks in parables not only as a window but also as invitation.
There are people huddled around the exhibit…do you care to see? Will it grab your attention?
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