Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
The Parable of the Soils (Mark 4:1-20) is actually the Parable of the Souls. Jesus tells this now-familiar parable to warn His agriculturally-savvy audience that there are many ways to reject eternal life in heaven but just one way to receive it. Verse 1 says, “And He began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto Him a great multitude, so that He entered into a ship, and sat in the sea, and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.” Two things catch my attention here. One, as I often note, is the detail. The description of the scene is consistent with the terrain surrounding Capernaum and the Sea (Lake) of Galilee, with hills dropping quite sharply to the shore. The use of a small “ship” provides not only safety but also amplification of the message over the water. Second, I am always impressed with the creativity of our Savior. The ship and the setting reveal a quick and keen assessment of a potential problem and an effective remedy that prevents that problem. His teaching style is also innovative: “And He taught them many things by parables” (verse 2a). A parable has been described as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. It uses common events to create helpful spiritual applications. Jesus employs this teaching tool to great effectiveness. His continuing creativity is evidenced everywhere that we look. We will appreciate it even more in heaven; there we will see that He is eternally creative.