3rd Week in Ord. Time, Friday – 28th January 2022 — Gospel: Mark 4,26-34
Perceiving Listener’s Capacity
In Mk 4,33 we find that Jesus did not speak to the people without a parable and He taught them as they were able to hear it. This means that there was a parabolic character in all of Jesus’ teaching; it’s a general practice and style of Jesus. At the same time, all of Jesus’ teaching involved the listener and it was listener who supplied the lesson to the teaching and not Jesus. The second half of the sentence indicates a freedom of choice that every listener was given at the time of Jesus. This is the true purpose of the parabolic teaching of Jesus. Jesus would never force them to accept his point of view. They were the ones to decide for or against. On the other hand, we also find that Jesus built upon their previous knowledge, permitting time for them to assimilate one lesson before giving them the next. Conscious of his hearers’ capacity, Jesus did not flood them with more instruction than they could absorb (Jn 16,12;1 Cor 3,2; Heb 5,12). He cautiously led them to a fuller understanding of the kingdom of heaven.
