- Cares of the world
- Riches
- Pleasures of Life
It is almost like they are ‘seduced’ by the pleasures of the world. This soil is also known as the ‘wordly hearer’. The responsive hearer, (the fourth soil) this soil hears the word of God and understands it; they bear the fruits of life and have a lot of faith in their life. To enter the Kingdom of God a person has to ensure that they let God work in their lives, this becomes apparent in the Parable of the Sower. This parable highlights that it is important for people to concentrate, understand and live by the word of God, as much as they can, so that they will be accepted into the Kingdom of God.
The Rich Man (Mark 10:17-27). Jesus was asked by the man, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus then said that he must live by the Ten Commandments. Jesus then told the man to sell everything he has and give the money to the poor, the man then goes away every upset because he has great wealth. Jesus sees being rich as being an obstacle for entry into the Kingdom of God. This parable highlights the importance of putting God first, and doing exactly what he says, if you want to be accepted into the kingdom of God.
The Parable of the Lamp (Mark 4:21-25). Jesus tells the disciples to not hide their faith, not to be ashamed of what God has given them, and to use talents to the best of their abilities. By using talents, we may be encouraging others around us. By encouraging others we are helping to build the Kingdom of God.
The Parable of the Growing Seed (Mark 4:26-29). This parable highlights the idea that the faith is like a growing seed, within time it will grow into a big tree. Then later will bear fruit, the same idea that peoples’ faith is growing and building up, and eventually it will bear fruit. This is one of the things that helps build the Kingdom of God.
An allegory is a narrative picture or other work of art intended to be understood symbolically. The messages are said to be hidden in some form of code. A parable is a short story illustrating a moral point; they are simple short stories which are easily understood. Examples of allegories from marks gospel include: Mark: 2:18-22, Jesus questioned about fasting. Mark 7:24-30, the faith of a syro-phoienician woman, about children being fed first, and dogs second. Mark 8:11-21, Jesus feeds the 4000. Bread is an expression of teaching of Christ. Examples of parables used in marks gospel are: The Parable of the Sower, in this parable the moral of the story is, to trust god and that it you put all your faith in him then you will bear fruit, and enter the Kingdom of God. The Parable of the Growing Seed, in this parable Jesus is teaching us and letting people know that, if given time faith in people will grow, and eventually we will be able to bear fruit, and enter the Kingdom of God. Other examples include the parable of the wicked husbandmen, and The Parable of the Mustard Seed.
Parables are about real life situations; this is to help the listeners understand the meanings of the parables. They would also make the reader want to respond to them, to ask questions and give feedback to Jesus about what they thought about the parables. The use of parables deepens the faith of the members of marks community, to strength them to face prosecution and resist the temptations of the world. They are an easy way to instruct these simple men to understand Christ’s teachings. Parables contain stories everyday life which they will be able to understand and interpret. Mark decided to use short simple parables to teach the listeners and believers of God, because they are easier to understand, and they are easier for people to listen to and understand, another reason is that the stick into peoples head. Parables are great ways to get the morals, and understanding of Gods work and faith across to people. Also, they are good ways in which to spread Gods word throughout the world.
‘This Earth will never be Gods Kingdom’. I disagree with this statement because I think that enough people in the world have enough faith and beliefs to make the earth Gods Kingdom. There are many examples that support this quote for example: The world uniting as one to raise millions of pounds for the survivors of the Tsunami Appeal. However, others may not agree with this statement, as they may feel that the world will always have disease, wars and fighting. These things do not show the Kingdom of God on Earth, it is supposed to be a place of peace and love according to the parables. Also, disasters such as the 9/11 attack, to see people from one country falling to such drastic measures to attack people from another country, is not what God wanted for the Kingdom of God. Also, they may think that not enough people follow and have understanding about Gods word, and the Kingdom of God. For example, in the parable of the lamp Jesus tells the disciples not to hide their faith or to be ashamed of it, this does not, unfortunately happen in the world today. Also, in the rich man parable, Jesus tells the man to sell all his riches, this is because he believes they mat get In the way of there faith and beliefs. However, today riches do get in the way of peoples faiths, and they probably would not be willing to give up their riches and possessions just to follow God. Examples, of the world being God’s Kingdom include: people such as nouns, priests and aid workers, all these people give up their lives and time to look after those less fortunate than themselves. This shows that God’s word had been thought about carefully and understood by these people. I think that God is very proud of the world, although it is not perfect and not everyone follows his word, there are a lot of people who are willing to give up their lives for God and what he tells people.
