The other parables in Marks’ Gospels are known as saying parables, many of them start of with Jesus asking questions about the parables, for example a lamp on a stand which teaches us that you shouldn’t hide away, you should let everyone know what you think and the question asked is “do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?”
Coursework - The Parables of the Kingdom 2
Explain with examples from Mark’s Gospels, the difference between a parable and an allegory.
Mark’s Gospel tells us that Jesus “did not say anything to them without using a parable”, so he clearly considered this a very important teaching method.
A parable can be defined basically as a short, simple, descriptive story that was used by Jesus and followers in every day life to explain something about the Kingdom of God. For example a lamp on a stand. Jesus told parables to groups of people, because people could remember them and learn from them. “His enemies were confused and followers taught” by them.
In Mark’s Gospel there are two main types of parable, these are allegories and saying parables.
There are similarities between these such as: they both have a meaning, and are used in the Bible. They have hidden messages that only some will understand if they believe and take time to do so and also use ideas from every day life, as said before.
There are also differences, it is these that this question is really concerned with. For example one of the most noticeable differences is the length an example of this could be the parable of the sower witch has 20 verses which is more than the parable of the mustard seed which has only 3. Another slight difference that can be noticed is that sayings parables are easily remembered but don’t describe things in as much depth as compared to an allegory parable, this can be seen after reading them both.
There are other similarities and differences that you can’t notice as much from just looking at parables, really you need to read them first.
Coursework - Parables of the Kingdom 3
Explain the use of parables in Marks’ Gospel.
Traditionally Mark’s Gospel was written around 60-70 AD when Nero the Emperor was prosecuting Christians.
Mark is thought to have written his Gospel to encourage the early Christians undergoing persecution. It was around this time that they were really suffering.
In his Gospel, Mark tells his readers that his book was about the good news about Jesus Christ, the son of God; as shown in his first sentence. In verse 15 he recalls the words of Jesus which tells that good news is that Jesus is near.
To help people understand about it he encouraged them to imagine what God’s kingdom was like, he did this by using parables to tell them what the Kingdom of God was like, for example, the parable of the mustard seed which says “God’s kingdom is small” and it compares it to the powerful forces of the Roman Empire. It also says that the Kingdom will grow and become worldwide.
Jesus made it plain that the teaching of His Kingdom was for His own people not for His enemies, as shown by Mark Chapter 4 verse 11-12.
In Mark Chapter 14 verse 25, Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God in the future, when it’s effect will be fully realised and experienced. This may have been an encouragement to the early Christians because they might have thought their life was going to be bad because of Nero for ever, but in this section of the parable it says to them that one day their life would be better, this would have made them a bit happier knowing that their lives would improve.
Coursework - Parables of the Kingdom 4
“This earth will never be Gods Kingdom”
The phrase “God’s Kingdom” can be thought to mean God’s rule over people or places.
Some people feel that the earth will never be Gods kingdom because he doesn’t exist, they have never seen him, not everyone believes in him or talks about him, and also there is no written proof that he exists or has existed. Another thought is that the world was designed by nature, they don’t know if Gods true so don’t know whether to believe in him or not, they won’t want the world to be gods kingdom if they don’t know who he is or have never met him, also because of this they want no much about him or what he wants to do and they wont be able to find much out about him. People also might think that they shouldn’t care about him if no one talks about him or they can’t find any written proof that he once lived or came to earth, they may have been told different things about him or have mixed feelings, and also wont think there’s no point in finding out things if they haven’t much to go by. From what they have herd. A final though people may have is that there’s no true meaning or understanding of god, and no way of telling weather books and leaflets on him are facts or fiction, or weather there’s right or wrong.
Other people believe that the earth will one day be fully Gods kingdom because they believe in him and think that one day he will come back to earth, they also think this because they believe he came once before, they are very religious and think highly of him. Another thought is that They think he is brilliant and has done marvellous things to the world, they believe he still exists, and think that he talks to them, they also think that others believe in him and they talk to him to this could be because of what they have been told and they also think that there is proof of him coming once before. These people might also think that he is brilliant and can do everything, like: making people believe in him, and do as he says to do, he can make them make earth what he wants it to be and he can make them believe in things written in books and the bible for example books saying he will come again. A final thought people may have is that whatever other people say he will come again, and he wont mind what people think, he will also make earth exactly what he wants and how he wants it to be, without criticisms and then earth will be his kingdom and then everyone will believe in him.
I don’t think this earth will ever be gods kingdom because not enough people believe in god and if they don’t believe now they wont believe later and nor will them peoples kids. The world wont be able to change and believe in him just over a couple of years because there isn’t and wont be enough people around to stay religious and believe in god enough for the world to be made “great”.
