On This Day: Explaining Why ‘Outsiders’ Do not Understand

And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that
“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” 
(Mark 4:10-12)

   For a long time, I have been troubled by this passage. It sounded to me like God had prophesied that when the Messiah came he would do things in such a way that people would not be able to understand. And that did NOT make sense to me!

   This morning, what the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see is the distinction between those who were outside the kingdom and those who were inside. And then he brought to my remembrance some other Scriptures that made so much sense of this troubling passage.

   The simple point is that everyone was called to the same gospel, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). By Mark 4, we have a group of people who had received the gospel and entered Jesus’ kingdom.

   This means that everyone Jesus referred to as “outsiders” were still “dead” in their “trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). As Paul clarified later, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:18). And he adds to the Corinthians, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14). 

   That’s the point. Outside the kingdom of God there is no understanding. This is why I don’t see much value in focusing on left-brain debates with unbelievers. They cannot understand spiritual truth. Instead, we share the good news of the kingdom of God, we speak Scripture to people as the “word of Christ”, and watch to see if there are any sheep among the listeners who will hear Jesus’ voice and follow him where he leads.

   In the category of the Spirit’s work of bringing Scriptures to our remembrance, he did this with two verses from II Corinthians 4. 

   First, “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (vs 4). This is why “outsiders” don’t understand. 

   Second, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (vs 6). This is why “those around him with the twelve” were with Jesus and wanted to hear his explanations of the parables. 

   I still don’t like that the “many” prefer the wide road to destruction. But now it makes sense to me why there is such a distinction between the “outsiders” and those who were “around Jesus”. When Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3), he was telling a Jewish religious leader why the kingdom of God is so distinct from anything in the world. We can only enter by being “born again”, and that’s why we keep making everything about Jesus. 

   Our Shepherd said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27), so let’s help people hear Jesus’ voice while uniting with those who are “around him with the twelve”. Each of us will know who we are.

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)