The Gospel of Mark makes it clear that Jesus was a teacher who differed from the Pharisees and scribes of his time. He did not seek popularity and often wanted to remain unrecognized, as sensationalism was something beyond him. Instead of focusing on the crowd, he addressed the individual and often left his listeners with questions to make them think.
Why did Jesus teach in parables? In Mark 4:12 it says: “So that they may see with seeing eyes and yet not recognize...” This is about understanding. Jesus wanted to help them, but many hearts were hardened, which made conversion difficult. Even his disciples had difficulty understanding his teachings. It was only after his resurrection that their eyes were opened.
It is important to understand how this process of understanding works. A hardened heart makes it difficult to absorb new information. Understanding means weighing things up. We compare new information with what we already know and have stored as previous information. To do this, we look at the information absorption process of a baby and the importance of consciously engaging with new knowledge.
We also ask ourselves why Jesus was rejected as the Savior and why he chose disciples who had little training. He knew that preconceived ideas can shape lives and make it difficult to accept other perspectives. This challenge led him to speak in parables.
Many Christians have difficulty accepting that it is their own thoughts that make them sick and not their lifestyle. They are passionate about God, but often without real understanding. To avoid this mistake, we need an unchanging standard for our understanding of information.
We also deal with the Sabbath question: What is more important - man or the Sabbath? It turns out that the inner attitude is decisive and not just the outer keeping of a day. All this and more is dealt with in the fourth part of the series on the Gospel of Mark.