Thursday, January 17, 2008

Mark, chapter 4

10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that, they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!"
Jesus speaks in codes so that the uninitiated cannot understand and thus not be forgiven? Why would he do that? That's not really a behavior you expect from a loving person, is it? But probably it was simply the author trying to get a quote from Isaiah (6:9,10) in again.
25 "Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
This too doesn't really sound like the nice Jesus we always get told about. Why take away even the little that somebody has? Why not help him to get more?

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