Let’s start today with an unusual question. What is it that makes a joke a joke? What must a comedian keep in mind when putting together a good joke? A joke is a pair of two stories or ideas. The joke makes the audience think it's about thing A, and the punchline reveals it's about thing B. It's the surprise ending of a joke that makes us laugh. Now, it may come as a surprise that the composition of a comedian’s joke is like that of a well-known literary technique in the Bible called a parable. The parable makes the audience think it's about thing A, and the punchline, the surprise ending, reveals that the parable is about thing B. It's that surprise ending of the parable that teaches us about God. Jesus taught his disciples in parables found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. There are no parables in the Gospel of John, and none of the New Testament letters ever refer to a parable taught by Jesus. The parables of Jesus are only found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
The Gospel of Mark contains nine parables, and it is generally considered the first gospel circulated among the early church. Matthew’s gospel includes 21 parables, and Luke’s gospel contains 20 parables. It might sound like there are 50 parables of Jesus, but when you account for a parable appearing in more than one gospel, we find about 27 unique parables of Jesus provided across Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I thought it might be profitable for us this summer to explore Jesus’ parables in Mark and understand what Jesus taught his disciples then and is teaching us now.
As we open the Gospel of Mark, we find that Mark wanted his readers to immediately understand the entire point of the gospel in the first verse. Mark wrote, “1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). In English, that verse is 14 words. In the original Greek, Mark made his point using just seven words: 1 Ἀρχὴ (The beginning) τοῦ (of the) εὐαγγελίου (good news) Ἰησοῦ (of Jesus) Χριστοῦ (Christ) [υἱοῦ θεοῦ]” (the Son of God). Before Mark described anything for his readers, he declared that the entire story was about the person of Jesus, the Messiah, who was the Son of God. Mark would not make a good mystery writer. However, Mark would tell the story of Jesus revealing his identity to some, namely his disciples, and concealing his identity to some, namely the Jewish religious leaders. Jesus revealed himself through the parables he told, the miracles he performed, and the various figures of speech he used. The methods Jesus used created confusion, misunderstandings, anger, and rejection among different groups of people. These conflicting experiences gave rise to teaching because we only learn something when we are conflicted. In these conflicted situations, Jesus took the things of men known to his audience and used them to teach those with ears to hear about the things of God. Parables are always expressed in the context of at least two stories, one involving the things of men and the second involving and revealing the things of God.
As we move from the first verse of Mark’s gospel, we find that Mark moved rapidly through some critical events. First, John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the River Jordan. John the Baptist preached, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him” (Mark 1:3). John knew it was time for God’s chosen Messiah to come. The people widely accepted John’s message, but not so by the religious leaders, namely the Pharisees. Second, Jesus fasted and was tempted in the wilderness. Third, John the Baptist was imprisoned. Fourth, Jesus declares, “15 The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15). Fifth, Jesus called four apostles: Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Sixth, Jesus drives a demon out of a possessed man. Seventh, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law. Eighth, Jesus healed a man of leprosy. These things all happened before the end of the first chapter. Mark told a fast-paced action story about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. There was minimal direct teaching by Jesus in Chapter 1. Mark’s fast-paced storytelling continued at the beginning of Chapter 2 until Jesus came to a gathering of three groups of people. There were the Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders, the disciples of the imprisoned John the Baptist, and Jesus’ disciples. When the three groups came together, a question arose about fasting, a voluntary decision not to eat for a while. Unlike today, fasting was not part of a weight loss strategy. Fasting was only done for religious purposes; fasting was about setting aside physical desires to prioritize one’s spiritual connection with God. Fasting is an example of how the things of men, such as eating, give way to the things of God, namely, prayer and reflection.
Mark brought us into that gathering this way. “18 Now John’s [John the Baptist’s] disciples and the Pharisees [Jewish religious leaders] were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, ‘How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?’ 19 Jesus answered, ‘How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them’” (Mark 2:18-19). Three groups were present—the Pharisees, John the Baptist’s disciples, and Jesus’ disciples. Two groups were observing a fast: the Pharisees and John the Baptist’s disciples. That these two groups would be seen as acting together is a surprise. Given their differing views about God, one would have expected the Pharisees and John’s disciples to be seen as independent of one another. The third group, Jesus' disciples, were happily eating. Observing the scene, someone asked Jesus, “How is it that your disciples do not fast like the Pharisees, for even John’s disciples are fasting with them?” Fasting is a thing of God. So Jesus answered the question using something from the things of men to explain the things of God. Jesus said, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them” (Mark 2:19). Jesus would be here referring to himself as the bridegroom. If we brought these words into our modern understanding, they might sound like, “Tell me honestly, do the groom's friends go to his wedding and not eat at the reception?” We can understand Jesus’ answer because everyone eats at a wedding. But Jesus referring to himself as a bridegroom brought the story to a level deeper than a simple wedding. Jesus was invoking an image about himself through the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Much of what Jesus said that Mark used in his gospel related to the prophecies of Isaiah. What was that Isaiah prophecy related to a wedding?
Isaiah wrote in Chapter 61, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…10 I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations” (Isaiah 61:1-3, 10-11). Jesus, in declaring himself the bridegroom, was bringing into the discussion that salvation and righteousness were before them, and that should be cause for celebration, not fasting. Jesus, revealing himself as the bridegroom, made clear it was a time for good news for the poor, binding the brokenhearted, freedom for the captives, release of those held in the darkness, comfort for those who grieve, punctuated with beauty, joy, and praise. It was not the time for mournful fasting. The Pharisees and John the Baptist’s disciples did not understand who stood before them. Those two groups were wedded instead to ashes, spirit of mourning, and despair. Jesus' earliest message made even more sense: “15 “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15). Jesus’ disciples were moving toward something new, the good news, while the Pharisees, and even John the Baptist’s disciples, could not see the good news before them.
Having gotten people’s attention with his revelation about being the bridegroom, Jesus offered the first two parables in Mark: the first involved cloth and the second involved wineskins. Jesus said, “21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear [in the old garment] worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins” (Mark 2:21-22). Both parables convey a similar message about the things of God, starting with the things of men.
In the first parable, Jesus pointed out something about the things of men, such as repairing a hole in a garment. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment” (Mark 2:21a). People understood that old garments were not repaired using cloth straight from the loom. Cutting a patch out of the new piece of cloth would spoil the new cloth, and sewing the new cloth onto the old cloth would cause the patch to tear away, making the hole in the old garment even worse than it already had been. The old cloth still had value, but it could not be corrected by sewing new cloth on top of the tear in the old cloth. This is the story from the perspective of the things of men.
What then is the story of God's things? That story has two levels. First, the story of God has value even if we fail to live it out properly, as though we have put a tear in a garment. The Pharisees held fast to the story of God but did not live it out properly. The disciples of John the Baptist, the one who foretold the message of something new coming, were aligning themselves with the Pharisees. It was like a new cloth was sewn onto an old garment with a tear. That combination would not last. Adding a new layer to the practices of the Pharisees would only result in the patch of new cloth tearing away from the old, making the old garment worse. The second level is implied. New cloth should be fashioned into a new garment using the knowledge first used in making the old garment. The new garment here refers to the coming of the Messiah was, as Isaiah proclaimed, coming with “a robe of his righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10b). The disciples seated in the presence of the Messiah were on the pathway to experiencing the robe of righteousness found in the person of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.
In the second parable, Jesus pointed out something about the things of men, such as fermenting and storing wine. Jesus said, “22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins” (Mark 2:22). People understood that new wine, that was just formed, could not be put in old wine skins that were brittle and dry. If that were done, as the new wine fermented, it would generate gas, and the wineskin would have to expand. Old wineskins were too brittle to expand and would crack and break, spilling the new wine. This is the story from the perspective of the things of men.
What then is the story of God's things? That story has two levels. First, the story of God has value, like an old wine skin. But that story had a new addition before the people now. One that would expand favor upon the Jewish nation for salvation being offered through Jesus to all who would place their faith in Jesus. That new expansion could not be accommodated within the understanding of God’s existing story alone. That is one level. The second level was new in that such salvation would require a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The only ones pursuing that relationship were Jesus’ disciples, not the Pharisees or John’ disciples.
Jesus revealed himself as the bridegroom of prophecy, the Messiah, bringing the new wine of salvation and the new garment of righteousness. Jesus did not come to replace the story of God found in the Old Testament but to fulfil it with newness.
What do these parables mean for us? I think there are two things we should have in mind. First, the backdrop of these first two parables is Mark 1:1, “1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). If you do not accept that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, then the parables are meaningless to you. Life is meaningless to you, even if you do not realize it now. I recently counseled an individual who rejected God and then said, “When I die, I will have a conversation with God, and I am sure I will be allowed into heaven.” I told him, “You need not worry about a conversation with God. You won’t be speaking with him. Instead, upon your death, you will be going to hell. If you reject God in this life as you have done, God will reject you for the next.” If you do not accept Jesus, the parables are meaningless, as is life itself.
The second thing we gain from these parables is that belief in Jesus requires imitating him and not repeating endless past rituals. We should not expect to use the new cloth of God’s living word, Jesus, to cover over tears in the fabric of our garment. The salvation of Christ is not a box of band aids that we use to cover tears in our spiritual life. Christ's salvation is a new garment of righteousness, the image of Christ given to us through faith alone in Christ. In that new garment, made from that new cloth, our soiled record of sin is exchanged for the sinless record of Jesus. We live our lives now and forever as new beings developed by the Holy Spirit to be more and more like Christ. Like a well-written joke with its surprise punchline, Jesus’ parables on new cloth and new wine had a surprise ending. You must approach God as a fresh, new being redeemed by Christ. You cannot hold onto the past and believe you can redeem yourself with a few corrections, as though you were putting a patch on an old garment or just a little new wine in an old wineskin.
Letting go of our past, our old ways, our old thoughts, and the old things of men is part of the redemption story and is how we have space to receive the things of God. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah said, 18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19a). Paul said, “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). “20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Jesus said, “3 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
If we want to live the life God intended for us to live, we must accept the “good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1) and be redeemed into a new creation covered with the robe of righteousness and blessed with new wine of salvation. Amen and Amen.