He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Matthew 13.52, NIV

Whenever I have passed this saying in the street (as it were), I have thought, “Really? This is kind of weird…”

The problem is that in our English translations, it sounds like Jesus is saying to His disciples that Scribes will have a richer, more rounded experience of the Kingdom because of all the learning and study they have under their belts. And you really ought to be thinking “what???” by now, because this would represent the first nice thing Jesus has to say about them.

To me this rendering is a great example of a religious mindset reading things backwards. A moment’s reflection should tell us this is an impossible statement from the mouth of the one who said “new wine goes in new wine skins” and “no one patches an old cloak with a patch of unshrunk cloth”.

But maybe, unlike Jesus, we do want to water things down, so that the “explosive power” of the new wine is defused and won’t damage our treasured old wineskins.

The Greek here is actually very clear, not to mention unambiguous. A Scribe who is discipled into the Kingdom of the Heavens is like a man, a steward of a house, who throws out of his storeroom new things and old things.

So firstly, good news: the invitation to the Kingdom is for everyone, including scribes. In Greek, the word is γραμματεύς, which is literally a secretary or registrar; in Israel, Torah scrolls and copies of Rabbinic and pre-Rabbinic teachings wore out with constant use, and so the role of scribe – someone who made new copies of the texts – was both necessary and, because of their constant exposure to the texts, highly respected.

But a simple reading of this saying in Greek tells us this is not a story about scribes adding the teaching of Rabbi Jesus to their wonderful store of wisdom. No, this Scribe discipled into the Kingdom is like the man in charge of a household who, just like the man stumbling over treasure in v 44 or the merchant of pearls in v 45, recognises that everything has to go from the storeroom (ἐκ τοῦ θησαυροῦ, a term which covers everything from a pantry cupboard to a treasure house), regardless of age and value, because he needs to make room for something better and of infinitely more value.

Now we have a saying that makes sense and is consistent with Jesus’ dealings with the religious elite – which, despite what we might think, are not all anger and condemnation (He was definitely warning them, though). If you want to reflect on the genuine compassion Jesus offered them, some of my earlier posts, including https://seeingthekingdom.com/2021/01/17/we-talk-about-what-we-know/ and also Chapter Nine in Seeing the Kingdom cover this.

And we also have a saying that makes far more sense of my own experience, and that of many others I know. Learning the Kingdom is relatively simple; but if you aren’t careful, unlearning everything you have been taught by religion can take years. Much faster to just assume everything you already know is wrong and throw it out of the storehouse.

Better you understand one Law of the Kingdom and operate in it, than live life in a tangle of wrong beliefs about God.

“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly —mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?

1 Corinthians 2:14-3:4, NIV, my emphasis

It is not a new thought that the artificial divisions of biblical books into chapters (and even into verses) can be a hindrance to understanding. At the very least, it is easy to assume a change of topic when a new chapter starts.

The passage above begs a question: translators of all persuasions appear to have assumed that chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians is about Spiritual Wisdom, and that chapter 3 is about immature Corinthians. But is this correct? As a result of seeing chapter two as a unit complete in itself, and chapter three as a new subject, they may have failed to see a more positive and constructive alternative reading of this passage.

In particular, there are three occurrences of ἀνακρίνω (interrogate or enquire into) in I Cor 2:14 and 15. You can see all three of them bolded (non-italicised) above. Every mainstream translation I have looked at follows the King James, with its “yet he himself is judged of no man”. The NIV shows some awareness of the potential problem, and tones it down to “but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments”. But still: I wonder how many leaders have started well, and then lost their way, seeing a justification for their lack of accountability in these verses?

When you remove the chapter break and check out ἀνακρίνω in depth you may see a very different implication in these verses; ἀνακρίνω in the middle voice has a very distinct twist on the root meaning of the verb.

Perhaps one more thing to say in preface: Paul clearly gets pleasure out of repeating cognate words rapidly and with different usages and implications. For example, earlier in chapter 2 we have

…ἀλλ’ ἐν διδακτοῖς πνεύματος, πνευματικοῖς πνευματικὰ συγκρίνοντες.

Which is very tricky to render in English, but maybe “…but in teaching things of the Spirit, combining spiritual things spiritually.” (Or simply “combining spiritual things in / by / or for spiritual things.”) The point is that Paul does indulge in this kind of wordplay.

So in verses 14 and 15 we have variants of ἀνακρίνω three times. The first and third occurrences are identical in orthography (ἀνακρίνεται), while the second is ἀνακρίνει, (3rd person singular present indicative active, “he enquires into”). But do the two occurrences of ἀνακρίνεται have exactly the same meaning? The first ἀνακρίνεται is fairly clearly 3rd person singular present indicative passive (“is enquired into spiritually…”), but what about the last occurrence, also ἀνακρίνεται? In the context (and grammatically) 3rd person singular aorist subjunctive middle makes perfect sense. In that case, ie the middle voice, the verse is very different and should read something like this:

“The spiritual man enquires into all things, but he should wrangle with no one.”

“Dispute with” would be equally fine. And ὑπ’ οὐδενὸς can be read as the simple “with no one”, instead of the more involved “under or by no one”.

And look what happens when we make this shift of voice and perspective. Paul is talking about spiritual wisdom, and what it looks like, and the fact that while spiritual people are meant to enquire into everything, they should dispute with no one; and then goes on to tell the Corinthians he couldn’t treat them as spiritual people because there is still jealousy and strife with people saying “I follow Paul” and “I follow Apollos”. In other words, they are actively doing what he says spiritual people should not do: wrangle, wrangle, wrangle.

And that makes a smooth and continuous argument from chapter 2 to chapter 3. (Actually, all the way from chapter 1, I would argue.)

So yes: if you are spiritual, you should absolutely be asking the Spirit for insight into anything and everything. But no, you shouldn’t be using that to start fights and disputes and schisms in the body of Christ (nor anywhere else).

Even if you are seeing that something is wrong, there are positive and constructive ways to handle that (always requiring peace and grace, and sometimes a very great deal of courage and perseverence). But we can leave the wrangling to others.

Καὶ εἶπαν οἱ ἀπόστολοι τῷ κυρίῳ· Πρόσθες ἡμῖν πίστιν. εἶπεν δὲ ὁ κύριος· Εἰ ἔχετε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, ἐλέγετε ἂν τῇ συκαμίνῳ ταύτῃ· Ἐκριζώθητι καὶ φυτεύθητι ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ· καὶ ὑπήκουσεν ἂν ὑμῖν.

Luke 17:5-6 SBL Greek Testament

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

Luke 17:5-6 NIV

In the English version above, this is a rather puzzling short passage. It holds echoes of other passages – the mustard seed, objects being picked up and sent elsewhere – but just read it again. Why would Jesus answer their request for increased faith with instructions on how to do extreme gardening? And mustard seeds we recognise, but why a mulberry tree?

We have two issues here: one the very inaccurate translation which, if we correct it, then allows us to address the second issue, namely the question of why a mulberry tree at all.

It is all about tenses and the modal particle, ἂν. Or at least that is the problem in verse 6. Verse 5 just needs a more accurate translation of Πρόσθες. Rather than go pedantically through word by word, let me summarise and then give my version:

The disciples ask the Lord to impute faith to them. And yes, there isn’t a neat English equivalent. It is something like “flip the faith switch for us, Lord”; in other words the disciples are the passive party in this transaction, Jesus will switch them on. Good luck with that, boys.

When we get to verse 6 it is the verb tenses that are all wrong. It is almost as if the translators get to ἔχετε, decide that must be present indicative and therefore ignore the tenses in the rest of the verse. In truth, ἔχετε can be 2nd person plural present indicative active OR 2nd person plural imperfect indicative active; but ἐλέγετε ἂν can only be 2nd person plural imperfect indicative active, and ὑπήκουσεν ἂν can only be 3rd singular aorist indicative active – both of them made into statements of past potentiality by our little modal particle, ἂν. Once we have seen this then we quickly realise ἔχετε must have been imperfect as well.

So here is my version:

The apostles said to the Lord, “make us faith-people!” (or whatever expression you prefer)

But the Lord replied, “if you (plural) were having faith as big as a seed of mustard, you would have been saying to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be (trans)planted in the sea; and it would have hearkened to you.”

The key learning point Jesus was making is that if you have any faith, you have faith; and on the basis of that you would also know you should be telling things to get in place, consistently for as long as it takes; and that at a certain point they would have done so. That isn’t a suggestion that faith takes forever to operate, any more than I would suggest that the first six days of walking around Jericho were failures. It is more about you getting to the place where you “know that you know that you know” that you have the thing you are speaking out – at which point you do.

To repeat – if you were having (past continuous) faith then you would have been speaking (past continuous) and the mulberry tree would have obeyed you (at a point in time, which is the import of the aorist).

So why a mulberry tree? Firstly, it absolutely was a mulberry tree – I read someone today, who was trying to blame Luther for getting this wrong and that it was actually a sycamore-fig; but Luther had it right. The black (or red) mulberry, originally from Persia was well established around the Middle East by biblical times and is the συκάμινος in Greek. The Egyptian sycamore-fig is an unrelated plant, in Greek the συκόμορος. And the συκάμινος has one very important property which we will come to in a moment. But why this rather bulky 30-75ft tree?

We know from several chapters earlier that Jesus was making His way to Jerusalem, so all of this takes place in the Judean hill-country. And when you read carefully, it is clear that the disciples have been having a conversation about the specific mulberry tree to which Jesus refers. Why would any of them have done that? Well it would have been of interest to at least those of them that were fishermen – the four most senior of the apostles, Peter and Andrew, James and John. The reason?

The mulberry is rare amongst hardwoods in having “good weathering characteristics. Hence, you can safely use mulberry timber in making outdoor furniture. The wood is also often used in fence posts and shipbuilding since it is resistant to decay and insects…. Common Uses: furniture, turned objects, fence posts, veneer, boat building, carving, and tight cooperage…” (https://alderferlumber.com/collections/live-edge-mulberry-wood-slabs)

Also search “mulberry timber boatbuilding” for a doctoral dissertation including the use of συκάμινος in Red Sea boatbuilding in ancient history.

So we can posit that some of the disciples have just admired a splendid mulberry, thinking just how it could be turned into a really nice boat, or perhaps hull repairs, and maybe commented either to the effect “shame it is so far from the water” or “hey Peter! Reckon you can carry this back to the Sea (of Galilee)?”

So when they come out with their “we really still don’t get this faith thing, Lord, could you fix it please?” comment, Jesus tells them, “guys, if you had an iota of faith you would have been telling this Mulberry tree to get down to the Sea where it is needed – and it would have done so!”

Just a short one this time. Paul writes some long and involved Greek sentences sometimes. This one is 6 verses long (obviously breaking his letters into verses happened much later, but you get my point: it is a long sentence. In their efforts to allow modern readers to make sense, translators ( not unreasonably ) chop these sentences up into shorter units. In doing so they often repeat words from elsewhere in the original sentence to carry the sense over.

The only thing is, I am not sure they always get it right. At the very least, I find it becomes hard to follow Paul’s thought through the resulting goulash of words.

Here’s the NIV, followed by the SBL Greek, and finally my own as-literal-as-possible version. No one is likely to prefer mine for its literary elegance, but I at least find it easier to follow Paul’s thread.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Τούτου χάριν κάμπτω τὰ γόνατά μου πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ἐξ οὗ πᾶσα πατριὰ ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς ὀνομάζεται, ἵνα δῷ ὑμῖν κατὰ τὸ πλοῦτος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ δυνάμει κραταιωθῆναι διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, κατοικῆσαι τὸν Χριστὸν διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν ἐν ἀγάπῃ· ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι, ἵνα ἐξισχύσητε καταλαβέσθαι σὺν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἁγίοις τί τὸ πλάτος καὶ μῆκος καὶ ὕψος καὶ βάθος, γνῶναί τε τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν τῆς γνώσεως ἀγάπην τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα πληρωθῆτε εἰς πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ θεοῦ.

Of this grace I bend my knee before the Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and upon earth is named, in order that He might give you, according to the wealth of His glory, power to be strengthened through His Spirit in the inner man, Christ codwelling through trust in your hearts, in practical love and respect; being those rooted and grounded, in order that you might have strength to lay hold of with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, to know (once and for all) the going-well-beyond-knowledge love of Christ, in order that you might be filled to all the fullness of God.

That’s all folks.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…

Ephesians 3.20, NIV

Τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ ὑπὲρ πάντα ποιῆσαι ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ ὧν αἰτούμεθα ἢ νοοῦμεν κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἐνεργουμένην ἐν ἡμῖν…

Ephesians 3.20, SBL Greek NT

Always a shock when a favourite verse is not quite what it seems. Ephesians 3.20 has got me through many a situation (and prayer meeting), but I think there is something better here than the NIV and other familiar translations allow.

Let me start with a literal rendering.

To the one able [strong enough] in Himself [middle voice participle] over [or concerning] all things to do super-abundantly that which we ask or imagine, according to the power enacted [or actualised] in us…

What is the difference, and what does this signify?

Let’s start with the NIV. Where is the “more” coming from? I think it is a religious mindset which is horrified by the idea that God might simply do what we ask or imagine, and so turns the verse on its head to make God the one who is able to do immeasurably more than the little that we are able to ask or imagine; and He does this by His power at work within us.

Which is perfectly reasonable if you don’t understand how the Kingdom operates. Unfortunately the effect is to underline the notion that we can’t really know anything compared to God, but at least can live and die in the hope that God will eventually come over the hill, like the Seventh Cavalry.

But here is what this verse appears to me to be saying, based on that plain reading of the Greek:

Power has been enacted in us. (How? We know that: by the indwelling Holy Spirit.)

As a result of this power, we are able to ask or imagine things that are beyond our ability to execute or even to know where we would start; but that is not what we think about (because if we meditate on our own inability, we have missed the point and the mark.)

Instead, we know that God has the ability and the strength over everything in order to execute those things we asked and imagined ( which we did by the power enacted in us ) – super-abundantly.

So, to summarise the difference. The NIV suggests that God is able to do much better than the little things we ask or imagine, and He does those things by His power at work in us.

The Greek is saying that the power God has released in us enables us to ask or imagine things only God is able to do: which is fine, because that is exactly what He does, super-abundantly.

Which means that it is really important that we have that power enacted in us, because otherwise we will be asking things we haven’t really thought through, which fall short of God’s intention for us, and will be imagining things which may well be to our harm, instead of agreeing with God’s purpose and assignment for us.

Framed another way, we can say that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Having God’s power ruling in our hearts is pretty important if we don’t want to be speaking things that pull us down, instead of things that God can do for us – yes, I know you are sick of the word already – super-abundantly!

So Ephesians 3.20 is not quite what I thought. But it looks like it is a whole lot better news for us.

καὶ περιβλεψάμενος πάντας αὐτοὺς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρά σου· ὁ δὲ ἐποίησεν, καὶ ἀπεκατεστάθη ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ. αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐπλήσθησαν ἀνοίας, καὶ διελάλουν πρὸς ἀλλήλους τί ἂν ποιήσαιεν τῷ Ἰησοῦ.

Luke 6:10-11, SBL Greek NT

And looking around at them all, He said to him [the man with the withered right hand], “stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored. But they [the Pharisees and scribes] were filled with folly, and discussed with one another what they should do to Jesus.

ἄνοια is folly, literally the characteristics of a fool, and not fury. It behoves us to not follow the example of the Pharisees and, instead, actually see what is on the page here. They saw something astonishing and wanted to know how to stop it. We see something very specific and say, “ah, Jesus” – and miss the whole point.

And what happens here is important because God deals with us exactly as Jesus dealt with this man. We hear God tell us to do something, and say, “yes Lord, absolutely, as soon as you give me money / heal my illness / solve my problem.” And so we miss the boat – and the blessing.

Jesus said to a man who couldn’t stretch out his hand, “stretch out your hand”. Listen to what happened: in this order

• He stretched out his hand
• His hand was restored

Who healed on the Sabbath? Jesus happily took the blame Himself (His mastery of misdirection for effect always amazes me) but “who healed” is almost the wrong question, and goes with our over-indexing on the notion of “the healer”. Believers with a gift of healing are very necessary, but the norm in the Kingdom is simple: God gets a word to us; if we trust Him and His word and act upon it, then we get His assignment done and receive the healing we need. Remember what Jesus said to the woman with the issue of blood: “your faith has saved you.”

But if anyone is to “blame” here, it is the man with the shrivelled hand, who acted on a Word from God and had his hand restored as a result. Jesus didn’t touch him, He didn’t speak healing over him, He just told him what to do. And the man wasn’t silly enough to demand healing before obeying. His obedience effected the healing.

Ἐδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος.

Matt 28:18b-20, SBL Greek NT

I am sure you have seen one of the various pieces of film which exploit the different perspectives you can have on an event, depending on where you are looking from. For example, there was a famous TV ad involving what appears to be a young man mugging an older man, but which proves to be him saving the older man’s life from a falling load; and the 2008 movie Vantage Point, in which Forest Whitaker’s innocent bystander captures, on his camcorder, the clues to the apparent assassination of a US President.

But how about the Great Commission in Matt 28:18-20? Have we been looking at this from the wrong vantage point?

How I think we read it is like this: “all authority and Heaven and on Earth has been given to me, so off you go and get on with the job ‘out there’ (with ‘in a hostile world’ unspoken) and do x and y and z; and I am with you until the end of the age.”

In other words, “I am leaving you now, but in a very real sense I am still with you; now get cracking…”

If that is indeed how we are hearing these verses, then I think a shift of perspective might help. First let’s go back 18 chapters in Matthew, because it may help us identify what is hidden in plain sight.

“Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel…” Matt 10:5, NIV

In other words, back then, as Jesus sent the Twelve out, there was a territorial limit imposed upon them; they were not to go to Gentiles or Samaritans. But now, in chapter 28, what is the story? They (the disciples) are still within that original limited territory, but Jesus is saying that something important has changed.

All authority (and ἐξουσία is practical authority; it includes command of resources, power and ‘the authority to do a thing’) in heaven and on the earth has been given to Jesus. So where does Jesus’ writ run? Everywhere on earth and in heaven. So is it “out there” or “over here”?

When we look at the next section of the sentence, πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, it follows on in the sense, not of “go therefore and make…” but “entering [this], therefore make disciples of all nations [or tribes, or groups of people living together], baptising …” etc. πορεύω only means “go” in a first year Greek course, and is in reality far more rich than “go” can encompass.

But the overall sense that I think we need to get is that Jesus now has the authority and resource for all the territory that was previously off limits, and as the disciples enter in that new, wider territory, under Jesus’ authority and provision, here are the three things they need to do. But the bit we have been missing is this: it isn’t “go”, it is “come”.

Which sounds more like the Great Invitation. We shouldn’t let our fear that the world is against us blind us to the fact that this is all Jesus’ territory now – and therefore ours.

If Mark 4 is a familiar chapter for you, you should be doing a double take at my title above; or saying, poor old bloke, his memory is starting to go. I’m clearly getting the Parable of the Sower, which ends with verse 20, mixed up with the saying about the lamp, which begins at verse 21.

Or does it? As I have mentioned a time or two already, the section titles (and chapter breaks, and even verse divisions) can deceive us into seeing beginnings and endings that aren’t actually there. As I look at these verses in my (unadorned) Greek version, verses 21 to 23 look like a summary reflection on Jesus’ explanation of the Parable of the Sower. Here’s why.

As I suggested in the Seeing the Kingdom book, when you receive a word about, say, healing and let it lodge in the soil of your heart, so that it grows up into a fully mature plant there, that is you receiving your healing. But then that plant produces fruit, 30- 60- or 100-fold; and that is other people receiving their healing because they see what happened for you. (Specifically, how a word from God received into your heart and kept there produced healing for you.)

So what is the saying about the lamp? Jesus is simply enlarging on this theme. The seed that you receive was never just about you; it was always so that your blessing could be multiplied to others. Who would bring a lamp into a room to hide it under the bucket? And who would hide a seed in the ground so that it would never be seen again. Actually you hide a seed in the ground so that something much bigger may appear, which in time will carry a whole number of seeds identical to the original one. If you are struggling with the idea, just think of the wheat plant as a green menorah, a lamp stand for multiplied seeds.

“To you has been given the secret of the Kingdom;” yes but: the intention was never to keep it a secret forever. Whatever has been hidden is only so that it can be made manifest. There is a time for secrecy; but it comes to an end.

So for the disciples, as for us, there is a time to keep the word hidden while it works in us. But when it has done its work and brought change, it is lamp stand time!

καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· Βλέπετε τί ἀκούετε. ἐν ᾧ μέτρῳ μετρεῖτε μετρηθήσεται ὑμῖν καὶ προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν.

Mark 4.24 SBL Greek New Testament

Heard a really great talk on vv21-23 this morning, particularly focusing on the connection between bringing the lamp of the word into the room, and seeing things that were hidden in order to be seen. And before you jump to the wrong conclusion, it wasn’t about esoteric hidden things; it was the stuff you and I need to know in order to get our assignments done. The practical plans for doing the impossible set before us.

In the process of looking at the passage afterwards and making sure I had absorbed the message, I was looking at the notes I had written for myself some time back on verse 24. I touched on this briefly in the ‘Seeing the Kingdom’ book, but I think it bears repeating.

And He said to them, “See what you hear. In whatever measure you measure with it will be measured for you, and imputed to you.”

Mark 4.24, my rendering

So firstly, I see no justification for the NIV’s oblique “consider carefully what you hear…” Jesus wasn’t an English politician. I understand why they did this, but my view is that they have missed Jesus’ very concrete meaning.

Hearing the word is necessary but, by itself, inadequate. In another context Jesus said that hearing His words and not doing them is like building a house straight on the sand in a wadi. Hearing and doing, on the other hand is like digging down to the rock and setting the foundations on that rock.

In the current context, the necessary additional step is not doing but seeing. Or is it actually the step between hearing and doing? The back end of the verse gives us the clue.

”In whatever measure you measure with it will be measured for you, and imputed to you.”

What is the connection with seeing? Easy. If you hear, for example, the word about the goodness and generosity of God; but in your heart, you picture remains one of lack, what measure will you measure with? It will still be the measure of lack and scarcity you would taught from birth. As a result, what you receive will also be determined by lack and scarcity, and you will conclude that God’s generosity is a mostly metaphorical one.

But if you allow what you hear to determine what you see, so that you are able to start acting out of the same goodness and generosity you know God has towards you, then your experience will also change. You will experience that goodness and generosity as a practical reality.

So is “See what you hear” an important statement. In my notes on this verse I had written this:

“Don’t just hear it, SEE what that looks like. What Jesus says to you is MEANT TO CHANGE WHAT YOU SEE. Followed by measure you use will be used for you, and he who has will get more, who hasn’t will lose it. THIS IS THE DOORWAY THROUGH WHICH KINGDOM “GOODS” COME INTO THE EARTH REALM.”

And to explain what I mean by ‘Kingdom “goods”’, I don’t just mean receiving your new car or whatever else you have need of, although it clearly includes these; but this is actually about how what you hear becomes concrete experience. Forgiveness as a way of life? You can hear about forgiveness every day, but until you see it you will neither experience it, nor be able to mete it out to others. Wisdom? Success? Prosperity? Until you can see yourself in the picture with those attributes, say hello to the same old ‘don’t know what to do, missing the boat, life of lack’ you have been enjoying (if that is the word) all your life.

And please note, I am just telling you what the Man said.

So next time you hear the words of Jesus, ask yourself, “if I actually believed this, what would my picture look like?”

You may be surprised by the results.

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

Mark 4:26-29, NIV

At the risk of repeating myself, I don’t understand how a community with such a commitment to verbal inspiration, pays so little attention to the specific meaning of words. It seems to me that each time we are just a little off-beam with the way we render a word, the net result is complete passages of scripture which are in danger of pointing in the wrong direction.

The passage above, from Mark 4, is by no means the most extreme example of this; and yet when we sharpen the language a little, I certainly find the picture far more gripping.

So here is my rendering, deliberately left with its awkward rough edges:

And He said, “The Kingdom of God is like this, like a man should cast the sowing upon the earth, and should he lie down or get up, night and day, the sowing sprouts (or possibly, comes to light) and lengthens – how, he doesn’t know.

Acting of itself, the earth bears fruit, first the fodder (ie the green crop), then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

But when the fruit is set (literally “fastened alongside“), immediately he sends the scythe, because the harvest is standing there right next to him.”

A few notes of interest, in the order they appear.

First, τὸν σπόρον is not seed, it is “the sowing” (i.e. “the store of seed to be sown); which I admit is not common usage in modern English, although we do have “the harvest” (in the sense of “what has been harvested”) for the other end of the cycle. Does this matter? Well, it matters that we understand that the man didn’t go out with half a dozen seeds he found in his pocket and throw them on the ground. This is the major commercial and financial commitment of his farming year; until this moment he could change his mind and use the seed for food, but now he is all in: once cast on the ground, the sowing is his future crop and no longer accessible as a current store of seed. So yes, I think this does matter.

The picture continues : “sprouts and grows” is okay, but really we are meant to see the first green hue as the sowing breaks surface and starts to get longer and more obviously a growing green crop against the brown or grey soil.

The Greek is always specific – “all by itself, the soil” lacks the force of “acting of itself, the earth”. Of course, we do now realise that the soil is an active and indispensable partner in this process, not an inert matrix. And for the farmer, the first stage of growth represents ‘an option’: it is indeed fodder, and could be used as such. But of course he won’t, except in the most dire circumstances. This sowing is not for cattle feed, it is for grain. And that is still two steps away. No point harvesting the ears when they are yet to fill with grain. Farming is waiting.

But when the desired fruit is set – “secured alongside” – the cycle of “sleeping and getting up and not knowing how” ends. The farmer sees the harvest – as concrete and commercially significant as his sowing – standing alongside him.

And he immediately sends, not the sickle (δρέπανη) but the scythe (δρέπανον). If you don’t understand the huge significance of this one, Google “sickle versus scythe” and you should see some videos from India comparing the efficacy of these two technologies. Sickles are definitely for those who threw a few seeds (or who have no other option); scythes are the combine harvester of the ancient world.

And my overarching point would be: when you mean business – as we must in the Kingdom of God – send a scythe. And if you have cast a serious commitment in God’s word onto the soil of your heart and are waiting with expectancy until you arrive at the day where you realise your harvest is fully secured and standing right alongside you: don’t dawdle one moment. Immediately, send the scythe!

[If you have run into the curious fiction that scythes were unknown in Israel, Iron Age scythes, plural, have been recovered from a 332BC site at Nahal Tut as described in American Journal of Archaelogy, vol 100 no 4 Oct 1996 in the summary Archaelogy in Israel by Samuel R Wolff)]