The Gospel of Mark begins, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (1.1). Those opening remarks clearly state the purpose behind the entire composition, a narrative of the good news of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Mark is the only writer that records the parables of the "Growing Seed" and "Mustard Seed". These parables were utilized to reveal that the kingdom of God will encounter amazing growth, by God's sovereign hand. Jesus used these seed parables, drawing an analogy from farming, to illuminate the point that salvation is dependent upon God. Only God can provide the necessary ingredients for the transformational process from a dead, …show more content…
This is evidenced through Mark's translation of Aramaic terms for the readers (3:17; 5:41; 7:11; 7:34; 10:46; 14:36; 15:22; 15:34). Mark also explained Jewish customs (7:3-4; 14:12; 15;42) which would be considered unnecessary had the audience been Jewish. In this writing Mark omitted the lengthy Jewish genealogies found in Matthew and Luke. Time calculations are given in accordance to the Roman system (6:48-fourth watch; 13:35-third watch), which also supports this Gospel being written to the believers in Rome. A Roman audience also supported using Latin expressions, as opposed to Greek (5:9-Legion; 6:27-John’s; 12:15–denarius; 12:42-penny; 15:16–governor’s headquarters, …show more content…
Discerning their answer Jesus questioned “how then will you understand all the parables” (4:13)? Understanding the soils parable was critical for the disciples to interpret the other parables Jesus was about to teach. Jesus persisted in his teaching as he interpreted the meaning of the soils parable (4:14-20), which would later promote discernment amongst the disciples. It is incumbent upon us to gain an understanding of the parable of the soils, to illuminate the true meaning of the growing seed and mustard seed