As a teenage schoolboy I was struggling. The end of each school year faced me with a battle to get enough credits to go up to the next year-group. My Achilles’ heel in particular was physics – it was my nightmare for six long years. But, and this is funny, at the same time I was devouring all the available books and magazines about science, physics included; and, actually, this interest has never ceased. The only difference between the school physics and the other one was the way it was presented; the former was unattractive and boringly academic; the latter presented even the most complicated problems in a usually simplistic but fascinating fashion. Attracted by such things, I have dug deeper to learn more and to understand better. I got interested in Scottish culture after watching a historically inaccurate but passionately made film ‘Braveheart’.
Jesus seemed to understand this challenge. In the gospels we find him speaking to the crowds with comparisons, metaphors and stories that they understood and could relate to. He used images of their everyday life, problems, conflicts, anxieties, and so on. People listening to Jesus could see his teachings mirrored in their very own circumstances. It made Jesus’ message attractive because it touched their lives and gave answers to their essential questions. Of course all those parables and comparisons were simplistic and lacked theological or psychological accuracy. But that wasn’t the case. Their goal was to attract listeners, to kindle the flame of interest and subsequently to lead them to seeking for a deeper and better understanding.
We can see this process in today’s gospel. Jesus speaks about ‘the Kingdom of God’ to the crowd using two ‘Countryfile’ parables. But later on, as St Mark states, ‘Jesus explained everything to his disciples when they were alone’. The word ‘disciple’ in modern English is almost exclusively used in a religious, Christian context; but it derives from a Latin verb ‘discipere’, which means: ‘to grasp intellectually, to analyse thoroughly’. So a disciple may be defined as someone who wants to know more, to understand better, and to understand accurately. The disciples mentioned by St Mark don’t necessarily have to be exclusively those people chosen previously by Jesus; quite likely they also include those intrigued by him. In St John’s gospel Jesus offers such an opportunity to two disciples of St John the Baptist, following him; one of them was St Andrew.
Something similar should happen in our own spiritual life. We come to church and we listen to a sermon; sometimes it’s good, sometimes not so… The problem with sermons is that they are addressed to many different people at the same time: young and old, men and women, employed and unemployed, happy and sad, happily married and unhappily divorced… The variety of differences in the congregation is virtually infinite. Can I solve anybody’s problems with my sermons? Not a chance! But I’m not here to solve your problems from the pulpit. I’d count myself a successful preacher if you don’t hesitate to approach me to have a personal and extensive chat about your life and problems. I’m not Jesus – but I work for him.