Mark 4:33-34 (NIV): With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
To many of those who heard Jesus’ parables, they were a closed book, foolish tales with no point. These were the ones who had already rejected Jesus, who by doing so had also rejected the Father who had sent Him, and whose minds and hearts were thus darkened, incapable of seeing the light.
Many others, however, hungered for the truth, and found it in Jesus. To these, the stories Jesus told were like rays of light that showed them God’s love, and revealed the glories of His here-and-now kingdom in vivid colors. Jesus continued to teach these, as much as they could understand. They were the good soil people, who were even willing to wrestle a bit with the difficult concepts until the light turned on.
But it was important that Jesus’ core group of disciples, those whom He had selected to lead the Church after His ascension, had far more than a basic understanding of those kingdom principles. After all, they would be responsible for teaching the next generations not only what He said, but what He meant. So Jesus spent lots of time with them, talking these things over, showing them the deeper meanings behind the parables.
In a sense, Jesus was like a spiritual father to them, and taught them as God commanded fathers to do: “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 11:19 NIV) Without this clear teaching, passed on conscientiously from one generation to the next, much would get lost.
It’s exactly the same today. Even if the next generation of people are believers, if they aren’t consistently taught the “truth behind the stories” that Jesus told, the truths of the kingdom that are essential to effective Christian living, their foundation will be less stable and strong than the preceding generation of believers. And the generation that follows them will be even less stable and strong than they are, because they will have even less to pass on. Sunday School and sermons, an hour or two each week, can never take the place of parents, siblings, friends, and mentors who, like Jesus, pass on the truths of the kingdom as they live their lives together with those whom they are teaching.
Father, in this as in everything, Your ways are always the best. Forgive us, Lord, for leaving it to the Sunday School teachers and preachers to tell our kids, our friends, our loved ones the truth. We can be so much more effective at that, because we live with these people, so that we can talk over these truths daily, and we also love them. Help us, whether it is our own children or grandchildren, or those we mentor and disciple, to faithfully and consistently pass on all that we know of You, and to keep on learning, so that we will have even more to teach. Amen.