Mark 4:10-11: Pray For All Man--Another Perspective On The Parable Of The Sower: God Is Not Indifferent

I misread Mark 4:10-11 for forty-eight years. 

"When they were by themselves, they asked him, those that were with him, together with his Twelve, about the parables. And Jesus told them, 'To you has been given the doctrine of the Kingdom of God, but for the outsiders* (lit: "backward ones"), everything happens through parables'" (Alexander).

I always understood (incorrectly) that it was Jesus' twelve disciples who asked him what the Parable of the Sower meant. Instead, it was "you," "those that were with him," those to whom the doctrine of the Kingdom of God has been given. I want to mention that the twelve "disciples" of Jesus are aspects/facets of his character and being. They are basically his strengths, attributes of his integrity. We can be "together with his Twelve" by being like him. Note also that it was "when they were by themselves." When they were communing with God alone?

We hear, repeatedly, that this parable is about the Word of God, the Gospel being broadcast in the world, and the four different kinds of "soils" who hear the report: those by the wayside, those who are stony ground, among the thorns, and those who are good soil. Every preacher will tell you to be good, receptive soil.

But the focus of the parable is not just on "you," you being the ones who seek Jesus and the truth of God after the show. Yes, you will find God when you seek Him with all your heart, but the parable is indicating something else: the Sower Who sows His Word on the backward ones who do not respond and/or persevere. He WANTS them to be saved. He is seeking the ones who are not among "you."

God is not indifferent to the miseries man suffers. He is not hiding. God is showing Himself, but man does not hear, because GOD SPEAKS TO US IN ILLUSTRATIONS, which are as parables to the unenlightened. Man sees God's display, His sown Word, as parables. What we misunderstand is the fact that WE have GOD'S divine sovereignty over our lives. We do not catch what the parables mean or imply, and live our lives as unto ourselves IN REBELLION. God gives us HIS Life, and we use it amiss . . . which sovereign acts He respects unto our condemnation. Becoming the "you" in Mark 4:11is conditional. It is for those who are with Jesus, together with his Twelve. The Parable of the Sower is Jesus waving a flag: "Help. Pray for the other soils!! Pray that they will perceive the Word, that they will see, that they will listen, that they will understand, search, and find He Who is seeking them.