One of the most common topics for Jesus in the Gospels is the Kingdom of God. Through allegories, analogies and parables, the Gospel authors try to explain the nature, timing, and requirements of the Kingdom of God. Matthew most often refers to the “Kingdom of Heaven,” perhaps because of the Jewish custom of not saying the name of God, although Matthew is not consistent in this practice, occasionally using the term “Kingdom of God.” The consensus seems to be that these two terms are synonymous.
Parables are analogous stories that typically use natural or familiar imagery, but not always common events. In Mark 4:11-12, it is said that Jesus uses the parables to relay …show more content…
Many of the parables used metaphors from everyday life, such as growing crops as in the Parables of the Sower, Mustard Seed, and Weeds Among the Wheat, in Matthew 13. Others reference human relationships and power, such as the Wicked Tenants, Wedding Banquet, and the Good Samaritan. Food and money play important roles in many of the parables too. Overall, parables are analogies using common ideas and images, to explain (or perhaps hide meaning, in the case of Mark) more difficult concepts such as the Kingdom of God, its timing, requirements, value and …show more content…
According to Powell, “much of Mark’s Gospel is concerned with offering comfort, courage, and counsel to Christians suffering violent persecution” which were common under the emperor Nero in the 60s. Mark’s Gospel shows the Kingdom of God as a present reality (“the kingdom of God is at hand,” Mk “to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God…” Mk 4:11), as well as an event in the future, with instructions on how one can enter the Kingdom yet to come (“if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better to enter the kingdom of God with one eye… Mk