Exegesis

The exegesis of any Bible passage has three stages:

1. With the help of commentaries discover as much as you can about the background and context of the passage.

2. Using commentaries and Bible dictionaries work out what the author was saying to his original readers.

3. Taking account of the background and original meaning of the passage try to discern what it might be saying to people today.

To show you how to do it here is an exegesis on Mark 4:9-11.

1. This passage comes from the Gospel of Mark which was written around 65-70 AD. Tradition has ascribed authorship of the Gospel to John Mark who is mentioned in Acts. It is likely that the original readers were gentiles (non-Jews) as Mark explains Jewish customs and words. Mark would have based his Gospel on stories about Jesus that were retold in churches at the time. We don't know whether he had any written sources. The passage appears in slightly different forms in both Matthew and Luke. In these verses Jesus explains to his disciples why he tells parables. Mark uses the verses to link Jesus' parable of the sower with an interpretation which was probably devised by the early church.

2. The key words are "parable" "secret" and "Kingdom of God". Parables were short stories, often drawn from everyday life, that Jesus told to illustrate his teaching about the Kingdom of God. They were handed on by word of mouth in the early church. As this happened the stories became detached from the teaching they were meant to illustrate. Many people who heard the parables retold found them puzzling. Mark picks up on this and tries to explain why Jesus used parables. For Mark the Kingdom of God or the way in which God was at work establishing his authority on earth was a secret which was hidden from the majority of people. However those who believed in Jesus, and listened to the explanations given in Christian teaching could discover the secret of the Kingdom.  

3. Today we can perhaps find a meaning in this passage by asking where we might find clues about the Kingdom of God. Jesus used stories about everyday things to talk about the Kingdom. There are probably ordinary things happening today that can reveal the ways in which God is establishing his authority. People may be puzzled and fail to see the connection between ordinary life and God's coming reign. It is the role of the church to provide teaching which links the two and helps people to uncover the secret of the Kingdom of God.

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