Kingdom of God

            Mark's Gospel tells us references of Jesus" thoughts of the Kingdom Of God. The kingdom of God is a place for life after death. It starts on Earth and acts as a pathway to the gates of Heaven however the Jews were expecting a Messiah to come and annihilate their enemies and be in charge of them on Earth. Most of Mark's sources are from Peter, one of Jesus" disciples, so it is a secondary source. My essay will show you about Jesus" teaching of the kingdom of god to the disciples and the people through parables (short story with a religious meaning to help get a message across to other) and miracles (something that appears impossible but turns out to be done).
             A famous parable that Jesus used was about a sower (MK4:3-20) who planted seeds in 4 types of grounds, which were footpath, rocky, weed and soil.
             The seeds that were planted on the footpath were eaten by birds that flew in. Footpath symbolises people's faith when they receive the message of God but it is taken away by Satan. The seeds on the rocky ground symbolise people who willingly accept God's message but it quickly fades away when there is trouble about God's message. The weedy ground represents people who find it hard to follow the message due to money and valuable possessions. Finally, the soil ground stands for people who absorb the message and follow it resulting to a happy and fruit filling life.
             Another parable used by Jesus was the mustard seed (MK4:30-32), which is in relation to the people of the kingdom of God where it started of so small, like a mustard seed, and then grows tremendously into an empire, just like the mustard seed grows into huge plants.
             A different parable that Jesus proclaimed was the lamp (4:21-25), which is about a lamp that you buy and place it on a lamp stand and not under the bed. The light makes things visible for us to see which corresponds to Jesus as the light for he helps us see the way to live our lives.