Mark 4:19 The Cares of the Age

I wouldn’t have expected Jesus to talk about the cares of the age two thousand years ago.  You can get the impression this is only a modern phenomenon. 

Mark 4:19 (NASB95)  ¹⁹ but the worries [cares, anxieties] of the world [literally, the age, not the physical world], and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

If Jesus had simply been referring to the usual problems of life, making a living, paying the bills, I don’t think He would have used the word ‘age’ here.  There are other words that more fit the physical aspects of life.  This seems to me to be that the thinking of this age is causing people to worry, not the usual stuff of just getting by.

But actually, this is a problem throughout the Bible.  All through the Old Testament, everybody had a problem with idols.

But why would that be? 

An idol is something you can see.  They don’t speak, but at least you can see them.

God speaks, but you can’t see Him.  And you often wish He would speak more often.  Like right now, I have a lot on my mind, and I’m waiting to hear from Him.

The verse cited is from Jesus’ explanation of one of His parables.  He talks about different kinds of people, how they respond to God, or more specifically, to the Word of God. 

Basically, there are 4 responses to God or His Word. 

Some people just don’t get it, others like it, but they don’t see it as this life-changing, all-defining thing where God is the most important thing in life.

And then there’s this third group. 

They’re distracted.  Internally or externally.

This group is distracted internally.

They can’t see God.  They have this book that’s very old that tells them how to live and what God’s like. 

And then there’s real life that hits them, and they become afraid.  Their fears of things that could happen, might happen, is happening paralyzes them, and their walk with God goes nowhere.

The people in the parable never fully become followers of Christ, but the problem happens to believers as well. 

They still have this issue of real life seeming more real than God and their spiritual lives. 

In the Old Testament, this was often seen in armies coming against the people of God.  Can or will God really protect them from enormous armies?

But I think this is directed more toward the thinking of the age.  There are at least 3 ways that the thinking of our age can choke the Word of God in our lives.

The big idol, if I may use the word here, would be science.  Like, science has all the answers.  Or, science is the storehouse of truth. 

But science does not admit the possibility of anything outside of natural causes.  So the world came into being on its own.  It was not created by a supernatural power.  Life, human life, came into being on its own.  That too did not require a supernatural Being.  That’s why they say the world is billions of years old and that humans came from lower animals and life came by accident.  Like I often say, science can’t even tell you what a human being is.

Christians can accept the settled science, for example, of evolution and the extremely long age of the world over against the Bible, and their confidence in the Bible is shattered.

For example, Jesus said in Mark 10: 6 that ⁶ “from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.”  The world did not exist for billions of years before the existence of human beings.  They existed from the beginning of creation.  So where the Bible and science differ, many Christians today might accept the dictates of science over the clear teaching of the Bible.  And the Bible is no longer their ultimate source for truth about life and the world.

Another way thar the thinking of the age can choke the Word of God is to disparage the account of the events of the Bible, because they are often miraculous.  Were Adam and Eve really the first human beings in the world?  Genesis 2:7-25  Did Balaam’s donkey really speak?  Numbers 22:22-34  Did the sun really stand still in the heavens?  Joshua 10:12-14

Christians can doubt the Bible and the ability or willingness of God to act in history.  The Bible no longer is a record of God’s dealings with humans, but just a book of good stories.

A third way the world’s thinking can choke the Word of God in our lives is when the Bible challenges the world’s value system.

We want to be loving to other people, but the thinking of this age often wants us to accept things that the Bible says we shouldn’t and can’t.  Romans 1:18-28   It is not unloving to tell people that they are mistaken in their thinking.  Isn’t this what the very idea of repentance is?  A changing of our minds about our thinking about God, life, and our place in it?  But our society wants to normalize rebellion against God.  And we appear as unloving if we resist.

Two verses earlier in Jesus’ explanation of the parable, He talks about tribulation or persecution that happen “because of the Word.” 

And why would that happen?

Because the thinking and teaching of the Bible is very different from the thinking and teaching of the world.  And they often don’t like it when you disagree.  So it’s easier to just go along with it.