(This Sunday, it rained as the service began. We also celebrated the Baptism of a little girl, Hazel.)
Mark 4:26-34
26 He also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would
scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the
seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of
itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But
when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest
has come." 30 He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of
God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which,
when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet
when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts
forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its
shade." 33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were
able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he
explained everything in private to his disciples.
"The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on
the ground…”
·
My friends, I am woefully unprepared
to speak about this Gospel passage. It is about growing things, seed and shoot,
fruit and harvest. Many of you are far better equipped to comprehend what Jesus
is saying here.
·
Jesus is speaking in parables as he
quite often does in the Gospels. It really is unclear whether he spoke in
parables to make his message clear or to make it hidden. The examples and
figures he uses were familiar to those who listened, even as they could be
familiar to us today. If we look around us today, we see new growth. It can
fill us with anticipation of the harvest and whatever else is to come. It could
lead us to concern over how much water would be needed and when it would rain
again and what else might be needed for the good growth of the crop. We might
experience frustration over how much work remains to be done. If we see things
a certain way, we might just take a moment of simple joy at seeing the new
growth and having a hand in the sustaining of God’s own creation.
·
Jesus’ parables today – the seed sown
and growing in secret and the parable of the mustard seed - both speak to what
we don’t know. The sower sows, sleeps, rises, and goes on with his life,
without knowledge of how or why the seed grows and without any control over
what is sown and grows. The teeny-tiny mustard seed becomes a sort of shrub, a
plant that some might find annoying and weed-like, but still a great bush that
the birds are glad to nest in.
·
The seed grows in secret, “he
does not know how” and even with science and observation, the
growth is no less fascinating and might even seem miraculous in its own way.
There must be some sort of both mystery and satisfaction involved in watching
the growth of these plants.
·
I say mystery because what grows is
somewhat beyond our control. Applying this idea to the Kingdom of God, we know
that what God as planted, both in and around us, marvellously and mysteriously
outside of our control.
·
The same can be said for the parable
of the mustard seed. It begins as a small seed but grows far beyond what might
be expected from such a small seed. There are larger trees that we know of, but
these were not in the experience of Jesus’ hearers. Mustard seeds? That they
knew!
·
Jesus would speak in parable to draw
his hearers in, to invite them to experience what he was speaking of. Those who
had ears to hear what Jesus was saying could know more by experiencing the
Kingdom in Jesus. Those who could not or would not hear were faced with the
hiddenness of the Kingdom, since they would not “Come and see!” as Jesus might
invite them.
·
Both parables speak of the Kingdom as
something beyond our understanding and expectations and quite beyond our
control. God’s Kingdom will come, never fear, but we might pray that it we would
be part of the Kingdom. The Small Catechism echoes this in the explanation of
the Lord’s Prayer: “God’s kingdom comes
on its own without our prayer, but we ask in this prayer that it may also come
to us.”
·
These parables teach us that the
Kingdom of God comes unexpectedly, in ways we don’t comprehend and in ways far
beyond our control. The talk of growth in both the sown seed and in the mustard
plant also teaches us that the Kingdom is not complete, that there is more to
come, and, using the parables’ agricultural ideas, the anticipated harvest is
yet to be. The Kingdom is indeed both now and yet to come.
·
This is a hard thing to swallow. We
want the Kingdom to be here now, yet we see that it is not. Yet look around;
Jesus’ disciples continue to work to bring the Kingdom into being, all the
while knowing that it is the work of the Spirit and not the work of the hands
of humans. We rejoice and we wait.
·
The Baptism we celebrate today
reminds us again that our Lord has not abandoned us and works in and around us
in hidden and subtle ways.
·
We know we are not complete. We know
that the harvest is yet to be. The whole Church knows it and has always known
it and lives it. Hear the words of Dr. Luther once again: “This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness,
not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are
not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet
finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does
not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”
·
Hear as well the words of Paul from
the 3rd chapter of 1 Corinthians: I planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters
is anything, but only God who gives the growth…. For we are God’s servants,
working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.
·
In this, we rejoice. For this, we
hope and wait.
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