Text used – Mark 4:26-34
- What a perfect time of year for this passage, right?
- Farmers in the fields all around us making sure they get all their crop for the year in the ground
- Fields that have already been planted are even starting to get that green shimmer – You know … when the plants just start to push through the soil. The shoots are still so small that you can’t actually see individual plants from the road yet, but the field looks like it’s been covered by a bright green frost.
- Produce sections at the grocery store filled with a wide variety of things we don’t normally get in the colder parts of the year
- Plums
- Cherries
- Nectarines
- Asparagus
- And so on.
- Gardens begin to burst with all they have to offer
- Beautiful blooms
- Lush greens and herbs
- Delicious fruits and veggies
- It really is the perfect time of year to be hearing Jesus’ parable about seeds and planting and growing and producing this morning.
- Farmers in the fields all around us making sure they get all their crop for the year in the ground
- Today’s parable = one of many
- Some scholars say 30
- Some scholars say 50 or more
- Scholar – general purpose of a parable: Parables are stories thrown alongside our lives. In using these short, provocative stories, Jesus recognizes the importance of the imagination. In using parables Jesus is seeking a shift in our imaginations, a shift in the way we see ourselves, see God, and see others.[1]
- I think it’s safe to say that today’s parable isn’t necessarily the most gripping or radical parable that Jesus tells.
- Not the famous and gripping story of the Good Samaritan[2] or the Prodigal Son[3] – parables with lots of action and a narrative that keeps us engaged
- Not the confounding and somewhat confounding and troubling parables of the unforgiving servant[4] or the barren fig tree[5] – parables that deliver dire warnings and condemnations against both uncharitable actions and apathetic inaction in the face of God’s call to bring about the kingdom of God here on earth
- Not the encouraging and comforting parables of the lost sheep[6] or the sower[7] l – parables about how the love of God continues to seek us out and flourish both in us and through us
- Not the stirring and circumspect parables of the ten virgins with their lamps[8] or the wedding feast[9] – parables that remind us to stay vigilant as look for God’s workings in the world around us
- Frankly, compared to all these other parables, the one that Jesus tells today is pretty … normal.
- Dr. Matt Skinner, ordained Presbyterian pastor and professor of NT at Luther Seminary in St. Paul points this out: No other Gospel contains this parable. Probably because it’s boring. Its plot has all the suspenseful drama of an ordinary elementary-school life sciences textbook. There are no surprises. Everything proceeds according to plan. Jesus simply speaks about seeds and what they are supposed to do. They grow and produce. Moreover, they grow and produce without your help or your intricate knowledge of germination or photosynthesis or palea, thank you very much.[10] → I mean, the parable really does read like the beginning of any basic farm journal, doesn’t it? – text: Then Jesus said, “This is what God’s kingdom is like. It’s as though someone scatters seed on the ground, then sleeps and wakes night and day. The seed sprouts and grows, but the farmer doesn’t know how. The earth produces crops all by itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full head of grain. Whenever the crop is ready, the farmer goes out to cut the grain because it’s harvesttime.”[11] → Pretty normal. Pretty obvious. Pretty day-to-day. The seeds are planted. They grow. They get harvested. End of story.
- True, the particulars of this parable might not be the most dramatic or attention-grabbing of those that Jesus tells, but as far as the purpose of parables goes – to bring about “a shift in our imaginations, a shift in the way we see ourselves, see God, and see others” – this one may be more radical than we initially expect.
- Throughout much of Church history, those in power have tried to tell the people that there are all sorts of things they must do in order for them to be worthy of God to work in them.
- Say the right prayers
- Make the right motions
- Go to the right churches
- Believe the right things
- Be the right kind of person
- Don’t do the wrong kind of things … which for a long time was anything from asking questions about long-standing church doctrines to voicing doubts to speaking up when you weren’t supposed to … you know … like, if you were a woman. And frankly, friends, there are plenty of voices within the wider world of Christianity that still say things like this today.
- And yet what does this morning’s Scripture say? “The seed sprouts and grows, but the farmer doesn’t know how. The earth produces crops all by itself …”
- Matt Skinner: In other words, the reign of God will take root — whether in the world, in imperial society, or in someone’s heart, Jesus does not specify. It will grow gradually and automatically … It will grow perhaps so subtly that you won’t even notice, until at last it produces its intended fruit. … it is the nature of God’s reign to grow and to manifest itself. That’s what it does. As a lamp belongs on a lampstand, God’s reign, like a seed, must grow, even if untended and even if its gradual expansion is nearly impossible to detect.[12] → So it’s not about the perfection that we try to attain. It’s about the work that God is doing in us and through us … even when we don’t think or feel or believe that anything is happening. Even when we feel like God is moving too slowly. Even when our ability to trust and hope and believe has been whittled down to almost nothing. We don’t have to understand it. We don’t have to be able to see it. But the promise of the parable is that the fruit is coming.
- Throughout much of Church history, those in power have tried to tell the people that there are all sorts of things they must do in order for them to be worthy of God to work in them.
- See this in 2nd parable that Jesus tells in this morning’s passage
- Text: He continued, “What’s a good image for God’s kingdom? What parable can I use to explain it? Consider a mustard seed. When scattered on the ground, it’s the smallest of all the seeds on the earth; but when it’s planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all vegetable plants. It produces such large branches that the birds in the sky are able to nest in its shade.”[13]
- Size of a mustard seed = slightly larger than a poppyseed
- 1-2 mm → So I measured this this morning. If you have a regular print bulletin, take a look at any of the semi-colons. A mustard seed is the size of the semi-colon from top to bottom. If you have a large print bulletin, take a look at any of the asterisks in front of those worship elements where I ask you to rise in body or spirit. A mustard seed is the size of those asterisks.
- Size of a full-grown mustard tree: anywhere from 20-30 feet tall and 20-ft. circumference → For those who are spatially challenged like me, if a mustard tree were planted in the middle of the sanctuary, it would reach to the rafters and reach from the center of the aisle to the middle of each pew on both sides. Take a second. Look at the seed reference in your bulletin – either the semi-colon or the asterisk – and then imagine that tree in the middle of the sanctuary. That is what we could call “significant growth.”
- Size of a mustard seed = slightly larger than a poppyseed
- But it’s not just about the sheer size of the mustard tree. – Skinner gives us some added context: This is not the kind of crop most people would sow. Where Jesus lived, mustard was prolific like a common and sturdy weed. It could pop up almost anywhere and start multiplying. Some of Jesus’ listeners must have groaned or chuckled. Imagine him speaking today of thistles or ground-ivy. But bigger. And more useful, since mustard has a range of medicinal qualities. In any case, the reign of God apparently isn’t much of a cash crop. Yet it grows. It is not easily eradicated. Good luck keeping it out of your well-manicured garden or your farmland. Better be careful what you pray for when you say, “Your kingdom come…”[14] → How many years have we been battling the thistles in the gardens on the west side of the building? And yet they keep popping up! How many ways has the world tried to quell our faith and the building-up of God’s kingdom?
- Distractions galore → And yet, our faith keeps popping up.
- Blows to our pride, our confidence, our security, our sense of self … all the things we think we need to feel stable in our life → And yet, our faith keeps popping up.
- Challenges both from outside the Church and within → And yet, our faith keeps popping up.
- Questions of relevancy and resiliency thrown at us day in and day out from friends, neighbors, co-workers, family: “Why do you still go to church?” → And yet, our faith keeps popping up. It continues to grow. It continues to pop up in unexpected and unbelievably enduring ways and places and situations.
- And, friends, this is as much a message that we need to hear as a message we need to The world needs to hear that faith can be small and fragile yet full of potential. … And we need to hear it, too. The world needs to hear that faith can grow in some of the least expected places and most adverse times. … And we need to hear it, too. The world needs to hear that God can do big things even when our expectations cannot even begin to measure up. … And we need to hear it, too.
- Conclude with “Patient Trust,” a prayer by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ[15] → Thanks be to God. Amen.
- Text: He continued, “What’s a good image for God’s kingdom? What parable can I use to explain it? Consider a mustard seed. When scattered on the ground, it’s the smallest of all the seeds on the earth; but when it’s planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all vegetable plants. It produces such large branches that the birds in the sky are able to nest in its shade.”[13]
[1] Nibs Stroupe. “Proper 6 (Sunday between June 12 and June 18 inclusive) – Mark 4:26-34, Homiletical Perspective” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary – Year B, vol. 3. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 141.
[2] Lk 10:29-37.
[3] Lk 15:11-32.
[4] Mt 18:23-35.
[5] Lk 13:6-9.
[6] Lk 15:3-7.
[7] Mk 4:1-9, 13-20.
[8] Mt 25:1-13.
[9] Mt 22:1-14.
[10] Matt Skinner. “Commentary on Mark 4:26-34” from Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-11-2/commentary-on-mark-426-34-4.
[11] Mk 4:26-29.
[12] Skinner.
[13] Mk 4:30-32.
[14] Skinner.
[15] https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/prayer-of-theilhard-de-chardin/.
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made 