As we continue this week to look at the connection between our faith and God's faithfulness, we take a look at some of the the parables that Jesus shared with the crowds and with his disciples. While our specific reading today (Mark 4:26-34) contains parables directed at the disciples, we consider the entire chapter as we think about all that God provides (see Mark 4).
One of the things that we learn today is that Jesus spoke to the people around him in images that they could relate to in order for them to understand the vision of the kingdom of God that he was sharing. While the parables may be confusing to some of us, the talk of soil and seeds and harvest would have been things people in the crowds would be familiar with.
The other thing we learn is that Jesus calls us to plant the seeds of the kingdom as we walk through this world. We don't always know what will come of these seeds or how they will grow, but God, who remains faithful, nourishes the seeds that are planted and sees them to fruition.
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Last week, we talked about love and family and considered the new family that God has created and made us a part of. After Jesus calls all who follow the will of God his sister and brother and mother, we are told that Jesus began to teach by the sea. There was such a large crowd that he went out on a boat a short distance from shore so that he could be seen and heard. He speaks in parables about the kingdom of God.
Sometimes to our ears, these parables can be difficult to understand, but that is because Jesus draws on images that would have been familiar to the people he was talking to. In trying to help people understand the kingdom of God, he uses stories that they can relate to. And so he speaks to the people of the countryside using farming imagery to help them picture what the kingdom of God is like.
Jesus doesn’t speak about the rituals of the Temple to describe God’s kingdom, at least not here. Here he uses images of the land, of seeds, of growth. He presents images they would recognize, conflicts that would be familiar to those who are listening in the crowds.
In the first parable in this chapter, which we didn’t read today, Jesus speaks of sowing seed and scattering it widely to see where it will grow. Some seed falls onto fertile soil, some falls back onto the path, some falls onto rocky ground, and some falls into the thorns. But he doesn’t end with a story about where the seed falls; instead, he turns to speak of what the seeds produce, the grain that comes forth, increasing in yield the better the soil. This is a story that he tells about himself to help those who are hearing him -- those who would understand the nature of seeds and soil -- to better understand the connections he is making.
Of course, we aren’t the only ones that may at times have difficulty recognizing what Jesus is saying. While the crowds that are following him may be familiar with crops and how they grow, his disciples are a different group. His disciples come from different walks of life. Some are fishermen, some are tax collectors, some appear to be men of some standing, and some seem to have been former followers of his cousin, John, a more ascetic bunch. They pull Jesus aside and ask him to explain what he is saying, for they don’t understand.
Then Jesus takes the time to explain the same story on their level. He does want them to understand. They are his closest followers, his disciples. He needs them to understand. And then he continues, telling them other stories. He talks about the purpose of a lamp and how light is not meant to be hidden away. This could be about the kingdom of God shining forth, but it can also be read as a reminder that the chosen of God are meant to be a light to the nations.
But still, while talking to the disciples, he returns to the agrarian imagery we find in our reading today. Here he shares two parables or analogies about what the kingdom of God is like. At the same time, it is a bit more simplistic so that even his disciples can understand. First he compares the kingdom of God to someone’s crop. While even ancient farmers likely had some understanding of the nature of seeds and how they grow into crops, for his disciples, he says that the farmer sows the seeds and waits for it to grow without understanding how it happens. The farmer simply plants the seed and then waits until he knows that the grain is ripe and ready for harvest.
I am sure that there are several of you here that understand that the act of growing crops from seed is far more complicated. As in the other parable I mentioned, care must be taken that the seeds are planted in the proper soil. We must take into account growing conditions, light, water, nutrients. And at the end of the day, we must also be able to recognize exactly when the crop is ready. But for some of his disciples at least, this may be how they understood farming. And it was enough for Jesus to communicate to them something about the kingdom of God.
As in the other parable, Jesus is the sower, the one planting seeds. But the seed he is planting is the idea of the kingdom of God. We’ve talked about this kingdom before -- a kingdom where love of God and love of neighbor guide everything; a kingdom where everyone has enough, everyone is cared for, and no one lacks for what they need. This is the idea that Jesus is planting, the idea that he wants his disciples to plant in others after he is gone. He knows that he may not be able to stick around for the final harvest. He knows that the disciples will go forth scattering seed far and wide, perhaps not able to stay in any one place long enough for the final harvest themselves. They may not even understand which part of the story they share will be the part that will take root and grow. But the harvest is lives changed, hearts mended, people cared for, and God’s love spreading and growing stronger.
Without pausing to explain further, Jesus launches into another parable, another example of how to recognize the kingdom of God. Here we have reference to a mustard seed, though not the reference about having faith like a mustard seed in order to move mountains. Instead, Jesus is again trying to make a point about the kingdom of God.
Jesus says that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. The disciples would likely have scoffed at this idea. They may not be farmers, but they know that a mustard seed is tiny. But Jesus tells them that though the seed itself is tiny, once it sprouts it grows into a plant large enough to provide a place for birds to nest. Some translations call it a tree while others call it a bush or a shrub. Maybe some of you are familiar with growing mustard and have some sense of how big the plant can get.
Of course in our region, we might speak of acorns or the seeds of pines or maples. Surely you have seen them. They may not be as tiny as a mustard seed, but compared to the trees that can sprout forth, they are comparatively small. Imagine me standing up here with an acorn, suggesting that the kingdom of God was like this seed. Perhaps you would have your doubts just as I am sure the disciples had theirs. How can the kingdom of God be something so tiny?
First we have to remember the other parables that Jesus shares in this chapter -- the seed scattered widely on the ground, the seed that is sown without us understanding how it grows. The kingdom of God does not come into being full blown. Surely Jesus had the divine power to create a fully grown mustard plant out of nothingness. God has the ability to simply bring the kingdom into being. But this is not Jesus’ purpose here among us. Jesus comes to love us into relationship, to encourage us, to teach us. Jesus comes as an example of God’s love and faithfulness. And so he plants seeds -- seeds of hope, of love, of relationship. He plants seeds of faith for a better tomorrow for all people. He plants seeds knowing that they will grow into something more, that from those seeds, the kingdom of God will come into being not just through divine will but through mutual love.
And then we remember that we, too, are called to plant the seeds of the kingdom. When we love someone unconditionally, we plant a seed. When we show hope in the midst of difficult times, we plant a seed. When we continue to have faith in someone even when they have given us reason to doubt them, we plant a seed. When we offer support to strangers, we plant a seed.
Following in Jesus’ footsteps we continue to plant the seeds of the kingdom of God. Sometimes those seeds may be the size of a mustard seed, sometimes they may be the size of an acorn. The seeds we plant could even be the size of a coconut. But whatever the size, we plant the seed and maybe even nourish it, but ultimately, God is the one to make it grow. God is the one who will reap the harvest in the end. And along the way, that seed that we helped to plant may grow into something that will provide shelter and sustenance for others, people we may never even meet. All because of God’s faithfulness and the seeds that we plant along the way.
Just looking at a seed, we cannot always know what it will become. If you know nothing of plants, you cannot look at a poppy seed or a mustard seed or an acorn and know what will come of it. But Jesus reminds us that even the smallest of seeds can grow into a plant that can provide shade and shelter. A seed planted in the right way can grow to provide food. It can multiply and provide a yield far greater than we could ever assume given the size of the initial seed.
That is what Jesus is trying to get his disciples to understand. That is what he hopes that we will understand still today. God expects us to sow the seeds of the kingdom. Sometimes, that is all we have to do. We may never even know what seeds we sow along the way. But each seed we help plant helps the kingdom of God to grow greater in this world. And our God, who remains faithful, will provide all that seed needs to thrive.
And just as a seed planted will grow and multiply and spread, the seeds that we plant, nourished by God, will grow and multiply and spread. Those in whom the seeds we have planted grow will go on to sow seeds of their own. We will never know how many lives will be touched because of the seed that we planted which God then provided for.