Mark 4:26-34 (Pentecost 4B)
St. John, Galveston 6/16/24
Rev. Alan Taylor
+ In Nomine Jesu +
Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today’s Gospel reading has two parables, both of them deal with seeds and planting, but they teach us completely different things about the Kingdom of God. Both of them offer us encouragement and hope as sowers of God’s word, but they also offer us encouragement and hope as we wait for a person that we love and care about to come to faith in Jesus.
I’ve often thought that farmers must be some of the most patient people in the world. I’ve thought that because much of what they do to make a living is out of their control. They can’t control the weather, cold or hot, rain or drought. They plant a seed in the ground and then they wait. They wait for the seed to do what it does. A friend of mine’s father was a wheat farmer. He told me once that his father was sometimes tempted to go out to the field several days after planting to check the progress of the seed. Every now and then, he’d get down on the ground and scratch the dirt from around a seed. Of course, his impatience and meddling only served to stunt the seeds growth, or to kill it altogether.
The first parable in today’s reading speaks specifically to the issue of patience in regard to the sowing of God’s word. Much like the farmer who puts seed into the ground, you and I sow the seed of God’s word, and we may not really know how it produces a plant or a crop, but it does. We sleep day and night, and all the while, God’s word is sprouting and growing.
Unfortunately, as we wait for the seed of God’s word to grow, the temptation is for us to question the intent of God, and thus to grow impatient with Him. Why doesn’t He bring my loved one to faith now? Why doesn’t He intervene powerfully and quickly in the life of those I love? Why doesn’t He take away their hurts and their doubts and their fears?
During the time of the prophet Isaiah, God had warned His people about difficult times that were to come. They would face invasion from an enemy to the north and many people would turn away from their faith in the God of Israel. Toward the end of his prophetic ministry, Isaiah spoke of God’s promise to return His people to Him by the power of His word.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven (says the Lord) and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
So it is that we sow the seed of God’s word today, and we wait patiently, knowing that the growth of the seed is in God’s hands. And He has promised that His word “will not return to Him empty, but it shall accomplish that which He purposes, and shall succeed in the thing for which He sends it.” And, by the way, lest we conclude that God’s purpose is something other than to save the lost, remember the testimony of Scripture regarding the will of God. “He would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” It is God’s will to forgive all people, by bringing them to faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Again, the first parable was about God’s purpose to save the world from sin and death. Understanding the merciful intent of God in the sowing of His word, the first parable called us to patience, by giving us encouragement and hope that God will fulfill His promise to make the seed sprout and grow.
The second parable in the reading teaches us something altogether different than the first. It deals with the tendency on our part to lack trust in the ability of things that appear small and ineffective to accomplish great things. Specifically, the parable deals with the tendency on our part to lack trust in the ability of God’s word to accomplish great things.
“With what (Jesus asked) can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
The story, the history, if you will, of the Christian Church is both amazing and illustrative of the power of God’s Word. From a small band of twelve men, twelve disciples, the Church is estimated to have 2.2 billion members today. Of course, that figure doesn’t include all of those who have come and gone down through the centuries. In some ways, the growth of the church is a real life example of what Jesus teaches us in the second of this morning’s parables.
The seed of God’s word, as well the sacraments, are the seemingly unimpressive instruments through which the Christian Church has seen such phenomenal growth over the years. The Bible is, of course, more than mere words on a page. It is, as Jesus’ Himself taught us, the truth of God.
The Scriptures themselves bear witness to the power of God’s words and voice. From Genesis to Revelation God speaks, and the thing of which He speaks is done. In the dark void of nothingness, God said, “let there be light, and there was light.” In the fearful, tumultuous chaos of a raging sea, Jesus said, “hush, be still, and the wind and the waves obeyed His voice.” In the sadness and grief outside of a dead man’s tomb, Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus rose and walked out of the tomb.”
Where God’s word is planted, there is the power of God to raise the dead, not just the physically dead, but those who are dead toward God. God’s word, writes the apostle, “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
The power of God’s word to change the hearts of the unwilling to willing is evidenced in so many people down through the ages. Of Biblical notoriety, is, of course, the Apostle Paul. He who once persecuted Jesus, later, by inspiration of God, wrote words about his faith and what God did in his life through the power of His word. In speaking of Jesus, raised from the dead, he wrote, “last of all, as to one untimely born, he (meaning Jesus) appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.”
God’s word is like a mustard seed. It seems small and, perhaps weak, but it’s sown, it’s planted, and it “produces a tree and it puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in it’s shade.”
It is by the power of the Holy Spirit working through God’s word that you believe in Christ Jesus. It is by the Holy Spirit working through that same word of God that God will bring others to faith in Jesus as well. His word never lacks the power to save, to turn unwilling hearts and minds into willing. God grant you encouragement and hope as you sow His word, and as you wait patiently for it to sprout and grow, that others too may confess the holy and blessed name of Jesus.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
+ Soli Deo Gloria +