06122021 – Mark 4. 26-34
I DO NOT expect you to sit on the edge of your seats…NOR do I expect you to be “WOWED,” but this is the ONLY PARABLE that is found in Mark ALONE.
Most people DO NOT know THAT, now YOU DO. I am sure it is probably earth shaking and shattering news.
The reason I share it with you, is because it is a PART of the CONTEXT.
PARABLES are also part of the context.
Again, only TWO PARABLES of JESUS come with explanations.
The rest of the 38 parables OFFER NO EXPLANATION…so the listener…the hearer, or the reader, is forced to PONDER the parable and ATTEMPT to decipher its meaning for themselves…ON THEIR OWN.
ALL OF THE PARABLES are CLEVERLY devised and INGENIOUS, in and of themselves.
This time, Jesus TANTALIZES, LURES, ENTICES, INTRIGUES and EXCITES people by saying…He’ Basileia Tou Theou. (No, that’s not a dance from the sixties!)
He is throwing out a “HINT”…he is about to illustrate something about “the NATURE” of the Kingdom.
That means or “signals,” LISTEN UP!
This parable…is about THE KINGDOM of GOD.
Jesus LOVED parables as a teaching TECHNIQUE. By using parables he could draw (the people in the crowds) INTO his stories. THEY ACTUALLY BECOME A PART OF HIS TEACHING.
People would then wonder about the meaning of these CLEVERLY DEVISED NARRATIVES – for THEM…and for THEIR LIVES.
Parables were CHALLENGING…almost like RIDDLES to be answered, an educational kind of game TO BE PLAYED out.
Sometimes you had to BROOD over them, AGONIZE about them, SLEEP on them, PONDER and CONTEMPLATE them for days…ON END.
But “THESE” were “about” THE KINGDOM OF GOD, which means the STAKES were about “as HIGH as they could get.”
AS HIGH, as the heavens above…
We are SO FUNNY. We think EVERYTHING is dependent upon us. EVERYTHING! We take ourselves OH SO seriously! WE are SO vitally important! Everything that HAPPENS, is done through our hands! We make things happen. We are the movers and shakers…
Kind of like “a current slogan” still flying around the church. “GOD’S WORK, OUR HANDS.”
You can even get that imprinted on T-shirts for just $9.95! People are all about it. The stuff of God COULD NOT BE accomplished WITHOUT US.
This parable flies in the face of that kind of THINKING and LOGIC.
The parable is significant whenever and wherever we Christians take OURSELVES and OUR EFFORTS too seriously, seeking by OUR PLANS and PROGRAMS to “BRING about the kingdom of God.”
Against such ARROGANT SELF-IMPORTANCE stands a subtle allusion to “God’s hidden presence and power.”
Not EVERYTHING is dependent on us.
The Kingdom of God may just happen and take place IN SPITE OF US.
And as a CASE IN POINT: The parable with its assurance…that the harvest WILL COME …
It stands in direct opposition to any form of DOUBT or CARE that, instead of waiting for God to fulfill HIS PURPOSE…
Endeavors to FORCE the coming of the Kingdom or to BUILD it — by revolution like the religious Zealots, or by complete obedience to the LAW like the Pharisees…just doesn’t work.
SO, the parable is asking IF we are willing, for Jesus’ sake, to wait with him for God to do what he is SURE TO DO.
It’s about TRUST. Trusting God to do do, as God will do.
So, when it comes to the seed…
Jesus often used agricultural metaphors. They reflected both his rural upbringing and his ministry throughout the small towns and back-road-villages of Galilee.
Jesus was not intent on DAZZLING people with HIS religious knowledge. He kept things SIMPLE. Understandable. Relatable. It is a parable of HOPE. It is not a parable about “the church.” It is a parable of the KINGDOM OF GOD.
Both parables for today, contrast the SMALL beginning of the Kingdom with its GRAND SCOPE AT THE END OF THE AGE.
What begins in HUMBLE FASHION will give way in time and through a “MYSTERIOUS PROCESS” to a far GREATER and MORE encompassing reality.” GROWTH happens and WE know not HOW.
We may even be SLEEPING and drooling all over our pillows – while the growth happens and takes place.
This is the work of GOD. And it WILL HAPPEN. You can count on it!
JUST TRUST. Amen.