The kingdom is like a seed that grows
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, year B
Bible reading: Mark 4:26-29
Jesus tells amazing stories to illustrate what the kingdom of God is like. Today’s story is a beauty: A man scatters seed on the ground.
Once the man has sown the seed he does nothing more than mind his own business. He goes to bed at night and gets up in the morning – and then he shops at the supermarket, unclogs the sink, whips up a gourmet dinner, plays chamber music with his friends, watches the eleven o’clock news, and goes to bed again. And he does nothing but that, day after day after day – while all along, the seed that is the kingdom sprouts and grows in a way that he himself simply knows nothing about.
—Capon
It seems silly, but it’s true. The farmer knows it’s true. The gardener knows it’s true.
It seems silly, but even you and I know it’s true.
It happens automatically, spontaneously
, says the text. All by itself the earth produces grain.
The farmer sows the seed and reaps the harvest, but the seed planted in the soil produces the harvest all on its own. This is not a story about growing crops. This is a parable about the kingdom of God.
This is what the kingdom of God is like.
But what is the kingdom of God really like?
- Is it like the seed that is sown into the soil?
- Is it like the man sowing the seed, and reaping the harvest?
- Is it about the growth that happens automatically between seeding and harvesting?
Parables are told to make us think. Sometimes our thinking leads us to get the point very quickly. Other times it takes a long time, or we never get it at all. Think how slow the disciples were at getting who Jesus was, and how they so often asked him to explain even the simplest parables. An inquiring man in a class I’m leading said recently: I will have to think about this for thirty years!
But I reminded him that while he is thinking about Jesus in his head, the Holy Spirit might suddenly come and speak to him about Jesus in his heart.
Think of Nathan coming to speak to King David after he had committed adultery and murder. He said:
A rich man had a guest come unexpected, and instead of getting a sheep from his own flock to provide a delicious roast meal for his guest, he sent his servant to take away from a poor man, the only lamb he had, and to kill it and serve it for dinner.
David was furious and asked who that rich man was for he must die. And Nathan answered: you are that man.
The message of the parable got through to David and led him to repent.
So what is the message that Jesus is trying to get across to us today about his kingdom?
What is the kingdom of God like? A farmer planted seeds in a field, and then went on with his other activities. As the days went by, the seeds sprouted and grew without the farmers help, because the earth produces crops on its own.
Luther seemed to understand what Jesus is saying about the Kingdom of God:
- God’s kingdom comes even without our praying for it,
- The good and gracious will of God is surely done without our prayer,
- God gives daily bread, even without our prayer.
Luther goes on to say that: God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit.
This is another way of saying: God’s kingdom comes when God does it.
The kingdom of God is not about our blood, sweat and tears, but about the Holy Spirit helping us to believe God’s Word and live as his people on earth now and in heaven forever. The kingdom of God is about the Holy Spirit graciously working through God’s Word and through Baptism and Holy Communion, and in whatever other ways he chooses, helping people believe in God and live as his people.
And this is not our work. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works through God’s word, when we sleep and wake, when we go to the football and when we go to church, when we mow our lawns and when we read our devotions, when we think about it and when we don’t, when we see God working in the world and when we don’t.
I tend to want instant results. I want to see things happen. I want God to convert people, and heal people, and change people right before my eyes. When I don’t see that happening, I wonder, I question, I get impatient, I get despondent. I need this parable.
I need to be reminded that God works in hidden ways. I need his help to trust that he works when I don’t see much or anything. I need to believe that there will be a great harvest of people, too many to number, from all nations of the earth, gathered around his throne in eternal worship.
This parable reminds me that God’s word never fails to achieve what God sends it to do.
This parable leads me to give thanks for God working in the life of Bob, baptised 10 years ago, and in Maria baptised three years ago, and in Jemma baptised one week ago, and in Liam and Alice baptised today.
This parable reminds me of Monica praying for her son, Augustine, for 30 years, until he was converted and became one of the greatest leaders of the church. This parable reminds me of Ted Kober, trying to help a man sort out his broken relationship. He asked him to read and comment on a word of Scripture and then waited in silence for 20 minutes for the man to reply. The reply was not with words, but with tears of repentance, as the Holy Spirit worked through the word of God to bring this man God’s kingdom of love and forgiveness.
The Kingdom of God is like a seed that is sown and grows and brings a harvest of itself.
The Kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit at work, through the Word of God, sown into the hearts of people, bringing faith, love, joy, hope. The Holy Spirit at work in you through his Word, renewing you, growing you in faith and love. That is his work. That is grace.
But even though God does it all without our prayer, Luther calls us to pray in faith that it will happen to us and to those around us. The seed of the word of God is to be sown into our lives and into the lives of those around us. And there is a time to invite people to faith, or to Baptism, or to Holy Communion, where the Holy Spirit brings us all into his kingdom and grows us to become more and more like Jesus. So go out today with the seeds of God’s word, with prayer, and with faith that God will grow his kingdom. Amen.