Have you ever stopped to contemplate a seed? Large seeds we scoop out of pumpkins and roast and eat, flower seeds which burst forth with fragrant blooms or a single grain of wheat that ends up feeding a hungry world. Jack got into trouble for trading his cow for a few “magic seeds.” If you ask me, I think all seed are magical, well at least filled with mystery. Even with the discovery of DNA, a seed’s ability to recreate itself – an entire plant and fruit- is truly beyond my comprehension. Seeds are divine mystery. Seeds also must die for a new plant to be created. Within the darkness of the ground, the vitality of the seed pushes roots deeper and growth upward, surrendering itself to create something new. Finally, each seed has the past, present and future all held within a single grain. One commentator wrote, “Within that little kernel of corn- or that even smaller grain of wheat, or that mustard seed to which the parable refers- there is the memory of centuries of death and rebirth, the legacy of millennia through which the plant has come to be what it is. And, even more surprisingly, there are all the instructions necessary to produce another plant just like the one from which the seed itself came” (Christian Century, 6/10/15, pg. 18).
Our gospel lesson likens the kingdom of God to seeds with two parables unique to Mark, rich with contemporary and eschatological implications. Jesus has retreated to a boat, surrounded by followers gathered on land and starts teaching seed parables. Jesus tells the four options; path, rocky soil, thorns and good soil for where seeds land, and likens those to how we as disciples respond to God’s word. When the seed falls on good soil, it multiplies up to 100 fold. Jesus follows this familiar parable, with these parables about God’s grace and God’s calling.
To understand these, let’s consider the anatomy of a seed. Every seed has three parts- embryo, seed covering, and food source. The embryo holds the entire DNA needed to create a new plant. We do not have to understand the way DNA works for the seed to grow into a Redwood tree or a pumpkin. Rather once the seed gets what it needs like water and light, the rest just happens. The seed covering or seed coat is the harder outer shell that protects the seed until it is discarded with emergence of roots and stem growth. The food source is all the stored up energy the seed needs until it has created a new support system. These three parts line up with the three things expressed in both our passages.
First, the kingdom of God is a mystery. Jesus tells parables trying to shed light on God’s kingdom, but we will never fully understand- even with Jesus breaking them down for us. He says “to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God,” (4:11) yet here we are trying to make sense of it. The kingdom of God is a mystery; one that calls us to walk by faith and not by sight. One that asks us to trust in God and the way God calls us into the world. We get to trust that just like the embryo; all we need to be God’s faithful disciples is already built into us. We have the DNA inside of us to grow God’s kingdom. We need to walk by faith and not by sight. That means when we see a need we risk trying something new, like actively ministering to the homeless in our community. Right now that is praying for the homeless and making hygiene kits for those without shelter as we join with a new coalition of area churches. It means we trust God has a plan for our church and our purpose in this community. We don’t have to fully understand it, but we get to have faith in God.
Secondly, we must die to be part of the kingdom of God. Not in a literal sense, but die to ourselves so that something else can be reborn. We get to break free of our hard outer shells that protect us, our shell coverings, so that new life abounds in Christ. No more hiding from God, with defense mechanisms and numbing ourselves. We get to push deep within ourselves to root into Christ and reach high above us to minister and grow God’s kingdom. That might feel uncomfortable, but no less than it does for the seed. Paul writes, “Jesus died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them” (15). We are promised “Anyone in Christ is a new creation; everything old passed away; see everything has become new” (17). We can be a new creation because we have let go of our shell – dying to ourselves and living in the Kingdom of God.
Parables, kingdoms, mystery and new life: maybe the greatest mystery of all is the profound parable of the whole life and death of Jesus. First Jesus lived with God then set that aside to come and enter into our world as nothing more than a seedling with all the growing pains we endure. He grows into a vibrant man who is also the Son of God. That life is ended. He is buried in the ground. And from that germination, the mystery of the resurrection is born; new life for Christ and new life, eternal life, for us. Seeds of the kingdom of God are planted, and each generation has the task of sharing the good news with the next. Just like from each harvest there are seeds planted for the next season of growth. Our Sunday School teachers are planting seeds of faith for the next generation. Thank you for sharing your faith.
Finally we get to rest in the grace of God’s kingdom. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.” At first we might think that is about mystery, but really it is about God’s grace. Intimacy with Christ grows in us as certainly and as effortlessly as a seed grows. We get to sleep and rise, we get to live our lives trusting in God’s abundant love and grace. Paul speaks of confidence and we can be confident in God’s grace, so much so that we need not have sleepless nights of anxiety. We need not think being in God’s kingdom is about the efforts we show. Rather we have this store house of grace, this food source of abundant grace that is available to us. So just like the seed has food until it can grow its own support structure, we have the source of God’s grace until we are united with Christ in God’s eternal kingdom.
So sleep and rest in God’s kingdom now, confident it is not up to us to bring God’s kingdom. “For the harvest will come without us having to work for it, because God adores us and it is this love that is the power of growth. It is this love that transforms the tiniest and most impotent-looking seed into a lush bush that gives rest and shade to the singing birds, just as it transforms our tiny and distorted awareness of God into a magnificent luminosity in which we ourselves and all the creatures we meet can rest” (Feasting on the Word, B3, pg. 142).
Let us pray: Nurturing God, you planted your seed within us, long ago. We thank you that we have all we need to grow your kingdom on earth and to rest in your grace as we honor the mystery that is faith in your most vibrant name. Amen.
