I preached this sermon at the Chigasaki Covenant Church on June 17th, 2018. I lived in the parsonage of this church for one year when I was age 5 so I have lots of fond memories and always enjoy returning.
Mark 4:26-34
READ v.30… When crowds were gathered around Jesus, he loved to talk about the kingdom of God. He came up with parable after parable and they all had something in common. They would start out like this… “The kingdom of God is like…” So why did he tell so many parables about the kingdom? Did the people of that day really need to hear them? And even more importantly for us today, do we really need to hear them?
My father’s mother immigrated to the U.S. from Sweden when she was a young woman. She came at the invitation of my grandfather, who had arrived a few years earlier. They were married soon after her arrival and both spent the rest of their lives in the U.S. I never met my grandfather because he died before I was born. But I met my grandmother many times, until she passed away when I was in the third grade. I also heard many stories about my grandmother from my dad. Although she never returned to Sweden, she must have loved it and missed it very much because she never stopped talking about it. This was probably particularly true as she grew older. She lived in Washington State, where there are lots and lots of forests, full of large trees. But they don’t have many birch trees. She missed the birch trees of Sweden. She loved to talk about how beautiful the birch trees were in Sweden. Entire forests of big, bright white birch trees! Even if she encountered the rare birch tree in the U.S., she would always say, “oh this is nothing compared to the birch trees we had in Sweden!” When I was an infant she finally visited Japan once. My parents took her to various places, showing her the beauty of Japan, including Mt. Akagi, where my wife and I now live. When they got to the area that is full of birch trees, her eyes popped open, her jaw dropped and she just stared at those birch trees. Finally, she said in a soft voice, “we never had such fine birch trees in Sweden”.
Was Jesus always talking about the kingdom of heaven because of homesickness, like my grandmother? Most definitely not! My grandmother was constantly remembering her past. But when Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, he was referring to the present and the future. Jesus was talking about something that was about to happen, or rather, was already beginning to happen… and he was pointing people’s attention toward it.
So perhaps we need to clarify just exactly what it is that Jesus was talking about when he spoke of the “kingdom of God”. First and most importantly, he wasn’t talking about a place we go to when we die; a place commonly referred to as heaven. Secondly, the kingdom of God is not about a particular place or a specific time in the future. And thirdly, it is probably easier to understand Jesus’ concept if we refer to it as the “reign of God” or “God’s reign”. When Jesus talked about the kingdom of God he was talking about the promise that God’s reign is eventually going to be fully revealed throughout all of creation. That is God’s great plan of salvation for all of humanity and all of creation. We find this promise in Colossians 1:19-20 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. This is God’s plan of salvation for all of creation. This is the good news, the gospel and most of Jesus’ ministry here on earth was meant to announce it; to show signs of it; and finally, to inaugurate it on the cross. The good news that under God’s reign, eventually all of creation will be reconciled to our creator God. As Jesus was teaching, preaching and healing, this reign of God was already in motion. It was in the process of being revealed, and is still in the process of being revealed. One day it will be fully revealed for all to see, but for now is only partially revealed. On that day when it is fully revealed, we are told what will happen in Philippians. Philippians 2 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. So, you see, this promise of God’s reign is complicated. It is already being revealed, but is still partially hidden. Eventually it will be fully revealed, but Jesus wanted people to recognize it, even as it was being partially revealed. It’s also hard to see because God’s reign is radically different from normal reigns of this world. And so, Jesus’ kingdom parables were designed to help people recognize and respond to God’s reign as it was being revealed in their midst. Two thousand years later we continue to live and walk as followers of Jesus Christ. We also continue to anticipate the full revelation of God’s reign. Nothing has changed… and so these parables are just as important to us as they were to Jesus’ original listeners. Kingdom parables help us recognize and respond to God’s reign as it is being revealed right here, right now, in our world and our time. Kingdom parables are intended to push us towards aligning our own lives with kingdom values and principles. Kingdom parables are meant to give us hope as we anticipate the full revelation of God’s reign. That is why we read Jesus’ kingdom parables even today.
Many of Jesus’ kingdom parables were agricultural. Agricultural parables probably resounded with lots of people in Galilee. If Jesus were here in Chigasaki telling us kingdom parables today, he probably wouldn’t use as many agricultural examples. Perhaps his parables would be more about the ocean… But for his listeners in Galilee, agricultural parables had the sound of familiarity. So then, what do today’s parables mean? That is always the question… even in Jesus’ day. And I need to be clear with you… even though we preachers have a tendency to explain parables, Jesus clearly did not like to explain his parables. When asked to do so, it really frustrated him. There is a sense in which Jesus preferred to leave the interpretation and application of his parables up to his listeners. So, if I were going to really be faithful to the bible this morning, I would do better to just stand up, tell you a modern equivalent to the parables found in today’s passage, and then sit down and let you all try to figure it out. That is probably what I should do, but unfortunately, I am not as creative or bold as Jesus, so I resort to offering a simple explanation.
Earlier in the chapter there is another agricultural parable. You may be familiar with it… where Jesus describes seed that falls in various places. Some dries up and dies, some grows for a little while, some gets eaten by birds, and some takes root and grows; producing a large harvest. Jesus reluctantly explained to his disciples that the seed represented God’s Word, which can also be understood as the gospel, or the good news of God’s reign. How the seed proceeded to grow represented how people accepted, rejected or otherwise responded to God’s word. So, if we can apply this understanding to today’s first parable, it helps us see more clearly. Perhaps some of you are involved in farming; or may just gardening; and as such perhaps you should be the ones standing up front today instead of me. But at the same time, having some deep, technical knowledge of agriculture really won’t get us much closer to the intentions of Jesus when he shared this parable. Because the whole point of the first one in v.26-29 is that we really don’t know how it all works. READ v.26-29 Of course, modern science has given us much deeper insights, and so now we can give a pretty detailed explanation of what happens when a seed is planted, takes roots and then grows into a plant that bears food. But at some level there is still a mystery behind it all. Science can observe and describe what is happening, but not necessarily why, or how it got to be that way. Creation is full of mysteries that have yet to be revealed to us… and that is the very point of today’s first parable. Seed gets scattered, and then the process just sort of takes its own course and all we do is watch and wonder. Of course, we may do a few things to help it along like watering, weeding or chasing away the birds… but in general the process moves forward on its own, and we don’t even fully understand how or why. If we apply the same interpretation as the previous parable to this one, it would seem to be saying that we really don’t understand how it is that spiritual growth takes place. We don’t know exactly how it is that God’s word takes root in the hearts of some people and grows into strong faith while others never come to faith. We don’t fully understand why some churches experience extensive growth while others struggle just to keep going, and still others close down. But it happens.
Part of our great task as followers of Jesus is to make disciples, so we are naturally very interested in how and why people come to faith. As such, Christians have long sought to gain deeper understanding. Thru out history the church has tried various methods of attaining growth. When churches were aligned with governments in the middle ages, it was believed that expanding the boundaries of one’s country thru military conquest was an effective way to expand the church. In the modern age, churches in wealthy countries have sought to expand the influence of the church by offering economic and other aid to poor countries thru the work of missionaries. Many churches distribute tracts as a way of seeking growth. Christian organizations use media, such as T.V. and radio broadcasts in pursuit of church growth. Some people choose to stand on busy street corners and preach in a loud voice. And then there are the various church programs such as cell groups, church planting plans and many others. Whether we agree or disagree with these various methods, the point is that they are all intended to somehow contribute to the growth of the church and the advancement of Christianity. Of course, as any farmer knows, there are things to be done while a crop is growing. Likewise, we Christians have no shortage of things to do in cooperation with the growth of God’s kingdom… But perhaps there is a warning to us in our modern times, just as there was to the people of Jesus’ day. In that time, it was probably assumed that the only way to draw closer to God and experience spiritual growth was to steadfastly obey the law. There were plenty of detailed instructions that addressed how to obey the law. Following them was the key. Jesus seems to be saying that it isn’t that simple… Obedience to the law doesn’t explain why some people heard his teaching and immediately responded positively, while others; often those making the greatest effort to obey the law, failed to respond positively. In today’s world we tend to avoid the legalism of first century Judaism, but I wonder if there aren’t other areas in which we hold incorrect assumptions about spiritual growth. Over the years there have been so many attempts to systematize things. As a child I was always told that daily devotions was the key to a strong and vibrant faith. I was also taught various specific systems for doing personal evangelism and leading people to faith. The four spiritual laws was one of those. 四つの法則 Now there are specific programs, even in my denomination for how to plant churches and how to revitalize older churches. They come with training classes, textbooks and other systematized methods. All of these are formed with the best of intentions, but at some point they run the risk of reducing the mysterious process of spiritual growth to a 5 or 10 step program. In reality, it just isn’t so. Each case is different. Each church is different. Each individual is different. Pastors of extremely large churches around the world are frequently asked how they attained such growth. The honest ones all say the same thing… “there is no single method or strategy”. “God allowed it to happen”. If any pastor or leader of a large church tries to tell you the specific procedure for growing a big church, that alone is probably proof of insincerity and you should be very skeptical. So, this parable would seem to be telling us that if we think we understand or know how spiritual growth or church growth takes place, we are only fooling ourselves. Of course, there is much work for us to do in God’s plan, but what’s important is that the only thing we absolutely know for sure is that the driving force behind spiritual growth and church growth is the same as the driving force behind agricultural growth. It is the hand of the creator at work. It’s God’s work and only God fully knows how or why it happens as it does.
The second parable today is also agricultural; once again pointing to the process of how seeds take root and grow. READ v.30-32 In this case our attention is drawn to the amazing change or transformation that takes place. The tiniest little seed becomes a rather large plant. Unlike humans who pretty much look human at birth, plants undergo amazing transformation right before our eyes. Of course, science now allows us to see the inner workings of human reproduction and we have come to realize that the transformation involved in human reproduction is no less amazing. But with plants we get to see it right before our eyes. The tiniest of seeds becomes the largest of plants, and it happens so quickly. We can actually see the entire transformation take place in a matter of days or weeks. God’s reign is all about transformation… our hearts, our lives, our societies, our cultures and even our planet. God is in the process of doing a work of transformation; the end goal of which is that everything in creation will be reconciled with God. That is the promise I mentioned earlier… that one day all of creation will be reconciled to the creator. One day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
So, our journey continues. And the words of our Lord continue to resound in our hearts and minds. Look for the signs of God’s reign, because it is being revealed in your midst; right now! And while there is much for you to do, never forget that the miracle of growth is a gift from God and not something you can control. Finally, expect big changes; radical changes; changes that take everyone by surprise. For that is what the kingdom of God is all about! Amen
Speaking the Word 