Seeds of the Kingdom

Sermon for June 13, 2021, Pentecost 3B

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Mark 4:26-34

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself, the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

In past years I have purchased flower starts, but this year I also ventured into planting seeds.  I am a totally inexperienced gardener, so I watched some videos about how to plant the seeds properly.  I tried it; for weeks nothing happened.  At least that’s what it looks like.  

But we know that’s not really true.  Beneath the ground, the seeds are exposed to water.  Water triggers the seeds to start producing protein enzymes that promote the metabolic activity in the seed.  Eventually, the root emerges from the seed, and finally, the little shoot appears above the ground.  

I planted mixed wildflowers along the fence behind our home, and now they are nearly as tall as that fence.  A few blossoms have begun to emerge.  

Now we understand the process of germination, but in the ancient world, they did not.  They knew that if they planted the seed, it would grow.  They thought of the process as automatic; the seed just grows “all by itself” as the parable says.  

The City and the Countryside

Jesus loved to use nature to teach lessons about his favorite topic: the Kingdom of God.  He lived during a time in which two cities in Galilee within 20 miles of Nazareth were under construction.  Sepphoris, nearest his home, was being rebuilt after having been destroyed to punish an attempted Jewish revolt in 4 BC, and Tiberius was being newly established on the shores of the freshwater Sea of Galilee.  

Jesus was a carpenter, or builder, so probably worked construction the city, but when he wanted to talk about God and the Kingdom, he never looked to building materials, as Paul did when he described the church as God’s building.  Jesus seemed to avoid the cities, and with good reason.  

In the ancient world, the cities were home to the land-owning families who lived by extracting the labor of the peasants in the countryside.   The relationship of city to countryside was that of parasite to host.  There was no love lost for the soft city-dwellers out in the fields where the labor was done.  

In fact, Jesus was actively deconstructing empire-oriented images of the kingdom of God with his nature parables.  For years, his compatriots had longed for God to come and establish his kingdom.   

They thought it would look like a new round of victories like Joshua’s conquest of Jericho when “the walls came a tumblin’ down.” They wanted dramatic intervention from on high that would put an end to their enemies, the Romans.  

They wanted the Day of the Lord, as the prophets imagined it, sudden, swift and violent.  After all of the dust settled, they believed, then the reign of peace could begin.  

Jesus’ Alternative Vision

But Jesus had a different vision.  His vision of how the kingdom would come, based on his radical understanding of the nature of God, was much slower, more subtle, and much more collaborative.  

So it was much more like a farmer who does the work of sowing seeds.  He does his part, then the rest happens by a process he does not understand.  But God who made a good earth, coaxes the seed to sprout and grow into an abundant, nourishing harvest.  

The kingdom of God is like that.  It is a beautiful, gradual process of coming to understand that the God of the good earth is for us, not against us.  It is the nourishing experience of people who collectively work so that God’s will is done “on earth as it is in heaven,” saying “thy kingdom come.”  

Jesus told people who understood that the greatest commandments that summed up the whole law of Moses were to love God and neighbor that they were not far from the kingdom of God.  

So the kingdom of God grows and spreads as the seeds are sown; we do our part, and then God does God’s part.  Like the protein enzymes opening seeds, God’s Spirit lures people to open their hearts to a new world.  God’s spirit, like the metabolic process, coaxes people to want the good for their neighbors.  

Not like a sudden crushing army, imposing its will on its victims, but like a beautiful plant emerging from the good earth, so the kingdom comes.

From Tiny Seed to Mighty Tree

And after it emerges, what?  Well, then the metaphor shifts to the mustard seed.  It is a tiny seed, but a mustard plant can grow up to three feet tall.  The kingdom too starts insignificantly small.  First only 12 people hear the message.  

But then others get the message that God loves them and without the need for a violent sacrifice at a temple, God forgives their mistakes, and invites them all to sit together at one table of bounty.    

In fact, the kingdom grows so much beyond a literal mustard bush that it becomes a towering tree on whose branches the birds can find a place to rest.  

The vision of the kingdom of God like a beautiful, shelter-providing tree, is a vision of peace, not pacification.  It is more like the vision of the prophets in which everyone 

“sits under their own vine and fig tree with no one making them afraid of invasion.  

Micah 4:4

God’s will is that we would embrace this collaborative vision of the kingdom, doing our part to sow the seeds, and then standing back to watch God at work.

The Seeds We Sow

There are so many seeds to sow.  

We sow the seeds of mercy as we make muffins for the Sack Lunch Program and dinners for the Salvation Army.  

We sow the seeds of hope as we work to promote policies that will prevent climate change.  

We sow the seeds of reconciliation as we provide opportunities for police and citizens to engage each other in dialogue.  

We sow the seeds of justice as we work to bring the Bail Project to the River Valley so that people do not sit in jail while they await their hearing, simply because they are poor.  

We sow the seeds of joyful inclusion as we welcome all people, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.  

We sow the seeds of spiritual growth as we provide opportunities for education and spiritual formation.   

We sow the seeds of love as we gather to support one another at funerals and memorial services.  

We sow the seeds of encouragement as we visit the sick and elderly, as we make calls, and write cards, letting them know that they are not forgotten.

And God nurtures those seeds of the kingdom quietly and slowly, not coercively, but certainly.  It is our joy to collaborate with God’s kingdom.

So Jesus radically reoriented the nature of the hope for the kingdom of God.  Instead of an ethnic kingdom, it was open to all people. 

Instead of coming suddenly, by force, it comes slowly and voluntarily.  Instead of a political or geographical kingdom, it was a sapiential kingdom one enters by wisdom’s insights.  

The Kingdom’s Loyalty Claim

Some have suggested that the language of kingdom is problematic; that it carries with it notions of hierarchy and patriarchy.  So, they suggest a family-oriented alternative such as kin-dom, since we are all kin to each other.  The one concept that is lost in the kin-dom language is the concept of loyalty.  

But that is one concept we cannot leave behind.  We believe that the kingdom of God claims our highest loyalty.  Beyond nation, beyond flesh and blood relations, the kingdom of God is a higher calling.  

It is a commitment to live in this world as if God were king.  A calling to sow the seeds of the kingdom as far and as widely as possible, until 

“God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.”

The Lord’s Prayer