Mark 4: 26-34 

We just read and heard the parable of the growing seed and the parable of the mustard seed which we also just heard. Seeds, obviously, illustrate important facets of the kingdom of God. Seeds are planted. There is growth and then a harvest. When there is a harvest, a vegetarian can eat plentifully. The comedian Whitney Brown said, “I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.” When there’s a harvest of carrots, you know rabbits are happy, but, as the comedian Richard Jeni said, “If carrots are so good for my eyes, how come I see so many dead rabbits on the highways?” 

Jesus tells his friends, his learners, “To you has been given the secret (the mystery) of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables (4: 11)” The secret or mystery of the kingdom, I believe, is found in relationship with Jesus. What is hidden or missed can only be found when we, like the disciples, are with Jesus. That doesn’t mean we understand everything or get insight promptly, but THE BEST PLACE TO BE IS ALWAYS WITH JESUS.  

After Jesus told the parable of the sower earlier in the fourth chapter of Mark, those around him and the disciples asked for interpretation, understanding of what it all meant (4: 10). He told them if they didn’t get this parable, how would they get any understanding about any parable. He then gave them the interpretation of seed being revelation and the conditions of the soil were the conditions of hearts and circumstances receiving the revelation. After he told them the parables of the growing seed and the mustard seed, we learn in verse 34 he explained everything in private to his disciples. We are not so lucky, but we still have his interpretation of the parable of the sower as a guide to understand the parables we read and heard today. 

Revelation, small and great, is offered to us, and we do with it what we please. As seed is thrown among rocks or weeds or on the foot path, there may be germination but no harvest, nothing to eat, nothing to sustain life. Revelation received by a receptive heart or accommodating circumstances will always produce or what can sustain abundant life. To illustrate the kingdom, reign or realm of God, the seed, or revelation, is scattered on the ground as we see in the parable of the growing seed we read earlier. The outcome of revelation planted in our hearts or circumstances will take some time to sprout and grow. We do not know how, but there is growth. AND THE BEST PLACE TO BE IS ALWAYS WITH JESUS. 

The moso is a bamboo plant that grows in China and the far east. After the moso is planted, no visible growth occurs for up to five years – even under ideal conditions. Then, as if by magic, it suddenly begins growing at the rate of nearly two- and one-half feet per day, reaching a full height of ninety feet within six weeks. But it’s not magic. The moso’s rapid growth is due to the miles of roots it develops during those first five years, five years of getting ready.  A seed of revelation that comes to us impacts us uniquely. It may be a fresh bit of insight or an old verse of scripture that brings us a new bit of encouragement. We’ll know it’s revelation from a source outside of us when it is something we cannot forget, we’ll reflect on its meaning without relenting, or we’ll simply want more of it.

Verse 28 of Mark 4: “The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.” The outcome of planting is a crop to be harvested, revelation from God producing fruit, lives changed by grace and truth, our world impacted for the good. This illustrates WHEN THE GOOD GOD OF HEAVEN IS REIGNING IN OUR LIVES AND IN OUR CIRCUMSTANCES THERE’S FRUIT, THERE’S A HARVEST. AND THE BEST PLACE TO BE IS ALWAYS WITH JESUS – WHERE REVELATION TAKES ROOT.

The parable of the mustard seed is “a picture of the kingdom of God” (according to The Message paraphrase). When God’s reign and kingdom finds a heart in which to germinate and grow, though it may come subtly and unintentionally on our part (“the smallest of all seeds”), it grows into a sturdy and formidable shrub, into an observable, living, growing presence where birds nest. This implies supernatural, heavenly activity in the surroundings where God’s kingdom is apparent in an environment where things of God abound.  

So much of this echo where we found ourselves last week. SOMETIMES THE SIMPLE WILL OF GOD FOR US IS TO DRAW CLOSE TO JESUS. When we do, he sees us as his mother, his brother and his sister. In parable form, an understanding of the kingdom of God begins with revelation from God, as simple as a seed planted, sown simply in our lives so that there’s a harvest. There’s plenty more for us to scratch our heads and wonder about from these or any parables, any revelation given to us by God. Maybe the heart of anything we’ve read or heard about Jesus today or any Sunday, any quiet time of devotions or study is found in our last verse today – “He explained everything in private to his disciples.” You and I are still owed some explaining. 

You and I are still owed some explaining. I was reading in my devotional time this past week from the eighteenth chapter of Luke. It was the third time he foretells his death and resurrection. Verse 34 of Luke 18 reads, “But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what he said.” April and I can tell you what we believe we’ve heard from God in times past through dreams, through scriptures given to us by the Spirit out of the blue, through prophetic words offered to us by friends and strangers alike. We’ve come to the place where we’ll pray to understand whether we think we knew the meaning from the get-go or not. Understanding has come this way, and still, some things remain a mystery.  This isn’t a wrestling with the will of God. This is a seed in us taking root with or without our immediate understanding.

In intimate times of prayer, study and worship, we encounter our God, and quite often, he deposits revelation in our hearts. Our parables today tell us, with a willing heart as good ground, the seed will grow and there’ll be a harvest, and the kingdom of God will be seen and known. And there remains plenty for us to ask him about. When we draw close to him, we can ask him for understanding. He owes us some understanding. That doesn’t mean we get everything, but there is growth anyway. Still, THE BEST PLACE TO BE IS ALWAYS WITH JESUS. 

(Preached at St Mark United Methodist Church in Anniston, AL, 6-16-24)