26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should
scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed
sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the
blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is
ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of
God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard
seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on
earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the
garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can
make nests in its shade.”
33 With many such
parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not
speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he
explained everything. (Mark 4:26-34 (ESV)
The Kingdom of God, Jesus compares it to wheat sown in the
ground, to mustard seeds that blossom into bushes within which the birds of the
air can find home and refuge. But what is this kingdom that he speaks of? Often
we think of political realities, places like the United Kingdom, Norway or
Sweden places that still have kings, perhaps even if they don’t truly reign
over their country anymore and let the people rule for themselves. But what is
a kingdom without the reign, the rule of a king? And it is this that Jesus
speaks about, and his rule is not that of an earthly king, but he rules through
grace, forgiveness, love and mercy in those who believe his word. His reign is
faith, his kingdom is grace, for he does not lord it over as the gentiles do,
or come to be served, but comes to serve, to bathe us in forgiveness and wash
our feet with grace, to adopt as children and parent us with love. It is this
that is like a grain of wheat sown in the ground that grows up while one
sleeps, a mustard seed that has potential to outgrow the garden.
It can be unpredictable, the word of God, this mustard seed.
Farmers plant in the spring, and hope for good weather. It’s out of their
control. Oh, there are somethings they can do. Perhaps make sure there is water
when it is dry. They can spray for weeds and pests. But an ill-timed hail storm
can wipe them out, and what do you do with drought? Well, as Christians we don’t
need to worry about that so much, we have the word of God, Baptism and the Lord’s
Supper, an inexhaustible reservoir of water
for the mustard plant growing in our souls, if we just find time to make
use of it. It is in the word of God, in baptism and the Lord’s Supper that the
Holy Spirit is at work planting, watering, pruning and harvesting, and yet
though we can be sure he is there and at work, there is often much mystery.
It’s the constant worry of parents, will my children, will
my child be a believer? But then they are believers, they have been baptized,
they have been given the gift of faith. Will they remain believers is perhaps
the more appropriate question. We plant
the seed, we baptize them. We take them to church and Sunday school as often as
we can. This is actually an important part of faith formation, here in the
divine service gathered with other believers praying the same prayers, being
visited by Christ together in his word and in Holy Communion, putting aside the
petty squabbles that might be churning the gossip mills at any given moment but
forgiving our neighbors at least so much that here in this sanctuary, where we
all become one by eating from the same loaf that is Jesus Christ, the bread of
life who has come down from heaven, here we forgive on another at least so much
as to be able to kneel next to one another not only in the confession of sins,
but in in the reception of forgiveness in the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
And perhaps it doesn’t look like our kids are getting much out of it, though
they do enjoy that children’s sermon. But they learn more than you can ever
imagine. They may not grasp the sermon, sometimes spoken in innuendo, and
figures of speech, parables understood by those who are meant to understand,
adults perhaps dealing with harsher realities of life. Yet the Holy Spirit is
here also watering the souls of the tender little ones Jesus says believe in
him, the little ones he would have suffered, and not forbidden, but be brought
on to him and be blessed, and blessed they are. They learn as if by osmosis through
the rhythm of the liturgy which has shaped the life of believers from infancy
through to life eternal, generation after generation even since the days of
Moses.
And no, it doesn’t guarantee that your children are going be
perfect little angels avoiding the sins of associated with David, or Samson,
Abraham or Solomon. Fact is, your children will more than likely be the
spitting image of you yourself when the world looks on. And for as much as you
repeat the mantra “do as I say and not as I do” and pray that they listen, they
will often be about as helpless as you find yourself when you are doing what
you do and not as you say. But then, well then you have raised them in the
faith teaching them when they lie down with bed time prayers, teaching them
along the way as they sit eating cheerios during the sermon, teaching them when
they rise, perhaps nothing more than a Portals of Prayer devotion in the
morning. And then when they find themselves in the pits of Sheol, or the local
jail, facing the consequences of life in a sinful world amidst a sinful
generation, well then they will find there an old friend, a beloved brother
lifting upon them his benevolent face and giving them peace as he has given you
peace. For it was them, these little one’s baptized into his grace, lifted up
into his arms and folded to his breasts even before they could speak, in whom
Christ himself has planted the mustard seed of faith to be a place of refuge
for them, it was for them he died on the cross, broke his body and shed his
blood that they would know the forgiveness of sins and the joy of salvation.
Now the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
1 comment:
Lovely and inspiring post. Thank you so much for sharing.
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