"Every act of love and service that we offer, every comforting or encouraging word, each time we share something of our faith with others is like a seed sown"
This particular parable, so simple a picture and yet so full of meaning
only appears in Mark’s Gospel. It tries, in a couple of sentences
to explain what something really quite complex (the Kingdom of God) is
all about, in words which Jesus’ hearers who lived lives closely
connected to the soil would be able to relate to. At times Jesus could
really make the people scratch their heads and wonder what on earth he
was going on about. But not here, I think. All they had to do was close
their eyes and picture the scene in their minds.
Every week almost, we say these words "Your kingdom come, your will
be done, on earth as it is in heaven" and I wonder how much we understand
by that phrase? That’s the trouble with saying the same words week
after week for all of our Christian lives – sometimes the words
come out without the understanding behind them, they’re almost empty
of meaning.
Jesus loved to use picture language that people could relate to and what
better than the example of the growth of a seed into grain ripe for harvest?
Nature was all around the people of Jesus’ day, and living where
we are we can almost say the same, because we don’t have to travel
far to see the cycle of nature from seed sowing to harvest.
And what does it tell us? Firstly, that the seed has within it the secret
of life and growth, and the farmer doesn’t really need to understand
this before he sows. He’s not creating something, because all the
potential for life is contained within the seed. The farmer can help by
looking after the land and creating good conditions for growth, we can
tinker genetically with the breeding of the seed, but at the end of the
day we have little control over whether the seed will germinate and grow
once it is in the soil and watered by the rain – that’s the
miracle of nature.
It’s not us who can in some way create a Kingdom of God. It is already
there, waiting to be entered into. We can create conditions upon earth
where it is given the opportunity to grow more speedily and more fully,
and we can also hinder it by our actions or inaction, but in the same
way that it is the creative power of God behind the miracle contained
within a seed, so it is with his Kingdom.
Have you actually watched a seed grow? Have you seen it actually grow
taller as you watch? I guess not, and yet no doubt you’ve sown seed
one day, seen nothing happen for a while and a few days later gone back
and seen the first leaves pushing through the soil. Give it another day
or two and there’s real evidence of growth in that row of lettuce
or whatever (slugs permitting!). A few weeks later and you are eating
the leaves. Nature’s growth is often imperceptible. Watch a plant
every day and you’ll be lucky to see evidence of growth, we only
notice growth when we’ve been away for a while and come back to
look. It could be argued that the same is true of the growth of God’s
Kingdom.
Generations of Christians have prayed those words about the kingdom in
the Lord’s Prayer over the centuries. Have their prayers simply
been ignored? Were all those words said empty, without meaning? Of course
not! History tells us that despite the terrible atrocities that have been
committed and the injustices that have been endured by people over the
centuries and even now, we live in a world that is far removed from that
of our forefathers. It might not yet be perfect, but it is better.
The story is told of Elizabeth Fry who went to Newgate Prison in 1817.
She found in the women’s quarters around 300 women and masses of
children living, cooking and eating on the floor. The only attendants
were an old man and his son. They crowded, half naked and begging for
money which they spent on drink in a bar in the prison itself. She found
a boy of nine waiting to be hanged for poking a stick through a window
and stealing paints valued at twopence.
I don’t think conditions like that would be tolerated in this country
these days, and maybe we would be justified in saying that the reason
is that God’s Kingdom is slowly and imperceptibly becoming established,
as humankind begins to think of others as well as self, and indeed starts
to think that all might be born equal in worth.
Think about the tireless
work of those opposed to our country’s involvement with the slave
trade, which had a massive impact at the time but only after a long period
of time when fellow human beings were considered to be as valuable as
a pack horse and openly traded for gain.
We might not notice the difference from one day to the next, but when
we look at the bigger picture then we can perhaps acknowledge the fact
the work of God goes on day to day, quietly, unceasingly, sometimes hindered,
sometimes helped by our actions.
But just as there is an inevitability
behind the cycle of nature which starts with a seed and ends with a harvest,
so it is with God’s purposes. A tender shoot can force its way through
a tarmac pavement over a period of time. How does it do it? By constantly
growing in order to achieve its purpose – fruitfulness and harvest.
And it’s this inevitability, the ultimate harvest which is the great
Christian message of the Gospel. The seed is sown, it grows and eventually
fruits. As the hymn tells us ‘God is working his purpose out’
And at the harvest the good fruit, the ripened grain is separated from
the weeds and tares, which are put aside and destroyed. Harvest and judgement
go together!
Christians are called to be good gardeners, who sow the seed but who also
have the patience to wait for the harvest, whenever it might come –
in our lifetime or in the future, as Paul acknowledged. We might want
action now, just as we want to see our flower seeds grow and blossom within
a season, but God calls us to be patient gardeners, to work to his timescale
not ours.
Paul knew all about this, about living in hope of what was to come, of being a harvest people . In our reading from Corinthians he says “It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming”
Every act of love and service that we offer, every comforting or encouraging
word, each time we share something of our faith with others is like a
seed sown – we don’t know what effect they will have in the
immediate days, but they are like the watering and feeding that we do
in our own gardens, they encourage growth, promote fruitfulness and hasten
the harvest in our lives and others. “This is what the kingdom of
God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground”
Have you been practising your gardening skills recently?
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