June 14, 2015 at Manitou Park Presbyterian Church
Text: Mark 4:26-34
26 He also said, "This is what the kingdom
of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day,
whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not
know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain-- first the
stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon
as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has
come."
30 Again he said,
"What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we
use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the
smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32 Yet when planted, it grows
and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the
birds of the air can perch in its shade."
33
With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could
understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a
parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Can you think of a recent time when
you tried to describe something to a person who had no knowledge of it? Maybe you were trying to describe a friend
they didn't know. Perhaps you were trying
to describe an object or tool? Or maybe
it was an idea. Can you think of
one? If so, I'll be there is a phrase
you used in your effort. Let me give an
example and see if you hear it.
Friday was the last day of school and
since Erin is now teaching at Manitou she got invited to an end of the year
staff party and she invited me to go along.
While there I was talking with the husband of one of the other
teachers. We were doing the small talk
thing. What do you do? Where do you live? Are you from Tacoma? No, he said he was from Houston and
Spokane. When I asked what took him to
Spokane he clarified that he had actually lived in Cheney, WA but just said
Spokane because it was close. “Cheney,”
I said, “I've never been there, what is it like?” “Well,” he explained, “its a college
town. And its pretty small.” This was helpful but he paused for a second
and pressed on before saying, “It's like Lacey.” Did you catch the phrase he used? Often when we're trying to describe something
unfamiliar we will use this phrase – it is like.
“Oh, okay” I responded, “so its small,
with a college and about 30 minutes from a city of 200,000 people.” And just like that, even though I have never
been to Cheney, I understand it a little better because Terrance compared it to
a place I had been.
Describing unfamiliar things, be it a
person or a tool, can be a challenge.
Now imagine if you were trying to explain not just a town, but an entire
country. And now imagine if that country
was God’s country? Put another way, the
kingdom of God? How in the world would
you describe this to people?
Such was Jesus' challenge and like us,
he chose to use that helpful phrase, “it is like.”
The KOG is like...wheat
“This is what the kingdom of God is
like...” Now let me pause right
there. Before I go any further let's
play a little game. I will start a
sentence and you finish it.
“The Seattle
Seahawks are like...”
“The United States
of America is like...”
Now, given such answers, can't you
imagine how Jesus might have finished this sentence? “The kingdom of heaven, which is greater by
far than the Seahawks as well as larger and wider than even our beautiful
nation, is like... I would have said, I lion or all the stars in the heavens or
Mt. Rainier.” I would have said
something big, something vast and something mighty. But what does Jesus say?
It is like a man scattering seeds on
the ground. Really? Seeds?
The kingdom of the creator of all that was and is and is to come is like
seeds being scattered on the ground?
Yes, Jesus continues. Then night
and day passes and regardless of what the farmer does the seeds are working
until finally they sprout and grow – first the stalk, then the head and then
the full grain. And as soon as it is
ripe, the farmer takes the sickle to it and harvests it up. And this, this is what the kingdom of God is
like. Do you understand it better
now?
The KOG is like...a tiny invasive unclean
bush where pests nest
Fortunately Jesus doesn't stop
there. Perhaps seeing the confusion on
the faces of the listeners he offers another analogy. Again Jesus asks, “What shall we say the KOG is like?” Okay, now we're going to hear that it is like
a mansion or a mighty river or as Ezekiel said it is like a mighty cedar
tree. Yes, that sounds like God's
kingdom to me. Tell us Jesus, what is
the Kingdom of God like?
“It,”
Jesus says, “is like a mustard seed.” A what? At this comparison I imagine a look
of confusion would have crossed the agrarian faces of his listeners. You know the one where one eye squints and
there is a slight turn of the head.
Mustard seed? How in the world
could any kingdom which is by its very nature vast, let alone the kingdom of
God which is supposed to go from the north and south and east and west, how
could this be anything like a mustard seed?
Well, Jesus explains.
The mustard seed is the smallest of seeds. But, when
planted…wait a second, let me stop you again Jesus. When planted?
Why would you plant a mustard seed?
They spread on their own – like mint or horseradish or raspberries or
dandelions or scotch broom. You don’t
really need to plant their seeds. But
okay, go on.
When planted
it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants. Hold it one more time Jesus. I have to stop
you again. You say that this mustard
seed becomes the greatest of all garden plants (la,canon ). Another translation
says it becomes “the greatest of all shrubs.”
This isn’t exactly a great thing.
It’s a little like saying I am the brightest bulb in a room of match
sticks. Or I’m the sharpest tool in a
shed of sledge hammers. Or in a world where everyone is blind, the one
eyed man is king. This, as they say, is
damning with faint praise. Being the
biggest bush in the garden may be great for a bush, but what has that to do
with the kingdom of God?
And then there
is this matter of being one of the garden
plants. This creates a bit of a
problem because we wouldn’t be planting this mustard seed in our garden. According to Mark Hoffman, seeds were not to
be sown in garden beds. This has to do
with the Levitical admonition against mixing seeds found in Leviticus 19:19. 'Do
not mate different kinds of animals. "'Do not plant your field with two
kinds of seed. So, for Jesus to say a mustard seeds was
being sown in a garden is like saying orange juice was being mixed with milk or
ketchup being put on salmon. You just
don’t do it. But, I’ve stopped you
again, so please go on Jesus.
And Jesus does
continue by exclaiming that this garden plant has such big branches that…that…yes,
Jesus, that you can tie a rope and swing on them? No. That you can cut and lumber into beams used
to build a house or even temple? No. That someone could climb to look miles down
the road to see what is coming on the horizon? Are any of these things how big
the plant will become? Um, no, the
branches are big enough for birds to rest in them.
Birds? Wait,
what? I try to keep the birds out of my
garden. Isn’t this what scarecrows are
for? But you’re offering some kind of
welcomecrows? To make matters worse if
you grow things that will welcome grain eating birds, then what is going to
happen to my wheat that was decently grown in proper order?
Mark tells us that Jesus would later
explain the parables to his disciples. I
would like to have heard that explanation because right now it sounds like
Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is first, like a bunch of wheat. And second like the tiny seed of an invasive unclean bush that invites pests to eat my
food. How in the world is God's
kingdom like that? This, I have to say
Jesus, is the worst parable ever. Or
maybe it’s the best.
The nature of parables[1]
CH Dodd said, “At its simplest the
parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the
hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient
doubt about its precise application to
tease it into active thought.” Has your mind been teased into active
thought?
There
are two kinds of stories; myths and parables.
Myths end happily ever after while parables end in mystery. Myths end with periods while parables end
with question marks. The function of
parables is to surprise, shock and tease the listeners imagination. Are your imaginations teased into active
thought? What meaning do you draw from
these two parables? What do they reveal
to you about God's kingdom?
Let me ask this another way, since we
are reading from the gospel of Mark and gospel means good news, where do you
hear good news in either of these parables?
If you are thinking then the parables are doing their job. I could attempt to tell you what these
parables mean, but I don't think there is any one answer anymore than there is
any one kind of seed. My hope is that
you take these two parables with you when you leave and that they grow and
spread in your minds until you start recognizing God's kingdom in your day to
day life. Who knows what they will
reveal this week about God. It could be
any number of things. So I won't attempt
to “explain them”. What I will do is
offer two examples of where they resonate with me. The first has to do with children.
Orderly wheat
and chaotic mustard
Think back to that first parable and notice
how orderly things are. The seeds sprout
and grow – first the stalk, then the head and then the kernel. We Presbyterians like orderly things. We have an order to our worship. We have a book of order in which it somewhere
says to do things decently and in proper order.
Order is good and we seek to create some for our children. We have an order to their spiritual
development that goes from baptism to nursery to sunday school to youth group
to confirmation to graduation into life.
We have an order to the way they exit the sanctuary and we like to see
them neatly ordered on the stage all singing a song together. This makes us feel good when children are
neat and orderly like growing wheat. But
it ain't always this way.
Sometimes our children are more like
mustard seeds. They run around like
spreading like dandelion seeds. They can
feel invasive when we're trying to have a conversation and sometimes they crowd
out the nice orderly wheat we are trying to grow in this sanctuary. Wheat is orderly while mustard is chaotic but
what does Jesus say about both? The
kingdom of God is like them.
The children's ministry team and some
of the session met last Sunday to talk about ministry to our children. We met to ask, “Is this a place where
children belong?” Our answer was yes,
but. Yes, it is a place where children
belong, but we want it to be even more so.
We want more people involved with the children. We want more children involved in
worship. At times it will be orderly
wheat and other times chaotic mustard but in both will be a reflection of the
kingdom of God. This is my first thought
and my second has to do with the birds.
Birds
Jesus says that the fruit of the
mustard seed isn't just mustard, but a place for the birds to perch in its
shade. As I mentioned this is odd for a
gardener to want birds. Not only will
they eat the food but many birds were seen as unclean. Leviticus 11[2]
has a list of like 20 birds that were to be considered unclean. Among them are eagles, ravens, owls, storks
and even gulls. And yet, here Jesus is
advocating for a bush that will invite space not only for the clean birds but
unclean as well. Jesus doesn't say what
kind of birds, just birds which leads me to question whether Jesus sees things
as clean and unclean, righteous and unrighteous, holy and unholy, in and
out? And this is encouraging to me for I
think Manitou has more in common with the mustard bush than with mighty cedar
trees.
Almost 90 years ago at the creation of
this sanctuary, Rev. Acheson proclaimed that this church was created not just
for certain birds, rather, “Our church is a
community affair, planned to concentrate on the needs of the persons who live
here. We serve the illiterate and the educated, the rich and the poor—if they
are members of our community, our aim is to everything in our power to help
them in every way.” And here we are 90 years later still doing
this.
Sure there
are ways we're doing this right now in this sanctuary where every Sunday thirty
to sixty birds of varying ages and abilities come to nest and receive
shade. But it hasn't stopped here. Every Wednesday ten to forty people come to
get food and clothes for themselves and those in their nests which sometimes
amount to over 150 people per week. But
the mustard bush doesn't stop there. On
Friday and Monday evenings and now even on Saturday afternoons can you guess
how many people come to get help facing their addictions or those of family
members? I knew the numbers were
growing but I was surprised to discover
the total number is over 150 people per week.
For the most part none of them, either in the food bank or NA meetings,
come to worship, but does that diminish the work of the mustard bush? Not – At – All. The mustard bush provides shade to all the
birds that nest in it.
The way out: Mustard bushes and crooked fir
trees
As you likely by now know our church
started in the shade of a massive crooked cedar tree. I imagine Mrs. Shumake and the other leaders
from back in that day hoped that one day there would be a great church built
near that site. I wonder what they might
think today if they could see where we are.
Would they look at say, hmm, I thought it would be bigger by now. Or would they look with different eyes and
say something like wow look at how many birds have found rest and shade in the
branches of such a small church.
Benediction
The
mustard bush isn't exactly our symbol, but the crooked fir tree isn't far from
it especially when you look at the one that now sits on our front lawn. You too may feel like a little crooked fir
tree – not much to look at, not powerful or mighty but know this little mustard
seeds, it is through such small things that God does great things. Go from here with eyes to see and celebrate
those things.
[1] Robert
Capon writes that, “With Jesus, the device of parabolic utterance is used not
to explain things to people's satisfaction but to call attention to the
unsatisfactoriness of all their previous explanations and understandings.
[2] Leviticus 11:13-19 "'These are the birds you are to detest
and not eat because they are detestable: the eagle, the vulture, the black
vulture, 14 the red kite, any
kind of black kite, 15 any
kind of raven, 16 the horned
owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 17 the little owl, the cormorant,
the great owl, 18 the white
owl, the desert owl, the osprey, 19
the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.
