The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Mark, the fourth chapter:
And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 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.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
I couldn’t help but notice in the text today that Mark tells us that Jesus explained everything to His disciples in private when it came to His parables. But, do you notice what is missing here? Any kind of explanation. Is that because the parables are so easy to understand? If that were the case, why would Jesus have used them? After all, He used the parables to confuse the people hearing them, unless they were one of His followers. That’s what He says earlier in the chapter, anyway.
I don’t think it’s because the parables here are easy to understand. In fact, I think these can be pretty hard to understand. Unless, of course, you’ve been taught what they mean. And some of us have, to be sure. I mean, most of the time, Jesus’ parables have some sort of explanation, but these are missing and that bugs me. But, I believe the explanation, since it is not in the text, must be in what the text contains, which is Jesus Himself. Jesus must be the key, He must be what these parables are talking about.
First, Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is as if a man scattered seed. Notice, the kingdom is not the man, the Kingdom is not the seed. It’s as if a man should scatter seed. And then He says, things happen. The man does nothing more than go to bed and wake up. But the seed, given power by God, sitting in the darkness of the earth, rises up and grows to harvest. And when it’s ready, the man, who has done nothing to make it grow, goes out and harvests it all up. All of that is like the Kingdom of God.
And then He says that the Kingdom of God is like the smallest seed you can imagine, but then it grows up into the largest thing you could ever expect. A much easier parable than the first? Perhaps.
But see what Jesus is doing here? First, He points out that no one really knows how the Kingdom grows. It just does by the natural power that has been given to it. And then, Jesus points out that the Kingdom itself isn’t much to look at. It’s small, tiny, without much grandeur. But, when it’s fully grown it takes over and overshadows everything around it.
But, what does He mean? Where’s the explanation? How are we to understand such things? First, we should see how wonderful the seed of the Kingdom of heaven is. It grows so well and does that which it is expected to do. The seed here is undoubtedly the Word of God, cast out onto the earth, and there, in that seed, is life. There, in that seed, is power. And that seed takes root and it grows, producing, through its life, the fruit of what is expected, and, at its end, the salvation of a person. The Word does everything in this parable. By its own power, it brings forth the harvest.
And so it is for us, that the Word of God has all the power that has claimed you for Christ. You have contributed nothing to this harvest, but the Word of God, by the life that is contained in it, has brought you forth, helps you to do good in Christ’s name, the name of He who has planted you, and it continues to have power in you, giving to you salvation until the day that you are plucked from this earth, either by your death, or by your Lord’s return.
Christ has thrown His Word into the world, and He awaits the day of the great harvest. By His power, by His command, the sickle comes out and the harvest of souls is begun. He is in total control, but has placed the growth of the seed into the hands of those who will steward it, shown to us in this parable by the earth. Christ could have just put seed in His hand and commanded it to grow, and it would have, but Christ, in this parable, used the means of the earth, the normal means by which plants grow to produce what He desires. In explanation, Christ has placed His Word into the hands of those who steward it and Christ expects that the Word will do what it will because of the normal way it works. All things together, that’s pretty easy.
In the second parable, what is the mustard seed but Christ Himself? The mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds, the most humble, if you will. And who is more humble, or what is more humble, than our Lord? He brought Himself down low for us, brought Himself out of heaven to live among His people. And He submitted to the Law all the way, even unto death, and death upon a torture device. This is His humbleness, His humiliation. Yet, out of His humility, the Kingdom of God grows great and strong, and all may take rest in it.
And so we see ourselves here, too. That Christ, having been planted into the ground following His death, rose from the ground and gave new, strong, vigorous life to all those who would believe in Him. That is you, my friends. You have grown up from Christ, the seed who gives life to all the living.
And here is how, then, the parables connect with one another. In the first parable, Christ has given to the world His Word, and expects it to grow using the means He has given. And in the second parable, He shows Himself to be a seed, given to the world by the Father, and from Him all things grow. If you will, Mark interprets these parables for us as He goes through His Gospel, as Jesus teaches the disciples what they should be doing and how they should do it.
This should be no surprise to us. In the first parable, Christ has given to the world His Word, and this Word, as Mark reveals to us throughout His whole Gospel, is given in the forgiveness of sins. This forgiveness, and really, all that the Word of God works, which are good works toward our neighbors, strengthening of faith, conviction of sins under the Holy Law, strength in Christ, comfort in the Gospel, this all comes out of the Word of Jesus, this comes to us though the mediation upon God’s Word. And that meditation comes by hearing the Word, reading the Word, marking what the Word says for you, inwardly digesting the Word. And it comes through the ways Christ has given to His Church to have the Word planted in you. It comes, unsurprisingly, then, through Baptism, and it comes through the Lord’s Supper.
These are the means by which the Lord grows the seed of His Word. This is what He puts His Word into in order to reap the harvest He desires. For when we are troubled, we know we have Christ with us for we are Baptized. And when we are weak, either in our conviction of faith or in the good works we should have done for our neighbor, we know we have the strength of Christ in our weakness in His Supper. And when we fail and fall and falter, we rely on His Word coming to us and speaking peace, not condemnation.
This is the first parable. And the second is like it, for a humble Christ give humble things to His people. What more humble means could Christ have given His Church to have the Kingdom grow than through simple water, simple bread, simple wine, and simple words? If it were me who were Jesus and I was trying to make a point that the Kingdom will grow, I would have given stronger, more engaging means to win people. I would have given any who scatter the seed of the Word fire from their fingers. I would have given to all the ability to resurrect the dead. I would have given magical feasts appearing from nowhere.
But our humble Jesus gave us humble means of grace so that we would not be tempted to worship the means, but worship the One who comes to us through the means. Jesus keeps it simple, but the growth is incredible. Jesus keeps it humble, but all will see it in the end when He returns.
You see, for us, Jesus gives to us all that we need for this body and life. He gives us all things in His Kingdom. He gives us the promise that He has taken care of everything that we need. By showing Himself to be the man who scatters the seed, we can see that our Lord has done and will continue to do all that is required to bring you to Himself on the last day. And by being the humble seed, planted in the ground for your sake, for the forgiveness of your sins, He shows Himself to be your great reward at the end of time.
Perhaps we feel that Jesus should have made His explanation to these parables more clear, but there is nothing more clear or certain than Jesus declaring with His Word that He has saved you by His death and resurrection, that He has strengthened you with His means of grace, that He has cared for you in His taking on your flesh, and that He will return for you from the right hand of God the Father. He says this to each of you, every time you hear His Word, and every time you receive His gifts. He is the key to understanding these parables, and He is the key to the Kingdom of Heaven, and He is who we look to for all things, even for those mysteries of the Word of God. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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