June 17, 2012 3rd Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 4:26-34

    ²⁶ He (Jesus) 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 of all seeds on earth. ³² Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds 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.

"God Does It'"

The Kingdom of God seems terribly insignificant and insufficient in the affairs of the world, yet it has the dynamic that can make the difference even in our world.

That dynamic is the love of God as known in Jesus Christ.  A love which is individual and universal.  “If Christianity doesn’t begin with the individual it doesn’t begin; but if it ends with the individual, it ends.”

In the parable of the seed growing secretly we are reminded that we have little to do with the building of the Kingdom.  It grows on its own and at its own pace! 

 “The Kingdom of God is not a ‘cause’ for which we fight, nor a ‘program’ that we run.  It is what God does on His own.  We do not build God’s Kingdom.”   God does!” 

God uses us to be sure.  Yet we do not do it; God does.  And it takes time.  Patience is the word when we wait for seed to grow - in the ground and in the Kingdom.

The parable of the Mustard Seed reminds us that God often works God’s purposes out through the insignificant.  In the Kingdom of God, it is not bigness which counts, but making a difference in someone’s life.