I do not like plant metaphors!
Mark 4:26-34; 2 Corinthians 5:6-17; Psalm 92:1-4,12-15; Ezekiel 17:22-24
Again with the plant metaphors! I mentioned some sermons ago that plant metaphors and I aren’t friends, and yet here we are with another one. At least I can understand this one a little better than the pruning business. So let’s just dive right in.
Jesus, at this point, is in the midst of what is, for Mark’s gospel, a rather sizeable block of teaching. A crowd had gathered on the shores of a lake, and he started parable-ing. First he gave the parable of the sower and how the word of God is not unlike seed falling on different kinds of soil. Next was about a lamp on a stand, in which Jesus explained the insanity of lighting a lamp only to cover it up with a bowl or bed. While I don’t understand the wisdom of putting fire anywhere near a bed, the point is clear. Then he continues with the two parables we read today.
First we have the parable of the seed. “The kingdom of God,” Jesus begins, “is like a man scattering seed on the ground. Night and day, no matter if he is awake or asleep, the seed sprouts and grows, even if the man doesn’t understand why. The grain grows all by itself — first the stalk, then the head, then the kernel — the man has no control over it. Then, when the grain is ripe, he harvests it.”
Then Jesus continues, “The kingdom of God is also like a mustard seed. It is the smallest seed you plant, but when it grows it is the largest plant in the garden, big enough for birds to perch comfortably in.”
Now we know that these parables are talking about the same sort of thing, in large part because Jesus says they’re both about the kingdom of God, but what is it trying to tell us? I think it’s quite simple — Jesus is talking about evangelism (the act of telling other people about God).
Of course we have an image in our minds of what this is like. For some of us, evangelism looks like a Billy Graham crusade: there’s a really good speaker who sets out to persuade people emotionally to pray a prayer and give their lives over to Jesus. For others, evangelism looks like people who go door to door handing out tracts or other printed materials hoping to convince someone intellectually to give their lives over to Jesus. Some of us see evangelism as that crazy guy standing on a cardboard box with a sign reading “THE END IS NEAR” in big letters screaming at everyone that they’re all going to die if they don’t repent. And some of us may even see evangelism as something much more long-term: befriending someone, loving them, and eventually, if they ask, telling them about Jesus’ love and God’s desire for them to follow.
All of that is aspects of evangelism, but we too often think that it’s something we do on our own. Yet today’s parables, especially the parable of the seed, tell us that the most we can do is plant a seed, and maybe even water it and feed it, but we can’t make it grow. We can’t do anything to grow someone’s faith, just like we can’t do anything to force a seed to grow into a plant. We have to trust God to take care of it.
That’s the best and most frustrating part about evangelism all at the same time — there’s only so much we can do before it’s up to the individual and their experience with the Holy Spirit. It takes a lot of trust in God to do what God will do, especially if the person we are trying to tell about Jesus is someone we care about.
Yet it’s the second parable that gives us some hope in this regard. Just like a mustard plant/bush/tree/whatever, a small seed can turn into a big faith. It doesn’t always take much from us for God to do amazing things; sometimes it just takes something as small as a mustard seed.
I’ve heard stories of people coming to faith through unexpected and seemingly insignificant events. A lady I met in Russia began to trust in God after reading Dostoyevsky. I’ve heard stories of people whose life as a believer started because someone gave them a sandwich. For me, it was the example of my parents, who forced me to go to church every week and have nightly devotions together as a family. There’s aren’t huge things — yet they can make a powerful impact.
Of course in the midst of all of this, the most important thing we do in evangelism is to pray. As Ezekiel mentions, the Lord will take care of the person in question, and, as our reading from Ezekiel ended, “I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.”