Seeds

by Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy

26 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground,
27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.
28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.
29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
30 Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it?
31 It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth;
32 but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”
33 And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.
34 But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.– Mark 4:26-34

The gospel lesson this Sunday is a parable about the Kingdom of God told by Jesus in the gospel according to Mark. The Kingdom of God was the main emphasis of Jesus’ ministry, and this is accepted by most. But defining precisely what the Kingdom was is a bit more difficult. Indeed, even Jesus himself was often illusive about it. He did not speak in absolutes; rather, he spoke in parables.
Parables are comparisons, meant to cast two things alongside one another to provide analogy, contrast, or reflection — usually a reflection similar to the distortions that appear in a funhouse mirror. Jesus’ parables, whether they are brief aphorisms or short narratives, have a way of reordering conventional assumptions and values. They don’t explain how one is supposed to recognize the reign of God, but they make it clear that we will need to adopt or receive new ways of perceiving.
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Relative to this parable here’s a fable which I edited for easier comprehension.
One day a turtle is visited by his good friend, the monkey, at his home near the river. The monkey marveled at his friend’s lush garden and asked if he could grow one like it. The turtle assured the monkey he could do so, although he cautioned him, “It is hard work.”
The monkey eagerly vowed to do the hard work necessary, then asked for and received some seeds. He rushed home with his treasure, buried them amid much laughter and song, went inside to clean up, ate, and went to bed. The next morning, he leapt from bed to see his new garden.
Nothing. The ground looked no different than it had the day before!
Furious with anger and frustration, the opossum shouted at his buried seeds, “Grow, seeds, grow!” He pounded the ground and stomped his feet. But nothing happened. Soon a large crowd of forest animals gathered to see who was making all the commotion and why. The turtle came to investigate with all the others.”What are you doing, monkey?” he asked. “Your racket has awakened the whole forest.”
The monkey railed about having no garden, then turned to each seed, and commanded it to grow. When the animals began to mock the monkey for his silly actions, he only screamed louder. At last, the turtle spoke up once more.
“Wait a minute, Monkey,” he said. “You can’t make the seeds grow. You can only make sure they get sun and water, then watch them do their work. The life is in the seed, not in you.”
As the truth sank in, the monkey ceased his yelling and began to care for the seeds as the turtle instructed, watering them regularly and getting rid of any weeds that invaded his garden. (On some days, though, when no one was watching, he still shouted a bit.)
Then one glorious morning the monkey wandered outside to see that multitudes of beautiful green sprouts dotted his garden. Just a few days later, gorgeous flowers began to bloom. With uncontrollable excitement and pride, the monkey ran to his friend, the turtle, and asked him to witness the miracle. The turtle took one long look at the thriving garden and said, “You see, Monkey, all you had to do was let the seeds do the work while you watched.””Yes,” smiled the monkey finally remembering the wise words of his friend many days before, “but it’s a hard job watching a seed work.”
“There’s a lesson there for all of us. Sometimes, as Christians and church leaders, we work too hard and take ourselves too seriously instead of simply planting people in the proper environment and letting them grow.” (Borrowed and edited from Doug Murren, in Churches That Heal: Becoming a Church That Mends Broken Hearts and Restores Shattered Lives [West Monroe, La: Howard Publishing, 1999
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One of William Barclay’s friends tells this story. In the church where he worshiped there was a lonely old man, old Thomas. He had outlived all his friends and hardly anyone knew him. When Thomas died, this friend had the feeling that there would be no one to go to the funeral so he decided to go, so that there might be someone to follow the old man to his last resting-place.
There was no one else, and it was a miserable wet day. The funeral reached the cemetery, and at the gate there was a soldier waiting. An officer, but on his raincoat, there were no rank badges. He came to the grave side for the ceremony, then when it was over, he stepped forward and before the open grave swept his hand to a salute that might have been given to a king. The friend walked away with this soldier, and as they walked, the wind blew the soldier’s raincoat open to reveal the shoulder badges of a brigadier general.
The general said, “You will perhaps be wondering what I am doing here. Years ago Thomas was my Sunday School teacher; I was a wild lad and a sore trial to him. He never knew what he did for me, but I owe everything I am or will be to old Thomas, and today I had to come to salute him at the end.” Thomas did not know what he was doing.
No preacher or teacher ever does. Keep sowing the seed. We can leave the rest to God, including keeping the fire going. And that is GOOD news for all of us tenant farmers.
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Seeds are one of God’s miracle creations. So is our faith. Here’s another anecdote which I came across in my reading of this parable. A small fellow, not much over 5 feet tall, applied for a job as a lumberjack in Alaska. The foreman, thinking to discourage him, gave him a large ax, set him before a tree hundreds of feet tall, and yards in diameter, and told him to chop it down. Within minutes the tree had been felled. The amazed foreman asked him where he’d learned to chop trees so powerfully. The little fellow replied, “When I worked in the Sahara forest.” “You mean, the Sahara desert.” “That was after I got there,” said the small lumberjack.
The point of the story is that size is less important than spirit, or intelligence, or courage — a point made when King David was selected at a young age: “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature … for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
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A faith that grows has heart, a heart that belongs to God. Faith grows from the inside out.
The reign of God will take root — whether in the world, in imperial society, or in someone’s heart, Jesus does not specify. It will grow gradually and automatically. It will grow perhaps so subtly that you won’t even notice, until at last it produces its intended fruit.
Let us pray.
Proper 6 Week of the Sunday closest to June 15
Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast
faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim
your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with
compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen. (BCP).**