I once saw a video of a gardener sharing about his method of planting carrots. Because their seeds are so small, he digs a little trench and then just sprinkles some seeds along it, knowing that not all of them are going to grow well and that he might have to thin them out if too many do start growing. He doesn’t really know how many carrots he will get this way, but if you’ve ever tried to plant carrots, you’ll know it’s so much simpler than trying to make little holes and only dropping one of the tiny seeds into each space while they also somehow always seem to get stuck to your hand. The small seeds are always so much harder to plant! In many ways, this method of planting carrots isn’t that different than gardening in general because, when we plant something in the ground, we can do all of our research and hope for the best, but certain things are outside of our domain, such as if it is getting enough or too much sunlight, what the soil quality is like, and are there rocks below ground that we can’t see that might choke our plant’s roots. Or, maybe a hailstorm will damage our plants, or the bunnies will eat all of the sprouts before they even really have a chance to grow.
And, just as there are a lot of parallels between discipleship and fishing, so too are there a lot of comparison of God’s kindom to gardening. It’s a theme that Jesus really picks up today in the Gospel reading, especially in the beginning when he is talking about the sower planting the seeds but then it really isn’t up to the sower what happens. When it comes to faith, we can share the Gospel and talk about our faith, we can do spiritual practices to cultivate it, but ultimately our faith doesn’t come from us. It comes from God alone, through the Spirit that calls us to faith. In my Seminary classes we talked frequently about how we don’t convert people, but it is the work of the Holy Spirit. We can plant the seeds, but we don’t actually grow them. Faith is both individual and communal, and it is relational with our Triune God.
Now, I know that this might be different from what people expect. That was certainly the case when my chaplaincy interns and I got scolded on the bus after our shift one day by an angry man because our response to his question of how many people we saved that day was zero. But this too aligns with our Gospel reading today and what people expected of Jesus and the reign of God. We hear it in our other readings for today, but there was this expectation the reign of God was going to be mighty and strong like a cedar that stands high on the hill. But, instead, Jesus says that the reign of God is going to be like this tiny mustard seed (Mark 4: 31). This small, seemingly insignificant seed is what the kindom of God will be like. That must have been a shock to the disciples, hence why our reading reminds us that Jesus had to take the time to explain the parables to them (Mark 4: 34).
Naturally, I did some photo research because I needed to see what these mustard plants really looked like, because as much as I love mustard, I’ve never tried to grow it before. And, what amazed me is that it wasn’t actually that big of a shrub in terms of height or size, but what did stick out to me in the photos was the way that it spread out. And, I think that is actually an even more beautiful representation of the kindom of God. See, when I was growing up in Minnesota, one of my favorite places was Itasca State Park which formally boasted one of the tallest red pines in the country. I say formally because several years ago now it was struck by lightning, and it lost its reign as the tallest red pine, so now it’s only the 2nd tallest. But, that is actually important to this story too! When we think about it, the taller the tree/shrub gets, the more susceptible it is to being toppled. If the kindom of God was like the tall and mighty cedar, it means that it would have had a strong base in the disciples, but it would have stayed in a relatively small area. But, because the kindom of God is like a mustard seed that spreads out, it represents the way in which the plant is strong in its own way. It shows the spread of the Gospel and how God’s love wasn’t just concentrated in one area but was meant to keep expanding outward. Our faith would be so much different if the kindom grew strong only in one spot like a cedar tree, who knows if we would have even heard the Gospel.
Jesus also talks about how the mustard seed plant has “branches big enough for the birds of the sky to build nests in its shade” (Mark 4: 32). When the mustard plants spread out the way that they do, it provides lots of shade for the birds and other creatures to make their nests and have safe keeping. Especially in the images I saw, the plants are pretty dense, so it would be difficult to see anything sheltering within them. That sort of camouflage is so important for the ability to feel safe and protected.
But, this idea of sheltering isn’t just for the birds. I think both the spread of the plants and their role in protection and rest represents what the kindom of God is like. Instead of Jesus going around and taking on the Roman Empire directly, he is eating with and including the people on the margins. He is healing the ill and injured to allow them to actually receive rest. His entire purpose isn’t to grow strong and intimidating in order to challenge the Empire, but to do his ministry quietly and in a way that cares for the people and spreads the message of the Gospel without drawing too much attention to himself. This is what Jesus is talking about when he says that the reign of God is going to be like a mustard seed because it is not what people were expecting in terms of size and power, but it was also so much more that what people were expecting in all that this tiny seed could do.
Finally, when we think about the kindom of God being like a mustard seed, it humbles us to remind us that we have a role in the kindom, but we are not the ones in control of it. While it doesn’t resonate as much with us here in Seattle, I think about all of my family back in Minnesota and North Dakota that are farmers and how their schedules are controlled by the plants, not the other way around. The kindom needs people to plant the seeds, but its growth isn’t fully in our control. It’s a completely different way of centering the world when we see ourselves as a part of it, but not the ones in charge of how everything happens and when. It allows us to share the message and spread the seeds, but we get to free ourselves from the pressure when we remember that we are a part of God’s work, not the other way around. And, it’s a reminder to be open to the ways in which God works differently than we expect, otherwise we would have missed out on so much of the kindom work if we were only looking for a mighty cedar instead of being surprised by this tiny mustard seed.
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Sunday June 23rd, 2024 Worship