As we are faithful to sow, God is faithful to grow.

Mark 4:26-41

Parable of the Seed

²⁶ And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸ The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ And He said, “How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, ³² yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.”

³³ With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it; ³⁴ and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Stills the Sea

³⁵ On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” ³⁶ Leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. ³⁷ And there *arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. ³⁸ Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. ⁴⁰ And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

As we continue in the gospel of Mark from the daily readings in the One Year Bible, Jesus is teaching in parables, using common illustrations from the natural realm to describe the unseen heavenly realm. In yesterday's text Jesus had said that the ability to understand the parable of the sower was foundational to the ability to understand all parables. In today's text Jesus begins with another illustration of seed falling on soil and growing.   The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.  This parable speaks to our responsibility in sharing the good news of the kingdom of God. Jesus came to pay the price as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men. While He was here His primary purpose was to preach and teach about the kingdom. Jesus began His public ministry reading this quote from Isaiah 61:1     “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed (Luke 4:18)  Jesus has completed the work that was required to set free those who are oppressed. He has called and commissioned us to continue the work of preaching and proclaiming.  As the parable says the man casts the seed without understanding or being able to control the growth. We are to preach, declare, proclaim, if those words are too strong for your liking then we simply share the good news of the kingdom. We are not responsible for nor can we control the results. Jesus has completed the work. Whether the salvation for sin, provision for every need, peace in the storm or physical healing, it is finished in the cross of Christ and the power of the resurrection. We don't need to understand how it works, we just need to proclaim, declare, preach, share the truth, the good news of ALL that Jesus has done. 

The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”   As we are faithful to share the gospel, there are times that we are privileged to be used in the harvest of the mature grain. Without our understanding of what God has done by the Holy Spirit in the heart and mind of others we sometimes are part of them coming into the kingdom. We participate in the harvest of souls. We have the privilege of seeing the fruit of the the truth of God's word and the finished work of the cross heal some one we have prayed for and touched. The miracle is not ours. We, like the man don't understand how it grows. Yet as we are faithful to sow, God is faithful to grow.  

Jesus then compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed that grows from the smallest of seeds to become one of the largest plants. Once again it is not about understanding how this great thing comes from something so small and simple, it is believing it by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says:  For we walk by faith, not by sight. We can't see with our physical eyes all that is complete in the kingdom. Jesus also compared our faith to a mustard seed. He says:  truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. (Matthew 17:20) If our mustard seed sized faith is in the mustard seed of the kingdom truly nothing will be impossible for us. It's all there in the kingdom. Jesus has finished the work. 

In the final portion of today's text we read  the account of the disciples waking Jesus because they feared the storm was going to overtake their boat and they would be drownwed. 

Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. ⁴⁰ And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

The disciples were operating by sight not by faith. They were allowing the physical circumstances in the natural realm to control their actions and thoughts. We can never fully understand how or why the God of creation, the God of salvation lives in us and works through us. It's not important that we understand. We just need to believe that what Jesus says is true.

 ¹¹ Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. ¹² Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it...¹⁶ I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you... “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. ²⁴ He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. ²⁷Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you

The Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit dwelling with us and in us. That seed of faith will enable us to do anything God calls us to do, and we will have peace. We will have the peace of God even in the storm because we have the seed of the kingdom within us.

Amen, may it be.