Preached at Christ church, Billericay on 16 June 2024 Online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQZ5OJ4lpEg from 13:45 to 34:15
Reading Mark 4:26-34
Prayer
Introduction
Today we are looking at the parable of the growing seed and the parable of the mustard seed. Jesus has been teaching the crowd that followed him with various parables, some are quite complicated, but these two are short and simple. Most of the people He is talking to would be farmers, or involved in jobs related to farming. So, by using seeds as his subject, He can be sure that the people he is talking to will understand what he is saying. Wheat is their most important crop, and mustard seeds are common.
Identifying Seeds
[Activity 1 – Identifying seeds – carrots]
Before we plant seeds, it’s important to know what they are, that is especially true if you’re a farmer who is growing crops to support your family.
Each year, I collect the seeds from the last few tomatoes on my tomato plants, carefully dry them and store them safely away from anything that might try to eat them, then the following year I plant them, and we will have another nice crop of tomatoes from late July through until about the end of October.
[Activity 2 – Seed Packets]
I plant my seeds in special trays and, just as Jesus says in the parable, wait patiently. Perhaps only God know what exactly happens. I’m always excited when the first leaves appear in the seed trays. That usually takes about five days. So, once I’ve planted them, I just have to wait. Be patient and hope that the seed is good and that germination will occur, and after that the seed will continue to grow.
As with the farmers in the parable, I have no idea what is going on under the soil, I just have to be patient.
Wheat in the field
My tomatoes take a bit more work than the wheat in the fields. After the seeds germinate, they have to be put in big pots, and watered and fed regularly. The wheat, though, is just left to get on with growing.
“All by itself the soil produces grain”, the Greek word has the same root as our word “automatically”. So we could say that the soil produces grain automatically.
Today wheat is sown in nice straight lines, in Jesus’s day the wheat grains were scattered by hand. No nice neat rows that you can walk along, the stalks grew here, there and everywhere, and the weeds with them. There is no easy way to water those crops, farmers had to rely on the rain. All the wheat and the weeds would be harvested at once, there was no other way – they had no weed killer to kill the weeds. But I’m straying into another parable now.
Kingdom of Heaven
[Slide 9]
“It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb”
Kingdom of God like a seed
But we’re not talking about the new heaven and the new earth, we’re talking about the Kingdom of God as it is now, and only the part of it that is on Earth.
So, how is the Kingdom of God like a seed?
[Slide 10 - Wheat]
Well, the seed is planted in someone, and it might germinate soon, or it might lay dormant for months or years – real seeds can do that, and remain viable. At some point, the seed will germinate and begin to grow.
Growing Inside
What is growing inside that person is a faith in God and Jesus. We will not see it at this point; it is still under the soil – it is still hidden inside the character of the person. But as the seed continues to grow, it will change the person it is growing in.
We know that, because Paul tells us, using a slightly different analogy:
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness and self-control.
Nature of the Kingdom of Heaven (on Earth)
You will, almost certainly, not notice that people are changing, that they are becoming more loving, or more tolerant, kinder, more prepared to do good. That is the very nature of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth – it is imperceptible. Until, that is, something big happens and suddenly there is a church providing support and protection for all sorts of people. This is what the parable of the mustard seed is telling us. You look and ask yourself, “Where did that come from?” The answer is of course that is has been growing for years, it was just that no-one saw it – perhaps because no-one was looking.
Encouragement
This should be an encouragement to us – God is working, growing the seeds that we have spread in all sorts of places. Indeed, this is an important part of our faith – that God is always at work, in someone, somewhere. Really, that should be in lots of people, all over the place.
In a video I watched, in preparation for this, the Reverend Dr Ian Paul (the Associate Minister of St Nic's, Nottingham) says “Enough churches have been planted in the North East in the last 20 years to fill an Anglican diocese.” That is how growth occurs – it ‘just happens’ and we don’t hear about it.
Reap
So, the farmer waits, night and day (that’s how the Jews count, because their day starts in our evening), so not day and night. Until the crop is ready, and then when the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it and there is the harvest.
This, of course, will only happen once with the Kingdom of God – when the time is right, when the harvest is ripe, Jesus will return and His work of redemption will be complete. For the farmer of course it happens season after season, just like it does for me as I pick tomatoes from my plants for three months or so.
Lesson
[Slide 11]
The main lesson from these two parables for us is to constantly scatter seed. How might we do that?
For me, it means that we must be prepared to share Jesus’ teaching whenever we see the opportunity.
What teaching would you share with others?
Take a moment to think of something, then write it down, and we will collect it in our seed packets.
Amen.
References
https://sermons4kids.com/activities/planting-seeds-group
https://sermonwriter.com/childrens-sermons/a-tiny-seed/
https://sermonwriter.com/childrens-sermons/mark-426-34-scattering-words-edstrom/
https://ministry-to-children.com/tiny-faith-mark-426-34-sunday-school-lesson/
https://garynealhansen.com/a-childrens-sermon-on-mark-4-26-34-the-mustard-seed/
https://rfour.org/childrensmessage_b_29.html
https://shortpowerfulsermons.com/mark-426-34-the-mustard-seed-miracle/
https://pcpe.smu.edu/blog/surprising-seeds-reflections-on-mark-4-26-34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8AXq5CW4JQ
https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/the-kingdom-of-god-grows-all-by-itself-in-mark-4/
https://www.bibleref.com/Mark/4/Mark-4-26.html
https://getbusygardening.com/easy-seed-envelopes/
Commentary
Joel 3:13
Joel 3:13 NIV
[13] Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the wine press is full and the vats overflow— so great is their wickedness!”
