Mk 4:26-34
Illustration: There’s a traditional saying attributed to Benjamin Franklin which says,
" For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost;
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost; and
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
being overtaken and slain by the enemy,
all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus touches on a similar theme. Small beginnings lead to large endings
But before we touch on that theme, I would like to say a few words of introduction about how we should read the Bible
1. Plain Meaning
When we read the Bible, I believe it is important that we give the Bible its plain meaning.
In other words, if you presented the passage to a judge in a Court of Law, how would he interpret it.
I want to say that plain meaning doesn’t always mean its literal meaning to us.
2. The Original Text
My fictional judge would first look to see what the original text said.
This has been done by many scholars and is called “textual criticism”
And out of textual criticism we have a large number of English translations of the Bible.
Interestingly, although there are different translations, there are no clashes on the main doctrine that come from more widely accepted versions of the Bible
So the best way to try and understand what the original text says is to take a look at a few different translations of the Bible to see the meaning
3. Literary Genre
Then the judge would look at the literary Genre and there are at least 14 different Genres in the Bible.
The 66 books of the Bible have different genres.
Genres like History, Poetry, Revelation, Parables and even Hyperbole.
I’d like to make a comment on hyperbole:
In Matthew 7:3-5 we read this
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye /and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Clearly this isn’t meant to be taken literall
Why do I say that?
Because I am sure Jesus wasn’t just speaking to people in Jerusalem walking around with a 15 foot plank sticking out of their eye!!
4. What was the meaning of the passage to the first recipients of the text
My hypothetical judge would then ask “ What was the meaning of the passage /to the first recipients of the text”
And he would take into account
i) their culture and
ii) what would be assumed by the hearers.
What do I mean by assumed by the hearers.
Imagine 3000 years from now. And imagine I had written down that children under 18 should be allowed to drink.
Someone not knowing what was “assumed in our culture” by this statement would think:
What a nasty vicar saying that children should be denied/drinking water.
But if you read it in the here and now you would assume I am not talking about water!!
For what is implicit in today’s culture -isn’t always assumed in other cultures.
Story: When I was at University , we had a Wycliffe translator came to speak to the Christian Union.
He told us how difficult translating the Bible can be when you want to make it understandable in a different culture
Take Psalm 56 verse 3 which says:
”When I am afraid, I put my trust in you”.
However a straight translation meant nothing to the tribe for which he was translating.
In that culture if you trusted someone, you would turn your back on him when you left him.
And the Wycliffe translator went on to explain
In that culture stabbing a man from a different tribe in the back was seen to be good as it showed cunning.
So if you met a man from a different tribe you had to be careful when you took your leave.
When you left him, you would walk backwards from him - having him in your eye - so he couldn’t stab you in the back.
The height of trust was to turn your back on him
So the best way to translate the verse was
“When I am afraid, I turn my back on you”
Quite a different meaning in our culture
It is only after asking these questions that we can start to try to apply the passage to our every day lives.
5. The Parable of the growing seed and the Mustard seed
Our Gospel reading today covers two parables.
A parable is a story taken from everyday life in first century Judea.
And you have to remember that it was an agrarian society
The parable is used to illustrate a more abstract and deeper matter.
In our Gospel passage today, the deeper matter is the Kingdom of God.
Both have to do with the growing of a seed - pointing to the fact that the Kingdom of God is not about big and powerful goings on, but starts from small beginnings
It speaks of small beginnings – and also of patience.
The farmer has to wait a long time /to see his harvest
In God’s kingdom, the time for preparation can be a long time.
It is quite the opposite of the McDonaldisation of our society that we tend to see today.
But just as the seed needs good soil and needs to develop good roots to grow effectively, so it is with our own Christian lives and also with the church.
Jesus gives us permission to start small!!
In these two parables, Jesus also is speaking about the rule of God.
What would we expect the rule of God to look like and where would we look for it?
In this day and age we are not ruled by an absolute monarch, but the people of Jesus’ day were.
So what would they have expected?
“Their king in their day was Caesar, the Roman emperor, ruling from distant Rome through his governors with efficient authority.
Caesar was the equivalent of a god, and indeed at some times was worshipped as a god.
His power was absolute, and obedience was demanded.
His presence was attended by much pomp and ceremony.
He lived in luxurious palaces, and enjoyed rich food and fine wine from golden vessels.“ (Common Worship, Living Word B3)
For the Jews in Jesus day, God’s kingdom would be expected to mirror at the very least Caesar’s kingdom.
But Jesus surprises them
“The kingdom about which Jesus speaks is altogether quieter, and smaller.
It sneaks up on you like a thief in the night.
It lies dormant in the ground waiting to produce a tiny sprout.
It hides in ordinary working folk, farmers, shepherds, fishermen, and housewives, as they go about their everyday business.
God’s reign is present everywhere, hidden, tiny, and ordinary. “ (Common Worship Living Word B3)
So what is Jesus saying with these parables?
1. Big isn’t necessarily beautiful in the Kingdom of God
God’s kingdom starts from a small seed.
Story: When Maddy and I went to Canada, we visited a Pentecostal Church of about 3,000 people in Surrey, British Columbia.
I asked how the church had started and they said that the Church came into being because of the prayers of two old ladies in the 1920’s.
So often we hear of people saying that if we can change the mind of Government or the local councils then we will see change
But, as John Wesley showed in the Evangelical revival of the 18th Century, society is changed by changing the hearts of the people rather than by getting the good and great on board.
And Jesus showed that too.
He never got the good and great on board with what he was preaching in his day.
Yet within 300 years of his death Christianity had turned the world upside down
We are used to the idea in society that “big is beautiful”.
“Not so,” Jesus says “in the kingdom of God”
2. Jesus’ teaching is Countercultural
As usual – it seems to me Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of God runs counter to the expectations of his readers.
Jesus is countercultural.
God is interested in the small things of life – indeed he is interested in each of our individual lives.
3. We need to look after the small things in life
We as the people of God need to pay attention to small things, because that is where we will see God at work in the world.
Spending time in prayer and studying our Bible are all small things that will help us to grow in our Christian lives.
And from these small things great things may come.
The Mustard seed in Jesus day was the smallest seed in Jesus’ agrarian society
The Mustard Seed had become a byword for smallness.
Like we might say nowadays – “as small as a grain of sand.”
But the Mustard seed had great potential because, given the right conditions it could grow into a ten foot or taller high plant.
And so it can be with our lives too.
So in conclusion, it is important that we as Christians find out what God is calling us to do and to recognise the gifts God has given us.
Don’t set your eyes on the big and beautiful churches you come across because God may have called you to work in a small rural community,
As Psalm 84 .10 puts it so beautifully
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
Are we willing to be just “a door keeper in the house of the Lord / rather than to be someone important dwelling in the tents of ungodliness”
