June 13, 2021
Hope Lutheran Church
Rev. Mary Erickson
Mark 4:26-34
The Emerging Kingdom of God
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. (Mark 4:28)
My husband Dale and I have several family high school graduation parties to attend this year. 2003 was a fertile year in the Ockler family! 18 years later, three cousins are now graduating from high school.
It’s just amazing to me how they’ve matured into such amazing young adults! I still picture them as the much younger and smaller version they once were. It’s delightful to see how they’ve transformed from children into young adults with bright futures before them.
I’m reminded of the song “Sunrise, Sunset” from the play The Fiddler on the Roof:
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older
When, did, they?
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?
When a baby is born, their entire life lies hidden before them. What will they do? Will they succeed? Will they find a partner to walk through life with? We want the best for them. We pray for them and over them.
There’s also a family wedding this summer. This particular cousin is a little older than the three graduates. His life has emerged just a bit more and revealed more of that lies ahead. Again, what a joy to see his happiness and such a well-paired couple.
Now is the little boy a bride groom?
Now is the little girl a bride?
Under the canopy I see them
Side by side
Jesus shares two agricultural parables. The tiny seeds he mentions reflect something of the Kingdom of God. In the first parable, a farmer has sown some seed on the ground. And then he does nothing. The seedlings emerge all on their own. Day by day, they grow. They grow and mature until they bear fruit. Then the farmer comes in with his sickle to harvest the grain crop.
The farmers I know aren’t lazy by any means. They’re pictures of perpetual motion. When they grow a crop, there’s a lot more going on between the planting and the reaping. And yet, a lot that goes on that a farmer has no control over. They can do everything right and still have their crop ruined.
Planting seeds is an act of faith. You plant your seed and then you wait. Hope is present. There’s a feeling of excitement and anticipation.
My husband and I had a tree taken down this spring. We planted grass over the spot where the tree once stood. You plant it, you keep it watered, and then you wait. Day after day we hawkishly watched that straw covered dirt patch. About ten days later, an almost indiscernible greenish sheen began to emerge. For those initial ten days, we were filled with hope and expectation. We had faith in those grass seeds.
For as much as we have worked to create a favorable environment for the new grass to grow, that grass simply has to grow itself. It’s a force of its own.
Jesus’ parable of the seed growing secretly reminds us to trust that God’s kingdom comes on its own timetable and under its own actions. It invites us to trust and believe.
When Martin Luther pondered the petition of the Lord’s Prayer “thy kingdom come,” he said this: "God’s kingdom comes indeed without our praying for it. But we ask in this prayer that it may come also to us."
God’s kingdom comes without our asking for it. It’s a force unto itself. It’s a divine power at work in our world. We don’t MAKE it come. We don’t manufacture the coming of God’s kingdom any more than a farmer can assemble or build a harvest. God’s kingdom comes on its own accord, on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus’ parable is an invitation to trust: trust in God’s timing, trust in God’s good intentions for us, trust in the good and gracious will of God.
This runs contrary to our normal way of coping. We like being in charge. If we have control, then we have power over outcomes.
But there are so many things that we can’t control. They weigh on us. We each carry so much anxiety. Our worries burden us during the day and rob us of sleep at night:
- Finances
- Health concerns
- Children and grandchildren facing challenges
- Unresolved situations at work
- The heightened divisions in our nation
- The threat of global warming and disastrous consequences for future generations
- Strife in relationships
In the face of the unlimited number of things we cannot change, Jesus invites us to trust, simply trust. God’s kingdom is at work in this world, in all its situations. The kingdom enters our realm unseen and quietly. Without our knowledge and efforts, God’s kingdom takes root and brings about its abundant fruits.
Every day it’s so important for us to take a moment and breathe. Focusing on God returns us to a calm center. That peaceful moment of solitude rekindles the spark of hope that God is making all things new. In the act of doing nothing, of centering on God, our spirit is renewed.
As we step away from the fray and enter the quiet of God’s presence, we come with nothing. All our plans and opinions and powers, we set them aside. We come to God open and receptive. We come in all our vulnerability and lay it before God.
Remembering God’s intentions helps us to trust in God and calm our worries. I find certain Bible verses to be especially comforting. One that provides me with great assurance is from Jeremiah 29:11 –
“For I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”
That verse lets me know that God has a way planned for me. Even if the pathway before me seems rocky and perilous, I know that God is ever present, leading and providing. It assures me that there is hope for tomorrow.
Pondering scriptures helps ground us in the God of all our tomorrows. When you fret and sweat during the day, when you toss and turn at night, meditate on God’s promises.
Jesus’ parable about the mysterious and inevitable growth of minuscule seeds provides an example of God’s kingdom. It comes without our asking for it and bears its fruits in our lives.
The evidence of God’s kingdom secretly growing is easier to see in hindsight. Look back on your own life. Trace back the detours and winding paths. Consider the impasses that stood in the way. Note how God created a new way forward. Look at the growth that took place. See the surprising outcomes you never could have imagined! The ever-emerging kingdom of God is growing a new thing in you.
Sunrise, sunset. Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days!
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers,
Blossoming even as we gaze.
