From Small to Large

Mark 4 : 26 - 34

It is interesting that when Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, he used the metaphor of a seed. If we were asked to describe the glory and triumph of the kingdom of God, what would we draw? Perhaps we would draw glorious mountain peaks or triumphant gladiators. But Jesus used the metaphor of a seed. Just as in the story of the triumphal entry, where Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey and not on a horse, the seed is not spectacular at all. It does not attract attention. It is totally ordinary. The world will not be interested in the kingdom of God when it is depicted in this way.

Here we see again the contrast between the depiction of the glory of the kingdom of God and that of worldly kingdoms. Many of us are familiar with the stories of the French Revolution or the First and Second World Wars. Even in our time, wars are still happening. It seems impossible for the world not to use violence. But that is not the kingdom of God. I do not mean to say that we should be absolutely against any form of war or that there is no so-called just war. That is not my point, and I do not want to discuss that complex topic at the moment. If we need to defend ourselves, of course there is a place for just war. But for now, let us focus on this parable. Again, the metaphor of a seed is used here. It is something that has nothing to do with violence or revolution. We would not use the metaphor of a seed if we meant violence.

In this parable, even the farmer himself does not seem to be fully aware of how the seed grows. This is the story of God’s kingdom. It is about God’s grace and God’s gift. When we read the passage in the original language, there is an interesting word. It is said that the earth produces or brings forth ‘by itself’. In Greek, the word used is automatē. The earth produces by itself, automatically, meaning that the power of generation lies in the seed itself and not in the ability or skill of the farmer. For us, this means that we are expected to wait in faith, to be confident, and to believe in the coming harvest. The growth of the kingdom of God is, in a mysterious way, independent of human activity.

Why is it so difficult for people to accept Christianity? It is because we do not like to be in the position of receivers. We always want to have a certain merit. It is very difficult simply to acknowledge that we receive everything from the hand of God. Not to mention that our desire is to be in control. This is why religions from below are always attractive, because we can predict the result according to our strategy, our planning, our effort. It is predictable, and thus we are in control. We do not like Christianity because, in Christianity, we have to acknowledge that God is in control and not we ourselves. And again in this parable, we read that the power to bear fruit lies within the seed itself.

From the perspective of the world, they will usually mock, as we can read in 2 Peter 3:4, “Where is the promise of his coming?” Many in Europe, for example, say that the church is no longer relevant. Belief in God is considered something only for the weak. If you have mental health problems, then you go to church. If you do not make it in life and need financial help, then perhaps you can go to church to get some material support. But if you are mentally stable and do not need economic support, then what is the church for? It is also interesting to observe that, as people grow older and enter the later stages of life, they may suddenly become religious again, as if Christianity is only relevant for those who are on their deathbed.

The world is very sceptical of the beauty of God’s kingdom. But Jesus commands us to be faithful in sowing the holy seed. When God works, he uses this way and not the way of the world. As one commentary puts it, the scepticism of the world is usually the result of waiting for the arrival of God’s kingdom as if it were a bolt of lightning. But God does not hurl the kingdom like Poseidon with his thunderbolt. That is not the way God works.

In the time of Jesus, there were the Zealots. They believed they could force the coming of the kingdom through revolution. There were also the Pharisees. They believed that the emergence of the kingdom could be helped by scrupulous, precise legal observance of the Law. The more precise you are in ritual and Torah observance, the more, they thought, you would help the coming of the kingdom. But in this parable Jesus warns us that the coming of the kingdom of God cannot be reduced to forecasts, projections, timetables, and strategies that typically belong to worldly empires and worldly organizations, not to the kingdom of God.

Even when we look at the life of Jesus himself, we might ask: if he is truly the Son of God, why did he not start his ministry earlier? Why wait until he was about thirty years old? Is that not a waste of time? His public ministry lasted only about three years, and then it ended. Why not longer? Could he not have done more if he had lived and ministered until sixty or seventy? We want a certain timetable, human strategies, human projections. But that is not the way God works in his kingdom. This does not mean that we have no responsibility. There is responsibility, but it is the responsibility to be faithful in sowing the seed.

I once attended an evangelism conference here in Berlin. There was a pastor who told an encouraging story about his wife. His wife would always evangelize the people she met. One night she woke her husband up with great excitement. She had just received news that one of her old friends had received Jesus. The wife could not even remember when exactly she had shared the gospel with this friend, because she always told other people about Jesus. Usually she is rejected, and not many want to believe. However, this particular friend later went through a deep depression and she remembered that someone had once told her about the gospel and about Jesus Christ. We see here that the Holy Spirit does not lose the seed that had been planted in her heart.

If we use human strategy, we will always want to evaluate which way works and which one does not. We want to see visible results within a certain timetable. This is typical of human organizations. Perhaps we would even change the story: Jesus enters Jerusalem not with a donkey but with a horse. That is typical of human strategy. Yet if we believe the story taught in this parable, we should not be easily disheartened or fall into pessimism and despair, because God always has his way in establishing his kingdom. That is why, in the parables, the metaphor used is that of a seed. In Palestine during the time of Jesus, it was used proverbially to refer to the smallest thing. It is totally insignificant and totally ordinary. But God is at work.

At the end of these parables, we read that Jesus again emphasizes the portion of the audience. In verse 33 we read, “With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.” So either we hear with our spiritual ears or we do not hear. It depends on the ability to hear, and of course this ability is given by God as well.

This hearing, this heeding of the word, determines the outcome: whether we are inside the kingdom of God or outside of it. We can either listen and truly see the glory of Jesus, or we can listen, sadly, only as if it were cultural information about Christianity. But that is not Christianity. We can never understand Christianity from an outsider’s perspective. We need to be inside, to have fellowship with Jesus Christ, in order to understand the beauty and the glory of the invisible kingdom of God. I hope that is your experience and mine. (T.F.L.)