Sermon from June 16, 2024: The Greatest of All Shrubs? based upon Mark 4: 26-34

Art: Hochhalter, Cara B.. A Parable - The Mustard Seed, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57507. Original source: Cara B. Hochhalter.

Mark 4.26-34
The Parable of the Growing Seed
He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’
The Use of Parables
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

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Is “the greatest of all shrubs” really that big of a complement? I mean, shrubs are fine. We have some around our house! We've even spent money to replace ones that died or add new ones in a different part of the yard. They add a nice touch to the landscaping and do, as the scripture says, provide home and hearth to all matter of small creature. Still, though, the greatest of all shrubs? Is that really all that great?

Today’s reading comes from early in the book of Mark, right as we’re getting to know Jesus as a teacher. He’s already been baptized and tempted in the wilderness. He’s got the first twelve disciples, too. And, he’s begun healing and teaching and arguing with Pharisees. The specific verses we’re learning from today are from this scene that begins with Jesus standing in a boat, teaching a crowded shore-full of people. This is the part of Mark where the author introduces us to the idea of parable. Richard Horsley, in his notes on this chapter of Mark, defines a parable as “extended metaphors or analogies.”  These are stories about one thing that are used to explain something else.

Jesus would usually share the parable with the whole group he was teaching, in this case a large crowd on the seashore. Then, in private, the Twelve, who had inevitably not understood the parable, would ask him to explain it. The two parables in today’s reading are part of Jesus’ specific teaching to the Twelve to help them understand both the content of the parables and why he is using them. Just a few verses before today’s reading, Jesus says, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables...” Then, he quoted Isaiah:

They may indeed look but not perceive
And may indeed listen, but not understand;
So that they may not turn again and be forgiven.

Here is the tricky thing about parables. People who know the mystery of God are supposed to understand them, straight away. Jesus found them useful as a teaching tool because they can be challenging to understand. I’ve had teachers like this. Have you? The ones that want you to learn but are also gonna make you work for it.

It is also interesting to me that Jesus expected his disciples to understand the parables upon their first hearing, but still taught them when they didn’t. To be sure, he chided them for their lack of understanding, saying “Do you not understand the parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? (Mark 4:13)” But, he still works to help them understand what they don’t yet comprehend. The words that Jesus says appear strict: if you know the mystery of God, you’ll understand this. If you don’t, you won’t. But, then, his actions are more gracious. He will sit down to help make sure the Twelve understand what he’s teaching. Perhaps a lesson we take from this is that understanding the mystery of the divine rarely happens all at one time, and, a reminder that those who would become teachers in their own right must be taught in ways that they understand. Even Jesus was willing to switch up his pedagogy if his closest co-workers were struggling.

In Mark 4, Jesus used a lot of stories about planting and growing, including the two in today’s reading, to talk about faith and the nature of God. In a commentary on this text, Dr. Wil Gafney points out that gardens and agriculture are what she calls “an enduring metaphor” throughout the Bible. The region in which these texts came to life, first as stories shared from human to human, and then as the written word, were places where it was challenging to grow food. It could be challenging to find arable land and enough water for crops. Gafney argues that is such a place, “paradise looks like a garden full of fruit producing-trees riven with healing waters.” God as Creator, as Sower, and the Force which causes Growth are vital images of God throughout the Bible. It makes sense that Jesus would tell parables rooted in this tradition in order to help his disciples and strangers alike learn something more about his ideas about faith.

What does it mean to “sow” the Kin-dom of God? The answers to this question are not exactly straightforward. Through parables, Jesus invites us to approach the question at an angle. Carolynne Hitter Brown describes the first parable in today’s reading as “God and people working together to bring about God’s design for creation.” That’s her view based on her angle of insight. I think this is a sound reading, particularly since we know that Jesus is speaking to the disciples, those who are not yet teachers on their own right but soon will be. He’s trying to help them understand their role as teachers and healers. He’s reminding them that their job is to sow, that is, to teach and heal. The growing... that’s God’s job.

The sower doesn’t have to understand how the plant grows. Sure, there are things we have long known that make the plant more likely to grow - weeding, adding nutrients to the soil, keeping up with watering, protecting the plants from the critters who want to eat them first. Ultimately though, for most of us, sowing is an act of faith bolstered by our actions to support growth. We do what we can to support it or suppress it. But, the seeds grow when they grow. Our job is to make sure that they are planted.

And, the shrub... let’s go back to the shrub. I was maybe a little hard on it in the beginning of the sermon. Thank goodness God sees potential in that little seed that I don’t. Because the first parable of today’s reading is about the disciples’ actions as sowers. The second parable is about the growing. And, God finds delight in growing small things into something great. Dr. Brown describes the mustard plant in more glowing terms than I do, which is probably more in line with Jesus’ intent in telling the parable. She said that the smallest seed becomes “a lush bower” in which the birds can live and raise their young.

How would we live our faith differently if we thought of the kindom of God as a lush bower to house the small and vulnerable? Not a castle on high. Not a fortress with strong gates. But, instead, a verdant thicket, full of life in all manner of creeping, crawling, and flying forms. Our back garden is currently a jungle of untrimmed, wild shrubs. And, whenever I watch it through the kitchen window for just a moment, the small creatures that have found safety within the branches make themselves known.
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The smallest seed planted can grow into sanctuary for those who need it. That is the mystery of the Divine. That is what the disciples need to know is true. They are called to sow. And, God can grow something great from the tiniest seed they plant. And, what they are planting will ultimately be for the good of those who need shelter. Like Paul’s writing last week, we have another example of the holiness of the small and vulnerable... a vision of faith in contrast with a world that often understands wealth, largeness of size, and aggression as power. May we take heart in this vision of a kin-dom made for the ones who need the most care. And, may we do our part and sow so that it can grow in the first place.
 
Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Richard A. Horsley's introduction to Mark in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)

Wil Gafney, "Proper 4 (Closest to June 1st)," A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year B (New York: Church Publishing Incorporated, 2023)

Carolynne Hitter Brown, "Proper 6[11], " Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year B Featuring 22 New Holy Days for Justice, Ronald J. Allen, Dale P. Andrews, and Dawn Ottoni- Wilhelm, eds. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011)