Dear Friends,
We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. We give thanks to Michael Lund, Library Manager, for writing this devotional.
You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!
Mark 4:26-34 (NRSVUE)
26 He [Jesus] also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.”
30 He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 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.”
33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
Devotional Thought
Mark portrays Jesus ironically using confusing parables to explain the mysteriousness of the kingdom of God. Just like the disciples, scholars today still question which part of the parable is ‘compared’ to the kingdom of God - the person sowing the seed, the seed, the earth, or the harvester? There’s some consensus that the focus of these parables is on the seed, rather than the person scattering/casting the seed.
The sower does their part to spread the gospel through word and action. And then they go about their usual day, unsure of how, when, or why the seed grows. Unlike the parables earlier in Mark 4 where the seed may not produce anything, in these parables in verses 26-34 the seed inevitably produces a harvest or grows into a great shrub. The sower knows this, but still doesn’t know how exactly it occurs.
Just like the sower, we as Jesus’s disciples today must be faithful in doing what he has called us to do. We do not know what kingdom effects our actions will have - we must relinquish any illusion of control over the outcome to God. For he is faithful, and is actively growing the kingdom seeds in his own mysterious way. As Paul writes, God “by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine” (Eph. 3:20). Our small, seemingly insignificant actions for God, just like the sower planting a minute mustard seed, can have untold impact for God’s kingdom.
Prayer
God, thank you for including us in your mission of sharing and living out the good news. Strengthen us to continue whatever you have called us to do. We surrender our illusion of control to you. We trust in you God to grow your kingdom.
May your kingdom come, Lord, may your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.
Kind regards,
Michael Lund (Library Manager)