MUSTARD SEED! [MARK:4: 26-34.]

 JESUS FREQUENTLY USES PARABLES TO TEACH ORDINARY PEOPLE AS THEY ARE ABLE TO HEAR AND UNDERSTAND. LOOKING AT OUR GOSPEL TEXT IS CONCERNED WITH THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED. IMAGES OF SOWING AND GROWING SHOW THE VITALITY OF GOD'S KINGDOM. THE MUSTARD SEED BECOMES A SHRUB THAT  SHELTERS THE BIRDS, RECALLING ANCIENT IMAGES THE TREE OF LIFE. WE WOULD EXPECT A CEDAR OR A SEQUOIA, BUT JESUS FINDS THE POWER OF GOD BETTER IMAGED IN A TINY, NO-ACCOUNT SEED. ITS NOT THE WAY WAY WE EXPECT DIVINE ACTIVITY TO ACT. YET THE TREE OF LIFE IS HERE ( JESUS THE CHRIST) IN WHICH WE ARE GRAFTED THROUGH BAPTISM. THE TRUE VINE THAT NOURISHES US THROUGH ITS FRUIT IN THE CUP THAT WE SHARE.  IT MAY NOT APPEAR ALL THAT IMPRESSIVE, BUT WHILE NO ONE LOOKING IT GROWS WITH POWER BEYOND OUR UNDERSTANDING. WE HEARD ABOUT TREE IMAGERY FROM EZEKIEL FROM OUR OLD TESTAMENT, THAT WAS USED IN A MESSIANIC PROPHECY TO TELL HOW THE LORD WILL CHOOSE SOMEONE FROM JUDAH'S ROYAL FAMILY (CEDAR TREE) TO REIGN OVER ALL CREATION. THE TREE WILL BE PLANTED ON MOUNT ZION, THE LOCATION OF THE HOLY TEMPLE. OFTEN TIMES PEOPLE USE THE METAPHOR OF THE MUSTARD SEED GROWING INTO A MASSIVE TREE TO ILLUSTRATE THE TRUISM THAT SMALL THINGS CAN GROW INTO LARGE THINGS. A SOWER IS GENEROUS WITH SEED, INDISCRIMINATE ON WHERE SHE SOWS, AND THEN THE EARTH PRODUCES HER SELF.
 THEN THE SMALLEST OF SEEDS TUCKS INTO THE GOOD GROUND AND IN TIME BECOMES A SHELTER FOR ALL SORTS OF FOWLS.
THIS PARABLE IS FOUND ONLY IN THE GOSPEL OF MARK.
WHENEVER CHRIST SPEAKS ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD, HIS RULING ACTIVITY , HIS WORDS ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE SEED, THE GOSPEL THAT BRINGS PEOPLE TO FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS.  IN OUR TEXT, JESUS SPEAKS OF THE POWER AND RELIABILITY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE. ALL THAT NEED BE DONE, ALL THAT CAN BE DONE, IS TO SOW THE SEED, ( TO PROCLAIM THE WORD). A FARMER WHO PLANTS THE SEED DOES NOT UNDERSTAND HOW IT GROWS. THE POWER IS IN THE SEED. SO IT IS WITH THE GOSPEL. IT IS SOWN; IT SPROUTS; IT MATURES; IT IS HARVESTED. CHRIST'S WORD ECHO'S ISAIAH'S: ( " SO IS MY WORD THAT GOES OUT FROM MY MOUTH, IT WILL NOT RETURN EMPTY, BUT WILL ACCOMPLISH WHAT I DESIRE AND ACHIEVE THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH I SENT IT. ISAIAH 55:11).
THE HARVEST INCLUDES  THE FINAL HARVEST: ( AT THE END OF THE WORLD, WHEN ALL MANKIND WILL SEE THE MARVELOUS FRUIT THE LORD PRODUCED THROUGH HIS WORD IN THIS WORLD OF SIN. BUT THE HARVEST IS ALSO HERE AND NOW IN THE LIFE OF EVERY CHILD OF GOD IN WHOSE HEART THE WORD HAS TAKEN ROOT AND GROWN, AND WHOSE FAITH GOD USES TIME AND TIME AGAIN TO BRING THAT SAME WORD TO OTHERS.
THE HARVEST ISN'T THE BELIEVERS DOING., BUT GOD'S. THUS THIS PARABLE WAS OF
 SPECIAL COMFORT TO THE APOSTLES AS THEY CARRIED OUT JESUS ASSIGNMENT. PAUL LATER PUT IT THIS WAY IN  1st CORINTHIANS [3: 6,7],  " I PLANTED THE SEED, APOLLOS WATERED, BUT GOD MADE IT GROW. SO NEITHER HE WHO PLANTS IT, NOR HE WHO WATERS IS ANYTHING, BUT ONLY GOD, WHO MAKES THINGS GROW. THOUGH AT TIMES WE MAY NOT SEE THE RESULTS, THERE WILL BE A HARVEST BECAUSE THE SEED HAS GOD'S POWER WITHIN IT. ONE THING MUST STILL BE NOTED. WHEN THE NIV TRANSLATES "ALL BY ITSELF"  AND THE KJV "THE EARTH... OF HERSELF, IT MIGHT SEEM AS THOUGH THE EARTH (HUMAN HEART) RECEIVES
 SOME CREDIT. NOT AT ALL, FOR THE GREEK REALLY MEANS " SPONTANEOUSLY," " AUTOMATICALLY," OR " AS A MATTER OF COURSE," THE PERSONS (-HEART, IS THE ONLY THE LOCALE WHERE IT TAKES PLACE.  GOD'S POWER INHERENT IN THE WORD IS THE CAUSE. IF IT WAS NOT SO, YOU AND I WOULD BE WITH OUT HOPE, FOR BY NATURE WE ARE CORRUPT AND SINFUL, AND WE REJECT THE GRACE OF GOD. IT IS GOD ALONE WHO OVERCOMES THIS OPPOSITION ON OUR PART AND BRINGS US TO FAITH. WE PREACH AND TEACH THE WORD;  GOD DOES THE REST. " LAST THOUGHT."
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT ONE WITH OUTWARD FORM AND SHAPE. ITS NEW TESTAMENT BEGINNINGS WERE SO SMALL AS TO BE INVISIBLE. BUT CHRIST KEPT TELLING HIS DISCIPLE,DON'T BE DISTURBED; THE ETERNAL FRUITS WILL BE LARGE INDEED. JESUS USES THE PARABLE OF THE SMALLEST SEEDS, " THE MUSTARD SEED." WHICH BECOMES THE LARGEST OF ALL GARDEN PLANTS, REACHING A HEIGHT OF EIGHT TO TEN FEET IN  WHICH IT IS LARGE ENOUGH FOR BIRDS TO PERCH IN ITS SHADE. WE CANNOT JUDGE THE FINAL SIZE OF THE KINGDOM BY THE INITIAL SIZE OF THE SEED. MARK DOES NOT SAY THAT JESUS SPOKE ONLY IN PARABLES. HE MADE USE OF THE PARABLES WHEN HE SPOKE TO PEOPLE. IF HE HADN'T SPOKE IN PARABLES, IT MIGHT HAVE RESULTED IN INTERFERENCE WITH HIS FATHER'S PLAN OF SALVATION (JOHN 6: 14,15). HE WOULD NOT ALLOW EVIL SPIRITS AND THOSE POSSESSED BY THEM, TO TESTIFY "THAT HE WAS THE SON."