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David Orendorff    Mark 4:26-34    June 14, 2009

This is a hard sermon for me. Not because it is complicated but because it is so simple and transparent. You put a seed into the ground and it grows into a plant and the plant bears fruit and we harvest it. The creation seems to just do this by itself. In this it is like the kingdom of God.

We know something of the mechanics of seeds. If you are a gardener or have some farming background you know that there are ways to cooperate with the mystery of seeds that are productive and ways to confound the mystery that are destructive. But every farmer and every gardener knows that we are never in control of the mystery.

I can hear the empiricists among us saying, “Oh, yeah. We can explain what happens. There is no mystery here.” My father is a scientist by nature and training. One of his favorite observations is that indeed scientists can tell us what happens, but they cannot tell us why it happens. And he is right. Botanists can tell us in detail what happens, but they cannot tell us why it happens. They can tell us what happens with DNA and RNA, bio-chemical reactions and the catalysts of sun, soil and water. But ask them why and they eventually draw a blank.

There is mystery in the seed that compels it to produce fruit, which is yet the seed for another mystery. And it is this mystery to which Jesus compares the kingdom of God.

And just as the botanist can tell us the what but not the why, so sociologists can describe to us the what of human organizations and psychologists can tell us the what of human behavior, but neither can describe the why. Yes, you put a group of humans together in an environment and they will form a society and culture. That is the what. But why do we do this?

So too with theologians and scholars of religion who can describe to us that culture will have religion. How they will create narratives and ritual, how they will analyze and categorize the phenomena of that religion. They can even describe the developmental stages of religious formation and sensibilities with each age. But they cannot tell of the why of being spiritual. The “why” of spirituality is as much a mystery to them as it is to us. It is so obvious: you put a seed in the ground and it grows. You put love in a heart and it grows. But why?

I think Jesus tells us why. But his explanation reminds me of the desperate parent who gets tired of the little boy asking one “why” after another and finally says, “Because.” Or the parent who in arguing with a precocious adolescent finally resorts to, “Because I said so.” The kingdom of God is like a seed growing to a fruit because this is how God is and this is how God has made us and all creation to be. We may never have the “why” manual of the kingdom of God, and we would probably be very dangerous if we did. But it doesn’t matter that we don’t know why. What matters is that it is so. We put the seed in the ground and it grows to a harvest. We put divine love in our hearts and it grows to a kingdom. That is enough knowledge for us if we will only trust it.

In the parable preceding today’s, Jesus says the seed is the word, the logos. And from our earlier studies of Mark’s gospel, we know that Jesus is the word, the logos. Jesus is both the one who brings the kingdom of God and is the present kingdom of God. Jesus not only carries the word of God, he is the word of God. Jesus is the seed.

And, by “word” or “logos,” we don’t mean a string of consonants and vowels or even sentences and paragraphs. Word/logos means the order and nature of things, the patterns and their purposes. Jesus is the order of the cosmos, the nature of the cosmos, its pattern and its purpose. And to plant Jesus, who is God’s love made flesh, in our souls is to plant the kingdom of God. And if it is planted it will grow to a harvest. Why? Because. But, though the mystery remains unsolved, it is the way of all things; it is God’s way. We don’t know why but we can trust it is so.

Like gardening and farming our cooperative or confounding practices can either improve or impede the fruitfulness of the harvest. But our practices do not create or control the mystery of God’s kingdom in us and among us. Whatever we do or don’t do, God will grow the kingdom in and among us.

Today’s second parable, the mustard seed, adds to the mystery and challenges us to a greater faith. It is not just that something grows; it is something very small growing into something very big. A mustard seed, the size of a large piece of dust, becomes a shelter and home for the birds. The kingdom of God, once planted in us, even in a very small way, grows to become our shelter and our home. And not only ours, but the whole of creation’s shelter and home.

You want to make a difference in the world; then care for the seed God has planted in you through worship, study and service and it will grow to be a large shelter and home for you and for others. Do you want to love and be loved as you were created to be? Then eat the bread and drink the wine of communion with Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit, and the kingdom of God will grow in you from a dust mite to a large tree.

Do you want to be a person and a community that is the living logos? Then sew the seed that has been sown in you and grows in you; spread to the world in word and deed the good news that the kingdom of God is now and can be trusted forever. Tell with your life the meaning and purpose of love. Love God, your neighbor and yourself, and the kingdom, by its own mysterious way, will grow in you and become big in you. Live the love of God in community, and the kingdom of God will make Bear Creek and a safe shelter and a sanctuary home for creation.

Shalom and Amen.