The Kingdom of God

Mark 4:26-32

 

I am at a huge disadvantage when trying to understand many of the parables of Jesus. I am not a farmer. If Jesus had begun a parable, “There was one out in the ninth with runners on first and third and the home team was clinging to a one run lead,” I would completely understand the pressure placed on the middle infielders and how the options created by a ground ball might define one’s view of heaven. But when Jesus speaks of a seed in the ground, I am hopelessly lost. The only gardening chores Deb has ever entrusted to me are digging holes for bushes and cutting the grass. In West Texas, I cut the grass twice a year, Memorial Day and Labor Day, regardless if it was needed it or not.  Here I cut it every Friday and it seems to grow back an hour after I finish. Nothing that I did or currently do affects either outcome. I have no control over the weather.

When Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is like a seed”, I am clueless. I figure in order to understand the text I must be able to think like a farmer. Since the Master Gardeners’ meet regularly at the church, I engaged in conversation with more than one of them. They were interesting discussions, or should I say monologues that morphed into questions about composting, fertilizer, drainage, deer, grubs, tools, top soil and plant selection. In an attempt to hide my ignorance, I nodded my head while never saying a word. One person, more Zen Master than Master Gardener said, “The best fertilizer is the shadow of the gardener.”

I ended up calling a person I know to be an expert on everything. I poured out my problem to this self proclaimed master of the universe. He thought for a second and responded, “Granddaddy, you put the seed in the ground, pour some water on it and come back in a few weeks. If it grows it grows. You have nothing to do with it.”

I suspect most of us are not particularly fond of the words, “You have nothing to do with it.” We desire having everything to do with it. Sometimes I think the world is broken into two sets of people. There are those who have no problem making decisions. Then there are those who won’t make a decision in order that they can question the decision someone else made. Regardless if we choose to be aggressive or passive aggressive we end up being actively involved in the conversation. That is the way we like it. It is part of our DNA. The idea of putting a seed in the ground and just watching it grow just seems wrong. We want to be responsible. We don’t want to be dependent on a power greater than us. And yet, isn’t that one of the basic tenants of our Biblical Faith?

Listen to the parable again. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a seed scattered on the ground. Regardless what the farmer does or does not do, it sprouts and grows.” This is a dangerous thought. It makes us appear to be theological freeloaders. Let’s face it, being busy or being dogmatic makes a lot more sense to us. Our invitation to heaven ought to come from what we accomplished on earth or at the very least what we believe. It is hardly seems fair that our visa to the great beyond comes simply because God chooses to love us. And yet, how else can grace be explained.

Recently I went out late in the afternoon to play golf. I started on Tuckahoe Number One, a gorgeous hole with a steep hill on the left and a lake on the right.  Just to make it interesting, the hole is over 400 yards long. Successfully avoiding the lake, I pulled the ball left and landed on top of the hill. This makes for a tough walk, guaranteeing the effort will be rewarded because many folks reload and leave the initial shot for anyone willing to walk the hill.

On finding my ball, I was pleased to discover it was in the good company of another ball. The discovered treasure was a brand new Titlist ProV-1 which had been hit only once by someone named Grace. I knew this because her name was stamped on the ball. On returning to the cart, I put my treasure in the ball rack and did not give it a second thought until three holes later. That is when I hit another wayward shot over a creek and into the trees. Upset with myself, I stomped back to the cart to retrieve the newly discovered ProV-1. As I reached for the ball, my eyes focused on the word, GRACE. 

I started laughing. I had done nothing to deserve the new ball. Quite the contrary, I had discovered “grace” due to my own waywardness. It was a gift, well outside the beaten path of the ordinary that simply fell into my life. I left the ball in the tray and got another from my bag. Saved by grace, I relaxed and I hit the next shot straight down the fairway.

Surely our relationship with God can’t be that easy. At the very least isn’t one of our Christian responsibilities is to work at bringing about the kingdom of heaven here on earth? Most certainly it is. But for just for a moment, let’s relax and remember that great passage from the Sermon on the Mount, “Consider the Lilies of the Field, they neither toil nor spin but even Solomon was not clothed like them.” Let’s remember those words of the Psalmist we all know by heart, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” And if readings from both the Old and New Testament are not enough, consider the wisdom of Buddy Miller,

It’s the flicker of our flames,

It’s the friction born of living,

It’s the way we tell ourselves all things are normal

till we can’t remember where we’ve been.

Sometimes life feels like bars of steel

I can’t bend in my hand.

Somebody told me, I worry too much.

Somebody told me, I worry too much.

 

We confuse the kingdom of God with the way we have come to expect life to be. Chaos, Crisis and Confusion are so anticipated, they seem to be normal. But Jesus is calling us to a very different way of being ourselves, a very different way of being with others and a very different way of being with God. Jesus is saying, “You worry too much. Maybe on your last swing you hit it into the woods, but that is not the last swing you will ever take. Breath deep. Relax. Then remember, there is no out of bounds in the kingdom of God.

(Stop)

I know the concept, “No out of bounds in the kingdom of God”, hit a nerve with a bunch of you. Aren’t discovering our boundaries what the whole journey of life is about? Didn’t Adam and Eve go too far? Don’t the Ten Commandments place restrictions on acceptable behavior? Yes, Yes, and Yes. The very reason for the existence of moral codes is to put limitations on our propensity toward selfishness and yet, the kingdom of heaven exists as a parallel universe to any place where sin has overcome perfection.

Now I have gone from the heretical to the ridiculous. Or maybe what I have done is gone back to the brilliance that is exposed in the parable of the seed.

The seed is planted. The farmer not only walks away, he goes to sleep and does nothing to enhance the awakening of a miracle in the soil. Then one day a sprout appears and the plant begins to grow.

What did the farmer do? He observed. He witnessed a life born in absolute obedience to the will of the Creator.  No boundaries, no limitations, only perfection.

So what might the parable mean? From my limited and bias perceptive allow me to suggest the kingdom of God is not a creation of humankind. We can work toward bringing about the kingdom but its majesty, its glory, its reality comes solely from the imagination of God.

Heaven is a gift, with no boundaries.

Heaven is an invitation, with no restrictions.

Heaven is perfection,

Existing despite human imperfection.

Heaven is a beginning beyond beginning;

Heaven is an ending with no end.

        Heaven is a seed,

Orchestrated by God.

                                        To the Glory of God.     

        And we, thanks be to God, reap the benefits.

                        Let all God’s people say Amen.