Third Sunday after Pentecost
Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 92:1-4,11-14
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17 Mark 4:26-34
“...and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.” In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
As most of you know, I spent nearly forty years in the banking industry. This career covered various aspects of financial services including working in a handful of local branches, managing investment portfolios, and financing airplanes, homes, and business equipment for wealthy individuals. But as I look back over my career, I think I had the most fun and learned the most about what it meant to be “someone’s banker” when I was assigned to a Bank of America branch in a small farming community north of Sacramento in Arbuckle, CA. I was about 25 years old, a graduate of the bank’s management training program and had completed my first management position in a large downtown San Francisco branch. My time in the Bay Area had been incredibly fun and exciting, but ultimately, prohibitively expensive, thus my interest in moving back to the Sacramento area.
When I arrived in Arbuckle, a town of about 1700 folks with as many bars as churches, I was expected to join many of the other local business folks, including the owner of the grocery store, the owner of the appliance store, the postmaster, several bar owners, but mostly folks involved with the community’s primary industry, farming, at the local coffee shop, which if memory serves me correctly, was called Dolly’s. We’d all gather at 7 a.m. for this daily ritual of small talk and camaraderie, suck down a couple cups of Folgers coffee before everyone headed out to their respective places of business. It was during these ordinary and informal gatherings where I got my first glimpse of what it took to own and operate a successful small business, whether selling groceries or appliances or growing nuts, fruits or
vegetables. In retrospect, the seeds of friendship, shared wisdom, patience, and commitment to one’s profession that were sown into me over coffee and conversation in that small town coffee shop helped shape how I understood my responsibilities as a business partner with my clients over the rest of my banking career and continues to shape my current relationship and vocation with you as your vicar.
Truth be told, I was really looking forward to this season after Pentecost, a time during the church year oftentimes referred to as “ordinary time.” During these past six months, we’ve been busily engaged with the two very busy and emotional seasons of the year that take us through the anticipation and birth of Christ followed by his crucifixion and resurrection. We’ve celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and now we enter into the long, “green season” of the Sundays after Pentecost, or “Ordinary Time.” Ordinary Time, however, does not mean uneventful. We will spend the bulk of the next six months delving more deeply into what Mark’s gospel has to say to us about what Jesus said and did and how this impacts our everyday and “ordinary” lives. We begin with two rather short but significant parables regarding seeds and the Kingdom of God.
The phenomenon of growth is rather interesting. As a banker, I would work with business owners on sales projections, expense allocations, and profit margins. Growth was something that could be plotted on a spreadsheet and adjustments made in order to keep the trajectory going in the right direction. Working with farmers was somewhat different. Though they too would budget for revenues and expenses, yields, and margins, unlike their non-farming friends, they would have to rely on what couldn’t be managed, the weather. I’ll never forget what one of them told me over coffee after he had completed the planting of his field; “there’s nothing more I can do. I’ve tilled the field, I’ve fertilized it, and I’ve planted the seed. It’s now out of my hands and I wait.” He continued, “you know, the growing part is God’s business.” He’d still go about his daily chores of maintaining the tractors and trucks, negotiating the price of his crop, and scheduling what needed to be done to operate a successful operation, but as for what was sown, there was nothing left for him to do. Like the scatterer of seed in today’s
first parable, this fellow does not know how the season will progress but his wisdom in knowing that the actual growth of the seed was out of his hands brought a sense of freedom to his work and enabled him to plan for the ultimate harvest.
Or what of the second parable, that of the small mustard seed that when it is grown becomes the largest of all shrubs and provides shade in its branches for the birds of the air? From what I read, the mustard tree grows wildthroughoutmuchoftheMiddleEastandAfrica. Fromthistinyseed however it often grows to as much as twenty-five feet tall, has one and a half to three inch leaves, and can survive on less than eight inches of water per year. It is an excellent and plentiful food source for many desert animals such as goats and camels. This image seems very much like the kingdom to me: they both grow everywhere, you can’t control it, and it offers respite and sustenance for all those who encounter it.
Both of these parables are great illustrations that from small beginnings come great harvests. But they also serve as a reminder that what many of Jesus’ disciples were looking for, the great kingdom of God that would come in their own time and militarily free them from the oppression of the Romans, is not the kingdom of which Jesus preached. The Kingdom of God that Jesus proclaims will arrive in ways unexpected, unseen, and within God’s timetable. The growth of the Kingdom of God that started with Jesus and his band of followers has spread and is at hand throughout the world, like that of wild mustard seed trees, providing provision and shelter for all his followers. This growth is exemplified by what has happened on the continent of Africa. In 1900, there were approximately 4 million confirmed Christians; today, that number is in excess of 400 million. This is what the scattering of seed, even the size of a mustard seed, will produce when God is in charge of the increase.
So what do these growth parables have to do with us in the here and now? I think there are several ideas for us to discern and ponder. First, we are responsible for the sowing of seeds, we are not responsible for their growth. Each one of us here today is an evolving, growing disciple of
Christ because at some point we experienced the love of God through an experience or another person. For example, I’ve heard numerous stories during my time in the diocese about the impact that Camp Cross has had on those who’ve attended. Those seeds of experience and relationship profoundly shaped the lives of many campers. Those rich experiences were then shared with others, renewing the sowing process for generations of future campers.
Our job is to scatter the seeds of love, compassion, hope, truth, patience, and joy as generously as we can, as often as we can, and wherever we can. Maybe this takes the form of a small gesture of a friendly smile to someone who really needed it, or the sharing of your faith story, or your encouraging someone down on their luck. Maybe it’s in the ordinary ways we humbly offer mercy, show respect, and through acts of genuine kindness. All these are the seeds of Christ that are readily available for sowing into the lives of others. While we may not always see the ultimate fruit of our labors, we know that God is using that which we have scattered for his purposes and glory.
The second idea that has been percolating this week involves us joining with Christians in scattering the seeds of Christ throughout our community. Think of how many more opportunities to share the story of Jesus might appear if we gathered and planned with our Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and others of like mind in spreading the seeds of the Good News of Jesus Christ here in the greater Sandpoint area. We are not in competition with our brothers and sisters in Christ; we are the collective Body of Christ. While we will continue to make plans and seek opportunities to grow spiritually as a congregation, these plans are not the seeds; our lives are the seeds, the story of Jesus and the Kingdom of God are the seeds that can change lives.
My friends, the growth of the Kingdom of God is mysterious. Fortunately, we don’t have to figure it out, just do our part. During our clericus meeting earlier this week, we began with the study of the story of Zacchaeus, that small-of-stature tax collector who climbed a tree to see who this Jesus was and where he was going. It has often been discussed that this moment when Jesus tells Zacchaeus to come down from the tree because he wants to visit with him at his house, was the turning point in Zacchaeus’ life. But Jake brought up an interesting take: what was it that drove Zacchaeus to climb the tree in the first place? Why was he interested in seeing Jesus? Maybe, Jake said, it was because someone had planted a seed in Zacchaeus’ heart that prodded his interest, that began the process of self-reflection, and that motivated him to consider a new way of living. It wasn’t the immediate interaction with Jesus, rather his interaction might have been a response to what he was seeking, to an idea uttered during an otherwise ordinary conversation with someone. We don’t know and I surmise it’s not our job to know. I do think it’s for us to plant a seed in the Zacchaeus that we encounter and let God do whatever it takes to bring that seed to flower. May it be so.