The Gospel in Story Form

Sermon for June 14, 2009 The Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 6 Text:  Mark 4:26-34 Title:  "The Gospel in Story Form" A.  The Gospel passage this morning features two parables about the Kingdom of God.  If you think parables are just confined to the Biblical narrative, think again.  Charles Shultz, creator and author of the Peanuts cartoon characters often conveys a Christian message in his comic strips.  And if a parable is defined as a type of story that conveys a theological message using familiar language and situations, then Peanuts is modern day parable.  In one comic strip, Charlie Brown and Lucy are leaning over the backyard fence speaking to one another, and the conversation goes something like this:  CB: All it would take to make me happy is to have someone say he likes me. Lucy: Are you sure?  CB: Of course I'm sure!  Lucy:   Do you mean to tell me that someone has it within his or her power to make you happy merely by doing such a simple thing?  CB: Yes! That's exactly what I mean!  Lucy: Well, I don't think that's asking too much. I really don't. [Now standing face to face, Lucy asks one more time] But you're sure now? All you want is to have someone say, "I like you, Charlie Brown," and then you'll be happy?  CB: And then I'll be happy!  Lucy: [Lucy turns and walks away saying] I can't do it!  Obviously, Shutlz is demonstrating the absurdity of drawing one's joy from other people, rather than drawing it from within, and in relationship with God.         Parables are stories, based on situations people can relate to, that convey a theological lesson by analogy.  Parables are effective because we all remember stories better than we remember lectures.  Jesus used parables to make memorable points in the minds of the listeners.  Now, since Jesus' parables used images that might not be very common in today's culture, we might find his parables to be a bit hard to understand.  We shouldn't feel bad about this; even in Jesus' day His parables were a bit cryptic to the general public; notice that Mark tells us, "Jesus explained everything in private to His disciples."   But now let me demonstrate why Jesus spoke in parables.  Instead of the Parable of the Mustard Seed, what if Jesus had chosen to tell the following parables:    n      The Parable of the Crabby Boss and the Christian Coworker. n      The Parable of the Kids Who Won't Clean Up Their Rooms and the Mother       Who Is Threatening to Ground Them for Life. n      The Parable of the Flat Tire and the New Suit. n      The Parable of the School That Doesn't Feel Safe and the Kids Who Must Attend There. n      The Parable of the Parents Who Don't Have a Clue. n      The Parable of the Empty Cupboard and the Overflowing "Bills To Pay" Slot.   These titles get our attention in a big hurry!  That's the role of parables – to catch the attention of the audience and to make an impression that might just be life changing.  By preaching in parables, Jesus let each listener make the Good News his own story or her own experience.   There is nothing like a good story to connect us to one another, to our ancestors, to our world and to our God.   B.   This passage consists of two parables, centering on the Kingdom of God.  Both parables draw a comparison between the Kingdom and the behavior of seeds, something that would be very familiar to an agriculturally based culture such as in the 1st century Middle East.  In the first parable, the seed is scattered, it sprouts and it grows.  It develops to full grain all by itself:  "The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head."  How it grows the farmer does not know.  But a closer look at the seed's activity shows that it is still dependent on the farmer.  The farmer sows the seed, waits for its growth, and finally, at the correct time, the crop is harvested.   Within this text, the activities of the seed and the farmer are connected, yet their interrelationship is kept mysteriously incomplete.  Although he does not understand why the sown seed grows as it does, the farmer has enough knowledge to plant the seed correctly, care for it adequately, and recognize when it comes to full fruit.    Now we should notice that the language of this parable echoes the language of the prophetic book of Joel.   In the third chapter, Joel's harvest is clearly related to the image of the Lord's warriors, who are sent out to "harvest."  Obviously, it is God who does the harvesting.  The fact is the farmer (Jesus' disciples) is ignorant of the divine work that accomplishes harvest time, but the farmer is a co-worker in getting to that point.  When we think none of our actions as Church are doing any good, harvest time is when the abundant effects of preaching, teaching, and disciple making are at last revealed.       Now here is the thing about parables that we need to remember:  It's the part of the parable that startles the listener that Jesus wants us to remember.   In Jesus' day, people thought the Kingdom of God was coming in suddenly, with military might, brought in by a "Messiah", or "anointed one."   This Kingdom would be like David's Kingdom, only it would endure forever.  The point Jesus is trying to make in both these parables is that the reality is quite the opposite; the Kingdom grows in a hidden, mysterious way, aided by human effort but driven by God.  We can take solace in the fact that when our best efforts in the Church seem to not be good enough, when we feel like we are beating our heads against the wall, God is fully capable of filling in the gaps!!  Perhaps the greatest miracle of all is that God allows us the awesome responsibility of being His instruments by which God's Kingdom comes to earth.  We preach and teach, we witness to what God has done in our lives, we support each other, we work to create a more just social order.  And despite the fact that our efforts might sometimes seem to be in vain, in the end we shall marvel that growth and change has occurred while we slept!   The second parable in this morning's passage of Scripture is a very famous passage.  Like the preceding parable, the mystery of growth pervades this text.  Human understanding cannot fathom how, out of the tiniest of all seeds, the mysterious powers of generation bring about such astounding growth that the mustard shrub should be "the greatest of all." So phenomenal is this growth that the "birds of the air" find shelter and shade in its huge branches.   Now, here is the thing that would catch the ears of the listeners in this parable.  Have you ever seen a mustard plant?  They aren't very big; only about like this.  Well, even in the Middle East, they aren't the largest of the shrubs!   To be that large denotes miraculous, unheard of growth.  Jesus is telling us that God has the ability to bring in the kingdom of heaven from tiny, apparently insignificant beginnings, such that in the end, we will all be surprised at how vast God's Kingdom is.  The power behind this phenomenal growth, as in the first parable, is God.   In the case of this mustard seed, there is not even any human attendant watching its growth.  God will accomplish great results from small beginnings!  We can count on the fact that when we think what we do is small and insignificant, God is fully capable of turning our efforts into unheard of, miraculous results.  The birds nesting in the branches of this shrub imply that God invites all to join in the watchful protection of the Lord.       C.  So what are the implications of these parables for our lives?  I can discern at least two.   1.   We can rest assured that God's hand is active in our lives, transforming us into the image of Christ by taking our decisions and our life situation and bringing good out of them.  We are almost certainly not aware that this is going on, even though all this divine activity is obvious to the 20/20 vision of hindsight.  And it takes time – a lifetime, to be precise.  It is aided by our efforts and our conscious and constant surrender of our lives to Christ.  As the Apostle Paul said to the Philippian Christians, "Therefore, my beloved…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."  Just like the parables we are reading today, God is involved in our lives, but He isn't a puppet master.  He's not going to pull our strings; we have free Will.  God isn't going to tell us how He's doing it, just like we don't know how the seeds sprout and grow and we can't explain how a mustard plant becomes a huge shrub.  But somehow, miraculously, all the while leaving us free to make choices, either for good or for ill, God works good out of evil.  We participate in the act of Christian growth, by studying Scripture, praying, seeking out Christian support, attending worship, and receiving the Sacrament.  But God is the power behind the process.  God transforms us into the image of Christ, in and through the trials and tribulations of life, as well as through the victories of Christian hope.   Michelangelo, one of the world's great artists, was also a great sculptor. One day a visitor was looking at a statue that Michelangelo was making. The visitor remarked, "I can't see that you have made any progress since I was here last time."  But Michelangelo answered, "Oh, yes, I have made much progress. Look carefully and you will see that I have retouched this part, and that I have polished that part. See, I have worked on this part of the statue, and have softened the lines here." "Yes," said the visitor, "but those are all trifles." "That may be," replied Michelangelo, "but trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle." God is creating perfection out of imperfect lives.  Day to day, the changes may seem like trifles.  But they're not.  Their cumulative effect is a disciple of Christ.   2.  Life can have purpose and meaning in the light of God's love.  If there is one thing these parables teach us, it is that Kingdom work is a joint project between God and us.  God is the powerhouse, but we have our role to play as well.  We are not in control of the growth. We are called to plant seeds and try to nurture them.  God gives the growth.  We must be very cautious about taking too much credit for apparent success in the spiritual area.  But by keeping all this in mind, we find that this joint project is what we as disciples of Christ are meant to do.  God gives us gifts, and challenges us to both develop them and use them.  Together, we are the body of Christ.  All of the body parts are not the same.  We do different things in different settings.  But together, we work as God present in the world.  As I have already mentioned, God has set up the peculiar situation in that He needs us to join with Him in bringing in the Kingdom.  And this is empowering.   When we are truly authentic, when we are living out of our Christ-refreshed hearts, we are doing Kingdom work.  It may not be a big job.  Or, by human standards, it might be.  But it is still a necessary job because God gave it to us, and called us to do it.  God places us in just the right place to use the specific and individual gifts He has given us.  And when we do, our life has purpose and meaning.   God calls us to be a nurturing parent, to help introduce our kids to Christ.  God calls us to be witnesses to the Kingdom.  God calls us to use our hands for Kingdom work.  God calls us to do a thousand and one things, all unique to us and unique to the circumstance we are in, because God needs us.   This is a pretty amazing thought.  We are the unique and special Creations of God.  No one is just like us.  We are all loved and special to God.  He won't let us go nor let us down.  How, you might ask, do I find what God is calling me to do and be.  It's not necessarily easy.  Talk to people who love you and who know you.  Ask them what God given gifts that they see we possess.  Pray about it.  There are also inventories one can take to measure spiritual gifts, which I would be happy to talk to you about offline.  But despite the gift or the particular manifestation of the gift, the overall job is to enable God to bring in the Kingdom.  We do this by showing God's light to a hungry and hurting world.   The story is told of a couple who took their two young children with them to tour a large public cave.  As always, when the tour reached the deepest point in the cavern, the guide turned off all the lights to dramatize how completely dark and silent it is below the earth's surface. The little girl, suddenly enveloped in utter darkness, was frightened and began to cry. Immediately was heard the voice of her brother: "Don't cry. Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights."   We are called to light lights, plant seeds, work in God's garden, and prepare for harvest.  As we go from this place today, may this be our work and our calling.  Amen. Keith Almond P.O. Box 4388 Leesburg, VA  20177 703-344-3569 almond_keith@yahoo.com