Mark 4:26-34

[Jesus] also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Instead of passing out mustard seeds to everyone, like I’ve done before – in classes and worship where this parable is concerned – I thought I’d do a little searching online for pictures and images of mustard plants to remind us more of what Jesus is talking about in this morning’s Gospel.

But I will start with a picture of a mustard seed.

They’re small, just like Jesus says they are. Not the smallest seed you and I might ever see, but maybe they were the smallest seeds known to Jesus, and his people, and to the region where he was living back in the day. And I found some pictures of the plants these seeds turn into, too, since that’s much of the point of Jesus’ parables this morning.

And what I found may or may not be as interesting or as surprising to some of you farming, gardening, green-thumbing types as it was to me.

When Jesus talks about this mustard seed becoming something worthy of a nest, I was expecting something more like a tree. But mostly what I found were pictures like this:

… and this:

… and this:

This is why it’s funny that Jesus ever even talked about the mustard seed at all. See, we’re used to hearing agricultural illustrations and farming metaphors in the Bible and from Jesus, but when we hear about trees, we’re used to hearing about something much more substantial. And so were the people listening to Jesus way back when.

Like in the book of Daniel, there’s talk of a tree, “great and strong” whose “top reached to heaven and was visible to the end of the whole earth.” This tree was used to describe a kingdom that ruled all the peoples of the world. In Ezekiel, which we heard this morning, too, and in the Psalms, there’s talk of the “mighty cedar of Lebanon” that symbolized the power of the kingdom of Assyria. And there is talk about “oaks of righteousness,” too. And, of course, there are those images of the “Tree of Life” and the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” from way back in Genesis and the Garden of Eden.

So in all of this, I picture trees – big, strong, tall, hefty kinds of trees. Something like this, maybe:

…or like this:

a giant redwood you could drive a car through.

or even just this:

a big old oak tree, strong enough to hold your favorite porch swing.

But no. Jesus talks about mustard – the smallest of all seeds that grows up to become something great. But not really the greatest of trees, though. I don’t think he’s talking about a sequoia, or a redwood; a high and lofty cedar or a giant oak of righteousness, either.

In the Gospels of Matthew of Luke, Jesus talks of a tree when he tells the parable of the mustard seed. But this morning – in Mark’s Gospel – he doesn’t go that far. This was a bush (SLIDE 8). A sizeable shrub. A flowering hedge of a thing. And so, just like so much else in God’s way of being in the world, Jesus shows us the kingdom in a way that’s surprising and unexpected and not at all the way the rest of the world might think it should be.

And I think that’s his point when he compares the kingdom of God – and our part in it – with a mustard seed and the bush that it becomes.

We sleep and rise, night and day and the seeds we’ve planted will grow – like they did for the guy in this morning’s first parable – by the grace of God, nothing more and nothing less. We don’t have as much to do with it as we’d like to pretend a lot of the time. And this is good, gracious, liberating news, if you ask me.

We’re just people – lowly, broken, sinful, sizeable shrubs of a people – planting our seeds in the world wherever we live and watching God do with them what God will do, and being amazed more often than not at what God can grow and produce and harvest with whatever worship, learning, and service; whatever forgiveness, grace and joy we’ve been able to scatter around us as we go – measly little bushes though we may be.

And there’s evidence of this everywhere:

Last weekend, in Louisville, the Indiana-Kentucky Synod of the ELCA, elected our first Black Bishop, Pastor Tim Graham, who told us that the very next day following his election, he’d be celebrating something like 24 years of sobriety. The serendipity of that makes me wonder about – and marvel at – all of the seeds of grace he has planted – and that were planted in him – up until to that moment, over the course of those 24 years. And all of the seeds yet to be scattered and bushes and branches yet to grow and bloom because of it.

I hope you saw or heard about Cross of Grace’s presence at our first ever PRIDE parade and celebration downtown last weekend, too. Amanda and Angi did a lot to organize and plan for the day, but simply showing up, simply being there, simply representing a congregation of Christians for the sake of the LGBTQ+ community that has more reason to fear than to welcome us, was the Kingdom of God alive and well in the world. Simply passing out stickers and suckers and “Mom Hugs,” was nothing more and nothing less than the scattering of seeds for those who received them – and in at least one case, I heard – were brought to tears because of it all. And from those seeds, I have to believe that some kind of shelter continues to grow.

And our annual SonRise Vacation Bible School did it again, too, last week … planted more seeds and grew more grace for me and those who joined the fun, I mean. We simply eat and sing and tell stories and share communion and try to come up with – sometimes silly – ways to tell of God’s love. And our friends – with different, limited physical and intellectual abilities – receive it with such faith – to the degree that one of them asked to be baptized at the end of it all. It’s a lot of work for the likes of Sharon and the other leaders, but from those simple seeds of story, song, and silliness, the Kingdom lives and moves and blooms in beautiful ways.

That’s why it’s so amazing that God uses us – shrubs and bushes like you and me – when there seem to be so many bigger, better trees out there in the world. You know what I mean? And, unfortunately, too many of us Christians do know what I mean.

See, I’ve come to know that what keeps too many of us from living out our faith most fully as followers of Jesus, is a lack of esteem and understanding about how qualified or capable or gifted we are to do whatever it is God hopes for us to accomplish.

We tell ourselves and pretend that we don’t know enough… that we aren’t talented enough… that we aren’t sure enough… We aren’t sober enough… We don’t have enough time… We aren’t wealthy enough… We aren’t leaders enough to lead… Or teachers enough to show someone else the way… We have too many questions of our own to even try to offer answers for somebody else…

To ourselves, we’re just “seeds” or “bushes” or “shrubs” too much of the time and we keep ourselves so small in our own eyes that we forget just how worthy we are in the eyes of God.

We keep waiting to become “trees” – mighty enough, strong enough, smart enough, faithful enough, wealthy enough, whatever enough – to do something more, to be something more, to offer something more – we forget that God used a “tree” to accomplish the greatest grace of all time, for the sake of the whole wide world.

If God can turn a mustard seed into a shrub… If God would dare turn a tree into a cross… If God can turn suffering and death into resurrection and new life… What can’t God do with the welcome and hospitality; with the love and forgiveness; with the good news and grace each of us has to scatter, to plant, and to grow in the world wherever we live?

Amen

Mark 3:20-35

…and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Grace, mercy, and peace be yours today from God: Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

With the two fine preachers we have here at Cross of Grace, I didn’t think I would have another chance to be at this pulpit, but I am grateful for it as they are off tending to the business of the larger church. And we pray for them in that work.

This Gospel text is a sort of mishmash is it not? It jumps around from Jesus and the crowds to Jesus and the temple scribes and to Jesus and his family. And what is central to it all is that Jesus is caught in the middle—in the middle of the crowds;

in the middle of a dispute with the scribes;

and in the middle of a family squabble.

But, reading the Gospels, that’s where we often find Jesus—Caught in the Middle.

At the beginning of the text, we find Jesus going home. He had just picked his twelve disciples and no doubt had been on the dusty roads for a time and wanted peace and quiet and a home cooked meal.

But the crowds followed him home and were so big and persistent that Jesus and his new friends could not even eat their meal. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus was always drawing crowds —he was famous for his healing miracles…for changing water into wine…and for his teaching. Sometimes he had to flee from them. Once he even had to escape on a boat.

These pressing crowds remind me of the Caitlin Clark effect. She can’t go anywhere these days. Kids and adults hound her for an autograph and hand slaps as she comes and goes on the court her presence is filling arena across the country. I’m guessing she can’t even go to a restaurant without crowds bothering her.

Jesus’ own family went out to rescue him as the crowds were saying he was crazy. Jesus was caught in the middle of it all.

And then came the confrontation with the scribes—those annoying holy men who professed to have all the truths about God and saying how Jesus should be acting/behaving if he was truly God’s son.

They tried to trap him by equating him with Satan and deeming him a blasphemous, false messiah. In refuting his baptism by the Holy Spirit; claiming that he associated with all the wrong people; by not behaving as a righteous person should behave, they were trying to make the case against him. In so doing they themselves were blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and this is when Jesus has enough and utters his word about that sin being the only unforgivable one.

Jesus caught in the middle of disputes between the Scribes and Pharisees—the religious establishment of the day would ultimately lead to his arrest and death.

And then the text closes with Jesus back with the crowds and his family outside the home. This is where it gets a bit sticky. The crowd tells Jesus that his mother and siblings are asking for him, and it seems as though Jesus denies his immediate family, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And then motioning with his hands and arms to those gathered, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. Again, we see Jesus caught in the middle of his family and the crowds.

How do you think his mother and siblings took that? I’m thinking probably not too well. Did they think he was denying them their place in his life? What’s up with that? It seems very harsh.

I think we can all admit that families can be messy at times. There are misunderstandings. There can be harsh words.

There can be addictions, diseases, and divorces that hurt and divide.

There can be some family members who disavow faith and worship.

There can be family members who are incarcerated.

There are congregations (a wonderful expression of a family, right?) who are more interested in judging and condemning than embracing. There can be unloving actions that exclude LGBT+ family members—I’ve been a witness to that. I heard of a church sign this week that said, “God wants our humility, not pride.” Surely that is a direct hit aimed at Pride month. How will LGBT+ folks take that sign? Think they will feel welcome in that mainline church? And I read that the Southern Baptist Convention is scheduled to vote soon to expel any congregation that calls a woman pastor.

Yes, our families of origin and our church families can be messy.

As the 21st century disciples of Jesus we had better find ourselves in the middle. In the middle of religious disputes with words of forgiveness, truth, justice, and hope.

We had better be in the middle of secular disputes around corruption, racial injustice, voting rights and equal rights for all. That’s where we will find Jesus, and he expects us to be at his side in the middle of it all.

All Jesus was doing that day as he looked at those sitting around him and saying, “Here is my family” was enlarging his family, not downsizing it. He didn’t deny his own biological one. And we know that as he was dying on the cross for you and me, and for the sake of the world, he looked down at one of the disciples and said, “You take care of my mother.” He loved his immediate family even if they couldn’t understand his life’s mission.

And he loves us even as we struggle to find the courage, patience, and grace to be caught in the middle with Jesus—right where he wants and expects us to be.

Amen.