Welcome to Sonday Life. It’s my goal with these episodes to make Spiritual living in Christ Organic for every believer.
We’ve been going through the parables of Jesus and in this episode, we’re going to look at 2 parables found in Mark 4:26-32.
Before we do I have to say that these parables are well known and they’re short, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misused. I think for these reasons it proves the points Jesus is making with these parables.
The kingdom of God can be twisted to mean something it shouldn’t depending on the focus of the one handling it. Messages can be put together for many different reasons; to entertain, to show how knowledgeable someone is, to convict people of sin, and on and on.
My focus for Sonday Life and your faith in Jesus Christ is truth. What is the truth that Jesus intends for us to know?
With that said, it took a while to see the truth in these parables so we could answer the question; What does the kingdom of God look like in the world? Jesus gives us that answer in these parables.
Mark 4:26-29; The Parable of the Growing Seed
Mark 4:30-32; The Parable of the Mustard Seed
A kingdom is a place with a king or queen with absolute authority over a people. Is God’s kingdom like an earthly kingdom? Well, the Jews thought so. They were expecting the son of David who was a great warrior. They expected a powerful and conquering king that defeats all the enemies of Israel.
Jesus wasn’t the king they expected, and neither was his kingdom what they expected. See what Jesus told Pilate about his kingdom when he was arrested and interrogated; John:18:33-37
So, what is this kingdom that Jesus told Pilate was not of this world?
The kingdom of God is nothing like what the Romans considered to be a kingdom. It also wasn’t like what the Jews thought was the promised kingdom of Israel. And it’s not even what the religious leaders thought was the institution of obeying God’s commandments as the kingdom of God.
All of them defined a kingdom by the standards of this world. But the kingdom of God is not of this world, as Jesus told Pilate.
So let’s look again at what Jesus said in these two parables about the kingdom of God. And keep in mind that the kingdom of God isn’t like a worldly kingdom; Mark 4:26-29;
This is what the kingdom of God is “like”; The entirety of this parable is what the kingdom of God is “like”, meaning similar to but not an exact copy.
A man scatters seed on the ground; Who is the man? God uses people to do his work on earth; Prophets, preachers/teachers/believers. People spread the message of God in any direction. In a church, in a field, on a street, on the internet. The man is the delivery system. The Greek word here used is “to scatter” not plant. Also, we know from other parables the “seed” is the Word of God. And we know from other parables that the ground or “soil” is our heart.
Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up; the seed sprouts and grows; We can’t control the seed, that is up to God. Those who share the word can’t control how it interacts in the lives of those who receive the Word.
· The seed/word sprouts in the heart when people believe. Then things pop-up in us that cause us to see things differently.
· The sprout gets stronger, and the pop-ups take root and grow in us.
Though he doesn’t know how; Those who speak the Word to others can’t control the Word and they don’t know how it works. Only God knows that.
And all by itself the soil produces grain; The Greek word used here for “all by itself” means “automatically”. Automatically the “soil” produces grain. Growth happens in the heart automatically. God made the human heart with the ability to produce a result in us from the words we hear. The heart is affected by the words we hear like the ground is affected by the things we put in it; some good things and some bad things. Whether it’s things that were put in us by others, or things we put in our hearts ourselves. Depending on the condition of our hearts we will see the resulting crop. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” How does this happen and why? We don’t know, but it does. God created our hearts this way for a reason. Psalm 33:13-15 says, “From heaven, the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on the earth – he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything we do.”
First the stalk, then the head, and then the full kernel in the head;
When seeds are scattered on the ground you expect something to grow. It is the same when words are spread in our hearts. Depending on those words we will see the results. As Jesus concludes the parable he says;
As soon as it is ripe, “he” puts the sickle to it because the harvest has come;
A harvest is a gathering of what is grown when it’s “ripe”. The word used here for “ripe” means to “surrender” or “give up”. The sense is that the product of the soil surrenders itself to be used for its purpose; to feed others and produce new crops. In the kingdom of God when the word of God has produced the product of the word like; faith, love, mercy, forgiveness, hope, kindness, grace, and joy, then the heart gladly surrenders itself to be used to feed others and produce more words/seeds.
This parable shows how misguided mankind can be about the kingdom of God. This isn’t what anyone expected from the Messiah King.
The Romans were afraid of a kingdom that would rival them. The Jews wanted a kingdom that would defeat the enemies of Israel. And the religious leaders wanted a kingdom where they were the rulers, and they would determine who was righteous and who was a sinner.
In the second parable of the mustard seed Jesus shows them the influence the kingdom of God will have in the world; Mark 4:30-32;
It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; There are many different kinds of mustard plants. Some with smaller seeds than others. But there was a proverb at the time that was used when someone wanted to say something was small, they would compare it to a mustard seed.
Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all the garden plants; Again, the mustard plant might get 10 feet high. That might be big in the garden but not in the forest.
With such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade; Birds in scripture represent gentiles.
What did the Jewish audience hear when Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a tree?
The Jews were familiar with kingdoms being compared to trees;
Ezekiel 31:1-6 – Assyria is compared to a great tree, so large the birds nested in its branches.
Daniel 4:19-23 – Babylon is compared to a great tree, so large the animals came to it for shade.
But Jesus compares the kingdom of God to an invasive weed that grows into a big bush.
We can know the meaning of the parable by focusing on the twists;
The kingdom starts out small and ends up big. (John 1:45-47)
- Philip told Nathanael the Messiah was from Nazareth.
It’s not great in stature (humble) but it is in the expanse. (Matthew 11:29)
- Jesus said, “I am gentle and humble of heart, you will find rest.
It’s invasive/infectious and it spreads. (Luke 19:37-40)
- Blessed is the king. Make them stop. If they did, the stones would cry out.
It’s baffling/mysterious how it keeps growing. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)
- God chose the things that aren’t to nullify the things that are.
Every people will come to the kingdom. (Matthew 28:19)
- Preach the Gospel and make disciples of every nation.
In the end, it will overtake everything (Daniel 2:44-45 Part 2)
What is the kingdom of God? It is Christ Jesus. (Revelation 11:15)
The Jews expected the kingdom of the Messiah to be a giant tree growing to heaven.
But Jesus turned their image of the Messianic kingdom upside down by saying the kingdom of the Messiah is a mustard bush.
The kingdom of God spreads out, not up. It spreads out in the lives of people. It grows out of our control, but not out of God’s control. It takes root in places and in the hearts of people beyond our ability to understand it or limit it.
The kingdom of God is Christ in the hearts of everyone who has faith in him.
If you have heard and believed the words of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then the kingdom of God is within you spreading out through your life. Guard the words you receive into your heart, that it is the truth of Christ, and that God will take care of the growth.
