[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.”
Mark 4:26-34
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.
My sermon from the 4th Sunday after Pentecost (June 16, 2024) on Mark 4:26-34.
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So last year, when my youngest transitioned out of daycare, they held a graduation ceremony for her and the forty other kids heading off to new schools. The event took place in a rented gymnasium that was filled to the brim with every parent, grandparents, and extended family member in the land. The four and five year olds were decked out in a mustard yellow graduation gown with a matching hat and tassel. The ceremony was incredibly elaborate and long; with all the kids singing over a dozen songs from memory. They worked really hard to showcase all they could do but something near the start of the ceremony didn’t go in the ways any of us expected. It began with the daycare’s director sharing a few words of welcome before inviting kids to process down the aisle on their own before taking their seats. Once everyone was settled, we were then invited to stand and recite the pledge of allegiance. The sound of metal chairs scraping the floor soon filled the space as everyone stood up and looked for the flag. And once we found it, there was a moment of silence as we waited for someone to kick the whole thing off. When it started, it took a few seconds before our voices came together to recite these words all at the same pace. But once the adults were done, we realized the kids were still speaking. They had memorized the pledge at the speed that worked best for them; yet us older folks, with louder voices, soon drowned them out as we raced to say it on our own. We were there to celebrate these kids moving into their new futures. And yet we began our time together by not even noticing our so-called One Voice failed to include all their voices too.
Now one of the bits from today’s reading from the gospel according to Mark that I find really interesting is how we’re told that Jesus would often explain his stories to his disciples in private. These stories, known as parables, were used by Jesus to reveal a little bit of God’s imagination for our lives and our world. Yet these parables were often a bit absurd which is why people were often left scratching their heads. Having the opportunity to ask Jesus face-to-face what he meant was an amazing gift that the first followers of Jesus had access to. Jesus, it seems, wasn’t only in the business of sharing divine wisdom from above. He also held office hours. Jesus took the time to unpack any confusion the disciples might have. And that, combined with some other words and teachings within our Bible, seems to imply that understanding what Jesus said and did is a big part of faith. And while not every instance of Jesus’ office hours was recorded in our Bible, the fact that some parables were explained might make us imagine that those that weren’t should be easy to figure out. Jesus’ stories then become a kind of puzzle we’re supposed to figure out. For those with direct access to Jesus during his earthly ministry, we’d expect them to find those answers pretty fast. But for the rest of us, solving Jesus becomes the primary way we try to graduate out of our anxiety, fear, and confusion and into a more peaceful experience with our God. Jesus’ stories, then, are less about what God is up to and more a code that we feel we need to crack to finally discover our own place in God.
But if that really was what Jesus’ stories were all about, then those first disciples failed every rest. Over and over and over again, Mark showed how their private access to Jesus never brought about full understanding. The education Jesus provided wasn’t enough for them to clearly see what God was up to. And that’s because, I think, Jesus’ stories were meant to be a code that had to be broken. Rather it was his way of letting them – and us – know how we are already a part of what God is doing in the world. Jesus’ stories are something we’re never meant to graduate from because they are designed to linger in our hearts and minds – especially during those moments when our understanding comes undone. Faith isn’t a puzzle we get to solve; it is, instead, a gift showing us how this current moment isn’t the only moment that defines who we get to be with God. Not fully understanding the nuances, details, and absurdities within the stories Jesus shared doesn’t mean we’re unfaithful, bad Christians, or people who really aren’t part of the body of Christ. Rather, we’re invited to just hold onto Jesus’s words so that we can move from understanding and into a trust that notices how our life is already wrapped up in the divine words, voice, and presence of God. You, in baptism and through faith, have been united with the One voice that has space for all. It’s a voice that is big enough to push through the ways we use our own voices to harm others while forgetting that some are even there. And it’s one of the ways God moves us to become our own kind of seed showing what happens when God’s kingdom comes near.
Now I know living that out isn’t always easy especially when we don’t understand how we fit in the world. It would seem a bit more reasonable for God to let others – maybe a few religious professionals – make it their responsibility to show others how they have a place in God’s kingdom too. Yet if “understanding” God or fully recognizing how integrated our voice and God’s voice should become was the baseline needed to share God with others, then those first followers of Jesus would have remained silent, telling no one of what they had seen, heard, or experienced. God doesn’t only want those who always understand to let people know of the voice of love, grace, and hope God surrounds them with everyday. God has, instead, chosen you to be that voice and to listen for those voices that invite kids, adults, the young, and the old, about the Jesus who is already there for them. It’s a way of living in the world that I believe I’ve already seen our graduates, some who we’ll recognize later today, embody as they move into their new futures. But it’s also something we’ve also been blessed to see in two very specific ways by those who spent their own careers making sure the voice of their students wasn’t lost amongst the crowd. Those two faithful teachers – Jane Conboy and Craig Post – are, in their own way, graduating this month too. Jane has, for the last 39 years, taught French and Spanish at Pascack Hills High School while Craig has spent 22 teaching science at Dumont High too. During their tenure, they did more than simply try to help students understand the information before them. They also, in their own ways, invited their students to grow into who they were meant to become. I’m sure that there were times when both Craig and Jane could describe, in detail, how specific lesson plans, office hours, and intentional effort made a difference in the lives of their students. But there were other moments when, out of nowhere, their students blossomed in ways even those kids didn’t expect. It wasn’t just their talents as teachers that changed their students’ lives; it was also how they chose to embrace and live into the grace God gives them everyday. We might not always fully understand what this Jesus thing is all about nor realize how we truly are an important part of what God is up to in our world. But we can trust that, no matter what, our God is with us. And when we recognize how God’s voice has already wrapped itself around all our voices with a love, mercy, and hope that will not end – that’s when our new future breaks through.
Amen.