Weekly Meditation JUNE 14th

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Weekly Meditation
by Gina McAlexander

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. The Parable of the Mustard Seed. 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.

I have heard many sermons on the mustard seed; some taken from this passage and some from others in the New Testament. If I am honest, I have not always liked those sermons very much. I have felt afterwards that if I couldn't move mountains with my faith, then I didn't quite measure up. I have tried to look at this passage in a different light.

I think it's great that Jesus gives us examples of what the kingdom of God looks like. We have never seen the kingdom or its king for that matter. It is interesting that the person scattering the seeds has no idea how the seeds grow but the earth knows what to do and obviously so does the seed. The next example Jesus gives us in this passage is about a mustard seed; which in His day was probably one of the smallest seeds that the people could imagine. Have you ever looked at a mustard seed? Or perhaps you have seen one of those pendants at a Christian bookstore with a mustard seed in it. It's about 2 millimeters in size. That's pretty small. Again the mustard seed knows what to do once it's planted in the ground and the size of the seed really didn't matter nor control the outcome of the seed.

Ok Jesus, that's a nice story about farming and seeds and kingdoms and such. But what does that have to do with me? I may have a garden and it's a nice illustration and all, but what was Jesus really talking about?

I think what Jesus was trying to tell us is each person already has in them what they are called to be. They may not look like it, act like it or sound like it, but it's in there. Think about this; when you look at a seed of any kind whether apple, orange, peach, tomato etc, those seeds don't look anything like what they will become at maturity, do they? If you go to a seed store and buy seed to plant flowers, each little packet has a picture on the outside of the packet to let you know what you are planting. Why is that? Because the seed never looks like what it has the potential to become; it changes appearance on the outside as it grows and matures.

Can you think of yourself as a seed? Each of us is a child of God seed, with God given talents, gifts and abilities specifically and uniquely programmed into us. We may not look, act, or sound like, but it's all in there! Just like the natural seed we plant in our gardens or flower pots, God has put in us exactly what we are to be. So let's be patient with ourselves and with others, tend the garden of our hearts with spiritual nourishment, and behold the beauty that unfolds. Amen