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The Gospel of Mark Bible Studies
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
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The 2nd Sunday after Pentecost (B)
[Pr. 6] Grace and peace be with you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen! A month ago, as I am sure many of you may remember, the lawns here at the church and at the parsonage had an infestation of crabgrass and dandelions. In just a few days, it suddenly seemed that crabgrass and yellow dandelion flowers were sprouting up everywhere. I am sure that most of you had the same problem in your own yards. The lawn service we contracted with finally came and sprayed for weed control, and the lawns certainly look much better now. But we know that this is only temporary – that those weeds won’t stay away for long. They’ll be back! Just yesterday morning, Eldon Steffens was spraying for weeds around the sides of our house. As he told me, “They keep coming!” They certainly do! They will keep on coming and growing again and again and again! Weeds. They are one of the banes we have to contend with in lawn care, in gardening, and in agriculture. We spend so much time and money trying to get rid of them – but we can never do it totally. The best we can do is to try to control their growth. In the second parable of today’s gospel Jesus 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.”
I am sure that we are very familiar with this
so-called “parable of the mustard seed” – but most of us have
probably not understood its full significance. Jesus is telling
this parable to describe what the kingdom of God is like – and the
real focus of this parable is not upon the “smallness” of the
mustard seed, but rather upon the mustard plant itself.
The mustard plant is – to put it bluntly – a WEED! Here’s a picture. As you can see, it is not a tree but a shrub that can grow to a height of three to six feet – but most of the time it is even smaller. It grows without any cultivation and can easily take over a garden or field – crowding out the more desirable plants. For most gardeners or farmers of Jesus’ day, the mustard plant was about as welcome in their fields as crabgrass or dandelions are to us on our lawns today. It was one of the banes that they had to contend with and constantly try to control. In comparing the kingdom of God to a WEED, Jesus is trying to help us to understand something that most people fail to recognize. Jesus wants us to understand that God’s kingdom is everywhere – that it is hardy and intrusive – and that the world cannot get rid of it no matter how hard it may try to suppress it! It will keep on popping up among us and in our lives just like weeds in a field, or even in cracks on a sidewalk. This is not a description of God’s kingdom that most people like to envision. It sounds much more inspiring (and “religious”) to compare the kingdom of God to a CEDAR TREE like in today’s first reading. A tree that is huge (over one hundred feet tall!). A tree that is a wonder to behold! But the cedar tree, as awesome as it may be, is not very common. It has a very limited habitat. The cedars of Lebanon which are referred to in today’s first reading and psalm only grow in the highest mountain elevations – a mile or more above sea level. Because of over-harvesting, today there are only several hundred acres of cedar trees left in all of Lebanon. If we use the cedar tree as an image to describe the kingdom of God, we could easily conclude that God’s kingdom is very fragile and is losing ground in a hostile world. But this certainly is not the case when we compare God’s kingdom to a WEED like the mustard plant! Weeds may not look pretty or inspire wonder among us, but they are very common and they keep on growing and spreading no matter what. The tiny seeds will spread and grow everywhere – even in the most unlikely places. That is what the kingdom of God is like in our world and in our lives! Jesus in comparing the kingdom of God to a mustard plant (rather than a cedar tree) is engaging in a bit of “comic irony” – a “joke”! He is showing us that God’s kingdom is coming to us not so much in the great things like we would expect, but rather in the common things – the small things – even things (like weeds!) that we may often try to ignore or suppress. The kingdom of God is at hand! It is here among us and within us, and nothing can ever overcome it! It is growing within us and changing us even when we can’t see it – and making us ready and fit for eternal life! That’s the message of Jesus’ parables in today’s gospel. Thanks be to God for this hope and promise that we have through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen! -------------------- George R. Karres, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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