Do Not Fear; Only Believe!

 Mark 5:21-43

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat[a] to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him, and he was by the sea. 22 Then one of the leaders of the synagogue, named Jairus, came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23 and pleaded with him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” 24 So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had, and she was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, “If I but touch his cloak, I will be made well.” 29 Immediately her flow of blood stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my cloak?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 He looked all around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the synagogue leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” 36 But overhearing[b] what they said, Jesus said to the synagogue leader, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” 37 He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38 When they came to the synagogue leader’s house, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. 41 Taking her by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42 And immediately the girl stood up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat.

A New Testament professor in seminary teaches her students to read the Gospels between the lines and behind the words. There's so much meaning there, she would say, in the text, right before your eyes and yet we quite often miss it entirely. For example, last week’s reading, the crossings over the sea: if we focused more on the small picture, what was happening to people, right then, when Jesus arrived at his destination. There was always plenty to concentrate on, but the bigger picture might escape your attention.

Last week we spoke of the sea being that liminal space, dangerous, full of fear and the unknown.  It was a place of boundaries, so what does it mean that one side of the sea was Jewish territory, and the other Gentile?  Stepping into the unknown there is tension and a risk, maybe even danger. Jesus and the disciples are going somewhere less hospitable, less comfortable, less safe. If you were a first-century Jewish Christian, you probably would not have needed anyone to set the scene for you?

In the hearing of this Gospel you would have felt the tension as you listened to the story. “Think of border crossings into North Korea or Syria or Iran today: the danger they hold and the international crises they provoke. And what about the border crossings on our minds every day, during this most recent immigration crisis?

The storms and the risks are something we understand metaphorically as we face the challenges in our life as the church, taking the risk of opening ourselves up and reaching out to the other. It wasn't an easy crossing for the disciples, either.

“This tension runs underneath the narrative in many of the stories in the Gospel of Mark. After spending time on Jesus' preaching with words, Mark turns to the way Jesus preached with his actions, in a sense, showing, not just telling people what the reign of God looks like. Jesus goes back and forth across the sea, doing many works of wonder and yet not always receiving a warm reception. Another theme that runs throughout these stories is really a way of describing that reception: faith, or no faith. Faith, or fearfulness. Faith, or confusion or hard-headedness or maybe even hard-heartedness.”[1]

The Gospel this week sits on that point between faith and fear, faith and despair and even faith beyond hope. There are two stories in one here, both of them taking place on "this" side of the sea, the familiar side of the sea, you might say Jesus is with his people for he has just returned from Gadarene from Gentile territory where he met and healed the madman. In kind the villagers, perhaps politely but definitely with fear, asked Jesus and his followers to leave. “Fear, not rejoicing, was the response of the people who witnessed the spectacular and very public healing of a man who had unclean spirits; surprisingly, they didn't flock to Jesus in hope of more miracles.”[2]

This week's passage contains two stories. “Both stories involve women in crisis--in fact, we don't know them by their names but by their needs--both "daughters" of Abraham, not outsiders to begin with but now both subject to the taboos around the mysterious power of life (blood) and the even more mysterious (and seemingly unconquerable) power of death. There were those who believed that bleeding women and dead girls should be avoided, at the risk of conveying their uncleanness to others.”[3]

“The number twelve is significant in Jewish thought (for example, the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles), so it's no coincidence that the woman has been bleeding (and therefore cut off from life) for twelve years. Richard Swanson says that blood is "the place that God's first breath is understood to inhabit a human being, the place also from which we give life back." He finds it intriguing that the word "flow" could also be translated as "river," as "this woman's life is swept along by a condition that persists for far too many years" (Provoking the Gospel of Mark).”[4]

In "Faith and the Vulnerability of Children", Brooks Berndt points out that “The theme running throughout this narrative is that of faith: faith in God despite the circumstances. Scholars have suggested that the repeated use of the number twelve for the age of the girl and the duration of the woman's hemorrhaging suggests that this story is ultimately a metaphor for the faith of Israel with its twelve tribes.”[5]

So, we have Jesus landing on the shore, he is mobbed, then Jairus a leader of the synagogue pleads with Jesus to heal his daughter, and then Jesus is on the move from point A, the shore, to point B, Jairus house. It is here in this in between space that Jesus’ cloak is touched.  Not even his physical body but his cloak.  Jesus doesn't permit this touch to go unnoticed, he does not let it remain in an in between space, anonymous, something that just happens in passing.  He stops he scans the crowd and asks, “who touched my clothes?”

 Jesus “lets himself be sidetracked from hurrying to the synagogue leader's home long enough to find the person who has reached out to him with a touch that's more specific, more intentional, than merely jostling him in the crowd. Perhaps the crowd wanted to get near a celebrity, but this woman was reaching for her life. Jesus felt both her weariness and her deep hope. How could he simply walk away?”[6]

Life has been renewed, a miracle has happened and again it happened in that in between space, that liminal space between here and there.  What’s the saying…something about its not the destination but the journey? This liminal space has become a destination, a place of learning, a space of healing, a space of faith beyond hope. It is for that very reason that we need to stop, breathe and take notice.  Mark is telling us where we least expect it…in our rush from point A to point B…miracles happen.

The next nameless woman has just reached adulthood at twelve years old (that means the older woman has been bleeding during this girl's entire lifetime). However, an unknown illness has struck her down. This leads her father, who in the best of ancient fashion does get a name, to seek out Jesus in his desperate search for help.

We know this man is "an important person," a religious leader in the synagogue. “Since first-century synagogues were local communal institutions, it is not surprising that there is no evidence for a centralized group that determined what took place inside of them. Although scholars used to assume that the Pharisees (the likely precursors to the rabbis) were in charge of synagogues, most first-century sources identify elders, priests, and archisynagogoi (Greek for “heads of synagogues”) as the leaders of synagogues (Philo, Hypothetica 7.12-3, Theodotus Inscription, Mark 5:22-23). Rabbinic leadership of synagogues (which is what we are familiar with today) was limited in the first few centuries C.E. and didn’t crystallize until the medieval period.”[7]

So here we have a leader of basically a slightly organized study group.  Since there was no central control over the synagogues Israel often kept an eye on them and tried to keep them in control. Knowing they may have been being watched didn’t matter at this point. “His precious child's illness has reduced him to falling to the ground in front of a traveling folk healer in a last-ditch effort to prevent the worst from happening. This man's name is known to us: Jairus. Megan McKenna tells us that his name (onomati 'Iairos) in Greek is "a clue to what is going to happen": it means "he who will be awakened, or he is enlightened" (On Your Mark: Reading Mark in the Shadow of the Cross).”[8]

This man in-spite of risk of being seen as encouraging Jesus’ ministry, in-spite of knowing that anything could take a person’s life and most likely at any given moment something would. This was before science was able to intervene if you got sick more likely than not you died. John Pilch observes that in Jesus' time "60 percent of live births usually died by their mid-teens" (The Cultural World of Jesus Year B) This was just a fact.   Many adults did not want to get too attached to their children for this very reason and for a man to seem to care so greatly for a daughter in this time is truly amazing.

“The gift of a child must have seemed too precarious to invest in wholeheartedly, yet this man couldn't bear to lose his little girl even, Charles Campbell writes, "at a time when daughters were not valued as much as sons" (The Lectionary Commentary: The Gospels). By going to this itinerant preacher-healer who was already in trouble with the authorities (authorities like him, in fact, his colleagues and perhaps even his friends), he risks being ridiculed, and he also risks missing the last few precious moments in his daughter's life.”[9]

This man was on life’s journey from point A to Point B.  He knew what was important. He knew what was right and what was wrong.  He knew the law. He knew that this Jesus was a troublemaker.  He knew the talk against him. But then in the middle of his planned-out life his daughter becomes ill. In this in between time this unplanned time arises fear, arises desperation, arises re-evaluation. This Jesus who was more a troublemaker and a nuisance has now become his refuge, his only hope. Then to make it more poignant as they are on their way from the shore to his house even his hope dies. His servants come to tell him don’t bother the master for your daughter has died. “When the news arrives of his daughter's death. Jesus, Barbara Brown Taylor observes, then preaches the "shortest sermon of his career: 'Do not fear,' he says to the grief-besotted man, 'only believe.'"[10]

Now there is a sermon; “do not fear, only believe!” In the midst of unbelievable odds, in the liminal place where fear and confusion reign, do not fear just believe. Whatever troubles your soul be it small or be it huge, do not fear, only believe.  When life catches you off guard, when you are just trying to get from point A to point B move forward without fear step boldly in belief.

I do not believe I can add any more to Jesus words here…If you never remember anything I said or anything I did …that is great as long as you do remember what Jesus has taught us here, do not fear only Believe. And when it is all over, when we have gotten through whatever we need to get through remember the last part of the gospel get up, walk and have something to eat! Yes, that’s all remember to get up, walk have something to eat and do not fear only believe…If you can do that you can really do just about anything…amen!

________________________________________

[1] http://www.ucc.org/worship_samuel_sermon_seeds_july_1_2018

[2] Ditto

[3] http://www.ucc.org/worship_samuel_sermon_seeds_july_1_2018

[4] Ditto

[5] http://www.ucc.org/faith_and_the_vulnerability_of_children

[6] http://www.ucc.org/worship_samuel_sermon_seeds_july_1_2018

[7] https://www.bibleodyssey.org/places/related-articles/first-century-synagogues

[8] http://www.ucc.org/worship_samuel_sermon_seeds_july_1_2018#mark

[9] Ditto

[10] ditto

Be Still!

Today's Gospel speaks of a great disturbance…so great that the disciples who are fisher men fear for their own lives.

One commentator points out that

“This is a remarkable story; Mark is not particularly interested in geographical details, but gets Jesus and his disciples to cross the sea.”

I have mentioned before that mark has a lot of coming and going Jesus is constantly on the move. Jesus just decides out of nowhere to just up and leave.  They could have walked elsewhere but instead they got into their boats and went across the sea of Galilee.

“The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret or Kinnereth, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is approximately 33 mi in circumference, about 13 mi long, and 8.1 mi wide. Its area is 64.4 sq mi at its fullest, and its maximum depth is approximately 141 feet.  At levels between 705 ft and 686 ft below sea level, it is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake in the world (after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake). The lake is fed partly by underground springs although its main source is the Jordan River which flows through it from north to south.” 

Crossing the sea of Galilee is no big deal, most of the time, and well Jesus is with a bunch of fisherman. So, what can go wrong?  Well we hear a “storm of great wind” arises which is fairly common, yet the disciples panic the waves are coming into the boat and the boat is starting to fill yet Jesus sleeps.

This got me to wondering what the boat looked like. Luckily there was one recently discovered that dates back to about that time.  

“The Ancient Galilee Boat, also known as the Jesus Boat, is an ancient fishing boat from the 1st century AD, discovered in 1986 on the north-west shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. The remains of the boat, 27 feet (8.27 meters) long, 7.5 feet (2.3 meters) wide and with a maximum preserved height of 4.3 feet (1.3 meters), first appeared during a drought, when the waters of the Sea (actually a great fresh-water lake) receded.” 

So Jesus could have been sleeping along some sort of seat since the boat is 7.5 feet wide but how did he not roll off in rough waters?  How did he not get wet?

Now frankly either the Disciples are panicking for no reason or Jesus can sleep well balanced while rocking violently and wet!

I suspect, knowing the disciples, they were panicked for no good reason.  Well maybe one Good reason, so that we might learn to trust the lord.

“As often happens in these parts, a storm comes up unexpectedly, and the disciples panic, accusing Jesus of indifference to their fate. Like someone calming a boisterous dog, Jesus orders the sea to behave (and it does), then rebukes the disciples, for the first time indicating the importance of faith to them.” 

The importance of faith.  The importance of trusting.  The importance of looking to see God. Paying attention to see God active in your life, if you want to see Jesus show up, you must look for them.

How many times are we caught up in our own storms, our own mishaps, our own illnesses, weaknesses, needs, fears, our own got to have it because I want it moments? How many times do we, in our most significant hours of need lift prayers in dire earnest? How often in our least important moment of the day do we nonchalantly turn to the lord and just say please God. Yet in the end they all have the same measure, and, in the end, we rarely look to see the answer.

We rarely pause to say thank you lord.  We rarely stop to acknowledge Gods presence.  Now I am not saying we do not do it.  We at least do it or think about it on a Sunday, but what about the other 6 days of the week?  I am just asking because this little passage got me thinking.

Now this calming of the sea happened neither here nor there they are in route from one place to another where this miracle occurs. One commentator points out that.

“Jesus likes to show up in liminal spaces in Mark -- sites of transition or risk. He chooses to go to marginal spaces, away from life’s regular patterns: near a graveyard (Mark 5:2-3), at a deathbed (Mark 5:40), or hoisted atop Golgotha. He situates himself at geographical boundary-lands, like the wilderness (Mark 1:4-9, 35), mountaintops (Mark 3:13; 6:46; 9:2), Tyre (Mark 7:24), and Caesarea Philippi (Mark 8:27). He also goes to sociopolitical borderlands, politically charged locations like a tax collector’s home (Mark 2:14-15) and the land outside of Jerusalem during Passover (Mark 11:11, 19).

The Sea of Galilee was both kinds of places: geographically, it separated the peoples of one shore from those on the other side; socio-politically, it provided sustenance to Galileans and generated resources that Rome could extract from those who depended on it to make a living. It kept populations distanced from each other, and it fed imperial appetites” 

This is important on two aspects symbolically calming the waters that are so agitated by imperial power could symbolize the effect Jesus’ life has on all powers that be. Eventually they will calm by Christs command.

The first part of this comment that “Jesus likes to show up in the liminal spaces. I just love.  Jesus in the in between space.  That spot where you are neither in nor out that place where we are neither here nor there.  The scariest of all places for it is in the liminal space where we tend to be the most insecure, the most frightened, and sometimes the most lost.  It is in these places that we often go in prayer to seek out answers.  It is in these the most difficult of times in life that Jesus shows up.

But we would never see or hear Jesus, the sprit, God if we do not stop and listen. I am not sure if Jesus’ command to be still is strictly for the sea but for the disciples as well.

Stillness is one of the most sacred traditions of how we find God in our home, in our offices, out and about. Being still is about well as the old song says putting our hand in the hand of the man who stilled the waters. Tehra Cox, author. Lyricist and word artist, shares her new found experience of stillness while on a walk.

Meditation Tehra Cox
“When I moved from the noisy concrete and steel canyons of New York City to a small Hudson Valley village with its serenely forested highlands, I was stunned by the radical change of scenery. As late summer turned into fall, my favorite season, nature’s magic began its work on me. From one of my first autumn walks along the wooded mountain path behind the old Victorian house that was my new home, I was introduced to the uncanny voices of the natural world.

My first encounter with what I call “Earth-Speak” was nothing less than phenomenal for its impact on my life and sensibility. As I came around a bend at the top of the mountain, the lush goldenness of maples along the trail nearly took my breath away. They colored the very air around them. As I stood transfixed, it seemed that all the flora of the woods began to sway toward me. The dramatic red-orange-gold hues in all shapes and sizes were pulsating with light, sounds and scents so intoxicating that I wasn’t sure if I was breathing or drinking. Suddenly, I “heard” a whispering of words that I will never forget: “Ah yes, the very things you humans love about us – our different colors and shapes and smells and languages – are the things you often hate about each other. Alas, you have lost touch with your beauties because you have lost touch with us.”

Having just moved out of a city teeming with the tensions that densely-populated diversities of culture, creed, economy – and yes, race – too often provoke, this message was stunning and timely for me. During that first year of “life in the country,” I became unusually acquainted with this sentient world. In my daily walks with pen and paper, the presences of nature enfolded me in their lushness while I chronicled their wisdom-teachings. As these “inner tuitions” invited me to consider some of life’s most paradoxical mysteries, they required only one thing of me – to be utterly present and receptive. I didn’t know to call it that at the time – I was only aware that I felt light and free, as if all the space around the trees and the flowers and blades of grass was also around, and even inside, me.”

To be “utterly present and receptive” requires one to be still.  To create our own in between space.  Between the thing you have just finished and the next thing on your to do list. Many people begin their day with morning meditation, or quiet time.  I have my quite time in the morning in my office.  But I also strive for a midday. Even I it is but 10 minutes just to still the mind and find God. Time to Be still…Slow down…listen for God and the spirit’s still small voice.

This is not easy to do and it does take dedication and practice.  Did you know it takes three months of doing the same thing every day at the same time before it becomes a habit.

And we are not built the same for some absolute stillness is maddening.  There are many ways to be still even while being active.

Thich Nhat Hanh was a mystic, scholar, activist, and Vietnamese monk author of over 25 books including Living Buddha Living Christ which I highly recommend for reading also has a books on walking mediatation.

“Many of us walk for the sole purpose of getting from one place to another. Now suppose we are walking to a sacred place. We would walk quietly and take each gentle step with reverence. I propose that we walk this way every time we walk on the earth. The earth is sacred and we touch her with each step. We should be very respectful, because we are walking on our mother. If we walk like that, then every step will be grounding, every step will be nourishing….

Walking meditation unites our body and our mind. We combine our breathing with our steps. When we breathe in, we may take two or three steps. When we breathe out, we may take three, four, or five steps. We pay attention to what is comfortable for our body.

Our breathing has the function of helping our body and mind to calm down. As we walk, we can say, Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I bring peace into my body. Calming the breath calms the body and reduces any pain and tension.” 

We can also combine our breathing with a simple prayer or intention you whish to lift up as you walk.  This calms and centers the mind, creates an inner stillness that makes room for God. 

Many people engage this stillness by praying the Labyrinth.  Labyrinths have been used as a sacred path and spiritual resource by pilgrims for centuries, and some say they originated as scaled-down pilgrimages for people who couldn't travel to a holy place. Labyrinths can be made of stone, turf, or ink on paper, and they are different from mazes because they don't have dead-ends, puzzles, or tricks. Instead, they form a winding path that leads to the center and back out again.

The meandering labyrinth pathway can be seen as a metaphor for life's journey. Walking the labyrinth with the intention of revisiting one's life can invite memories to appear and reform with new connections.

I have seen people walk the labyrinth in silence.  I have seen people dance their way through the labyrinth. There is no right or wrong way to pray.

Finally I will mention art as a form of prayer. And yes we are all artists! For any type of creativity is an art form. That means cooking, writing, gardening, singing, knitting, photography and the list goes on and on.  Sometimes though we need to be intentional about time for art and creativity.  Personally I love the artist way as a spiritual growth tool and a practice.

“Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired …millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery.
 
The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors.”

The morning pages easily become a still focused prayer.  The artist date becomes intentional time of creativity and connecting to the spirit as one explores artistic venues.

But all these things encourage us to find stillness, find prayer, engage and walk with God so that we may still our own troubled waters. amen

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[1] King, Nicholas. The Bible: A Study Bible. Buxhall, Stowmarket, Suffolk: Kevin Mayhew, 2013

[1] "Sea of Galilee." Wikipedia. June 19, 2018. Accessed June 20, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Galilee

[1] Ditto

[1] King, Nicholas. The Bible: A Study Bible. Buxhall, Stowmarket, Suffolk: Kevin Mayhew, 2013.

[1] "Commentary on Mark 4:35-41 by Matt Skinner." Ephesians 2:11-22 Commentary by Kyle Fever - Working Preacher - Preaching This Week (RCL). Accessed June 20, 2018. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3677

[1] https://www.terahcox.com/blog/the-secret-language-of-earth-speak-by-terah-cox

[1] https://www.lionsroar.com/walking-meditation-thich-nhat-hanh/

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Artists-Way-25th-Anniversary

The Kin-Dom of God is Uncontrollable Mark 4:26-34

 

Mark 4:26-34

New International Version

The Parable of the Growing Seed

26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

The word of God for the People of God

Brian Suntken shares a story …“The bus dropped us off at the southeast corner of the Temple Mount and our guide, John, led us down a path to the ruins of the ancient City of David. Along the way, we came across a mustard plant. John stopped the group to show us what a mustard seed plant actually looked like. He pulled a pod off of the plant, opened it up and passed it around for all to see. The seeds where so small you could hardly make out the individual kernels. There were hundreds of seeds! And then John quoted Jesus: ‘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.’

Naturally, in a group of clergy, we all got hot and bothered about finding a mustard plant and by the time the group had passed by this particular plant, there were very few pods left on the bush! I still carry my pod with me every day, after eleven years, in my computer bag. The pod has long ago disintegrated but many of the seeds remain in a small plastic bag: a reminder of my time in the holy city of Jerusalem.

The parable of the Mustard Seed is a very dangerous lesson if we know anything about the mustard plant. Pliny the Elder was a Roman author who lived in the first century of the Common Era, He wrote about his experience with the mustard plant in his encyclopedic Natural History[1]: “Mustard… with its pungent taste and fiery effect is extremely beneficial for the health. It grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand, when it is sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once.[2]

Mark doesn’t have that many parables but the few he has are truly impactful.

This passage concludes an extended string of parables that start in Mark 3:23. When we look at all of Jesus parables in mark together, we can see a way of experiencing Jesus’ continuing ministry as the proclaimer and originator of the, though we do not know when or where, of the reign or “kingdom” of God. One commentator states “In the parables Jesus divulges enough to keep us from throwing up our hands in dismay later in Mark each time we encounter a disciple’s blunder or a command to keep Jesus’ identity secret.”[3]

So, what are Parables? Parables are stories used to compare two things alongside one another to provide metaphor, contrast, or reflection –"usually a reflection similar to the distortions that appear in a funhouse mirror”[4] Jesus’ parables, no matter how long or how short have a way of making his audience re-evaluate their beliefs and their assumptions. 

The parables do not tell anyone definitively what heaven is or what the reign of God is supposed to look like, but they do make us want to seek new ways of looking at the world. Then they encourage us to see those glimpses of the kin-dom around us.

Here mark introduces two parables where Jesus is saying the reign of God is like this. Yet just to make all things clear he puts forth two separate images. Jesus speaks about seeds (a common metaphor for formation and education in ancient contexts).  He uses these images to illustrate God’s kin-dom is coming and it will come whether you like it or not.

The first parable is of the growing seed.

“No other Gospel contains this parable. Probably because it’s boring. Its plot has all the suspenseful drama of an ordinary elementary-school life sciences textbook. There are no surprises. Everything proceeds according to plan. Jesus simply speaks about seeds and what they are supposed to do. They grow and produce. Moreover, they grow and produce without your help or your intricate knowledge of germination or photosynthesis or palea, thank you very much.”[5]

In other words, the reign of God is coming, it is taking root, it is growing.  It will grow with your knowledge of it or without. It will grow among you to whom Jesus is speaking, it will grow among the poor and the outcast, it will grow in the empire despite the empire.  The kingdom of God is a natural thing as natural as a seed growing.

I always think of our little mustard flower that can be found just about anywhere in America. However, the one Jesus is addressing is a different variety. The mustard plant can grow into a shrub especially the south African variety which is often what is found in the area of Jerusalem. There is a picture of the shrub shared in our story on the cover of your bulletin.  It can get to be quite a healthy and pervasive plant.

John Dominic Crossan, in his book Jesus A Revolutionary Biography states that “the mustard plant is dangerous even when domesticated in the garden, and is deadly when growing wild in the grain fields. And those nesting birds, which may strike us as charming, represented to ancient farmers a permanent danger to the seed and to the grain. The point, in other words, is not just that the mustard plant starts as a proverbially small seed and grows into a shrub of three, four, or five feet in height. It is that it tends to take over where it is not wanted, that it tends to get out of control, and that it tends to attract birds within cultivated areas, where they are not particularly desired. And that, said Jesus, is what the Kingdom of God was like. Like a pungent shrub with dangerous take-over properties.[6]

In other words, the reign of God will take root -- whether in the world, in imperial society, or in someone’s heart, Jesus does not specify. It will grow gradually and automatically (the New Revised Standard Version renders automate in Mark 4:26 as what the earth does “on its own”). It will grow perhaps so subtly that you won’t even notice, until at last it produces its intended fruit.

But Jesus goes on to describe two things that are well actually funny.  The whole point of the mustard seed and the way it grows… Some of Jesus’ listeners must have groaned or chuckled. Imagine him speaking today of thistles or ground-ivy or better yet dandelions, but bigger, and more useful, since mustard has a range of medicinal qualities. In any case, the reign of God apparently isn’t much of a cash crop. Yet it grows. It is not easily eradicated. Good luck keeping it out of your well-manicured garden or your farmland. Better be careful what you pray for when you say, “Your kingdom come...” 

The second point Jesus describes it as the greatest of shrubs well…. It can grow dense, but it is hardly magnificent. Jesus must be grinning as he speaks. He is not aiming to impart insights about the relative worth of shrubberies but to shock people into a new way of perceiving greatness.

And once the seed is planted there will be no control over it.  It will grow naturally, it will grow willfully, and it will grow with the help of humans or without.  Perhaps that was the sin of Rome trying to control where the spirit leads.  Trying to benefit from kingdom of God as opposed to being servants within the kin-dom of God.

This parable contradicts the other parable of the seed where it falls on different soils and hardly survives in this message mark is saying it is the nature of God’s reign to grow and to manifest itself. That’s what it does. As a lamp belongs on a lampstand (Mark 4:21-22), God’s reign, like a seed, must grow, even if untended and even if its gradual expansion is nearly impossible to detect.

At first glance this story seems to bring comfort and well assumptions one already knows of the kin-dom of God. This points out that something very small will eventually morph into something much larger; also, something that appears obscure and insignificant will turn into something public and grand. Yet there is more: the reign of God won’t just grow for the sake of looking pretty, but creatures will find that it provides them shelter and security.

Not a majestic home or a pretty home but a secure home.  Those flocks of birds those are not what one wants near their farm or gardens because they will eat and pick at the crops and plants.  The landowner would be shoeing them away trying to protect his crop.  Protect his world as he knows it.  Not wanting to share with the uninvited guest and yet…

“so too it promises to upend a society’s ways of enforcing stability and relegating everyone to their “proper” places. The reign of God will mess with established boundaries and conventional values. Like a fast-replicating plant, it will get into everything. It will bring life and color to desolate places. It will crowd out other concerns. It will resist our manipulations. Its humble appearance will expose and mock pride and pretentiousness like a good burlesque show.”

There is story after story in the gospel of how Jesus walks and acts and does what this vision of the kin-dom of God is.  In and through parables we get glimpses of this wild, out of control, kin-dom that is always seeking out new ways.  Gods reign is upon us and yet often we choose to look the other way, or worse yet we tend to look backwards.

We are all guilty of it.  When the spirit starts moving, we panic.  We pull out all the old excuses …we have always done it this way…well we did this in the past and it worked then so let’s focus on what we did ...do not move forward…do not change. We do this as individuals, as congregations, as associations, as conferences, and even as denominations.

Heck they even do it the old testament. “You may remember the story of the Hebrew nation escaping from slavery in Egypt. Moses led them out, God parted the Red Sea to get them to safety, and they began to cross the wilderness into the Promised Land.

The problem that occurred really began when the folks began to miss what they had in Egypt. According to the complainers, they had it made in the shade when they were slaves. They had pots full of meat, cucumbers, melons, garlic, leeks, and onions (and some good mouthwash, I hope).” [7]

We can find resistance in that other famous movement known as NIMBY. Not in my back yard.  It is fine if as a church you want to feed the hungry, shoe the children, clothe the poor.  But do not do it at your church it will attract the wrong kind of people.

You can hear the concern expressed and the wild kin-dom of god moving in this short article from the los Angeles daily news.

“On the second night after his church opened its parking lot to people living out of their cars, vans and other vehicles, Glenn Nishibayashi noticed a mother and daughter using one of the spaces.

He was interested in knowing how the previous evening worked out for them and went over to inquire.

“This was the first good night’s sleep I’ve had in weeks,” the woman told him.

She explained that she was more accustomed to fitful nights parked on the street, staying half-awake so she could be alert to potentially being approached by strangers or rousted by police officers.

Members of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church were initially concerned about the possible risks of opening up their parking lot to down-and-out strangers. But talking to the mother and daughter reassured Nishibayashi that their congregation had made the right decision to give the program a try.

“This is exactly what this program is for,” said the 61-year-old Nishibayashi, whose grandparents helped found the historically Japanese American church located in what is now Los Angeles’ Koreatown.

“It gets rid of that worry, so you can function so much better,” he said. “This told me we were doing exactly the right thing.”[8]  There are always new and better ways of being church.

“For many, church time is a sobering time. But for a growing number of American Christians, it’s the best time to crack open a beer.

Just ask the so-called “Church-in-a-pub” gathering in Fort Worth, Texas, which worships at the Zio Carlo brewpub and toasts with craft beer. These Sunday evening services are meant to offer “salvation and everlasting life with really good beer,” according to a recent broadcast by NPR. The creative approach appears to be working: The event attracts about 30-40 congregants weekly, and the group is looking to expand to more locations.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recently deemed Church-in-a-pub a Synodically Authorized Worshipping Community.”[9]

The face of Christianity is always changing and the ways we serve those around us in need is evolving. The way people come together to worship is getting radical.  The way sanctuary is expressed is always on the move.

“Twice a week, every Sunday and Monday night, around a dozen New Yorkers gather in long, candle-lit studio apartment nestled between a hair salon and some warehouses in one of Brooklyn’s latest hip neighborhoods. They’re actors, singers, seminarians and new parents, and they sit in groups of six around tables in one of the simplest and most untraditional Christian worship spaces the city has to offer.

St. Lydia’s Church has no pews, no altar, no vestments, no band or choir, and little formality of any kind. Instead, church means drums and chanting, with frequent references to Jesus; breaking bread and drinking communion grape juice; and a long, three-hour homemade vegetarian dinner punctuated by Bible readings, a sermon and frequent talk of what it means to be a young spiritual seeker in Brooklyn. The pastor is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but the members themselves range from atheist and agnostic to evangelical, Catholic and Episcopalian.”[10]

In San Francisco ministers walk the street at night.  They stop by bars and social events to check on their congregation.  They offer counseling and a friendly face to the indigent and the affluent alike.  But their church has no walls.

“San Francisco Night Ministry, now at 54 years, is often referred to as the Church's "Night Shift."  We are engaged in over 21,000 significant conversations, and serve over 9,500 meals each year, becoming an important bridge and steady support for many people as they face the darkness of the night, but not alone.  We provide compassionate, non-judgmental pastoral care, care of the soul, counseling, referrals, and crisis intervention to anyone in any kind of distress, every night of the year between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m.  … the Night Ministry sponsors two Open Cathedrals. They are outdoor worship services -- one in the Tenderloin and one in the Mission. They are weekly worship services followed by a time of sharing food. We provide meals and we also offer an opportunity for conversation and prayer and crisis intervention. We have a wellness program, a community-building program to extend our outreach to many more people in need. We believe that our work helps to make San Francisco a city that is healthier, safer, and more stable for all who live and work here.”[11]

The kin-dom of God is uncontrollable. It is as wild as the mustard seed and it thrives in the wild places, In parking lots and small apartments, in pubs and on the streets.  For us this is a place a nourishment and soul enrichment but then…then what. You have to let the spirit move, let it take control if you have a vision or a concept that seems to far out there…well form what we just heard how far out can it be?

It is never too soon to start something new.  There is no rule that says you must wait for a new settled pastor to start something.  I truly believe there is great ministry opportunity in this community you just need to follow your heart to find it. Let some of that mustard seed wildness go and let it grow into a vison of the Uncontrollable Kingdom of God here and now. Amen!

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[1] http://john13verse34.blogspot.com/2012/03/lent-2-thursday-mustard-seed.html

[2] Pliny, H. Rackham, W. H. S. Jones, and D. E. Eichholz. Natural History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991, 170-171

[3] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-11-2/commentary-on-mark-426-34-4 

[4] Ditto

[5] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-11-2/commentary-on-mark-426-34-4

[6] Crossan, John Dominic. Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography. New York: HarperOne, 1995, page 65.

[7] http://davezuchelli.com/2016/10/back-egypt-committee/

[8] https://www.dailynews.com/2018/04/30/for-homeless-people-living-in-their-cars-southern-california-churches-temples-open-their-parking-lots/

[9] https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/04/church-beer_n_4212545.html

[10] https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/11/future-of-sacred-space_n_7228650.html

[11] http://www.sfnightministry.org/joomla/index.php/about/what-we-do