"God's Garden"
By Dr. Mickey Anders
South Elkhorn Christian Church
Lexington, Kentucky
Text: Mark 4:26-34
The Bible is a book that is loaded with images from agriculture. The reason is obvious. The people described from the first page to the last lived close to the land. They were a people who knew what it was to stoop for long hours in the hot sun to till the soil. Their toes and feet were often covered by the black soil on a spring day. They chopped and hoed through the summer, waiting patiently for the coming harvest. They knew what it was to watch as the crops slowly inched upward with first the blooms and then the tiny shapes of the fruit appearing. They, no doubt, spent endless hours discussing too much rain or not enough of it. They fought the insects and the weeds just like farmers do today. And in the fall, they experienced the profound joy that comes from a crop well-harvested. They did not always understand the deep things of God, but they knew about the rhythms and cycles of nature.
Because of that, agricultural images crop up in
every part
of this book. When the writers were
challenged to explain something new about God, they reached for what
they knew
– the agricultural life all around them.
When Isaiah needed to explain God's relationship
to Israel,
he turned to the figure of a farmer tending his vineyard, "For
the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the people of
Judah are his pleasant planting...." (Isaiah 5:7)
In the New Testament we find Jesus was a man of
the earth as
well. In Matthew 13:3, Jesus
demonstrated a clear understanding of the challenges that face every
farmer in
his parable of the sower and the seed.
In John 15:5, Jesus describes the relationship of
his
disciples to himself by using the image of the branch and the vine. "I
am the vine, you are the branches. Those
who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me
you can do
nothing."
The apostle Paul knew the variety of work required
to make a
crop. In I Corinthians 3, he compares
his work in the ministry to the harvest.
"I planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who
waters
is anything, but only God who gives the growth....
For we are God's servants, working together;
you are God's field... "
In Galatians 6:7, Paul sums up all morality with a
lesson
from the field, "Do not be deceived;
God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow."
Even the poets
recognize that
eternal truths can be learned from the lesson of the seed.
Emerson once asked, "What is a farm but
a mute gospel?"
Tennyson spoke of the
mystery
contained in growing things when he said:
"Flower in a crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies;
Hold you here, root and all, in my
hand,
Little flower; - but if I could
understand
What you are, root and all, and
all in all,
I should know what God and man
is."
One of my favorite folk songs is
called "Garden Song," written by David Mallet, and it says:
Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground
Someone bless these seeds I sow
Someone warm them from below
'Till the rain comes tumbling
down.
Those words remind me
of our text
for today. Jesus made clear that the
Kingdom of God grows the same way. He
says, “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.”
Well, what can we
learn today from
Jesus' agricultural analogy for the Kingdom of God?
One of the first lessons about farming is
that it is a cooperative effort.
I remember an old
story about a
man who bought a house with an overgrown garden. The
weeds had long since taken over the
garden and it was a mess. But slowly the
man began to clear the weeds, till the soil and plant the seeds. Finally, he had made it into a showcase
garden. One day the minister came to
visit, and when he saw the beautiful flowers and plants, he observed,
"Well, friend, you and God have done a marvelous job on this garden." To which the homeowner replied, "You
should have seen it when God had it by himself."
The Kingdom of God
grows through
our cooperation with God. God depends
upon us to cast the seed and tend the soil.
But we depend upon God for rains, the sunshine, and the miracle
of
growth. In reality, the farmer doesn't
have the power to make anything grow - not a garden, not the Kingdom of
God. The farmer simply brings the seeds
to the field, plants them and trusts God to do all else in the growth
department.
George Buttrick said,
"Jesus
declared that the kingdom of God has the spontaneity of a seed. It possesses a divine vitality, the inherent
forces of a self-fashioning life." (Parables of Jesus, Buttrick, p. 16)
The Kingdom of God
also grows
through our cooperation with others. One
of the distinctives of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has
been our
commitment to the unity of the Church.
We like to say that unity has been the Disciples' polar star. I believe many people are attracted to our
church because we have an ecumenical approach which values the
contributions of
all faith communities.
It seems that a lot of Christians isolate themselves or withdraw from work with other Christian groups. Some people insist that the only basis for unity is getting all Christians to believe exactly the same way, which means to believe exactly like they do. Disciples don't see much hope in that tactic. Instead, we have opted to lead the struggle for unity through inclusiveness and diversity. We have seen it as our job to urge and prod Christians to be tolerant of each other's differences.
Disciples know that we
don't own
the kingdom. We see God's garden as a
big field where many people are at work tending and tilling.
The second lesson we
can learn
from our text is that Kingdom growth begins very small.
In a parable of the
mustard seed,
Jesus says, "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."
Jesus often spoke of
the
importance of little things - the grain of mustard seed, the cup of
cold water,
the one talent, the widow's mite, the lost coin, and the kindness done
unto
"one of these least."
I think this parable
is good news
for a small church like ours. When we
read so much about mega-churches, it is good to be reminded of the
mustard
seed. Our denomination has also chosen
this parable as a metaphor for the small church. Jesus
didn't overlook even the smallest of
seeds.
I believe there is
still a vital
place for the small church. People may
talk about the megachurches and how big their parking lots are and how
many
hundreds they have in their choir, but small churches still have a role
to
play.
This parable also
tells us that
small deeds count. We have all heard
others say that they cannot do much in the church.
Yet Christ is saying in this parable that the
very smallest talent, the very smallest effort can produce something of
infinite worth in the kingdom of God.
Who knows what some
small gesture
of friendship, some momentary word of encouragement, some kind deed
hastily
done, or some small act of bravery has done to bring growth to another? Who knows how many people have been brought
to faith in Christ because of some tiny seed that took root in the
heart of
another and a life was turned to God.
Nothing that we do in God's name is too small to be used in his
kingdom.
The third lesson is
that everyone
can be part of helping the kingdom to grow.
From the least to the greatest, we can all make a conscious
effort every
day to do what we can to enhance the kingdom of God on earth. We cannot create it, but we can labor in it. We cannot make the kingdom grow, but we can
plant the seeds, trusting God to give the increase.
Silently,
imperceptibly the
kingdom grows. Even the smallest seed
planted in hope will produce growth beyond imagination.
Growth cannot be forced, but it will come if
we join God in the cooperative efforts of enhancing the kingdom.
In 1782, Matthias Claudius wrote the following poem that later became a hymn and a moving song in the movie Godspell:
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand;
(God) sends the snow in winter,
The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine,
And soft refreshing rain.
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heav'n above;
Then thank the Lord,
O thank the Lord For all (God's) Love.
For all things bright and good,
The seed-time and the harvest,
Our life, our health, our food;
Accept the gifts we offer
For all Thy love imparts,
And what Thou most desirest,
Our humble, thankful hearts.
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heav'n above;
Then thank the Lord,
O thank the Lord For all (God's) Love.