Instruction
Scripture: Mark 4:26-34
In this section of the Gospel of Mark, we find Jesus
teaching in parables – earthly stories with heavenly meaning. In both of these
parables Jesus compared the kingdom of God to seeds that grow in ways that the
one who plants them cannot control. Mark recorded these parables to pass along
to us Jesus’ teaching that growth of God’s kingdom is not dependent on us, but
on God, although God uses us in the process.
Teaching
Perhaps in science class when you were a child you performed
an experiment in which you took a bean seed and put it in a plastic bag with a
piece of paper towel. The towel was dampened, and the seed was watched. In a
few days the seed sprouted, and a plant began to grow from the seed. You waited
for the seed to spout, but there was nothing you could do to force the seed to
put forth its roots and stem.
Jesus’ parable likens the kingdom of God to a man who
scatters seed on the ground. What can he do to make the seeds spout? Nothing!
This is how it is when we as God’s people share the Gospel. We plant seeds –
hopefully many, many seeds – and they either grow or they don’t. We cannot
control that. But when God gives the growth we rejoice in the harvest and we
see that God uses us to bring people into his kingdom.
Life
Often we shy away from telling people about Jesus. We are
torn between two fears: the fear of rejection and the fear that we are
responsible to save people from their sins. The first has some legitimacy. The
second does not.
Sometimes people will reject us when we share the hope we
have in Jesus. We have to be prepared for that and accept that sometimes we
will suffer for our faith. To bring someone to faith, however, is not something
we are capable of, but only the Holy Spirit can do. We need to relinquish that
responsibility which does not belong to us anyway.
Our place in this parable is to scatter seeds. We share the
hope that the kingdom of God has broken into this word, even into our own
lives, in order to save us. Beyond that only God can give the growth. So we
freely share the good God has done for us, and rejoice when he creates faith in
people.
Prayer
The theme for this
prayer is Confession.
O God, I confess that sometimes I am afraid to speak of you
and the salvation you have given me. I become afraid that people will reject
me, ridicule me, or I might suffer in some other way. I also have to admit that
sometimes I experience guilt and fear that you expect me to make people believe
in you. I cannot do this, but you don’t expect me to, so please forgive me for
allowing myself to become paralyzed by responsibilities that do not even belong
to me. Forgive me for thinking more highly of myself than I ought. Forgive me
for keeping the seed of the Gospel to myself and for not trusting you to bring
the harvest. Forgive me for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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