GOSPEL PARABLES 7 THE GROWING SEED

GOSPEL PARABLES 7 THE GROWING SEED 

The parable of the growing seed is only found in the Gospel of Mark, and it comes after the Parable of the Sower who sows seed on four different types of soil – the wayside and the rocky ground and the thorny ground and the good soil. It follows the same Kingdom theme that sets the overall framework of the seed as being the word of God and the soil being our hearts of faith. Today we are reading from the Gospel of Mark.
Mark 4:26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

We see in this story that the farmer or husbandman does his work and sows the seed and then sleeps and rises day and night while the unseen seed silently grows and then emerges into sight. This is how God began his work of creation in the world of the unseen. The Bible says that Jesus, the creative logos Word, spoke creation into being (John 1, Genesis 1). And that same logos Word is what speaks our spiritual growth into being. The Bible says this about us - having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word (logos) of God which lives and abides forever (1Peter 1:23) 
This parable is about the stages of growth of our spiritual life through the life of Jesus within us. It shows the gradual process of our spiritual development and our need of patience and trust in God's timing on our journey of faith as he nurtures us into our fruitful eternal destiny. 
In the parable of the growing seed the blade represents the initial stage of growth after the seed germinates or sprouts and begins to emerge as the tender green shoot. This speaks of the early signs of spiritual growth or the beginning of faith, where new hope for a new life of faith lies ahead.
Then comes the ear (Stachys- standing out) – that is the next stage of growth, where the plant begins to differentiate and stand out from the main stem, showing its individual potential in forming within it, the head of grain. This stage is about us learning about our faith and about who we are in Jesus. The ear of the plant is still vulnerable at this stage and needs protection within a covering just as our spiritual growth receives the grace and mercy of God and also flourishes within the protective framework of the teaching of God’s word and fellowship with other believers. 

The ear continues to develop and fill out as healthy grain with the potential for full maturity, and with faith and patience it will become more robust before it reaches the final stage of ripening and being ready for harvest. For us this means that our spiritual growth is more about inner transformation than outward appearance, as we accept the sure and steady patient progress of spiritual development and do not become discouraged and lose hope.

Then comes the stage where the fruit of the Spirit which is our spiritual growth becomes more visible and develops into the full grain in the ear. This fruitfulness can now be seen in us as the love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When the disciples asked Jesus to show them the Father he said ‘if you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father’. And God is saying to us in this parable that he has placed his life-seed in us so that as that seed grows we may be able to say ‘if you’ve seen me you have seen Jesus’ (John 14:9) Jesus expresses his life in our soul as the expression of our unique God-designed spirit.

The parable said ‘The earth produces by itself’ The earth is the soil of our hearts of faith in which that seed is embedded. The seed of the life of the Spirit of Christ in us contains all the DNA of the essential nature of God as the spiritual fruit of our lives. Jesus is the life in which our life exists, but our soul gives it a unique expression through the work of the Holy Spirit in growing the fruit of the spirit in our lives. 
The fruit of the spirit of love grows in and through us as we receive the love of God into our hearts and minds. That is the starting point, and every other expression of fruit is tinged and coloured and flavoured by God’s love that mercifully accepts us and makes us feel we belong and can feel safe and satisfied with life. That love can then touch others.
The fruit of the spirit of joy expresses the cheerfulness and elation of being a victor and not a victim of life’s struggles. The Bible says ‘we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8). (Jesus our team coach in tough Grand Final, injuries galore but glorious win)

The fruit of the spirit of peace is ours when we know that once we have placed everything in his hands our oneness together with him stands guard over our hearts and minds and banishes our anxiety concerning our future.

Longsuffering is our faith in his mercy upon our shortcomings that takes away the fear of judgement and replaces it with grace filled opportunities to be transformed into our true and destined selves - in his likeness. We can learn to withhold judgement upon others also and see God bring about change in their lives. 

Kindness comes from the word kindred and expresses the kind of compassion and protective care that we would have for the most defenceless person in our family.

Goodness is not just a display of virtue but is simply the effect of making a person feel better off after having known us than they did before. Jesus said ‘only God is good’. His goodness works itself into us and flows out as us being a blessing to those who know us. 

Faithfulness describes God’s devotion to ‘being there’ for us without wavering, even when we waver in our being there for him. Our faithfulness to God and to other people grows within his loyal faithfulness to us.

God’s gentleness to us creates a safe and accepting space for our feelings of vulnerability and is part of the healing of the soul we can offer to someone who has been mistreated in their lives. 

Self-control is giving place to God’s control over our lives, spirit, soul and body. It is the highest form of spiritual authority that we can possess in this life. When we give this place to God nothing of darkness can overcome us and no weapon that is formed against us will prosper.

This fruitfulness is a final stage of maturity, where the fruitful grain (kartos - fruit) is ripe and ready for harvest – But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Paul writes about this time of assessing the fruitfulness of our lives at the time of the second coming of the Lord. When the Lord comes, he will bring to light the things now hidden and reveal the motives of the heart. Then each one will receive praise from God. 
We will each be affirmed and commended for the growth of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.
James also writes about the second coming of the Lord in his story of the farmer who sows the seed and patiently waits for the outpouring of the rain before the harvest. 

James 5:7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the latter rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
The farmer is the Father who waits for the fruit of harvest, and we as God’s people are also told to be patient and establish our hearts of faith and to expect the outpourings of the Holy Spirit before the second coming of the Lord. ‘so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, whom heaven must retain until the times of restoration of all things’ (Acts 3:19). 

One barrier to allowing that fruitful seed to grow in us is that we can feel that we are too prone to making mistakes and failing short in our dealings with life and our attitudes. 
How could such an Almighty Holy God work through such flawed human beings as us?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
The Bible shows up that kind of thinking as being a lie. 
Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to bring to life the spirit of the lowly, and to bring to life the heart of the contrite ones.
The only way we can truly appreciate and give thanks to our God who is in the highest place, is to know him as the one who loves us in our lowly place and that is in fact the most perfect place. The glory of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus is that he took his human weakness to the cross to bring forth the power of his life in us. The spiritual growth journey is about us being able to carry our own human weaknesses at the same time as we carry the powerful life of Jesus within us. We can now carry our weakness without fear or shame. Amen