1.
May
the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your
sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.
Amen. In the readings for this
day, the Lord offers comfort and hope to those who long for the coming of his
kingdom. That’s why we’re going to look
at Mark 4:26-34, which tells us that the Kingdom
of God is more than meets the eye.” Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
In
1992, Disney came out with the movie Aladdin. In it, Robin Williams brought
great humor to his part, which in this case was a genie. Like most depictions
of genies, the genie in Aladdin had nearly unlimited power. As shown in the
movie, he could break the laws of nature, change his shape into virtually
anything, and lift the palace of Agrabah with no problems. He could do anything
except kill anyone, make people fall in love, or revive the dead. And yet, with
all these powers, he had the most humble living quarters. He was confined to a
bottle. To emphasize this contrast, at one point in the movie the genie came
out of the bottle, grew to immense size, and with a booming voice yelled that
he possessed “phenomenal cosmic powers,”
all, he then said immediately with a small, squeaky voice, referring to his
bottle, in an “itty-bitty living space.”
3.
You
would never think that something of great power could come out of a little
bottle. And yet Jesus talks about something similar that we behold only with
the eyes of faith. He said the kingdom of God “is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the
smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes
larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the
birds of the air can make nests in its shade” (Mk 4:31–32). This mighty
kingdom of God has power, but it’s contained in very humble means. Remember the
saving power of the Gospel hidden in the plain written Word, the forgiveness
that flows from ordinary water when the Word is attached to it, and the
salvation found in Christ’s blood, in, with, and under common bread and wine.
4.
Look
around you. Right here. It may not look like much. Then again, it may be more
than you think. It doesn’t look like a
kingdom. Not you or me. Surely not a kingdom worthy of God. Well, that’s the
way it is. The kingdom of God is
presently hidden from our eyes. It
doesn’t look like we think it ought to look.
We know we live in God’s kingdom of grace. But when we look around, what
do we see? Sinners! Poor, miserable sinners. We see people who don’t always
treat us, or one another, as kindly as we think they should. People whose lives
outside the church don’t always rise to the standards we might set for them.
And if we take an honest look at ourselves, each of us would have to
admit that we, too, seem out of place in the kingdom of God.
5.
Yes,
we know that the kingdom of God is among us. But sometimes it’s hard to
believe. It just doesn’t look like we think the kingdom of God ought to
look. We
aren’t alone in feeling this way. In fact, Jesus’ first followers felt the same
frustration. They’d been waiting for the
promised Messiah. At last, there were signs that he’d come! The blind were
being made to see, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk! And this man taught
with authority like no other. But,
somehow, the pieces didn’t all seem to fit. Rome still had Israel under its
thumb. The house of Herod still cast a dark shadow over their land. And the One
they were looking for deliverance from was in no hurry to raise an army. If the
Messiah had come, why wasn’t he doing more to save Israel? To top it all off, this man was associating
with all the wrong people. He ate with sinners! Tax collectors and women of ill
repute were among his closest friends.
It just didn’t fit. On the one hand, this was no ordinary man. On the
other hand, this wasn’t what people thought the kingdom of God ought to look like.
6.
Jesus
knew what they were thinking—and he knows our thoughts as well. He knows that
our sinful minds just can’t wrap themselves around the mystery of his kingdom.
So Jesus tells us a parable. Mark
4:26-29 says, “26[Jesus] said, “The kingdom of God is as if a
man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night
and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The
earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in
the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the
sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Here Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God will come one day in the
sight of all people. The harvest will
come. In this parable, Jesus doesn’t explain
the mystery of his kingdom. But, Jesus does offer comfort by telling us
how this mystery ends. The seed that’s
been sown will produce a crop. And when the grain is ripe, the harvest will
come. The grain will be gathered into
the Lord’s barn, and there will be a harvest festival like no other! The certainty of the harvest gives us reason
for hope and patience.
7.
Jesus
tells us that we don’t need to rush out every day and examine the grain to see
if it’s harvest time. When a field has been planted, the farmer doesn’t need to
worry about when the harvest will come. The harvest will come in its own time. In this parable, Jesus also gives us the
assurance that responsibility for the kingdom’s growth doesn’t rest on our
shoulders. The seed has been sown, and the growth will come by itself (v
28)—not as the product of our efforts. The Lord of the harvest is in control.
There’s no need to worry.
8.
So
God’s kingdom will come. But does that mean his kingdom is now absent? By no means.
In Mark 4:30-32 Jesus says, 30And
he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we
use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown
on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet
when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and
puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its
shade.”
9.
Here
Jesus tells us that though not yet seen by human eyes, the kingdom of God is
seen with the eyes of faith. The kingdom
of God is among us. Even now, we
find comfort and shelter in God’s kingdom of grace. The kingdom of God isn’t
only a promise for the future—it’s a present reality! In the good news that our sins are forgiven
on account of Christ and His death on the cross for us, we have real peace that
passes all understanding. Through Christ’s Word and Sacraments, we find peace
in God’s kingdom of grace. This kingdom
continues to puzzle human expectations.
But, this is a kingdom that’s visible only to the eyes of faith. Though
it’s understandable that we might wish God’s kingdom would look more glorious,
that’s not what we should expect in this life. That isn’t what the
kingdom of God is like.
10.
Many
at the time of Jesus had false expectations that the kingdom of God would be
one of visible glory. In today’s Old Testament Reading, we heard Ezekiel
say the kingdom of the coming Messiah would be like a great cedar. The
Israelites of Jesus’ time had heard that same passage, and many misunderstood
what God was telling them. They expected a kingdom that would look as mighty and majestic as a
cedar. But any of these ideas should
have been shaken by Jesus’ words in Mark 4. He describes the kingdom of God not
as a mighty cedar, but as a mustard plant. Yes, its size is remarkable
in comparison to the smallness of its seed, and it does provide shelter
to birds that perch in its branches. But it’s not a cedar. The mustard plant is
a shrub. Though it sometimes reaches heights of 10–15 feet, it typically grows
no more than 3 or 4 feet high. And although some cultivated it for oil, it was
widely an undesirable plant. To human
eyes, the kingdom of God isn’t so much like the mighty cedars of Lebanon. It’s
more like a shrub that many people wish would just go away. Only the eyes of
faith can see that this mustard plant is, in fact, the promised cedar tree!
11.
That’s
what the kingdom of God is like. As we heard from Ezekiel, this is a kingdom
where low trees are brought high and high trees are made low. It’s the kind of
kingdom where the first shall be last and the last shall be first: a kingdom
where poor, miserable sinners are welcomed with open arms and are served by the
King at his table. The Kingdom of God Is Much Greater Than Meets
the Eye. It’s not the kind of
kingdom we ever would have imagined. But it’s exactly the kind of kingdom we
need. And, by God’s grace through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, it’s the
kingdom in which we live. Amen.
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