Pentecost 4 16th June 2024 (Christ Church St. Lucia)
Readings: 1 Samuel 15:34 – 16:13; Psalm 20; 2 Corinthians 5:6 – 17; Mark 4: 26-34
Recent elections for the European Parliament have seen a significant increase in the far-right vote – much to my dismay. There seems to be an ever-increasing drift to the far-right around the world with populist leaders gaining influence. A couple of things concern me. One is the number of younger voters who seem to be attracted – or maybe distracted - in this direction. The second is alliances between this form of politics and deeply conservative interpretations of religion leading to religious nationalism - I had something to say about this in the sermon at Choral Evensong last month. I’ve read a couple of interesting articles in the last few days about the reasons for the increase in far-right influence. One points to what’s called “livelihood insecurity for younger generations – no matter how many degrees they might invest money, effort and hope in, they may never land a job. This and other fears also nourish conservative instincts for stability and safety.[1] Another proposes that people are looking for strong leadership and are willing to overlook other things like moral and ethical flaws in the pursuit of strong, some call it “strong man” leadership. Well, as we discovered in the reading from First Samuel last week, there’s nothing new about this. The people wanted a king – a strong leader after the instability of the Judges, someone who would govern them and go out before them and fight their battles.[2] Despite Samuel’s warnings about what would happen, Saul is anointed as king.
Ideas of kingship and kingdom link our readings today. In the first reading, Samuel anoints David as king after the disastrous reign of Saul. The Psalm affirms God’s protection and affirmation of the king. David’s reign was to be a golden age for the nation of Israel, a time of prosperity and territorial expansion. So, when Jesus came proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was near – Mark has this proclamation in the first few verses of hos gospel[3] - people wondered if the restoration of Israel’s golden age was close. Would Jesus, who was becoming more and more popular with many (except the religious authorities) be the king who would lead them? For the community at Corinth to whom Paul was writing, there was an expectation that Jesus was coming again – and soon. Maybe then God’s glorious kingdom would be ushered in. Maybe the question “What is God’s kingdom like” was being asked.
Jesus poses the same question in the Gospel. Imagine the surprise and probable consternation of the people when he starts talking about something completely different as he tells stories – parables – of what God’s kingdom was like. We have two such stories in the Gospel this morning. Jesus speaks of small things, insignificant things, secret things; seed scattered on the ground, a mustard seed. How could God’s kingdom be like these? And that’s a difficult question to answer if we think of God’s kingdom as some sort of regal institution – a continuation to a new and glorious degree of the royal court that would grow up around King David, or if we think of God’s Kingdom as some wonderful paradise to which we hope we eventually will come.
The word in the scriptures translated as “kingdom” is perhaps more accurately translated as “rule” or “reign”. When Jesus speaks of the “kingdom” he means “the way God reigns in the world.”, not some geographical place or governing entity. He understood the conventional understanding of kingdom in the minds of those who heard him, but a great deal of what he says of the kingdom is aimed at challenging and transforming that understanding so it conforms with his vision of God and of how God is already at work in the world – here and now.
So, the story about the seed sown in the ground illustrates that. The seed of the kingdom has been sown – in the teaching of Jesus. Then follows a long period when nothing seems to be happening – at least nothing visible or dramatic. However, all the while growth is taking place – hidden, unseen, secretly. Eventually the time for the harvest will come and the transformation of the seed into a plant or flower will be revealed. In the meantime, we wait patiently. And that can be difficult. When we lived in Goondiwindi I had a vegetable garden at the Rectory – actually it was Libbie’s rectory - but if I’d planted out corn or beans, I’d be out there most mornings to see if anything had happened. Isn’t it a special moment when you see the soil breaking and the first signs of growth emerging? I think the parable encourages us to think of God who sows the seed, then sits back, allowing the process of growth to run its course. That’s not to say God is uninterested or uninvolved, but it does say that just because there are no apparent visible or even dramatic signs, it doesn’t mean that the Kingdom is not at work, silently, unseen, bringing new life and new possibility. And that can apply to the church today – it seems there is no apparent growth and it’s all going pear shaped, and it’s right to be concerned about this – but the seed has been sown and the growth will come. It can apply in our own lives – things happen, and we can wonder where God is in all of it. Well, God is there, sometimes silently and unseen – but there, nonetheless. And how affirming it can be when we can catch the first small signs of that presence – like new growth sprouting from the seed.
Often things in life happen randomly, without warning. But both these parables tell us that beneath the randomness and uncertainties of life, there is the providence of God seeking growth, new creation, wholeness, and transformation. Possibilities appear to emerge from nowhere – a way is made where there may seem to be no possibility of a way forward. This is the often unseen and subtle God who works for good in all things. Even the least obvious, the mustard seed, can grow into greater things, bringing sustenance and comfort to all around. And even when the seed grew into a mustard bush, it wasn’t perfect. Mustard bushes were spindly and lopsided, and yet………
Paul writes of walking by faith and not by sight. The Gospel has spoken of things we cannot see. Paul claims our true home is elsewhere – he writes he would rather be away from the body than alive in this world. Maybe Paul yearns to escape the burdens of ageing or imprisonment or the thorn in the flesh that he writes about elsewhere. Yet I find the Gospel much more earthed. While it is true that we live by faith – or by a vision of God and God’s good purposes for the whole of creation – humans and the natural world - experiencing God begins right where we are as flesh and blood people facing real situations. The great visionary revelation of St. John includes the words “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God: they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.” [4] God is with us and our calling with God’s help is not to flee the world but to transform it– in the here and now.
Jesus was planting different images in the minds of the crowd who heard him. He’s leading them to see that wanting to go back to some golden age isn’t what kingship and the kingdom is about. He wants them to understand the true nature of the Kingdom. He wants disciples, both then and now to understand that the absence of visible and dramatic signs and all the external panoply of kingship and strong leadership does not mean that the Kingdom isn’t at work – it is present and active, producing fruit that will be harvested in God’s good time.[5] The obvious challenge is whether we are open to unexpected harvests where God gives the growth. Are we willing to forego the temptation to retreat to the supposed certainties of old ways, rather than have our imaginations expanded to cope with how God might be working now.[6]
©The Rev’d. W.D. Crossman
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/14/far-right-seduced-young-voters-europe-elections?
[2] 1 Samuel 8:20
[3] Mark 1:15
[4] Revelation 21:3
[5] Brendan Byrne A Costly Freedom – A Theological Reading of Mark’s Gospel Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 2008 p90
[6] Rosalind Brown Fresh from the Word – A Preaching Companion for Sundays and Holy Days Canterbury Press Norwich UK 2016 p197