David Bahn – Reflections

Mark 4:26-29

And he 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.”

A serious look at the mysteries of the Kingdom of God might lead you to throw up your hands in frustration and discouragement. Scatter seed. Somehow it grows – but you don’t know how. And when it does grow and mature you discover that some yields a hundredfold crop while others produce only thirtyfold results. Why work hard if it’s a mystery or if you have no control over its outcome? If the kingdom of God is all in the seed, why do anything more than sow the seed?

There are those who have such an approach. Some would say that we have little (if any) control over the outcome of our efforts or the impact of God’s word in people’s lives. These people (mostly pastors) say, “I just preach the Word; God takes care of the rest.” The rest is the harvest. And there is the challenging rub: what part do we have in the harvest?

If we are to believe Jesus, we have much to do with the harvest: “When the grain is ripe, at once [we are to put] in the sickle.” In other words there is immediacy and work that is expected of the kingdom worker. It is a mystery that God’s kingdom grows. There are differing results to the efforts of sowing. But the work has only begun as the word is preached. There is need for the harvest. God’s word produces fruit that is to be gathered for God’s glory.

The harvest that God desires is the spread of the influence and values of his kingdom. That more people should love him, believe in him, live under Christ, and serve him is God’s harvest. And the ultimate purpose is that more people will experience and embrace his grace in Jesus Christ now and in eternity. That we would praise God and be agents of his kingdom’s presence and goals are his delight. It is his work to make this happen, but he does it through those who are willing not only to sow the seed, but to be part of the harvest.

Mark 4:26-41

And he 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.”

³⁰ And 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.”

³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”⁴¹ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”