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.”

We had a good conversation about this passage last night at our elders meeting – especially the idea of harvesting. Finally I realized the real issue for us church types; it is “What’s the win?” How do we know that harvest time has come and when to put in the sickle? What is the harvest that we are seeking? What is the sickle?

Take a look at the remainder of Mark 4 and into chapter 5. You see Jesus teaching the disciples further about the kingdom, then stilling the storm at sea, then healing the demon-possessed man at the country of the Gerasenes. Jesus is repelling the influence of sin and Satan. He is pushing out the boundaries of the kingdom of God by extending its influence into nature and other people.

It’s a mystery – the growth of God’s kingdom – but it clearly has to do with the influence of the King in the world and the lives of people. If the sowing is spreading, sharing, declaring the word of God, then the harvesting is gathering more people under the banner of Christ’s reign. It’s not just getting people to come to church, it’s getting people to go from church as emissaries of God’s kingdom. Kingdom is to church as faith is to religion. God cares about church and religion, but the substance of religion is faith and the church is part of God’s kingdom – not the other way around.

I say all this because in the church world (of which I am deeply a part), we can get to short-sighted that we fail to see the bigger picture and the even greater issue of God’s kingdom’s advance in favor of seeing larger buildings, more programs and a robust ministry on campus. While these things are good, they are not the win; they are like statistics perhaps, or the pulse of a person. The win is when the love of Christ takes root in our hearts and we and more and more people live our lives under his reign.

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?”