Autumn Leaves Volume (Volume 5) by Alasdair Gordon - HTML preview

Parable of the Growing Seed [46]

Text: Mark 4: 21-33

 “The parable of the growing seed” [47] which formed the middle part of our reading, has also been called the parable of “hidden seed” or one of “unconscious growth.” Some have even referred to this parable as the story of “secret growth” and, of course, a great deal of God’s work is actually secret in that we often do know about it or don’t see it - even when it is staring us in the face.

This parable, unusually, appears only in the Gospel of Mark. We might consider this parable as an expansion of the story of what happens to the seed that “fell on good ground”.[48] It is also a parable that complements the illustration (that we read) that no man would put a candle under a bushel or under his bed.

The scholars can tell us that the word for bushel used here was originally of Latin origin and in this context means a container that can hold that measure, i.e. a bushel, of dry goods, usually grain. Such a container was normally made of pottery and if inverted over a candle would quickly stifle the flame for lack of oxygen. Placing the candle under a bed would be even more foolish, since that would not only diminish the light, but would also incur the strong possibility of igniting the bedding, which in those days was usually made of dried straw. The purpose of a candle is to provide light; hiding it, or putting it where it is potentially dangerous or inflammatory, would be utter foolishness.

The metaphor for light is familiar. Sometimes it means Jesus himself when he said “I am the light of the world”.[49] At other times light stands in contrast to darkness. Sometimes it seems to refer to God’s guidance through Scripture and his presence through the Holy Spirit.

Light, of course, will only be useful if it can be clearly seen. A light in the next room is of no use if we are sitting in darkness. Even light has to be used wisely.

We sometimes make qualitative judgments on to whom, or where, we should aim the “light” of the gospel only to be proven completely wrong in our assessments at some later time.

A number of years ago, a farmer in North Carolina heard that a distinguished evangelist was to be visiting the nearby town. He was very keen to take some of the young people of the area with him – but there was a problem. He had to convince one young man who was very much the “leader of the pack” to come. He was a farm boy of about 17, blond haired, good looking. If he went, the other young folk would go. If he didn’t, they wouldn’t! Simple! But the young man was not at all interested, that is until the farmer had a brainwave. Would the young man come if he was allowed to drive the truck? Ah well, that was different!

So, for several nights on end, the party went into the town. The young man sat at the very back of the church with his arms folded and wearing a sullen expression. On the very last night, following the Southern Baptist tradition, people who wanted to give their lives to Christ were invited to step forward – and to everyone’s astonishment, this same young man was first on his feet. The young farm boy’s name was Billy Graham – the future Dr Billy Graham who has preached the gospel to more people and in more countries than anyone else in the entire history of the Christian church.

And the story does not end there. Billy Graham is now an old man and in poor health. The main thrust of his work is now carried on by his son, Franklin. Nothing unusual about that, is there?  Well no. Except that for many years, Franklin was regarded at the black sheep of the family. He had no time for this religion stuff and he resented that his father was so often away from home. Yet what really brought him round was the fact that his father never treated him differently from any of the others. He never nagged him or tried to force his hand – but never gave up on him either.

I think we all know people – maybe within our own family, or circle of friends and acquaintances – who seem unpromising. They don’t want any of this religion stuff; they don’t want to come to church or read some old Bible. And these people are a constant challenge. The easiest thing is to give up on them and assume they are hopeless cases – or to go to the other extreme and suggest that they will only be acceptable to us when they do and think as we do.

But God is not always in the same hurry as we are.

There are countless similar stories of people who have started out looking very unpromising. And, of course, we can all fall into this trap. It is easy to write people off. Yet sometimes it is the less likely people that surprise us.

Of course, this process does require patience and discernment. We will never nag people into the Kingdom of Heaven nor even convince them with our wonderful logic. But we will never convince them either if we do not witness in any way – if we hide our light under a bushel or if we do the opposite and use in an argumentative or inflammatory way. As the good book says “There is a time to speak and there is a time to be silent”.[50]

And finally we need to remember that the work of the kingdom is indeed mysterious and much of it is unseen and secret. We don’t see plants and seeds growing under the ground and yet every year up they come! Fortunately, in the kingdom, it is not all up to us and to our human effort.

It is God who tends to the growing and will reap the harvest. We cannot of ourselves “will” anyone into the kingdom. Nor can we decide who may, or may not, be worthy of our preaching efforts. We may be unaware of some who are already part of the kingdom, failing to recognize them because of our own presuppositions.

When some children came to Jesus, the disciples wanted to send them away. But Jesus rebuked them – he pointed at the children and said, in the famous words: “...for of such is the kingdom of heaven”.[51] There is a very ancient tradition that a future famous leader and martyr in the early church, Ignatius of Antioch, was one of those children whom Jesus blessed.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow”.[52]  Yes, we can (and should) do as much as possible to plant and to water – but finally we can leave the actual growing to God.