Proper 6 | Ordinary Time 11, Cycle B

Mark 4:26-34

The hidden activity of God is a major theme within many of the most notable narratives within the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament), for example, within the Joseph story in Genesis 37-50, in the book of Ruth, and in the story of the court history of David in 2 Samuel 6–1 Kings 2. In fact, in many of these accounts it seems as though the activity of God is hidden much of the time even from those who believe in God!

One of the most helpful ways in which to interpret and to understand parables, especially the parables of Jesus within our New Testament, is to see them as manifestations of the hidden activity of God. The parables of Jesus conceal. The parables of Jesus conceal messages of Jesus of hope and liberation for the oppressed followers of Jesus from the understanding of the oppressive Romans. The full meaning of these parables of Jesus, while intended to be understood by Jesus’ oppressed followers, is often concealed from them as well. The refrain frequently used in conjunction with parables of Jesus within the Synoptic Gospels, “Let the one who has ears hear” is an indication of this.

The interpretation of the parables of Jesus is and remains a challenge for us, especially because we and our lifestyles constantly become more distant and different from the lifestyle of Jesus and of those with whom he worked. The more we can regain an understanding of the economic, political, social, and religious conditions of Jesus and of his fellow Jews in Galilee and in Judea during the third decade of the 1st century of the common era the better we will be able to understand the parables of Jesus.

The emphasis on the hidden activity of God is most apparent within the first of the two parables about the “kingdom” of God in this Mark 4:26-34 text. Just as we cannot see the process of the germination of the seed, the development of the root and of the sprout until the sprout penetrates the surface of the soil, we cannot see that the kingdom of God is taking root and is developing a sprout that will soon penetrate through the surface of the soil. That kingdom of God will replace the kingdom of the Roman Empire and its oppressive rule over Jesus and over the other oppressed Jews in Galilee and in Judea. Just as the plant will grow rapidly if there is moisture under the soil and if there is adequate rain and sunshine, the Jews with whom Jesus was sharing his message will grow in faith in God and in confidence in the inevitable and ongoing activity of God. Just as within a few weeks and months the plant will extend its stalk, form the embryonic seeds that cannot be seen until the stalk opens to reveal the soft, moist seeds that harden into the precious grain, so also the hidden activity of God will result in the precious “harvest” of freedom from Roman rule.

The growth is great and the harvest must proceed at the proper time. The kingdom of God is concealed. The kingdom of God is revealed. Those who are oppressive and do not believe in God will see no activity of God until the harvest, when they will be cast aside to be plowed under or to be burned by those who are now oppressed but for whom God intends the harvest.

As we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we pray that the kingdom of God will come. As we proclaim the gospel and as we interpret this parable analogy of Jesus in Mark 4:26-29 next Sunday, we are called to interpret the nature of God’s kingdom. What is being revealed to us about that kingdom? What will be revealed through us next Sunday about that kingdom?

The second parable analogy in our appointed text, Mark 4:30-32 and the summary statement in 4:33-34, bring in a somewhat different factor. While the father and sons of the family till the soil on the stone-terraced hillsides outside the village in order to produce grain for bread, the mother and daughters plant and tend the herb garden near their dwelling. The mustard seed, said to be the smallest of all of the seeds, grows within the herb garden to become a large bush, strong and thick enough to provide a place where the birds of the air can make their nests.

How will we use this mustard seed analogy parable next Sunday? Our situation is so different; and yet in many ways it is still the same. How is God at work here and now? How is the Church an expression of the work of God? How is the Church a participant with God in the sprouting, growth, and harvest of the kingdom of God?

Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15

Along with the writer of this psalm and with many others who have used Psalm 92, we find that our lives are more meaningful when we praise God day and night. We find that our lives are enriched when we realize that, as perceived by people within the Zoroastrian religion, the Jewish religion, Christianity, Islam, and all of the smaller groups derived from them, even though the “wicked” may seem for a time to be flourishing, those who by the grace of God and by their response to God are “righteous” will eventually outlast the wicked, in order to show that God is firm with love and with justice. The analogy in Psalm 92 of the righteous being like a palm tree, a cedar in Lebanon, planted in the “courts of our God,” full of sap and green, bringing forth fruit even in old age, used so well here, is carried over into the Ezekiel 17:22-24 text in a somewhat different form in a different situation.

Ezekiel 17:22-24

The analogy of the tree is continued here with the image of a tender sprig of green cedar — the product of a single season of growth — rescued by the Lord God before the tree itself is destroyed. This sprig of new growth is then said to have been planted by the Lord God on the mountain height of Jerusalem. There it is said that it will flourish, bear fruit, and provide nesting places for all types of birds. (The parable in Mark 4:30-32 also to be used next Sunday of the mustard seed producing a shrub that is large enough for the birds of the air to build nests in it is an indication of familiarity with Ezekiel 17:22-24.) God will produce such wonders, as those who believe in God can perceive.

1 Samuel 15:34–16:13

If this text and the option of somewhat sequential readings from 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, and 1 Kings during these summer weeks is taken, there will be many weeks in which little or no significant connection will be seen between the First Readings and the texts from the Four Gospels. For next Sunday in this account from 1 Samuel 15:34–16:13 about Samuel anointing the young shepherd lad David we may see a connection between the small mustard seed in Mark 4:30-32 developing into a large shrub and the smallest of the sons of Jesse being anointed by Samuel to grow up to become Israel’s most complex king, the “father” of the nation. That connection, however, is a rather long “stretch,” it seems to me. God, of course, is the most significant unifying factor in all of these texts.

Psalm 20

This psalm appears to be prayer to God that the king of Israel be victorious in a coming battle. It is designated as a psalm of David, appropriately, since David, said in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 to have been anointed by Samuel to be the future king to replace the hapless Saul, was a warrior king during the highly successful early portion of his reign.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17

In this text we move from analogies of the small seed becoming a huge shrub and the small boy David becoming a mighty king to a comparison by the Apostle Paul of this earthly “tent” (our body) in which we now sojourn to the heavenly home, our permanent residence that God in Jesus the Christ will provide for each of us. In this text, Paul makes it clear that he himself would prefer to depart and be with God in the heavenly home. Nevertheless, the decision of when to depart is not a decision that Paul will make. Here also the activity of God is in a sense hidden from our eyes.

Consideration of this text provides an opportunity for us to discuss the biomedical ethics issue of under what circumstances it may be appropriate to delay an inevitable death by use of “heroic” life-support systems.