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1. Text

He also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come."

He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

2. What's Happening?

First Point Of Action
Jesus told two parables about the kingdom of God. First, the kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and the planter would then sleep and rise night and day.

Second Point Of Action
The seed would sprout and grow, a mystery to the plant as to how the earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

Third Point Of Action
When the grain is ripe, harvest has come. The planter at once enters the field with his sickle.

Fourth Point Of Action
Second, he compares the kingdom of God to the growth of the smallest seed, the mustard seed that, once sown, grows up to be the greatest of all shrubs.

Fifth Point Of Action
It puts forth many branches so the birds can nest in its shade.

Sixth Point Of Action
Because the receptive crowd to whom he spoke were able to hear the word, he told them many such parables. While Jesus spoke only in parables to these people, he explained everything in private to his disciples.

3. Spadework

Able To Hear It (Perceive)
Able. The phrase, "as they were able to hear it [the word]" carries a double meaning. To emphasize "were able" suggests both ability to follow what Jesus was telling the crowd and receptivity to perceiving the deeper meaning of the parable. On the other hand, to stress "as" suggests variability in levels of perception.

While "able to" or "not able to" occurs biblically on 123 occasions, most refer to physical capacity. However, the following passage from 1 Kings 3:9 alludes to the insight in which Jesus spoke in the present parable: "Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?" Also to the point are the following Hebrew Scriptures: "But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear" (Deuteronomy 29:4); "And though the Lord persistently sent you all his servants the prophets, you have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear" (Jeremiah 25:4); and "Mortal, you are living in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see but do not see, who have ears to hear but do not hear" (Ezekiel 12:2).

Similarly, while several gospel passages refer to ability, such as Matthew 22:46; 26:61; Mark 3:25; 9:22, 27; Luke 12:26; 14:29-30; 21:15; and John 9:7; the following reach into the deeper perception of the heart: "When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' They said to him, 'Yes, Lord' " (Matthew 9:28) and "But Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?' " (Mark 10:38). See also Matthew 20:22. Again, in several gospel passages, Christ refers to the inner hearing: " 'Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.' As he said this, he called out, 'Let anyone with ears to hear listen!' " (Luke 8:8). See also Luke 14:35 and Mark 4:9, 23.

Even among the crowds that followed and listened voluntarily to Jesus and even among his closest disciples, Jesus found people who heard only words. What blocks our capacity to hear with the heart? When is our head so full that we are elsewhere even while present physically? What constitutes the fiber of the alienating walls that we build? What solvent releases understanding? When is our failure to listen a self-protective or chosen response? When is it the result of being so out of tune or out of sync with the message of Jesus' teaching that to connect with the truths he teaches appears impossible?

Perceive. One cannot examine perception without inquiring of the philosopher: "I said to myself, 'I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.' And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a chasing after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow" (Ecclesiastes 1:16-18).

Nevertheless, within the deeper levels of perception we hear Christ's truth for ourselves. Here, catching the metaphor and hearing the message in the inner heart where it will bring life changes, we find "You are talking about me, Christ. You are talking to me." The chasm and resultant chaos that lack of understanding engenders juxtaposes our amazement at the grandeur of God's perception. Our capacity to hear with heart's ear changes how we perceive our relationships and interactions with others.

Among the passages from Job's journey that reflect human incapacity to receive God's ever-presence are the following: "... [God] who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number. Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him. He snatches away; who can stop him? Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?' " (Job 9:10-12) and "If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold" (Job 23:8-10).

Christ answers the query of his disciples:

The reason I speak to [the people] in parables is that "seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand." With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says: "You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn -- and I would heal them." But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.
-- Matthew 13:13-17 (See also Luke 8:9-11.)

In the book of Isaiah alone, to listen or the inability to listen occurs 32 times. ("Listen" appears 350 times in the Old and New Testaments.) To understand or to have a lack of understanding occurs 241 times; to comprehend, nine times; and to perceive, 37 times.

Isaiah uses "perceive" twice: "I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:19) and "From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him" (Isaiah 64:4).

Listen. In several passages, "listen," means hark, listen up, pay attention, there is something for you to hear: "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!" (Isaiah 1:10); "Listen, you that are deaf; and you that are blind, look up and see!" (42:18); and "Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me" (Isaiah 1:2). See also 8:9; 10:30; 13:4; 18:3; 21:7; 28:3; 32:9; 33:7; 36:16; 41:1; 49:1; 52:8; 66:6.

When the people refused to listen to the teachings of God, God brought on the battles: "I also will choose to mock them, and bring upon them what they fear; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my sight, and chose what did not please me" (Isaiah 66:4). See also Isaiah 65:12. In punishment, God also would not listen: "When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood" (Isaiah 1:15). Also as retribution for their alienating ways, God blocks their listening: "And he said, 'Go and say to this people: "Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand." Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed' " (Isaiah 6:9-10).

However, as soon as the people return to God, God chooses to listen: "The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing; they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their supplications and heal them" (Isaiah 19:22). When right living and justice reign, "[t]hen the eyes of those who have sight will not be closed, and the ears of those who have hearing will listen" (Isaiah 32:3).

Creator-God calls for hope: "Who among you ... will attend and listen for the time to come?" (Isaiah 42:23). This is God's message: "Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live" (Isaiah 55:2-3); and "Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called: I am He; I am the first, and I am the last" (Isaiah 48:12). God addresses all who are "stubborn of heart" and "far from deliverance" (Isaiah 46:12).

The later Deutero-Isaiah, 40:1-55, establishes his authority as a spokesperson of God: "The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens -- wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught" (Isaiah 50:4). See also Isaiah 46:3 and 49:1.

In turn the prophet pleads with all to listen: Through Isaiah, God wants not only those who are in trouble but all to listen: "Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples" (Isaiah 51:4). See also Isaiah 50:4; 51:1, 7.

Understand. While our understanding has limits, God's has none: "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable" (Isaiah 40:28). Wisdom and understanding go hand in hand: "The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:2). See also Isaiah 10:13.

The rhythm of lack of human understanding and movement toward understanding is as complex as the attempts of a person of temporary low income to emerge from the social welfare system. How intricate, yet how simple, is the partnership between human understanding and God's design.

Isaiah's straightforward statements of reality are clear: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand" (Isaiah 1:3); "When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood" (Isaiah 1:15); and "[T]his is a people without understanding; therefore he that made them will not have compassion on them, he that formed them will show them no favor" (Isaiah 27:11). God refuses to reinforce bad behavior by affording mercy at the inappropriate time.

Deutero-Isaiah does suggest, however, that lack of understanding is remediable: "They do not know, nor do they comprehend; for their eyes are shut, so that they cannot see, and their minds as well, so that they cannot understand" (Isaiah 44:18). Open your eyes to God; open your minds. "The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. The shepherds also have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, to their own gain, one and all" (Isaiah 56:11). If the problem began with people turning "to their own way," then turning to God would be the necessary medicine. See also Isaiah 28:19; 29:16, 24; 33:19; 36:11; 40:14; 41:20; 42:25; 43:10; 57:1.

But, how can people understand if God blocks understanding as a punishment for their shut eyes, ears, and minds? (See Isaiah 6:9-10 above and 32:3.) The directives to "keep listening" and "keep looking" despite (this temporary) lack of perception also hum notes of hope.

The Israelites did not listen to God, so God refused to listen to them. When they began to listen to God again, then God immediately listened to them. Is such talk reminiscent with a twist of the compensation of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" in Hebrew tradition? Is it a precursor of the Golden Rule? One rule appears to have retaliation and retribution in mind and might greet life with a curled lip while the other offers to others a kindly and merciful heart. Tension between punishment and forgiveness, God's mercy and human responsibility, vulnerability, and human choice continues.

From time to time, the patience of Christ with his disciples also ran as slowly as that of a teacher of Spanish with a groggy student: "Do you still not perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the 5,000, and how many baskets you gathered?" (Matthew 16:9); "How could you fail to perceive that I was not speaking about bread?" (Matthew 16:11); "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?" (Mark 8:17).

Even closest followers missed the message. Jesus said, "Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands. But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was concealed from them, so that they could not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying" (Luke 9:44-45).

Is part of the truth of a parable, then, its mystery? The disciples hoped for clarification. "Peter said, 'Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?' " (Luke 12:41). See also Matthew 13:10, 13, 33-36; 15:15; Mark 4:10-11, 13, 30; 7:17; 12:12; and Luke 8:4, 9-11.

Jesus told his disciples, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that 'looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand' " (Luke 8:10) and "When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, 'To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that "they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven" ' " (Mark 4:10-11). When circumstances are right, "as we are able to hear it," understanding happens.

Branches
See Cycle B, Parable 3, The Parable Of The True Vine.

Harvest
The first of 71 usages of "harvest" occurs in Genesis 8:22. After the flood, God promised Noah's people that "[a]s long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22).

"But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come" (Mark 4:29). The time must be right for harvest lest the grain still has too much moisture and before it becomes too dry. Too early or too late and the product suffers compromise or the possibility of nothing to harvest. Some years there was little or no crop: "For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest" (Genesis 45:6). Even during famine, harvesters were required to give Pharaoh a portion (Genesis 47:24); "[O]fferings from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses were to go to God" (Exodus 22:29). (Exodus 23:16; 34:21-22; Leviticus 19:9; 23:10, 22; 25:5, 11, 16; and Deuteronomy 24:19, 26:2 tell of other harvest mandates.)

A time of generosity, harvest offered the hope of gleaning and hospitality. There is work for all: "A child who gathers in summer is prudent, but a child who sleeps in harvest brings shame" (Proverbs 10:5). (See Judges 15:1 and Ruth 1:22; 2:21, 23.) It was also a vulnerable time when ill-intentioned people struck and destructive natural events occurred. (See 1 Samuel 12:17; 2 Samuel 21:9-10; 23:13; Job 31:12; and Proverbs 26:1.) Hence, it offered understandable image for prophets to employ. Five prophets speak of "harvest." In the familiar "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" song, Isaiah likens the joy at restoration of Israel to the time of joy at harvest. (See Isaiah 9:1ff.) Isaiah uses the same metaphor to express the time of change for the perpetrators of discontent. At the downfall, Moab and others experience a negative harvest: "[F]or the shout over your fruit harvest and your grain harvest has ceased" (Isaiah 16:9); "[T]hough you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow; yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain" (Isaiah 17:11); and "In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent ones; for the vintage will fail, the fruit harvest will not come" (Isaiah 32:10). See also Isaiah 17:5; 18:4-5; 23:3; 24:13.

The later prophets echo their predecessor's song: "He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:4). Joel blends the harvest of the land with the expected harvest of the people: "Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears ... Let the nations rouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the neighboring nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe ... Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision" (Joel 3:10-14). See also Micah 4:3.

Jeremiah cries God's lament, "Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest ... Thus says the Lord: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?" (Jeremiah 2:3-5). As part of God's harvest of these people, God will send warriors from another nation to "eat up your harvest and food" (Jeremiah 5:17) and who have no fear of the Israelite's God who "keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest" (Jeremiah 5:24).

The prophet continues expressions of sorrow. The harvest necessary for existence is cut off: "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me" (Jeremiah 8:20-21). The harvest was not the sort expected: "They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns, they have tired themselves out but profit nothing. They shall be ashamed of their harvests because of the fierce anger of the Lord" (Jeremiah 12:13). (See Jeremiah 50:16; 51:33.)

Hosea also speaks of an appointed harvest: "For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed. When I would restore the fortunes of my people, when I would heal Israel" (Hosea 6:11--7:1). In a litany of God's acts of anger, he and Amos also draw upon imagery of unproductive harvests: "You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough" (Haggai 1:6) and "I also withheld the rain from you when there were still three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would be rained upon, and the field on which it did not rain withered" (Amos 4:7).

Harvest is a time of great activity and change. The work of the season is complete; produce reaped; payments made; the sigh of relief emitted; and future plans dreamt: "Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting" (John 4:35) and "But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come" (Mark 4:29). When the crop is ready, it is ready whether it is grain or a people. It cannot be held over. One day may be too late if the hail comes.

Other gospel stories refer to harvest: "Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest' " (Matthew 9:37-38 and Luke 10:2). See also Matthew 13:30ff; 21:34ff.

In Private
"In private" occurs four times. In 1 Samuel 18:22-23, Saul commands his servants to speak to David "in private" and Saul's servants "reported these words to David 'in private.' " In addition to the present text in which Christ is reported to have spoken to the crowds only in parables but "explained everything in private to his disciples" (Mark 4:34), the writer of Mark emphasized the privacy of Jesus' healing of the man who was deaf: "He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue" (Mark 7:33).

"Private" occurs elsewhere on twelve occasions. In the Hebrew Scripture, Joseph retired to "a private room" to weep (Genesis 43:30) and Joab took Abner aside "to speak with him privately, and there he stabbed him" (2 Samuel 3:27).

Privacy offered seclusion from the intrusion of others to avoid embarrassing others as well as to offer opportunity for speaking in confidence. The disciples shared questions with Jesus privately: When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately why they could not cure a boy of epilepsy. (See Matthew 17:19 and Mark 9:28.) When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3). "When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately" about the words he had spoken to them about the destruction of the temple as they left the building. (See Mark 13:3.)

How affirming and encouraging these words, spoken privately by Christ, must have been to the disciples, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it" (Luke 10:23-24). Christ and his disciples needed time for rest and for the special support that only they could give one another. "On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida" (Luke 9:10). See also John 11:28.

Kingdom Of God
"Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, 'the kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, "Look, here it is!" or "There it is!" For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you' " (Luke 17:20-21).

Five of the 66 New Testament references to the realm of God are in Matthew, eleven in Mark, 27 in Luke, and two in John. Exclusive to Matthew, "kingdom of heaven" occurs 33 times. The writer of Luke uses "Kingdom of God" 27 times. Is the kingdom of God a place or a state of spiritual being and presence? At least seven references to entering the kingdom of God suggest a physical place. All three synoptic gospels liken the difficulty of the rich to entering the kingdom of God to another metaphor, a camel going through the eye of a needle. (See Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:23-25; and Luke 18:24-25.)

Enter. "The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force" (Luke 16:16). Here is the image of a crowbar. Similarly, if one understands "kingdom of God" literally as a place, then rather than an emotional or spiritual state of being, "hell" would also be a place into which one is thrown: "And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell" (Mark 9:47). Jesus also spoke of "going into the kingdom of God." "Jesus said to them, 'Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you' " (Matthew 21:31).

When Jesus tells Nicodemus that "no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above" (John 3:3), Nicodemus questions him about the necessity of rebirth: "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" (John 3:4). Christ responds, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit" (John 3:5).

The second is a spiritual birth -- for a spiritual place? Is it the spiritual birth of baptism? Is it the realization again and again throughout our journey through spiritual growth that we come from God, are one in God, and are saved continually by God for another try at a just and good life? Again, Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it" (Mark 10:14-15). See also Luke 18:16-17.

Gift. In Mark 10:15 as well as Luke 18:17, the realm of God is a gift. To receive it indicates an openness to meet, to greet, to perceive, and to understand or move into understanding. To receive as a little child receives, that is, at no matter what age, to allow the timeless child within each of us to be receptive, suggests the presence of wholehearted trust and willingness. Considering how protective we must be now, training our children to be cautious at an earlier and earlier age and how pervasive is the hurt of many youngsters, one wonders if a thread of the innocence that invites trust still exists. Nevertheless, Christ said, "... [I]t is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs" (Luke 18:17). It is a gift to the vulnerable: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20).

Matthew also speaks of "gift" in relation to God's realm: "But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33). Individually and communally we ask of God in the Prayer of Our Savior, "Your kingdom come" (Luke 11:2), adding in (Matthew 6:10) "on earth as it is in heaven." God's realm comes to us: "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you" (Matthew 12:28). The Lukan version reads "by the finger of God" (Luke 11:20), adding to the Matthew 12:28 version.

Several other passages speak of the nearness of God's realm. Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news" (Mark 1:15). Jesus instructed the commissioned seventy, "Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you' " (Luke 10:8-9). Wherever unwelcome, they were to leave after telling town folk, "Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near" (Luke 10:11). At the ending of the fig tree parable, Jesus said that just as sprouting leaves indicate summer is near, "[s]o also, when you see these things [the signs he had mentioned] taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near." (See Luke 21:25-31.)

The realm of God is a study in trust and faith: "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground ..." (Mark 4:26) and "For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them" (Matthew 25:14).

Anticipation. Is waiting for God's realm similar to our waiting for the development of a spirit of global community? Is it like our waiting for people to outgrow war games, maturing to nurture of cooperative, peace-giving games? Is it as spotty yet as real and true as pockets of justice and equality?

At Jesus' last meal, he said, "I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes" (Luke 22:18 and Mark 14:25). Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for Jesus' body because "he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God." (See Luke 23:51-53 and Mark 15:43.)

In Jesus' time, expectation of an event was keen: "As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately" (Luke 19:11) and "But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God" (Mark 9:1 and Luke 9:27). Furthermore, the realm of God could be rescinded: "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom" (Matthew 21:43).

Mystery. The mysteries of God's realm and that of the art of parable are two subjects that we can gain understanding only indirectly. Part of the mystery of parable is wondering why Jesus would tell his disciples some things yet withhold them from the crowd or reveal them only with analogy. Matthew said, "Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: 'I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world' " (Matthew 13:34-35).

Mark says Jesus did not speak to the crowds "except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples" (Mark 4:34). "To you," he told the disciples, "it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that 'looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand' " (Luke 8:10).

Christ's disciples and others close to him tried to make sense of the realm of God, saying, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables" (Mark 4:11). He phrases for them these questions: "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?" (Mark 4:30) and "To what will I compare this generation?" (Matthew 11:16). See also Luke 13:18, 20. Then "[h]e put before them another parable" (Matthew 13:31) and another and another:

"It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another" (Matthew 11:16);

"Like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch" (Mark 13:34);

"Like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field" (Matthew 13:44-45);

"Like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old" (Matthew 13:52);

"Like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard ..." (Matthew 20:1);

"Like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind" (Matthew 13:47);

"Like a merchant in search of fine pearls" (Matthew 13:45);

"Like a house built on rock" (Luke 6:47-49);

"Like a mustard seed" (Mark 4:31); and

"Like yeast" (Luke 13:21).

Christ's life work was both teaching and healing: "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose" (Luke 4:43). See also Luke 8:1; 9:11, 60. Commissioning the disciples to carry on his work, he "gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal" (9:1-2). See also Luke 22:16.

His teaching suggests that rather than consider God's realm a place, we might view it as a way of living, that is, the character of our relationships to God and with our neighbor and ourselves: "I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them" (Luke 6:47).

When the questioning scribe agrees that obeying the two great commandments is more important than "all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices," Jesus tells him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." (See Mark 12:28-34.) This lifestyle requires singleness of purpose: "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). Jesus encourages Peter, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life" (Luke 18:28-30). Again, one can distill the truth of the story about who will be saved by right living and right relationships for the realm of God. (See Luke 13:22-30.)

Mustard Seed
In ancient Greece and Rome, the seed of pungent mustard plant was used as a medicine and to spice food. Mustards, brown (Brassica juncea), yellow (Brassica hirta), and black oriental (Brassica nigra), are large, annual shrubs native to Asia. With rapid growth, the plant bursts from a small seed about two millimeters in diameter into a shrub large enough to hold a bird. Fully grown plants range from 30 to 45 inches in height depending on the variety and environmental conditions.

Brown and oriental mustards grow taller than the yellow mustard that is grown in the United States. Its seedlings emerge quickly, but grow slowly after emergence. Indeed, the mustard is so rapidly growing that in 42 states, its label is a noxious, invasive weed. While not in fact the smallest seed on earth, the mustard nevertheless is tiny enough and its growth pattern rapid enough to elicit respect. As with most metaphors, one cannot push that of the mustard seed beyond its limits.

"Mustard" or "mustard seed" appears only in the synoptic gospels. The writer of Matthew refers to it twice as does Luke. Mark 4:31, Matthew 13:31, and Luke 13:19 all liken the growth and spread of the realm of God to the fast-growing seed. In Luke and Matthew, when the disciples question the power of their faith, Christ encourages the impact of even the smallest bit of faith, as little as "the size of a mustard seed." (See Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6.)

Parable
With the lone reference to "parable" in the Hebrew Scriptures, the psalmist starts parable-talk: "Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; / incline your ears to the words of my mouth. / I will open my mouth in a parable" (Psalm 78:1-2). The remaining 43 usages appear in 36 references in the synoptic gospels: fifteen in Luke, twelve in Matthew, and nine in Mark. The writer of Luke introduces the parable of the entrusted money (Luke 19:11) with an editorial, "As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable." He prefaces other parables with one of these phrases:

"He told them a parable" -- sprouted leaves on trees (Luke 21:29), the need to pray always (Luke 18:1), choosing the place of honor (Luke 14:7), and the greedy farmer (Luke 12:16);

"He also told them a parable" -- patching old garments (Luke 5:36) and the blind person guiding a blind person (Luke 6:39);

"He told this parable" -- the barren fig tree (Luke 13:6), the lost sheep (Luke 15:3), and the vineyard and the greedy tenants (Luke 20:9); and

"When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable:" -- the sower and the soil (Luke 8:4ff).

The writer of Matthew employs a variety of introductions. His entrée to the parable of the banquet reads, "Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying:" (Matthew 22:1-11). Matthew uses "He put before them another parable" with the seed and weeds (Matthew 13:24) and the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31). "Hear then the parable" introduces the sower (Matthew 13:18). The absentee landowner (Matthew 21:33) begins with "Listen to another parable"; "And he told them many things in parables" starts the soil and the seed (Matthew 13:3); and "He told them another parable," the yeast parable (Matthew 13:33).

Matthew concludes the parable of the yeast by summarizing: "Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: 'I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world' " (Matthew 13:33-35).

As Mark retells the stories, Jesus weaves a parable into conversations. See the leafing fig tree (Mark 13:28-29); the cup that Jesus drinks (Mark 10:38); salt (Mark 9:50); and a house divided against itself (Mark 3:20-35). Mark also uses "It is like" -- the doorkeeper (Mark 13:32-37); "He said to them" -- hiding the lampshade (Mark 4:21-24); and "He also said" -- the hope and mystery of the seed (Mark 4:26-34).

Mark introduces the parable of the mustard seed with "He also said...." Christ himself prefaces this parable with a question, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?" (Mark 4:26-32). Then Mark concludes with an explanation: "With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples" (Mark 4:33-34).

Mark introduces the parable of the vineyard with the editorial statement, "Then he began to speak to them in parables." Christ concludes this parable by quoting Hebrew Scripture. Mark appends to this his comments: "When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away" (Mark 12:1-12). Similarly, Mark uses "He spoke to them in parables" to introduce the parable of the divided house (Mark 3:23ff). Mark begins the sower and the soil parable with "He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them ..." (Mark 4:2ff). For additional discussion, see Cycle A, Parable 4.

Ripe
Although subject to both positive and negative forces of nature, fertile land of the Hebrew people was verdant with ripening almonds (Numbers 17:8); grapes (Genesis 40:10; Numbers 13:20; and Isaiah 18:5); figs (Isaiah 28:4; Micah 7:1; Nahum 3:12; and Jeremiah 24:2); and grain (Joel 3:13; Mark 4:29; and John 4:35).

The word "ripe" elicits such other terms as imminent, ready, at its prime, juicy, succulent, and the irresistible urge to pluck and eat: "And the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of those bloated with rich food, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer; whoever sees it, eats it up as soon as it comes to hand" (Isaiah 28:4). Immediate action is the phrase of the day at harvest: "But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come" (Mark 4:29) and "Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great" (Joel 3:13).

However, the harvest is not always productive. "Woe is me! For I have become like one who, after the summer fruit has been gathered, after the vintage has been gleaned, finds no cluster to eat; there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger" (Micah 7:1).

The time of ripening is vulnerable: "For before the harvest, when the blossom is over and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches he will hew away" (Isaiah 18:5). With poetic finesse, the minor prophet, Nahum, employs the metaphor of ripeness to express the defenselessness of the people: "All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs -- if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater" (Nahum 3:12).

Jeremiah devotes a whole chapter to using the metaphor of the good and bad figs to describe God's response to the good and bad exiles: "One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten" (Jeremiah 24:2).

When the prophets speak of ripening and harvest, it is as a readily understood metaphor for the Israelite situation. Even Job cannot resist harvest imagery: "You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season" (Job 5:26). Neither can John: "Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together" (John 4:35-36).

Scatter
To scatter suggests widespread dispersal in many directions so that being scattered is separation from what is of most importance. Consider today's idiom of feeling or being scattered in too many directions. Scattering annihilates focus, concentration, and unity of spirit. However considered, scattering indicates physical, spiritual, or emotional chaos that requires a change.

The one who scatters seed by hand practices a precise toss in order to distribute the seed evenly. Designated scattering of people by definition follows a design. Biblically, scattering generally refers to the actions of God when God is frustrated by a recalcitrant people. The Deuteronomist captures God at a moment of personal emotion ordinarily assigned to the human family: "I thought to scatter them and blot out the memory of them from humankind but I feared provocation by the enemy, for their adversaries might misunderstand and say, 'our hand is triumphant; it was not the Lord who did all this' " (Deuteronomy 32:26-27).

Ezekiel, using "scatter" 21 times, and Jeremiah, sixteen times, are heavy on use of "scatter." They use several metaphors: sheep, who are scattered because they have no shepherd (Ezekiel 34:5-6, 12, 21; 36:19); hair, for the dispersal of the rebellious people of Jerusalem; (Jeremiah 7:29 and Ezekiel 5:1) and wind, as Ezekiel's speaking of scattering "to the wind" (Ezekiel 5:2).

God's power shows itself in the scattering to every wind: "I will scatter to every wind all who are around him, his helpers and all his troops; and I will unsheathe the sword behind them. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries" (Ezekiel 12:14-15). See also Ezekiel 5:1, 12; 6:5, 8; 10:2; 17:21.

With exacting repetition, Ezekiel tells the people that God stands on God's word: "I [God] scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; in accordance with their conduct and their deeds I judged them" (Ezekiel 36:19) and "Moreover I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries, because they had not executed my ordinances, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their ancestors' idols" (Ezekiel 20:23-24). See also Ezekiel 22:15; 29:12-13; 30:23, 26.

God wants to be in charge and will be in charge:

As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, I will be king over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out; and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. As I entered into judgment with your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, says the Lord God. I will make you pass under the staff, and will bring you within the bond of the covenant. I will purge out the rebels among you, and those who transgress against me; I will bring them out of the land where they reside as aliens, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
-- Ezekiel 20:32-38

However, God's power is not merciless. Even though God scatters the people to distant places, God loses sight of no one. God had the capacity and will to reclaim and gather all from far places. (See Ezekiel 11:16-17.) As one inhaling a pleasant scent into the depths of one's being, God accepts the people without reservation: "As a pleasing odor I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations" (Ezekiel 20:41). See also Ezekiel 28:25.

God gives the disobedient people of Israel the chance to change their ways: "Return, faithless Israel, says the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, says the Lord; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the Lord your God, and scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree, and have not obeyed my voice, says the Lord" (Jeremiah 3:12-13).

Like Ezekiel, Jeremiah uses the image of scattered sheep: "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord" (Jeremiah 23:1-2). See also Jeremiah 10:21. He also uses wind scattering: "I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert" (Jeremiah 13:24) and "Like the wind from the east, I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity" (Jeremiah 18:17).

Scattering appears to contain no mercy: "I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them" (Jeremiah 9:16). While we must accept responsibility for our actions, God does not intend to abandon us: "For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; I will make an end of all the nations among which I scattered you, but of you I will not make an end. I will chastise you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished" (Jeremiah 30:11) and "Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock' " (Jeremiah 31:10). And so the restorations happened: "Likewise, when all the Judeans ... heard ... then all the Judeans returned ... and came to the land of Judah ..." (Jeremiah 40:11-12).

Any mention of scattering brings to mind the suffering stories of the people from Israel to Judah and all recalcitrant people that Jeremiah reviews from the first to the last chapter of Jeremiah and into Lamentations. (See Jeremiah 49:5, 32, 36; 52:8; and Lamentations 4:1, 16.)

Any scatter talk calls forth the image of being scattered or "blown away": "You pierced with his own arrows the head of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter us ..." (Habakkuk 3:14). Can anyone not identify with the whirlwind of turmoil: "[W]hen panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you"? (Proverbs 1:27). Other later prophets echo the messages of the major spokespeople. (See Joel 3:2; Nahum 3:18; Zephaniah 3:10; and Zechariah 1:19, 21; 7:14; 10:9; 13:7.)

The Hebrew Scriptures give God credit for the scattering. Ultimately, God scatters, with this message: The people bring upon themselves the trouble. What about this body of suffering history? Were these stories of a people trying to make sense of all they endured? Was the scattering caused by faulty human leadership? Was it the nature of that region's people, whose temperament and major occupation seem to have been (and be) turmoil? Had religious understanding not yet emerged, for example, into Christ's fuller view of disabilities and widowhood as no-fault happenings rather than as punishment or reason for invalidity? Or do these stories, portraying so well the human condition, simply relate the timeless, universal character of the whole human family?

Management by scattering came early with the scattering abroad of the cooperative people of Babel so they would not become more powerful than their Creator. (See Genesis 11:4, 8-9.) Jacob scattered the families of two sons who could not get along. (See Genesis 49:7.) Scattering and saving go hand in hand throughout the many-chaptered story of the Hebrew people: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God" (Leviticus 25:38). God promised to take care of the people if they were obedient. If they disobeyed, God promised also to "scatter [them] among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword against you; your land shall be a desolation, and your cities a waste" (Leviticus 26:33). See also Deuteronomy 4:27; 28:64.

From the start, God gave this warning but also offered the hope of salvation if they changed their ways: "[T]hen the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, gathering you again from all the peoples among whom the Lord your God has scattered you" (Deuteronomy 30:1-3).

With relatively few references to the scattering of animals, most usages of "scatter" refer to the dispersal of a people. (See 1 Samuel 11:11; 2 Samuel 22:15; 1 Kings 14:15; 22:17; 2 Kings 25:5; 2 Chronicles 18:16; Nehemiah 1:8; Esther 3:8; and Isaiah 16:2; 24:1; 28:25; 30:22; 33:3; 41:16.) While many of the following passages do not mention people, they do allude to their exilic scattering: Exodus 32:20; Numbers 16:37; Job 8:15; Psalm 147:16; Proverbs 56:16; Isaiah 28:25; 30:22; 41:16; Jeremiah 3:13; Lamentations 4:1; Ezekiel 5:2; 4:10; Daniel 4:14; 2 Chronicles 34:4; and Job 4:11; 18:15; 36:30; 37:9, 11; 38:24.

The psalmist sings songs of scattering and chaos: "For your enemies, O Lord, / for your enemies shall perish; / all evildoers shall be scattered" (Psalm 92:9). See also Psalm 18:14; 44:11; 53:5; 68:1, 14, 30; 89:10; 106:27; 144:6. In the restorative thanksgiving song of Psalm 147, however, "scatter" takes on a merciful and healing aspect of God: "The Lord builds up Jerusalem; / he gathers the outcasts of Israel. / He heals the brokenhearted, / and binds up their wounds ... He gives snow like wool; / he scatters frost like ashes" (Psalm 147:2-16).

In the gospels, "scatters" occurs ten times. In her Magnificat, Mary sings, "... He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts ..." (Luke 1:46-55). Christ tells the Pharisees, "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters" (Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23). John presents Christ as addressing "scattering" without metaphor: "The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me" (John 16:32).

Several passages, including Mark 4:26, refer to seed scattering, which might be read literally and metaphorically: "Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed' " (Matthew 25:24) and "But his master replied, 'You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter?' " (Matthew 25:26).

Jesus also uses scatter with the sheep metaphor: "The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away -- and the wolf snatches them and scatters them" (John 10:12) and "Then Jesus said to them, 'You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written, "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered" ' " (Matthew 26:31). See also Mark 14:27.

Seed
The miracle seed parable appears in Matthew 13:31-38 and Luke 13:19 as well as the present text. This parable is about awe and mystery and a sense of respect for the miracle of germination and growth. It speaks of indefatigable hope and the birth of an energetic faith. The first response to the creative powers of God, "and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how" (Mark 4:27), is mysterious yet affirming amazement that awakens our own spirited "I can." So strong is the word of God: "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God" (Luke 8:11).

In the Gospel according to Matthew, eight references focus on seed. Christ tells a story about planting seed on fertile soil. (See Matthew 13:4-8, Cycle A, Parable 4; Mark 4:4-8; and Luke 8:5.) See also Matthew 25:24. In the parable of the good seed and the weeds, Christ relates the old battle trick of sabotaging the enemy's fields. (See Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, Cycle A, Parable 5.)

Matthew and Luke also refer to this robust faith that sprouts from a seed the size of a mustard seed: "The Lord replied, 'If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea," and it would obey you' " (Luke 17:6) and "He said to them, 'Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you' " (Matthew 17:20).

"Seed" occurs on 66 occasions. Seed coming from parent plants is creation's plan for continued growth. All healthy seed eventually bursts forth regardless of requirements for germination that vary from being barely covered (carrot) to needing scarification (morning glory) to utilizing fire to open the seed cone of some evergreens.

Seed is part of the ongoing creation story, part of God's plan: "God said, 'See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food' " (Genesis 1:29). See also Genesis 1:11-12.

Good seed is part of God's blessing: "Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in the same year reaped a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him" (Genesis 26:12). Through the oracle of Balaam, God blesses Israel: "Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall have abundant water ..." (Numbers 24:7) and "He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures" (Isaiah 30:23). Seed is part of God's providential promise: "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22).

In return, God's people are to respect the gift. Leviticus and Deuteronomy contain specific requirements about seed. "All tithes from the land, whether the seed from the ground or the fruit from the tree, are the Lord's; they are holy to the Lord" (Leviticus 27:30). See also Leviticus 11:37-38; 19:19; 27:16; Deuteronomy 14:22; 22:9; and 1 Kings 18:32. Isaiah's poetic offering of the following metaphor illustrates the reciprocal nature of God's gifts and expectations: "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:10-11).

Disobedience, however, reaps punishment. "I in turn will do this to you: I will bring terror on you; consumption and fever that waste the eyes and cause life to pine away. You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it" (Leviticus 26:16); "You shall carry much seed into the field but shall gather little in, for the locust shall consume it" (Deuteronomy 28:38); and "The seed shrivels under the clods, the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are ruined because the grain has failed" (Joel 1:17).

Seed is a necessity for life. At the height of the famine, the Egyptians begged Joseph for help: "We with our land will become slaves to Pharaoh; just give us seed, so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate" (Genesis 47:19). See also Genesis 47:23-24. The manna was a form of seed: "... it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey" (Exodus 16:31). Its "color was like the color of gum resin" (Numbers 11:7).

Seed was part of the restoration. Amos encouraged hope for restoration: "The time is surely coming, says the Lord, when the one who plows shall overtake the one who reaps, and the treader of grapes the one who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it" (Amos 9:13) and "Those who go out weeping, / bearing the seed for sowing, / shall come home with shouts of joy, / carrying their sheaves" (Psalm 126:6).

Ezekiel uses eagles and seed to discuss God's restorative action. (See Ezekiel 17:5-10.) Then God points to the unreliability of such planting and proceeds with the planting: "Thus says the Lord God: I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of a cedar; I will set it out. I will break off a tender one from the topmost of its young twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain" (Ezekiel 17:22ff). Claiming God's people, God concludes: "Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine: it is only the person who sins that shall die. If a man is righteous and does what is lawful and right ... if he follows my statutes, and is careful to observe my ordinances, acting faithfully-such a one is righteous; he shall surely live, says the Lord God" (Ezekiel 18:4-9).

Sprout/Grow

Green Shouts1
Go, green, grow.
Burst out seed,
Dance your roots here
Deep into earth.

Slurp up water, soil.
Sprout stalk, up, up.
Greet life with green shout:
Hello, welcome.
Amen.

Receive our breath,
Toss us yours in exchange.

Pop up, primordial promise.
Reach, stretch, imbibe this sun.
Make green, sing green,
Uncurl, pristine miracle.
Declare the ancient song,
You, delicate tendril.

Synonyms of "sprout" burst with vitality: shoot, sprig, sucker, withe, flower, blossom, bloom, leaf, bud. The tough, supple withe or withy, especially a willow twig, is used for binding things together, and serves well as a metaphor for the flexibility and tenacity required of faith.

"Sprout and grow" appears only in Mark's text. However, "sprout" occurs seventeen times in nine other books including Genesis (Genesis 41:6, 23). The Deuteronomist spoke of a deleterious sprouting or the absence of sprouting: "It may be that there is among you a root sprouting poisonous and bitter growth" (Deuteronomy 29:18b) and "all its soil burned out by sulfur and salt, nothing planted, nothing sprouting ... which the Lord destroyed in his fierce anger," the result of going our "own stubborn ways." (See Deuteronomy 29:19-23.)

There is the sprouting of Moses' staff (Numbers 17:5-8) as well as "fresh sprouting leaves" (Ezekiel 17:9). A horn sprouts for the house of Israel to proclaim that God is God (Ezekiel 29:21). "Latter growth (after the king's mowings) began to sprout" (Amos 7:1). Trouble sprouts (Job 5:6-8); so does wickedness (Psalm 92:7). Salvation springs up, "and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also; I the Lord have created it" (Isaiah 45:8). See also Isaiah 55:10-11 and Ezekiel 17:6.

"As soon as [trees] sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near" (Luke 21:30). Always catching the mystery of Mark's text, "and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how" (Mark 4:27), hope -- primordial promise, pristine miracle, pathway to productivity -- decides to sprout, burgeon, and declare God's ancient song.

"For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant" (Job 14:7-9).

4. Parallel Scriptures

Kingdom
Matthew, the sole user of "kingdom of heaven," say, "The kingdom of heaven is like" (Matthew 13:31). Mark says, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God" (Mark 4:30) in the parable of the seed and "The kingdom of God is as if" (Mark 4:26) in the parable of the mustard seed.

Mustard Seed
All three synoptic gospels read "it [the kingdom of heaven or of God] is like a mustard seed" (Matthew 13:31; Mark 4:31; and Luke 13:19). Matthew says "that someone took and sowed in his field" (Matthew 13:31) while Luke says, "that someone took and sowed in the garden" (Luke 13:19). Mark's version of the parable is impersonal. It reads "which, when sown upon the ground" (Mark 4:31).

In the mention of the mustard seed's size, Luke is silent. (See Luke 13:18-19.) Mark gives the seed emphasis by placing it before the semicolon: "It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;" (Mark 4:31). While Matthew places it after the first semicolon, he assigns the seed its own "it": "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds," (Matthew 13:31-32). Mark calls it the smallest of all the seeds "on earth" while Matthew omits this phrase.

Mark says the more intimate "yet when it is sown it grows up" (Mark 4:32) while Matthew says the slightly distant "but when it has grown" (Matthew 13:32). Note also that Mark uses "yet" and Matthew uses "but." Luke uses a semicolon rather than "but" or "yet" saying "it grew" (Luke 13:19). Note the variance of tense in the "grow" verb.

After speaking of its growth, Mark immediately says, "and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches" (Mark 4:32). Matthew says "it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree" (Matthew 13:32). Luke said simply "it grew and became a tree" (Matthew 13:19).

All three versions place a comma before the last phrase, suggesting the lesser importance of an afterthought. Mark says, "so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade" (Mark 4:32). Note "can make nests." Matthew says, "so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches" (Matthew 13:32). Note "come and make nests." Luke says, "and the birds of the air made nests in its branches" (Luke 13:19). Note "made nests." While Matthew and Luke say "nests in its branches," Mark says the warmer "in its shade."

Later in Luke when the disciples asked Christ to increase their faith, he answered, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you" (Luke 17:5-6).

Parable
Mark prefaces the parable of the mustard seed with the following question: "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?" (Mark 4:30). Matthew prefaces it with "He put before them another parable" (Matthew 13:31) while Mark says "He also said" (Mark 4:26).

Matthew adds, "Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing" (Matthew 13:34). Mark adds, "With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples" (Mark 4:33-34).

Matthew uses "told the crowds ... told them nothing" (Matthew 13:34) while Mark says, "spoke ... to them" (Mark 4:33) and "did not speak to them" (Mark 4:34). Matthew says, "without a parable he told them nothing" (Matthew 13:34) while Mark says "he did not speak to them except in parables" (Mark 4:34).

Matthew says Jesus told the crowds "all these things" (Matthew 13:34); Mark says, "he spoke the word to them" (Mark 4:33). Mark adds, "as they were able to hear it" (Mark 4:33).

Matthew adds further explanation about the use of parables as fulfilling Hebrew Scripture: "This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: 'I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world' " (Matthew 13:34-35). He quotes Psalm 78:2, "I will open my mouth in a parable; / I will utter dark sayings from of old." Matthew speaks of revealing "what has been hidden from the foundations of the world" (Matthew 13:35) while the Psalm says "dark sayings from of old" (Psalm 78:2). Earlier in Matthew 13, in answer to the disciples' query about Christ's speaking to the crowds in parable Matthew reads, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given" (Matthew 13:10).

Both Matthew and Mark quote from Isaiah 6:8-10. (See below.) Matthew elaborates. "The reason I speak to them in parables is that 'seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand' " (Matthew 13:13). Mark says, "When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, 'To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that 'they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven' " (Mark 4:10-12).

In Isaiah's prophecy, God gave the following recipe:

Then I [Isaiah] heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!" And he said, "Go and say to this people: 'Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.' Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed."
-- Isaiah 6:8-10

In short, if this is how you function, then you will hasten your destruction. (See Isaiah 6:11-12.) Its reverse will bring salvation.

5. Chat Room

A: What about all these seeds?

B: Well, my dad was among the best seed planters I know. Sometimes I think "planting seeds" is what it is all about -- ministry, healthy relationships, self-growth, cooperative attitudes, the "I can do it."

A: How so?

B: It does not matter if you are a farmer
With an irrigated circle of corn;
Or a retiree with a victory garden;
Or a child with a four-foot square of bush beans.
It does not matter if you are a city window sill planter
Of three kitchen herb seeds;
A planter of radishes in a slip of a patio container;
A winter planter who gets a bang out of one plant
Of Romaine germinating after another
Under lights in a living room cove;
Or the planter of a seed idea in the hearts of others;
The surge of elation is the same.
Delight at witnessing the birth of a plant,
That first green shoot of a mission,
Still brings on the inner smile.

A: The silent
(To our ears, anyway)
Persistence of the seed
As it receives nourishment from its encasement,
Breaks through its shell, bursts a crack in the soil,
And pokes toward the sun
Still wakes our sense of the holy.

B: What a grand mystery.

A: What a grand replay of creation.

C: What a grand model of hope and faithfulness. Okay, you guys, how does all this seed talk interplay with what Christ is telling us?

B: Well, look at how many stories Jesus told about planting seeds and what they need as well as the mysterious awe of possibility. Wow. Remember when Jesus talked about the purpose of the mustard shrub?

A: For it to have sprouted from a tiny seed? For it to grow as large as is possible for such a plant?

B: Sort of, though as you spoke, I had an additional thought. We can only grow to what is possible for us within our given capabilities. That is our design, both our limitation and our gift.

A: Yes, however, in a good year with adequate temperatures, water, and sunlight -- in a good year, all that possibility reaches maximum potential. Conversely, in a bad year the result is puny.

C: Now, you two are going on again. What I had in mind was the birds. I love that part of this story. The mustard lives not only for itself but to offer shelter and a homing for birds. Is that not just like Jesus to nudge us to reach beyond ourselves to serve others? Love it.

A: In spite of us, once a seed, healthy, viable, and robust with possibility, falls on fertile soil, it will do what it is supposed to do -- sprout, grow, and produce. Then it is our mission as planters to pay close attention again, to cull what is no good, to plan for harvest at the optimal time, and to reap the product.

B: The first responsibility of the seed planter is to select and plant only good quality seed most suitable for the situation.

A: No new church addition when the money should go toward empowering the disenfranchised within the community?

B: No such waste of money on things when we could plant into a field of hope.

C: The scariest part is defining "bad seed" when we believe we are locked into a certain form of behavior because of family inheritance. People who suffer through patterns of multiple relationships and divorces; a sensitivity to alcohol, addictive personalities, or fragile family medical histories; or whose parents appear unable to release themselves from the welfare system in which they are snared. They discard hope.

A: So I return to the image of the seed as a symbol of faithfulness and hope. A seed wants to grow. It is determined to thrive.

B: I trust the coming of ideas, solutions, works of art into our heads, and into our very being. I think about the seed of an idea that I missed at one time or that I neglected to nurture only to have it present itself again, sometimes repeatedly, until finally I recognized it as a possibility for my life and chose to nurture it to fruition.

C: I return to the mystery of where that idea comes from, its source, and stand in awe.


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1. Copyright held by the author.