Mark 4: 26-34

Before I begin this sermon I want you all to take a look at the title that is printed in the bulletin and immediately forget what it says. That title was written for my first idea, an idea that I found I could not really write. You see I wanted to give a sermon that would leave you all changed and wow you so that you all had good thoughts about your new intern and all of the things that are going to happen this summer. I was going to craft a sermon that was full of theology and exegesis using all of the tricks and knowledge that I have gained during the last year. I sat down to write that sermon having put all of my ideas out on paper and then I found that I couldn't type anything. It was not a sermon that I felt moved to write, and it was not a sermon that you all would have needed to hear.

I have been taught that you have to go into a sermon with a focus statement and a function statement. The focus statement is what the sermon is going to be about and the function statement is what you expect that sermon to accomplish. I had both of those for the first sermon I wanted to write but after reading the text over a few times I found that it spoke to me about something else. I had wanted to focus on how Jesus speaks the parables to each person as they are able to hear, but that was not the part of the scripture that ultimately grabbed me.

I was grabbed by the verse that said the birds would make their nests in the shade of the mustard shrub. I found myself wondering about mustard and whether or not it actually grew to the point it could support the nests of birds. So I did some research and found a few things that I did not expect. The first was that the mustard seed was not the smallest seed known to the Israelites at that time, and that the mustard plant does grow to be a very large shrub, but its branches do not become large enough to support nests.

But wouldn't the crowd have known all of this? Wouldn't they be expecting Jesus to be accurate at his facts, or was Jesus actually teaching something about expectations? Jesus was talking about the Kingdom or Rule of God on this earth, and was talking about in a way that the Israelites would not have expected.

The Israelites had always believed that the Messiah of God would come as a warrior or a great king and restore the nation to its former glory. The Kingdom of God would come in a great way overthrowing the rulers of the world and establishing justice. Yet this Jesus who some have said is the Messiah has come as a humble teacher and is saying that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, one of the smallest of seeds.

For Jesus to be teaching that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed shows us a part of what his ministry was about. The mustard seed starts from a lowly place. Put among the seeds of other plants it is miniscule and when it grows it does not really amount to much as a plant. Yet Jesus takes this seemingly lowly plant and says that it will grow until the birds of the air can make their nests in it. In order to do that the tree will have to grow much more than is naturally possible.

Like that mustard seed, Jesus was a lowly person. Though he was the Son of God he had come to the world as a common man, not a king or a warrior. He traveled in the company of fishermen and tax collectors, dined with sinners of all types and was ultimately killed like a criminal. Yet he rose again from the dead and rules beside God in heaven. Because of his death and resurrection we now have a way to live as part of that kingdom which has grown from that lowly seed and make our nests in the branches.

That is not where it ends though. You see the Israelites would have also known that mustard must be planted every year in order to continue to thrive. The seeds must be continually sown and the growing of the plant depends on the life of the seed. Looking at it this way we see that it is not just one mustard seed, but many that are planted throughout a person's life.

There are times when I have been able to tell that the seed in me has grown into that plant. Those are the times when I feel strongest in my faith when I knew the direction that God had planned for me. There are also times when I can tell that the plant is withering and a new seed must be planted, luckily God has always sent someone or something to plant a new seed in me and nurtured me to make it grow.

This week during the struggle to write this sermon was one of those times when I could tell the plant was withering away. I just couldn't focus or keep my mind on God or feel the Spirit move within me. I called up friends and family to ask for help and advice on what to write the sermon on. They gave great ideas, but I could never follow through on them. I would go back to my apartment and sit around trying to think but I would get distracted by the TV or a book and keep putting things off until that divine inspiration hit me.

Finally on Friday I knew that I just had to get out of that apartment. I got into my car and drove towards Kingsport not really knowing what it was that I wanted to do when I saw a sign for Bay's Mountain and I decided that that was where I needed to go. I drove to the park and got out of my car taking a camera with me and started to wander around. I had been to the park for five minutes when I ran into one of the families that this church hosted during IHN. I was able to talk with them and see that they were doing all right, getting back up on their feet, and then we both went on our separate ways.

Then after walking a little farther down a path alone a raccoon came out of the woods about five feet away from me and just followed me for awhile. After it ran away a deer came out. I had never been that close to an animal in the wild before and both of them were beautiful sights to behold.

That trip gave new life to me. Seeing that family caused a seed to grow and so did interacting with nature in that way. I was suddenly able to feel connected with God again in the faces of those people and in the sounds and sights of the woods. I was finally able to go home and work on my sermon. I was able to see the kingdom of God again and make my nest in its shade.

We all have those moments in our lives. Moments when we need to have the seed of the kingdom nurtured. There are many ways to be nurtured in our weakness. Often it comes through reading God's word. At other times it comes through those who enter our lives. Seeds can be planted in many ways and we always need to be open to their growth in ourselves.

We also have to remember that God uses us to plant seeds. The people that you meet out on the street may be barren fields that are just waiting for someone to place a seed within. They might also be withering on the inside and you may be the person who provides the nurturing that helps them to live again. You never know how God is going to use you to carry out His work in this world.

That is the hope in this passage. God's kingdom will grow on this world without our help, but why would we want it too? We should be overjoyed that we get to help take part in its spreading and in its growth. That joy should fuel us as we go out into the world planting seeds. There are fields all around this church, that I have already seen you are moving into. This church is a large plant that is being nurtured through all of those who worship here. The work that is being done will help further the kingdom of God within the world until all birds; all people make nests in its branches.

AMEN