Jacob knew nothing of the geography that stretched beyond his farmland to the Great Sea. He did not even know that a Great Sea existed out there, westward beyond his land. He had never been further than half a day's journey from the collection of 15 stone houses that formed his village. Nor did he know anyone who had been further away than those eight or 10 miles. Nor did anyone in his village think much about far-off regions. Jacob only knew of the fields and gentle slopes of land that he could see as he paused in the hard work of seed planting. While he did not know of the far reaching geography, Jacob did know about seedtime and harvest. And he knew his limits!

Once the winter rains had slowed, Jacob would prepare the ground for the planting. But before he started the work he fasted, preparing himself for the task of preparing the land. It was a prescribed rite (Deuteronomy 16:13), ancient and mystical. The farm tool that he used was almost as ancient. It was a thick, heavy tree limb, tipped with iron, given to him by his father years earlier. The donkey pulled it, with Jacob ever forcing it into the earth. Together they would break the clods of earth, turning the grasses inward. His field work took more than the days between two Sabbaths to finish - that with good weather, too. When the ground was broken he would place the carefully stored seed into a bag that he slung over one shoulder. Then, as he walked back and forth across his field, he would "broadcast" that precious seed. Each handful would be thrown with a sweeping swing of his arm. When he reached the far side of his field, the planting was done.

With the tasks completed, Jacob looked to the heavens, but not with the eye of a modern agronomist and meteorologist who could calculate studied prescriptions of soil quality and weather to come. His look was of resignation. He had done his part, the only part he could do. Now God would do the growing. In his understanding, the land he worked was a gift from God! (Deuteronomy 11:8) It did not really belong to him, nor did all the crops that came from his work.

But one day the ordinary routine of farming in Jacob's village was broken. It was broken when the Rabbi came along the path from the Great Sea, from Nazareth although Jacob had not known a Nazareth existed. The Rabbi stopped at Jacob's field to talk and to teach. Jacob remembered that moment for the rest of his life.

Others remembered it, too. Years later they remembered Jesus' seed-teaching in terms of the growing of God's kingdom upon earth. The divine in life grows. The heavenly on earth develops, like a seed growing toward maturity. God's kingdom on earth was a very important part of Jesus' teaching and so, "Come, let us walk in the way of the Lord."

God's kingdom, by that title, is not mentioned in the Old Testament, and is seldom mentioned in the New Testament except in the synoptics. In the gospel of John it is cited only twice. In the book of Acts, describing the beginnings of the Christian church, it is only noted six times. But the kingdom of God is a central part of the synoptic tradition, that collection of preaching found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus' preaching, as remembered in Matthew, Mark and Luke, is filled with illustrations of God's rule upon earth, God's kingdom. His teaching is understood as both something about to happen (imminent) and as something already arrived! God's kingdom is imminent as in the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Luke 11:02) Jesus also taught us to understand that God's kingdom is already a present reality. He spoke to the Pharisees, "In fact, the kingdom of God is among you." (Luke 17:21) In a paradoxical way, that seems true to life. God's working presence seems always to do with the immediate moment as well as pulling us into a greater fulfillment in the faith. The now is blessed by God. The call of God moves us into greater blessings - ultimately, from the kingdom upon earth to the kingdom of heaven.

Through two parables Jesus taught of this kingdom. The kingdom of God is mysterious growth. We do not have all the answers, there is always mystery with life, yet that does not keep the kingdom from being a reality. It is like a farmer, Jesus said, who plants the seed and then goes to sleep, goes away someplace, and the life within the seed brings forth the shoots, then the plants, then the harvest. (Mark 4:26-29) How? Even the farmer does not know. It is mysterious growth.

You and I who are parents have seen this mysterious growth as a tiny baby grows through childhood, through youth, and then into the possibilities of adulthood. As I see my children grow, I marvel. Can they be the little babies, so helpless, that once upon a time began life. I suspect that every parent looks at a child in such a wonder.

What we can see in physical growth, and marvel at, is also the story of spiritual growth, and of the growth of God's kingdom! The disciple band that clustered about Jesus revealed that growth. At first they were workmen, toiling at daily tasks. Then they became students, disciples of their Lord. As they grew in understanding about God's kingdom they also misunderstood. They denied knowledge of their confessed Master. In fear, they hid because of him. But as their growth continued they moved out of their hiding to be called, not disciples, but apostles, speakers for their Lord.

This spiritual growth is part of this congregation these days. Through some of the church school classes, through the Bible studies, through our youth group, through the many caring ministries of the people of this church, a spiritual renaissance is marked upon many persons here! It is the kingdom of God, growing in ways we cannot fully comprehend now. All we know is that the seeds, once planted, are growing.

The kingdom of God, in this mysterious growth, becomes something of great worth and service. It is like the tiny mustard seed, when planted, growing into a great bush that is part of the value of nature. Even the birds of the air can use its protection for nesting. (Mark 4:30-32)

I want to tell you an incredible story about the mysterious growth of God's kingdom that resulted in a gift of great worth. It is not, like that of Jacob the farmer, a make-believe story. This is a true story about another Jacob! On April 18, 1942, into gun-gray sky, sixteen B-25 planes took off from a pitching aircraft-carrier deck and headed for Japan. They were under the command of Jimmy Doolittle. Those 16 planes planned a surprise attack upon the Japanese mainland, as the Japanese had done to Pearl Harbor only five months earlier. Beginning about noon that April 18th they made their strike and then, because of low fuel, continued on to the China mainland. The fuel ran out and in bad weather the planes crashed. Most of those airmen were saved by friendly forces, but two of the planes crashed on Japanese-held land. Both crews were captured. The crew of one plane was killed. The crew of the other plane - plane No. 16 named "Bat Out Of Hell" - was held prisoner throughout the war. One of the five-man crew died in captivity. The others were released a few days after the atomic destruction of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

One of the survivors was Jacob DeShazer. He was bombadier of that plane No. 16. DeShazer's three years of captivity was the story of depravation, torture and untreated illness. More than 70 boils covered his body. He became weak from dysentery. From the depth of that hell, he searched for God. He later said, "The way the Japanese treated me I had to turn to Christ. No matter what they did to me, I prayed. I prayed for strength to live. And I prayed for the strength, somehow, to find forgiveness for what they were doing to me."

Somewhere in his youth small seeds of God's work through Jesus Christ had been planted. I do not know that even he could identify the planter or the planting time. It may have been a parent in discussion about God's kingdom present within a human life. It may have been a church school teacher teaching a lesson from the very parables that we study now. It may have been a neighbor, a preacher, a peer in his youth. Somehow, in that mystery of spiritual influence, the seed was planted that allowed Jacob DeShazer to struggle with the mysterious growth of God's kingdom in his own life, a growth that took place in a prison cell! (How God's kingdom grows in times of difficulty, oppression, imprisonment - whether physical or emotional.)

After his release DeShazer became a Christian missionary. For three decades he strove to bring the beliefs of God's kingdom to China and Japan. But that seed continued to grow. In a curious twist, Jacob DeShazer was instrumental in the conversion of Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese flier who had led the air attack on Pearl Harbor. In time, Mitsuo Fuchida, himself, became a Christian minister to his people in Japan.

Jesus taught about a tiny seed, once planted, growing in mysterious, unaccountable, ways to become something of great worth to the world. In such a way, he said, God's kingdom is all around us and within us! Of course, we cannot study Jesus' teaching of God's rule without learning the big message that you and I are centrally involved in it! Jesus believed so strongly that God's kingdom was the means of fulfilling God's creation. That blessed kingdom offers the completion of God's creation, moving from earth to heaven. The kingdom offers all that God desires for us. As we seek to walk close to Jesus we are part of God's work through Jesus - we are within the kingdom. And so the invitation is always given, "Come, let us walk in the way of the Lord!" That invitation is to be very attentive to the days of this week. Every day you are sharing in the planting of seeds of God's love and kingdom. But more, you will receive, this week, the blessing of other plantings. Those blessings are part of the walk, too. Through it all, you are growing toward the harvest time - in your living now, and in your claim to that eternal kingdom of God's great love. It is mystery. It is growth.