Most of us have planted a garden or lived on or near a farm. In my case, I grew up in Chicago where they have to put cows in zoos because so many city people are shielded from agricultural life and would never otherwise get to see one. But for eleven years I served as the pastor of a church in the agriculturally-oriented community of Davenport, Iowa. Davenport is located in Scott County which is Mississippi River land. It is reported to be some of the richest soil in the world. I learned a lot about farming while living there. I learned about soil and seeds. I learned about the need for cooperation and balance between the various parts of nature - the sun, the soil, and the rain. Having returned recently from a trip to Iowa, I was very mindful of the soil. As we drove along the highway we saw some fields which were completely washed away, others that were too dry. For all farmers, life is intricately linked to the soil. Having some agricultural background is helpful when it comes to looking at the three parables of the soils and the kingdom in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark.

The first such parable is called the Parable of the Sower (4:4-20). There are four different kinds of soil, Jesus said,

• hard soil (a path);
• rocky ground;
• thorny ground; and
• good soil.

People, Jesus said, are like those four kinds of soil. The Word of God is the seed which falls into four different kinds of soil.

The second parable in the fourth chapter of Mark is the parable of the harvest (4:26-29). The seed grows as the farmer goes about his work day by day. The day comes when the grain is ripe. Then comes the harvest. We must live with a knowledge that for each of us there will be a harvest day, a time of death, and a time of astounding change. Who would guess the wonders of heaven having seen the original seed of life?

The third parable about soil is the parable of the mustard seed (4:30-32). The Kingdom of God, like the mustard seed, starts small, but grows into a large shrub with many branches.

These parables of the soil are designed to take the familiar and use it to show something new. New perspectives are thus encouraged. New Kingdom participation is encouraged.

What is The Kingdom Like?

Like four different kinds of soil, Jesus here urges responsive hearing. He warns against spiritual deafness.

Some people are like the hard soil. Bad experiences have caused some people to turn their backs on the Word of the Gospel. Suffering or death not properly integrated through scriptural understanding and Christian fellowship isolate some people from the very help they need - from God and the church. Resentments build up and harden people to the love of God so that the Word falls on them like seed on a hardened path. The Word never sinks in. Some people are like a hard path because of suffering.

Other people are like the path trampled over by many feet. People have hurt them so much that they make the decision to withdraw. In this withdrawal from people there is also often a withdrawal from God. Fearing to get hurt again, some people build up a false front - a hard surface - often expressing itself as rudeness, cockiness, or self-centeredness. Underneath is hurt which could be healed by the "balm of Gilead" - the Word of God.

Still others are so busy that they make no time for God. Busy feet make hard paths. Busy people can refuse to take time for the Bible, for prayer or for church. Little by little, gradually what was once real - faith in God - can fade because of activism. Some people are like a hard path.

Some are like rocky ground. Here in Arizona we know about caliche. I tried to plant a tree in my backyard some time ago. I ran into such stubborn rock bed that I had to use a pick ax on it. Over and over again I tried to break through it because, if I did not, there would be no chance for the roots of the tree to spread. I thought I had broken through the rock well enough for the tree to grow. Unfortunately, a year after planting it, the tree shriveled and died.

Some people are like rocky ground. They receive the Word with joy, "but they have no root" (4:16-17). They endure for a while, but soon fall away. Superficial Christians, dramatic starters, and "hotheads" are all like rocky ground. The Word gains no real rootage. There is no endurance.

Some people are like thorny ground. The Word falls into seemingly good soil, but "the cares of this world, the delight in riches, and the desire for other things enter in and choke the Word, and it proves fruitless" (4:19). Thorns and weeds choke off good beginnings in faith.

Some people, Jesus says, are like good soil. The intention of Jesus is to encourage all people to really hear the Word of God. The first three elements in this parable are not intended to put people into irrevocable categories, but to encourage openness for the Word, to be good soil.

Chances are that as I retold this parable, you thought of people you know, perhaps in your family or among your friends, who are like

* the hard path;
* the rocky ground; or
* the thorn-infested soil.

It is important for us to diagnose such cases properly. Jesus never says that these labels are permanent. A more proper reading of this parable is to realize that there are elements of all four kinds of soil in each of us. Thus, we should be more understanding and Christ-like in our treatment of people who are hard, shallow, or worldly.

Those who are like good soil "hear the Word, accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold" (4:20). This faithful reception and production is at the very heart of the Kingdom of God. It means cooperation with our maker and cooperation with the productive elements of life all around us. It is God’s intention that we all cooperate with him.

A farmer was admiring the beautiful field of his neighbor, remembering that the field used to be nothing but rocks and weeds. "George," he said, "look at how God has turned this field into a thing of beauty." "Yes," said George, "but you should have seen it when God had it alone."

God has dignified his creatures by giving them the potential for cooperation with him. Faithful cooperation and hard work make productive, good Christians as well as good farms.

The parable of the sower and the seed reminds us of the need for faith and faithfulness. This parable raises the question, "What is the Kingdom of God like? Is it like four soils? Is it also like the harvest in another parable?"

What is The Kingdom Like?

It’s like a harvest. Jesus urges that we live in the light of the harvest.

Some people live as if there will never be a harvest. Increasingly we have become a secular society wherein people go about their daily business of earning a dollar and caring for themselves, disregarding their maker and forgetting that all must face God when death comes.

The parable of the harvest provides a new perspective for those who fear death so much that they pretend that it will never come. To every life comes the inevitable announcement, "the harvest has come" (4:29).

The point of this parable is not that we should turn to God because we are afraid of death, but that we should wake up to the reality of death and the reality of God so that we can cooperate with the marvelous grace of God in life and death. Grace is God’s continued loving orientation toward us. Grace is God’s unmerited forgiveness of the sinner through Jesus Christ. "We are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves ..." (Ephesians 2:8). Grace is an important ingredient for all of life, yet many take it for granted!

For example, think of the agricultural grace shown as "the earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear" (4:28). Cooperating with the grace of God in life is like a seed being planted and moving with a marvelous certainty toward its destiny - the harvest that comes with death and resurrection.

Or think of the bodily grace which is shown as the recuperative, restorative, healing powers of the body which are at work every day. One physician put it this way: "We doctors don’t heal the body; all we do is try to cooperate with God in helping the body to heal itself."

About two months ago I hit my finger with a hammer. (Yes, I spoke a few religious words.) The nail on the finger came off about a week after the accident, but now is fully restored. I look at the nail, or the restored hair on my left arm which I singed off in a fire about the same time, and I marvel at the restorative power of healing which God has placed in each body. We are called to cooperate with the healing powers of God and, one day, when we die, we will be called to enjoy forever the Kingdom which God has prepared for those who know him. Forever. Think of the hereafter for a moment.

What is the Kingdom like? It begins in the heart, in the here and now, but is brought to full life in the hereafter. It is like the harvest which follows the planting, the nurture, the growth, and the maturity of the seeds which are planted.

What is The Kingdom like?

Jesus said, "It’s like a mustard seed which when it is sown is the smallest of seeds, yet when it grows up becomes the greatest of shrubs" (4:31-32). Tiny Kingdom beginnings will mean eventual magnitude beyond the imagination because the forces of God are undefeatable.

This parable is intended to clarify the significance of small beginnings for people who are often confused about quality and quantity. Small can be beautiful if it means cooperating with the Lord of heaven and earth.

A Texan was visiting a friend who was a small Iowa farmer. "Is this all the land you have?" he asked. "Where I come from, I can get in my car at 6:00 a.m. and drive all day and never see the end of my land." "Is that right?" said the Iowa farmer. "I used to have a car like that too."

Big is not necessarily beautiful. Small can be beautiful. Cooperation with God is the key, whether we are in small towns or big cities; working smaller jobs or larger ones; using fewer gifts or having a ten-talent arsenal from which to draw. Cooperation with God in Christ is the key.

Recently I asked a pastor in a large and influential congregation what had inspired him. "Oh, it was a Sunday school teacher!" he replied. "I don’t remember a thing he taught us, but I do remember how much he loved us. He is the reason I am in the ministry. Five other students from that class are also ministers."

That Sunday school teacher died a long time ago. I buried him. There were only about fifty people present at the funeral; most of his friends preceded him in death, but he was a very special person to many people. What a man! What a Christian! He loved God and showed it by his love and by his integrity. No "great shakes" by the world’s standards, he was like a little mustard seed planted in an obscure place in the world, but spreading his branches in all directions.

It was spring; Jesus noticed a farmer sowing his seeds. He turned to his followers and said, "The Kingdom of God is like a sower that went out to sow. Listen. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."