Mark 4:26-34 The Word and the Kingdom June 16 th /17 th, 2018 Grace and peace to you all from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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1 Mark 4:26-34 The Word and the Kingdom June 16 th /17 th, 2018 Grace and peace to you all from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. As we continue our focus on the early ministry of Jesus this summer we come now to his parables. Mark chapter 4 records a few parables. Mark chapters 2, 12, and 13 also record Jesus teaching in parables. Matthew 13, 21, 22, record a number of parables too. And finally, Luke s gospel contains many parables that you don t find in either Mark or Matthew s gospels. Historians of all stripes whether they are believes or unbelievers agree that Jesus taught in parables. There s no denying that. But why did Jesus teach in parables? Here s why: To get you to think and to think deeply and critically about what he is saying, about his word and his kingdom. In this early part of Jesus ministry he very well could have said: Look here everyone I am the Savior of the world. I have come to bring redemption to this fallen world which is under the righteous judgment of the Father. You ve dug a hole you can never get out of. I am here to rescue you. I am here to save you. I am here because not only am I the Son of God, but I am also God himself, in the flesh, God clothed in skin, hair, and bone. If you don t listen to me now, you will be lost forever. Jesus doesn t say that right away at the outset of his ministry, he ll get there explicitly towards the end. The first recorded words of Jesus in Mark s gospel are these: The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:15). Jesus doesn t explicitly unpack the full power and eternal importance of those words mean until the end of his ministry, before he was crucified. I think Jesus did this, taught in parables, to give people time to digest his teachings, time to digest his word and what his kingdom means. So Jesus taught in parables. Jesus taught in parables about his word and about his kingdom, the word and the kingdom which was invading this fallen world in Jesus teaching and actions, the word and the kingdom which continues to invade this fallen world through preaching and the ministry of Christ s church, the word and the kingdom which seems to grow in 1

2 ways which the eyes cannot always see, the word and the kingdom which will grow to be so big and beautiful and powerful because this kingdom is kingdom of God and God s word and God s kingdom cannot and will not fail. Again, Jesus taught in parables about the word and the kingdom so people could chew and stew on what his words mean. Jesus taught in parables about the word and the kingdom so as many people as possible to come to the realization that he indeed is the Christ, the Lord, the Savior, the very incarnation of God who has come to save this sinful, fallen world. Jesus taught in parables so people could think deeply about their lives and their standing before God. Jesus taught in parables so people would be challenged to see that the world as it is isn t the world as it will be. Jesus taught in parables because he wants people, people just like you, to take with the utmost seriousness his word and his kingdom. Because when Jesus teaches in parables he asking you to do some deep and serious soul searching about what it is you believe about yourself, about God, and of course about his word and his kingdom. And why does Jesus do this? So you are not caught off guard when he comes again to raise the living and the dead, when Jesus comes again to bring the final verdict upon nations, upon families, upon individuals. As Johnny Cash sang: There s a man coming round, taking names. He decides who to free and who to blame. Everybody won t be treated all the same. There s a golden ladder coming down, when the man, comes around. So, people of God, what do you think about the word and the kingdom, the kingdom of Christ that has come around? In our first parable for today, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to seed that grows and will be harvested. You see a little bit of growth here or there, but nothing really remarkable. But then, 2

3 just give it some time, it will grow, the grain will become ripe, God s word cannot fail, and the harvest will come. This parable is about the growth of the kingdom of God, the growth of Christ s church because the church is the visible manifestation of the kingdom of God. Or to put it another way, the church is an outpost of the kingdom of God. And how does this kingdom grow? By the word that is sown in the hearts of the people who hear it. The kingdom grows by the word that is preached and the word that is preached in the word of Christ, who he is, what he has done, and what he will do at the end of days, at the harvest. James 1:21 puts it in this challenging way:...put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. The word of God saves because the word of God brings the kingdom right here and right now and right to you. This is why Jesus spoke in parables so much, so he could plant in the hearts of as many people as possible his word and where that word takes root, and turns an unbeliever into a believer, there someone becomes a servant of the King, a member of the kingdom of God. And the one who has the word has the kingdom. And the one who is has the kingdom has Christ. And the one who has Christ will be safe and secure at the final reaping, the final judgment, because they belong to Christ, they are a part of his kingdom, because they have his word firmly planted and rooted in the heart, mind, and soul as a divine work of the Holy Spirit. In our second parable for today, Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed that becomes a huge bush with large branches in which birds can make their nests. This parable is in large part on the authority of the word and the kingdom, the main reason being the bush or sapling being planted and growing with large branches was a stock Old Testament image of royal power and authority, an image we see being used in Ezekiel 17. The word and the kingdom 3

4 in the eyes of the world, through the eyes of unbelievers, have no authority. As Bishop Finegan alluded to last week, the modern church needs to get used to this reality more and more as more and more people find Christianity stranger and stranger. A God who created everything? A dead man rising to life? The Holy Spirit living in you? A book written over 2000 years ago, over a period of 1500 years, written in Hebrew and Greek, translated now into thousands of languages, this book, the Bible is the perfect, infallible source of doctrine and ethics? And to top it off, you people pay someone like me to preach from this book about the power of the word and truth of the kingdom week after week? Yes, apart from faith, the word and the kingdom at least at this time has no authority. That is, the word and kingdom have no earthly authority. We give thanks to God when the gospel makes inroads in school systems, government, and so on. But those victories are fleeting. We need to get used to that. We need to get used to being a bit strange and having little, if any, earthly authority. But we do have spiritual authority. We have the authority of King Jesus himself. He has given us his Spirit to be equipped to teach his word and be ambassadors of his kingdom. He has given you his Spirit to share his word and be ambassadors of his kingdom. We read this in 2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Everything needed, Peter says, is yours in Christ. You ve been given his word. You ve been welcomed into his kingdom. Christ is yours and you, through faith, through baptism, are his. What more could you possible need? Jesus says in John 15, Jesus is the vine, you are the branches. You are branches of the kingdom. You are branches attached to Christ. You are a part of, as the parable in Mark 4 puts it, the mustard plant that is blooming, you branches are those in whom other birds other people can find their rest and security in God. You are a part of this strange kingdom, the church, because you ve been given the word of 4

5 Christ. Because you ve received the word and the kingdom, because your life is safe with Christ, because you ve received the word and the kingdom you want others to be safe and secure in Christ, under his authority, under his care, under his shepherding love, wrapped up in his eternal embrace because we have been wrapped up in his word and in his kingdom. Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is why we pray thy kingdom come in the Lord s prayer. In the Large Catechism, when praying thy kingdom come this is what we are praying for, praying for the word and the kingdom. Luther says: We pray that his name may be so praised through God s holy Word and a Christian life that we who have accepted it may abide and daily grow in it, and that it may gain approval and acceptance among other people. We pray that [the kingdom] may go forth with power throughout the world. We pray that many may find entrance into the kingdom of grace, be made partakers of redemption, and be led to it by the Holy Spirit, so that we may all together remain forever in one kingdom now begun. 1 May we always receive with joy the word of Christ, whether the word is in parables or is 100 proof Gospel. And may we ever and always stay secure in the kingdom of God, the one kingdom now begun through faith in Christ, with the people of God in Christ s holy church. Amen. HOD: LBW #230 Lord, Keep us Steadfast in Your Word 1 Luther in the Large Catechism, second petition to the Lord s Prayer (Book of Concord, paragraph #52) 5