He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? (Mark 4:30)

Have you ever played the game called “Taboo”? The point of the game is to get a teammate to guess a particular concept or idea and say it out loud, but without using any of the best clue words as a prompt—they’re taboo.

            The game reminds me of times when we try to explain something, but we get frustrated—not because we are not allowed to use the best words, but because there are no words.

            How would we describe an adrenaline rush, for instance? We know that queasy-quick feeling that squeezes our stomach and makes every cell in our bodies stand at attention, but how to explain it? We could mention that the brain signals the adrenal glands to squirt adrenaline into the bloodstream, where it sparks a series of chemical reactions that quicken the heart rate and dilate the blood vessels, but the feeling gets lost in the translation.

            Resorting to an example may work better. You know that tingly, hyper feeling you get when you look in the rear-view mirror and see a patrol car speeding up with blue lights flashing? If you’ve had that experience, you know exactly what an adrenaline rush feels like.

            Sometimes, even when good words and comprehensible arguments are available, we communicate best by telling stories. Jesus knew that, and that is why he often told stories when trying to explain difficult concepts such as the kingdom of God.

            We call these stories “parables.” A timeworn definition says that a parable is “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.”

            Mark 4:26-32 finds Jesus was teaching his followers what He meant when he talked about the kingdom of God. It was hard, because his disciples thought they already knew, but they were wrong. So, Jesus searched for ways to help them “unlearn” some of their misguided ideas and to comprehend the true meaning of the kingdom.

            When the disciples and other Jews of the first century imagined the kingdom of God, they saw a vision of Jewish armies winning a decisive victory over Rome, led by a divine messiah who would come as a great warrior and rule as a mighty king—someone like David, only better.

            Many people today imagine a similar concept, only they think of militant Christians taking over congress or Christ coming with conquering armies at the end of the age, to set up a new kingdom on earth.

            When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, he meant the eternal rule of God in the minds and hearts and lives of those who followed him. It was not an external empire, but an internal allegiance, the spiritual realm in which God’s work is done. The kingdom had begun in Jesus and was growing through the disciples and others who followed Jesus, but it was not yet all that it would be. It was both a present reality and a promised result.

            That description may still fall short in helping anyone to understand the kingdom of God or the place of the church in the world. For many people, a technical explanation goes right on through from one ear to the other and doesn’t even stop for a hot dog.

            But if we hear a story or envision a word picture, we’re more likely to understand it, and to remember it. That’s why Jesus told so many parables about the kingdom. In Mark, these are the first two.

The Parable of the Automatic Seed

(vv. 26-29)

The first story doesn’t really clarify things as much as we might like. In fact, it is so hard to interpret that the other gospels did not repeat it: this is the only section of Mark that has no parallel in the other gospels. [DD]

            Jesus 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 (automátē), 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.” (vv. 26-29, NRSV).

            The problem is deciding whether the main point of the parable is found in the seed growing by itself, in the soil nourishing its growth, or in the farmer who sows the seed and reaps the harvest. It also helps to know whether the farmer’s sowing and reaping represents Jesus, who first planted the seed of the kingdom, or if it represents the ongoing task of the church to sow the good seed of our witness, trusting that there will in fact be a harvest.

            One could argue that Jesus’ main intention was to show his disciples that the kingdom was founded by God’s initiative and would be brought to full fruition by God’s own power in God’s own time. The verse about the harvest is a rough quotation of Joel 3:13, an Old Testament prophecy regarding the surety of a coming judgment. From that perspective, the main point is that the seed grows by itself. We can’t “bring in the kingdom” by making detailed eschatological predictions, or by recruiting a Christian army to take over the government. We can’t bring in the kingdom by recruiting converts from every nation.

            It is God who makes the seed to grow, in God’s own way and time. We can’t fully understand how the kingdom grows, but we can trust God that it will.

            Our tendency is to try and explain everything. I remember how delighted I was in college biology to learn more about how plants grow—how the apical meristem of a shoot undergoes continual mitosis, rapidly producing cells which then differentiate into xylem or phloem or cambium or epithelium—but none of that knowledge enabled me to make a seed grow. It grows by itself.

            That is not to say that we have no place in the story. Followers of Jesus have seeds of the kingdom within them. Through the lives and witness of those who love as Jesus taught, Jesus continues to sow kingdom seeds, allowing us to work in partnership with Him.

            The growth of the kingdom is a cooperative venture. It is God who created and empowers the kingdom. It is God who rules the universe. We cannot make the kingdom any bigger than it is. But we have a part in the sowing and the reaping as we encourage others to live in surrender to the king.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

(vv. 30-32)

The second story sounds more familiar. While the parable of the automatic seed is found only in Mark, the parable of the mustard seed also appears in Matt. 13:31-34 and Luke 13:18-19. It’s a little more straightforward. [DD]

            The black mustard plant known to Jesus’ followers commonly grew to over six feet tall, and it could reach ten to twelve feet, with a stalk as thick as a person’s arm. The plant was not raised for its leaves, but for the seeds, which grew in pods and were harvested for use as a food condiment and a source of oil (Flora and Fauna of the Bible, 2^nd. Ed., [London: United Bible Societies, 1980]). Jesus’ listeners would have known about this, just as surely as any boy or girl from the country knows how to shuck corn.

            So, Jesus’ listeners could relate to this parable: “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.” (vv. 30-32, NRSV).

            The primary point is fairly obvious. Just as the mustard plant began as a tiny seed, but grew into a huge bush, so the kingdom of God had a small beginning in Jesus and those who followed him, but it was destined to grow into something much larger, and it has. Within a few years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, it was said of Paul and other Christian missionaries that they “turned the world upside down.” In its tangible sense, the kingdom, through the church, continues to grow many years later. Though declining in Europe and North America, Christianity is flourishing in the Global South.

            The Kingdom seed is growing, not because we make it grow, but because it is God’s work. It grows secretly and automatically. But we can do our part to sow the seed, to cultivate the earth, and to trust that God will be at work so that the church, the visible aspect of God’s invisible kingdom, will grow in health and number.

            Jesus emphasized the importance of bringing all persons into the kingdom by closing the parable with an allusion to birds resting in the branches of the mustard bush. This calls to mind stories from Dan. 4:10-12 and Ezek. 17:22-24, 31:6. In Jewish storytelling, birds commonly symbolized Gentiles. Jesus’ comment about the birds nesting in the bush is a reminder that the kingdom would grow to encompass all kinds of people: persons of every race and nationality and ethnic background, persons from every social and cultural and economic level, persons of every age and educational achievement.

            Unfortunately, our churches remain some of the most segregated and homogeneous organizations in existence. Many people have a hard time celebrating or even tolerating diversity, but the gospel suggests that we’d better learn. If we’re going to pray “thy kingdom come,” that’s the way the kingdom is.