HARVEST
Dear Creator, you have given us hidden and unseen treasure in every part of your creation. Grant us patience and faith to trust in the realization of the kingdom made present in Jesus Christ. Amen.
RSV Mark 4:26 And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
I am making a quilt that features many colorful flowers, birds, and garden scenes. At the bottom of the quilt is stitched the saying, “We plant the seeds, God provides the harvest.” After having spent many hours in the garden I feel as though the saying should be expanded to include, “We plant the seeds, tend the soil, weed until our knees and backs hurt, and fight off the critters that enjoy the harvest God provides.” Gardening is no easy chore and often the seeds we plant seem to result in little or no harvest despite our best efforts. I have many gardening books and publications that provide direction for seed germination and plant growth, but none tell me to use this parable of the kingdom of God as an example for planting. To just to throw the seeds out into a field, forget about them and then expect to harvest any quantity of something useful would be unwise. But then that’s way it is with God’s kingdom, things don’t work quite the way we expect.
This parable was not intended to teach us what we need to do to grow seeds but a lesson on what God does to bring the harvest. It moves our attention away from all of the things we think we need to do to make things happen to what God does to make things happen. That’s the hidden treasure of God’s kingdom. We will still plant the seeds, but sooner or later we have to walk away and allow God to provide the harvest of the kingdom in unexpected ways.
This is also what happens when we plant the seeds of God’s Word in our world. We still need to actively plant, water, and tend the seeds of faith, but sooner or later we need to walk away and trust that God will make things happen without our intervention. God’s Word will produce of itself a ripe and fruitful harvest. That’s the way it is with the unexpected ways of the kingdom.