Year 2 Day 98

Year 2 Day 98

Pray (ACts)

Read - Mark 4:26-29

Message - Alan Burke
Germination is the process by which a seed transforms and begins to grow into a plant. Here Jesus uses germination and teaches that the kingdom of God is like a man scattering seeds on the ground. Today things maybe be slightly different as it is the farmer in the tractor sowing the seed, using a spreader or a seed drill but we are all familiar with the imagery. Notice how little the farmer does in this parable, once the seed is on the ground he plays a fairly insignificant role in the process. We are told how night and day whether he sleeps or gets up the seed sprouts and grows (27).

The one who scatters the seed is unaware of what is happening beneath the surface, but despite his lack of knowledge, or having been at Greenmount or Loughry, the seed does what it does and grows. We know as well as the farmer knew that the important bit in all of this was the seed, the seed itself contains the power of generation, the farmer plants it, he may even glance his eye on it to see when it’s ready but from beginning to end the seed does it itself. How did the grain in this parable grow from a seed to the fully grown, from the stalk to the kernel in the head, how does the seed that we plant grow? Is the seed reliant on our competence as farmers or gardeners, no it is dependant on the seed. The seed does what it is suppose to do. 

Remember Jesus is teaching about the kingdom, it is the farmer who scatters the word in the parable of the sower (4:1-20), Jesus told us how the seed is the word (4:13). If we are hoping for a harvest, hoping for the ground to be productive we scatter the seed and here likewise we are to scatter the word. This is our task as the church, it is the word, the seed, this is what we need and it is enough. Think of the farmer in the parable, all he does is plant the seed, in the parable he is irrelevant in the rest of the account until the end, he cannot make the seed grow his job is to scatter the seed. Do we see that? Do we see that the important thing that we do as a church is scatter the seed, the word, to preach it, to proclaim it?

Our task where ever we are, with our families, in our communities, in our work places, our task is scattering the word and just as the seed grows when it is scattered likewise the word grows. Sometimes it will fall on ground that is not receptive to it but other times good soil and . The farmer cannot make the seed grow and neither can we, it is not our work in growing the kingdom in making the seed grow that is the work of God, just as the seed sprouts, the word sprouts, the kingdom of God is entirely the work of God. 

Pray (acTS)

Sing

WSC 
Q 100 What doth the preface of the Lord’ s prayer teach us?
The preface of the Lord’ s prayer, (which is, Our Father which art in heaven, (Matt. 6:9)) teacheth us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us; (Rom. 8:15, Luke 11:13) and that we should pray with and for others. (Acts 12:5, 1 Tim. 2:1–2)
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