Posts

Showing posts from June, 2018

Being patient with yourself and others

Mark 4.26-32 We are looking at two stories which Jesus tells: both speak of seeds. In the first, the farmer sows the seed, is expectant and patient, and then reaps the harvest. And in the second a tiny seed grows into a huge tree in which birds find shelter. What is this seed? At the obvious level it is literal seed: this is something that farmers would understand.   Yes, they would say, that is how it is. We must wait for the seed to grow into grain. And we know the mustard seed. We know that the seed will grow into something huge, even though we are not sure how.   But elsewhere in this chapter, and in other stories that Jesus tells, the seed is the word of God. It is the good news of Jesus. It is a message, a word of love, of promise, of warning. It is about forgiveness, about friendship with God, about the Kingdom and rule of God, about hope and peace and power. It is a word about Jesus, a word which blows apart our human reasoning. And this word, like a se