Today’s Gospel reading continues our journey through Mark’s Gospel and brings us to chapter 4, where we find Jesus teaching beside the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around Jesus that he got into a boat and carried on teaching from there. Mark begins with the Parable of the Sower and then goes on with the Parable of the Growing Seed and the Parable of the Mustard Seed. Like all the parables, these two have been interpreted in a variety of ways. Read together, however, they can be seen to make the same basic contrast. One begins with seeds and ends with a field full of grain. The other begins with a tiny mustard seed and ends with a large shrub. Both are parables of growth. Both demonstrate the natural processes of growth without human intervention. The point is that the Kingdom of God is like that too. The seed has been planted and nothing can stop the growth.
For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited reflection on the image of growth. In today’s picture, from the book Exploring Buddhism, Sara and Rees join their friends to plant a tree that will grow taller than them in the years to come.
Lord God,
your kingdom grows from
the smallest seeds.
Nurture the seeds of your love in our hearts,
that we may grow in the ways
of your kingdom;
for you reign as king forever.
Amen.
Next Sunday our journey through Mark’s Gospel takes us to Jesus experiencing and calming a storm at sea. The image to help us prepare for next Sunday’s theme is hands. In the eucharistic community, hands give the sign of peace. You can find out more about that theme by looking at the Educational Resources and the Preparation Resources.
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‘Monadic Singularity’ by Anish Kapoor at Liverpool Cathedral