“SERMON ON THE LAKE”

Text: Mark 4: 21-34 Esv

21 And he said to them, "Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." 24 And he said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."26 And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by 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."30 And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." 33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.†

A PULPIT ON THE LAKE

Last week’s text saw Jesus preaching from a boat on the lake from—literally—the pulpit. Jesus explains the parable of the Sower to them in a “flash forward.” You know what a flashback is—on TV and in the movies it’s that moment when the screen goes wavy and harp music plays as a way of going back in time—but this is a flash forward to show readers how Jesus explained his parables to his disciples. They would not be left scratching their heads about the parables. Jesus would give them the key to interpret his teachings.

Today, we come back from the flash forward to Jesus’ teaching his “many parables” from the boat. As Matthew has its “Sermon on the Mount,” and Luke its “Sermon on the Plain,” Mark gives us what we can rightly call the “Sermon on the Lake.” In today’s text, we are given three more parables: The Lamp, The Wheat, and The Mustard Plant. Now with these three, unlike the Parable of the Sower, we do not hear Jesus’ explanation to his disciples, so we’re going to have to find the meaning for ourselves. Ready?

1. PARABLE OF THE LAMP

When the lamp comes in to a dark room, you don’t put it under a measuring basket or under the sofa, but rather on an end table. Nothing is hidden except that it be meaningfully revealed. Every mystery will in its time come to light. Let all who have ears to hear, hear!

Again, I want us to first imagine that we are not the Disciples in the know with all the clues, but just ordinary folk on the edge of the lake listening and trying to make sense of all Jesus is saying. What would be your impression so far? Yeah, you’re right, Rabbi—only a complete fool would put a lamp under the couch or beneath a bushel. So, you’re telling us. . . what? Living room light maintenance is an important thing?

“Those with ears to hear” are those who know that the parables have a deeper meaning and are not at all concerned about lamps and living rooms, but say something about God’s revelation. There is much that God is yet to reveal to his people, but Jesus is the light that comes into a dark room. Jesus is the self-revelation of God, though the people don’t yet see him as the light. Not yet.

The joy of looking closely at scripture is that when we do, we are struck by all kinds of insights! Insight is what we read for—not mere information—but those bits of God’s self-revelation.

It is significant that the basket Jesus talks about is no ordinary basket, but a measuring basket—a bushel. When the light of Jesus enters into the dark room of 1st-century Judaism, what is the first thing that happens? The scribes of the Pharisees begin to judge him, the Judge of the World! Their measuring of him according to the measuring basket of the Law of Moses would be a way of trying to put Jesus and his light under the bushel. The parable tells us that this wrong—every bit as wrong as putting a lamp under the bed, out of the way, rather than on an end table where it can light the whole room.

Jesus came to reveal God to us, and there is good news in Jesus saying that all mysteries have solutions and all puzzles will in time come to light. Our lives are full of mysteries, puzzles and questions. In the midst of doubt we can easily wonder whether these problems even have answers. People without hope are left seeing the cosmos as a great puzzle to which there are no solutions other than the ones we make up for ourselves. Thanks be to God, who reassures us through this parable that God is provident, God is in perfect control, and the day will come when we understand every mystery, every puzzle, every question, and Jesus—the light of God—will be at the center revealing all! And this is point number 1: The Kingdom of God is revealed in Jesus.

Between parable 1 and 2 we hear a transitional saying about our “measuring”:

And he was saying to them, "Consider what you hear: by the measure with which you do your measuring, you will be measured, and it will be added to you. For whoever gives, more will be given, and from the one who doesn’t give, even what he has will be taken away.”

This seems to be both a warning against judging others with that “measuring basket” and a call to generosity with others. As we give, it will be measured out to us plus more!

2. PARABLE OF THE WHEAT

And he said, "The kingdom of God is like this: a man sews seed on good soil.  Day after day he goes about his business while the seed sprouts and grows in ways he neither knows nor understands. The soil does it by itself:  first the grass, then a head of grain, then the full wheat in the head.  But when the fruit is ripe, he immediately sends the sickle, for the time of harvest has come.

Again, if we are the ordinary person listening to Jesus, we might start getting very critical  about now:

•What—we’re back to farming again?

•The Kingdom is like a seed planted until it grows up? What does that have to do with anything?

And again, if we listen in the flesh alone we will never make sense of a parable, but in the Spirit we can make good sense of this. We had a little help with the Parable of the Sower, so we can begin knowing that the seed is the Word of God. The farmer sleeps, wakes, goes about his business for the rest of the plant’s life. He does nothing to make the wheat grow; it does so all by itself, automatically.

We do not and cannot make growth happen; we are utterly dependent upon God’s Holy Spirit for growth to occur. God is responsible for all growth. We do well to water when we can and keep bugs away, but the work of growth is God’s responsibility, and though we seek and pursue growth, all credit goes to God.

We are planters; God is the producer.

The purpose of sowing the seeds of God’s Word is planting in preparation for the future harvest. We sow (and share the gospel) in hope of what God will make of it.

Those of you who have worked in youth ministries know this—we have little idea of the long-term effect of ministry upon teenagers, but our hope and intention is to be planting seeds. God will bring the growth.

Parents—you brought your kids to church until they were old enough to make their own decisions. You planted the seeds; growth is God’s work. And if you feel discouraged—if your children have visibly turned from the Christian faith—don’t imagine your work was in vain. You made a difference. Some of your children are chock-full of seeds that will grow by God’s design in God’s good time. Never fear, never doubt.

In all things, we trust in God to bring growth, and the implicit promise of the parable is that God will do just that.

And this is point number 2: The Kingdom of God will come to its completion.

3. THE MUSTARD PLANT

And he said, "[How can I help you to understand the Kingdom?] To what should we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable should we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is among the smallest of seeds, and when it is sown it grows up to become the largest shrub in the garden and puts out large branches, so that the birds of heaven can build nests in its shade."

In short, this is a parable of enormous  contrast. From one, tiny seed—mere sparrow food—comes a huge plant large enough to feed and house many larger birds. From next to nothing, much abundance results. It’s like the Big Bang: from one infinitesimally small point comes the entire cosmos expanding at the speed of light.

You’ve probably heard of the Butterfly Effect. In this idea much is made of initial conditions. A butterfly flapping its wing in Argentina has an influence on hurricanes in the gulf.

For the sake of saying something about the Kingdom of God, it seems the Mustard Plant Parable builds upon the Growing Seed Parable. What God grows, God will most certainly bring to great fulfillment. And this is point number 3: The Kingdom of God will come to total abundance.

ABOUT PARABLES IN GENERAL

With many similar parables he was sharing the word with them (as they were able to hear).  He did not speak to them except through parables, but privately (to his own disciples) he explained everything.

Jesus spoke all in parables, only in parables. And as we’ve seen, to the regular guy in the crowd, these teachings are cryptic, confusing, impractical and frankly off-putting. I so want to ask the obvious question:

Why didn’t Jesus just explain everything to everyone?

Really now, if Jesus’ intention and purpose is to reveal the kingdom, why didn’t he just go ahead and reveal it in his teachings?

Because God is God, we know there is a purpose at work here. Despite the cryptic teachings, plenty of people still followed him, unfazed by his style of preaching, while others surely walked away. This leads us to another, far more important question:

What is the difference between those who followed Jesus and those who walked away?

I find it disturbingly easy to understand why many people would have turned away and stopped following him at this point. Those who walked away were what we’d call sensible. It’s easy to imagine the kind of things they’d say to each other as they left the lake toward home:

•I find his parables unclear and cryptic—apparently people can make of them whatever they want!

•Where’s the “life application” in his teaching? These parables are not at all practical! I expect a rabbi to tell me how to live my life!

•He’s not preaching out of the scriptures but kind of going out of his own head. Is that really proper?

•I really don’t like Jesus’ preaching style: it really doesn’t hit the heart—I want sermons to make me feel good about God and myself—these parables do nothing for me!

•I really don’t think he should be preaching from a boat, do you?

We understand those who walked away only too well—we get them—but what about those who stayed and followed? I think they probably had a different kind of thinking and different voices:

•That Jesus is truly wonderful—do you see it?

•So he teaches in parables! He wouldn’t teach us in parables were there not a good reason for doing so!

•I’m not sure what all those parables mean, but I’m going to follow him until I figure it out!

The bottom line difference between those who kept following Jesus and those who walked away is simply that some people loved him and trusted him, while others did not. The key to the parables is not an idea but Jesus himself.

It’s all about a relationship: those who love Jesus and trust in him will be following at the end of the day whether their personal needs were met or not. These simply trust Jesus with their future. They know that answers are yet to come, mysteries are yet to be revealed, and answers to the puzzles of life will be given in God’s good time.

All of life is a parable, every problem a puzzle to be solved, every mystery a miracle waiting to be revealed. Do you want your answer? Do you want your healing? Do you want the abundance that is God’s Kingdom?

Love. Trust. Keep following.

A little six-year-old boy was following his father in the backyard while the father was trying to get some work done. He went into the shed; there was his little son at his heels. He went out behind the garage to get a ladder; his son was right beside him, trying to help. He went into his workshop to find some tools, and there was his son hanging onto his leg. The father said, “Go on out and play—you’re starting to get in the way!” His son looked up with a sad face and was frowning. Tears welled up in his big eyes and his lower lip began to quiver. “Wait, what’s the matter?” asked his father. The boy, catching his breath, looked into his father’s face and said, “But Daddy, I just want to be where you are!”

May our faith become exactly like this!   †