Sermon from Jan. 14, 2024, the Rev. Dr. Tara W. Bulger preaching

Mark 4:26-34

Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

    Dr. William Dols--an episcopal priest--tells the story of William Jennings Bryan. Bryan was a congressman from Illinois and a three-time Democratic nominee for the presidency. He spent the last years of his life as an activist in the religious movement known as fundamentalism. In 1925, at Dayton, Tennessee, William Jennings Bryan was an associate prosecutor in the trial of the school teacher John Thomas Scopes. Scopes had taught his students the biological theory of evolution in defiance of a state law prohibiting the teaching of doctrine contrary to the Bible. The defense attorney was Clarence Darrow. Bryan won what became known as "The Monkey Trial," and Scopes was fined $100. But Darrow's merciless cross-examination humiliated Bryan and dealt a fierce blow to fundamentalism. Some say the trial broke the heart of William Jennings Bryan. Several days after the trial ended, Bryan died.

     In the play, "Inherit the Wind," a dramatic account of the Scopes trial, the character representing Baltimore Sun reporter H.L. Mencken, when hearing of Bryan's death, says to Clarence Darrow, "Why should we weep for him? You know what, he was Barnum-bunkum Bible-beating blowhard." To an agnostic Mencken, Darrow says of Bryan, "A giant once lived in that body. But the man got lost because he was looking for God too high up and too far away."

     Our sermon series is about the Kingdom of God that Jesus begins to show us in his life and teaching. When Jesus came into the world, we no longer had to look "too high up and too far away" for God because Jesus was God with us. And in our reading from today, Jesus is preaching in parables.

     All across the Gospels, Jesus teaches in parables, and those around him often struggle to understand them. Jesus' hearers want to wrangle concise, clear meanings out of the stories he tells, but that's not the purpose of parables. Minister Fred Craddock says that parables are not meant to tell the listener exactly what to think but rather to become an active participant in the communication, that the listener is called upon to take responsibility for the meanings they take from the text. Craddock says, "The parable puts a burden on the listener that is not intellectual; rather, it teases the mind into active thought; interpretation is not only invited but urged."

     I think this is akin to understanding with your heart. Parables, then, are like poetry--they speak to our hearts and ask us to make genuine and authentic meaning. That is what a great poem or song does; it invites us in, and we make meanings that are personal to us, that have special meaning to us. Parables, then, invite us in and ask us, "What does this mean to you?

     So, what if Jesus isn't so much telling us what the kingdom of heaven is like but instead inviting us to make our meanings about what the kingdom of heaven is like? What if Jesus asks us to dream what the kingdom of heaven could be like and then asks us to take responsibility for it?

     I agree that Jesus is giving us snapshots of his description of the kingdom of heaven, but what if He is asking us to take it further, unpack it, define it...and commit to it? What would that look like?

     Because that is what Jesus is asking by telling these parables. Jesus says, "The kingdom of heaven is like..." and he asks us to imagine what life would be like in the kingdom of heaven.

     Mind you, the kingdom of heaven isn't just some far-off place; it is right now because God--Immanuel--is with the disciples as they speak. And God--Immanuel--is with us, too!

     So, what does the kingdom of heaven look like? It is the With-God life. The kingdom occurs when we live our lives with God. When every part of us is informed with God, is With-God, this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. Jesus compares it to a mustard seed---this With-God life can seem like a small thing in our own lives, but it can also create something much bigger, something so big that it is life-giving, home to the birds of the air. Or the kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who sees something grow and is unsure how it is happening, but grow it does. The with-God, kingdom life grows because God causes it to grow, we just plant seeds and reap the harvest.

     So, we are to be dreamers of the kingdom. What is the thing that we could start that is small but that God can grow so much that it gives life to all? What are the small daily things we can do that God can cause to expand and turn into a beautiful harvest? We are supposed to be dreamers of the kingdom. That's what we will ask of these new officers and deacons who are being ordained and installed today. We'll ask them to dream for us, see where God is calling us, and plant seeds that God will grow. Pray for them and their work.

     Once, when my youngest was six, we were saying her prayers at bedtime. I usually began the prayer and then turned it over to her to say what she wanted. On this night, when Ryann began praying, she said, "Dear God, please give all the homeless people good things...like Sprite and barbecue ribs!" The kingdom of heaven to a six-year-old is filled with sprite and barbecue ribs, and there is enough for everyone. What does it look like to you? How will you finish the sentence: the kingdom of heaven is like?

     May we each live into the parable Jesus taught, discerning their meaning for us in this day and place. Amen.