My Brother and Sister and Mother

Mark 3:31–4:9 NRSV

31 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” 33 And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” 1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

INTRODUCTION

We often view the season of Lent with sorrowful eyes. It makes sense because it is a season of sacrifice, something we don’t like to do and find difficult in numerous ways. It is also a season when we reflect with intention on our own mortality, our sin, and Christ’s death.

But, there is, or should be, joy and celebration during the season of Lent as well because it is also a sea- son of growth. If you have ever gardened, you will know that growth generally doesn’t happen without some kind of struggle. Plants don’t do well unless they are forced to push through the earth. Potatoes are a great example of this because, as the potato plant grows, the gardener puts more soil on top of the plant, encour- aging it to push even higher through the dirt in order to produce more yield. Some plants—cranberries, for example—need to be harvested after a good frost in order to produce better fruit. Going through the stress of the cold actually creates better-tasting fruit. The hardship, the struggle, makes for something better.

Lent should be viewed in much the same way. There is hardship in the planting, in the growing, in the weeding, even sometimes in the harvesting, but there is celebration too. There is celebration in the grace of good earth, in watching seedlings grow, in seeing your own hands produce something that sustains life. There is celebration in the harvest feast.

The parable of the sower is an appropriate one for this season of hardship, sacrifice, and growth. We might not think of this passage right away when we think of Lenten scriptures, but it is a reminder for us that our season of sacrifice should also be a season of growth and celebration as we reflect on the grace of God in the midst of it all.

BODY

Much of the usual focus on this parable is on the cultivation of good soil.

a) Soil cultivation is a significant part of growing. Farmers and gardeners spend a lot of time on soil development.

i) One way to develop soil is by removing rocks. Many plants don’t grow well in rocky soil. Car- rots will actually split in order to grow around stones in the soil, or they’ll just stay small.

ii) Another way to deveop soil is by creating compost. Compost is made by taking plant refuse and allowing it to decompose, forming a nutrient-rich soil. This process can take a long time, and some gardeners prefer compost that has been created over two or three years. Compost- ing is a careful, intentional process that involves striking a balance between keeping it too dry or too wet.

iii) One can also cultivate soil by adding appropriate nutrients to it. Different types of plants re- quire different things. Tomatoes like extra calcium, so gardeners often add milk or egg shells to the soil where they’re growing tomatoes. Many fruit trees prefer a more acidic soil, whereas still other plants prefer more nitrogen-dense soil.

iv) A fourth way to cultivate your soil is by rotating crops. Putting the same type of plants in the same location year after year leaves the crop susceptible to pests and the soil depleted of nutri- ents.

b) Soil cultivation does create good soil. However, we often assume after reading this parable that the takeaway should be that our primary job as Christians is to cultivate good soil in our lives and in the lives around us. This interpretation can lead to us trying to work harder and make more effort to be “better” Christians.

Focusing on cultivating good soil as the only lesson of the text can cause us to focus on our own effort.

a) It isn’t bad to focus on soil cultivation or even to encourage it (we might even say that fasting cul- tivates in us an openness to God)—but a sole focus on cultivating soil can push us into a “works” view of faith.

i) Spiritual disciplines and practices are good faith practices that can lead us into deeper rela- tionship with Jesus, but spiritual disciplines are tools to help form us, not magic tickets we can brandish to earn favor with God. Focusing solely on our own effort is problematic.

b) When we focus on our own effort, we may incorrectly conclude that, if God seems silent, we must not be working hard enough. Since many of us exist in a culture that values and rewards productivi- ty, it is easy to transfer this mindset to our faith.

i) Sabbath is a great corrective practice to the idea that we should be producing more in all areas of our lives, at all times.

ii) The Year of Jubilee—a Sabbath of Sabbaths—commands that even fields be left to rest. Some- thing could be connected here to the idea of cultivating good soil. Rest is part of the cultivation of good soil. The opposite of productivity (rest, play, etc.) is also an incredibly important part of our faith.

iii) Always working and striving for more communicates the message that God is not trustworthy to care for us, but that we must try harder. This could be true for our inner spiritual well-being too. Do we trust God to do a work in us, even if we aren’t striving to force that work to hap- pen?

iv) When we try to work harder to earn love and grace, we will always be left wanting. These are not things given to us because of what we do; rather, they are given out of relationship. Grace is a gift, not a reward for good behavior. Love is given freely to us, because we are the beloved of God. God is the one who loves first, always.

c) When we focus on our own effort, we may also incorrectly conclude that the reason our loved ones aren’t accepting Christ is that we aren’t doing enough. At times there might be things we can do differently, but focusing too much on what we do discounts the free will of our loved ones and discounts the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

d) Focusing on our own effort can and often does lead to legalism—the belief that we are honoring God if we do the right things the right way. Although faith and action must be intertwined, we can- not make the mistake of thinking we have earned God’s grace, or else legalism may not be the only deficient-theology trap we fall into.

i) The health, wealth, and prosperity gospel is another mistaken theology that can stem from this thinking. If I work hard enough, in the right ways, God will bless me with material goods.

ii) Yet another is the gospel of the cosmic Santa God—that the goodness of God upon us comes in direct correlation with being a good girl or boy. We will receive what we ask for if we are good. Bad things only happen to those who are bad.

The key player in today’s text is not the cultivator of the soil but the sower of the seeds.

a) The farmer is generous and gracious in the way he sows the seeds. He is not seeking out specific soil but is extravagantly scattering the seeds.

i) There is a measure of hope in this approach to sowing seeds. A farmer knows how to cultivate good soil, and a farmer knows the steps to seeing seeds grow—yet he throws the seeds every- where, perhaps out of hope that even some of the rough places might somehow grow.

ii) Sowing so many seeds is an action of extravagance. If there were a seed shortage, the farmer would probably be more vigilant to ensure that the seeds fall in places that are guaranteed to be fruitful. But the farmer is not afraid of a shortage, and even with seeds falling in places where they do not thrive, the farmer still sees a generous crop at the end of the parable.

b) There is a connection between the seeds being sown and the prevenient grace of the Holy Spirit. Prevenient grace is the grace that goes before, and it does not discriminate. It is extended toward everyone.

i) Even if people choose not to receive the grace of God, prevenient grace is still extended to them.

ii) The Holy Spirit is continually at work in the world. Seeds of grace are always being sown. Some grow, and some do not.

iii) God is generous and extravagant with the grace that is being extended out into the world.

c) Seeds are an illustration of the kingdom of God in other texts as well.

i) We see that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed—starting out small but growing very large. Faith is also compared to a mustard seed—that a small amount of faith can move mountains.

ii) In Matthew we see Jesus compare people to a ripe harvest that does not have enough workers. This text is often used to talk about how we need to raise up more church planters, evangelists, and pastors to guide people into the community of faith.

iii) These continued examples of seeds and harvests help us to see the participatory nature of the kingdom of God. We co-labor with the Holy Spirit to do the work of the kingdom of God in the world, but it is never a work we do on our own. The Holy Spirit is always the key player—the initiator and sustainer of the work.

We don’t need to strive more to earn God’s love or grace. We need to trust—even in small, seed- like ways—that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives and in the world.

a) We can celebrate the growth that is taking place in our lives because we know that God is faithful. God is not faithful because we are trying harder or doing more. God is not faithful because of any work that we do. God is faithful because faithfulness is God’s very nature.

b) We can celebrate and trust that God is at work in the world, even when it appears that God isn’t. The harvest flourished, even though some seed fell on rocky soil, in brambles, or got eaten up. If we only look at the places where seeds are not growing, we will miss all the places where it is flourishing tenfold.

c) We do not need to be stingy with the ways we extend grace and love toward others. The farmer was extravagant in the way he sowed the seeds, so we should follow that example and do the same.

i) We don’t need to be judgmental or guard love and grace from others. We should be extending it to everyone.

ii) There is no limit to sharing the good news. We should share it with everyone. Some will flour- ish, and some won’t, but still we should share.

d) This is a great example of the already/not-yet kingdom of God.

i) The kingdom is here—the seeds have been planted—but we still have yet to experience the complete glory of the harvest.

ii) We trust that the harvest is coming.

CONCLUSION

We often focus so much in this season on what we are doing in order to grow in our relationship with Christ that sometimes we forget that the most important person in this relationship isn’t us—it’s Christ. We forget that the greatest work being done is through the grace of the Holy Spirit. The greatest growth happening is when we submit to whatever God may have for us, versus striving to cause growth to happen.

Sadly, that can reflect in our relationships with others as well, as we try hard to get them to act and look a certain way before we are willing to love them extravagantly. We learn from this story that God is in the work of extravagantly bestowing grace upon all of us. We learn that there is enough for all of us, and we can trust that life is growing and will continue to grow if we have the eyes to see it and the trust to rest and celebrate the work that is happening.

Copyright © 2021 The Foundry Publishing. Permission to reproduce for ministry use only. All rights reserved. Edited by Rev. Dr. Timothy Stidham for local use...