Seeds

Mark 4:1-20

Quick review of Mark so far...

There is a proclamation of good news... the Heavens are ripped open, Jesus is tempted, and John is arrested. This makes our news today seem down right chipper. But, God is on the loose in our world in such a way that life cannot go back to usual just because the Christmas tree is down and we got our credit card bill in the mail.

Mark continues with stories of healing. Jesus does not begin his ministry with a sermon, but with reaching out in relationships. Something good for me to remember. While it would be a whole different way of being and doing church, I wonder how powerful it would be to gather in people's homes for several Sundays in a row to talk, worship, sing, pray and most importantly nurture relationships with each other? That might challenge our faith in a new, good way.

In chapter 4, we encounter one of the first parables in Mark, that of the worst seed planter in history. The person either does not know what he is doing or is careless. It is a strange time to be talking about seeds. The ground is frozen. Tomorrow there is a projection for our first serious snow fall of the year. While we might be dreaming about spring, no one is even close to going out into the back yard to plant seeds into the rich Rock County soil.

So, the parable is jarring on two levels - it is the wrong season and the seed sower (to put a positive spin on things) is eccentric. After the story lingers in the air for a while and the crowd goes away scratching their collective heads, the disciples ask, 'what in the world are you talking about Jesus?' (That is a paraphrase).

Jesus says the sower is someone who offers a word of good news. The sower is the one who comes with words not of selling something or words of indisputable correctness or even careless words. The words are good news kind of words. The kind of words we centered ourselves around during the month of December in Advent: hope, peace, joy and love.

Even if that is the case, my tendency is to be really careful with those kinds of words. Don't talk about hope too much, someone might be going through a rough time. Don't talk about peace too much, the television shows too many images where peace feels far away. Don't talk about joy, the economy is bad. Don't talk about love, less people think I don't notice reality all around.

Part of what I hear Jesus saying is that we can be generous and even careless and certainly extravagant with our words of good news. Therein is the rub. It is easier for me to grumble about the bad news of television rather than go out and offer good news to an albeit smaller audience but nevertheless fertile soil. This is a good passage for any of us who ever open our mouths to speak. The point may not be whether our words grow into Jack and the Beanstalk like plants or little green sprouts that stay small. The question the parable leaves me with as I enter into a new year is, what words are falling from my mouth? And I don't think it means I always have to be peskily optimistic. There is always room for honesty. There is always room to name injustice and brokenness. And there is always room to notice and name the light that is streaming in from the cracks in our life.

May the traces of God's grace be found in the words that fall from your mouth this week into the soil of your life and the lives of those around you. May the traces of God's grace be found in words spoken honestly and hopefully.

Blessings and peace.