Unexpected Blessings

The Rev. Joseph Winston

June 14, 2009

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
There is an old story that goes something like this:

All their lives the two young brothers had lived in the city behind
great stone walls and never saw field nor meadow. But one day they
decided to pay a visit to the country.

As they went walking along the road, they saw a farmer at his plow-
ing. They watched him and were puzzled.

“What on earth is he doing that for!” they wondered. “He turns up

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Later they watched the farmer sowing grains of wheat along the fur-
rows.

“That man must be crazy!” they exclaimed. “He takes good wheat and
throws it into the dirt.”

“I don’t like the country!” said one in disgust. “Only crazy people live
here.”

So, he returned to the city.

His brother who remained in the country saw a change take place only
several weeks later. The plowed field began to sprout tender green
shoots, even more beautiful and fresher than before. This discovery
excited him very much. So, he wrote to his brother in the city to come
at once and see for himself the wonderful change.

His brother came and was delighted with what he saw. As time passed,
they watched the sproutings grow into golden heads of wheat. Now
they both understood the purpose of the farmer’s work.

When the wheat became ripe, the farmer brought his scythe and began
to cut it down. At this the impatient one of the two brothers exclaimed:
“The farmer is crazy! He’s insane! How hard he worked all these
months to produce this lovely wheat, and now with his own hands he
is cutting it down! I’m disgusted with such an idiot and I’m going
back to the city!”

His brother, the patient one, held his peace and remained in the coun-

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 try. He watched the farmer gather the wheat into his granary. He saw
him skillfully separate the grain from the chaff. He was filled with
wonder when he found that the farmer had harvested a hundred-fold
of the seed that he had sowed. Then he understood that there was logic
in everything that the farmer had done.2

Because we know that farming has both a time for planting and a time for
harvesting, this traditional Jewish story is so delightful.
We can easily imagine all those city folk who would act just like the two
brothers in the story. On their first trip out to the country, they might question
the wisdom of turning over the soil and then without knowing what the future
holds, plant crops. At first glance, this way of life appears to be very foolish. Not
only does planting destroy the beauty found in fallow field, but it also puts the
expensive seed into the hand of God. That is why that one boy goes back to the
city. He cannot imagine what happens next.
Through hard won experience, we know the rest of the story. In due season,
God waters the seeds, God sends them the sun, and God causes them to grow.
Soon different shades of green appear where there once was only ground before
and then they change into the brilliant colors of the fall. Now one can readily see
why we have been farming for generations. A bountiful harvest comes from all
the planted seeds.
We must see this with our own eyes to know that this return on the investment
2
According to Stoffregen, this short story is from the collection edited by Ausubel. However,
after looking at the table of contents and index, I did not locate this story among the several
hundred wonderful tales contained in this book.

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is real. That one boy, who could not be bothered to stick around for an entire year,
missed this basic fact. All that he could see was the farmer destroying the field.
That boy did not realize the farmer’s preparation for next year. The farmer would
sell some of the seeds to pay the bills while keeping another part for next year’s
crop.
The first parable told by Jesus in today’s Gospel lesson accurately describes
our lot in life. You and I are but a few of the literally billions of seeds that God
tosses out on the ground. As the days progress, God gives each of us the power to
grow.3 And when our time on earth is finally over, God comes and takes us to be
with all the other seeds.
Just like with the tale about those two city boys visiting the country for the
first time we need to be careful about what conclusions that we draw from our
time out in the field.
Certainly, we do not have the privilege of knowing all the details about God’s
plans for each of us. That is why we cannot jump to conclusions about what God is
doing in this place. If we said that we know what is happening, then that would be
like the impatient boy who left for the city because he could not stand the farmer
working the wheat into the field. All that we can do is believe that God is faithful.
That is the promise that we hold dear. God keeps His Word. This means we
must trust that all the changes we see outside the door of this church are happening
3
In Mark 4:28, the text reads “The earth produces of itself” (NRSV). The Greek here is αὐτο-
μάτη ἡ γῆ. Αὐτομάτη indicates automatic actions that just occur and its use implicitly implies that
God is the power behind what is happening. John R. Donahue, S.J. and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J.;
Idem, editor, The Gospel of Mark, Volume 2, Sacra Pagina, (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical
Press, 2002), p. 151.

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because that is part of God’s plan for this place.
Secondly, we cannot give up hope in God because our numbers have dropped
so much. That is what the one boy did when he railed against the farmer harvesting
the crop. We do not know what God is planning to do here.
Our only hope is Jesus. He came to save us. We follow Him not because we
have every detail about what will happen next. Rather, He is our Savior because
we believe that He died for you and me.
With our dramatically declining numbers here in this church and with all the
changes in the world, it is very difficult to believe that God is in control. We have
come to this mistaken conclusion because we do not trust in the second parable.
There, Jesus clearly says that the kingdom of God is not a large and noble tree
like the cedars of Lebanon. Instead, Jesus gives us a completely different image
of God’s presence among us. He says, God’s life with His people is like a weed.
It is small and it is in all the places you would not expect it.
You see the mustard plant grows very quickly. It is a hardy plant and if it is
left all alone, it will completely overrun a garden.4 It acts just like a weed.
That is the story of Christianity. Starting with one person, in the backwaters of
the world, Christianity has grown to over one billion followers in every corner of
the earth. This message that God came to save people like you and me has spread
over the earth like weed growing out of control. Empires have come and gone, but
this weed still remains firmly planted in people’s hearts.
4
The historian Pliny reported in Natural History 19.170-171 all these facts about the mus-
[Link] and Harrington, Mark, p. 151.

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 Today it might seem like the poisons of the world have all but eliminated the
mustard seed. That has not happened. It is here clinging to life. Our job is to take
this weed with us everywhere. Do not brush it off your pants when you leave this
place. Take it with you and see where it falls. You might be surprised at where it
takes root.
This brings us back to the Jewish story about the two city boys who visited the
country for the first time. One boy stayed the entire growing season and learned
the reasons behind the farmer’s way of life. The other could not be bothered with
taking that much time and because of that, he was a poorer person.
We live some place between these two extremes. We have been given the un-
expected blessing of God coming to us and telling us that Christ has died for
everyone. Everyday we also feel the pressures of this world that tell us God is not
real. That is the tension we feel in our lives.
Thank you for letting me spend these few weeks with you and learning a tiny
part of your story. I have appreciated your patience with me and your ability to
speak the truth in love. God willing, this may continue.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”5

References

Ausubel, Nathan, editor, A treasury of Jewish folklore; stories, traditions, legends,

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 humor, wisdom and folk songs of the Jewish people, (Crown Publishers,
1948).

Donahue, S.J., John R. and Harrington, S.J., Daniel J.; Idem, editor, The Gospel
of Mark, Volume 2, Sacra Pagina, (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press,
2002).

Stoffregen, Brian, Mark 4:26-34 Proper 6 (Lectionary 11) - Year B, http://