In the past two days I have found myself turning to Mark 4:26-29, a parable whose title is not especially memorable: “The Parable of the Growing Seed.” In fact, its title is rather prosaic; nevertheless it is poetic in its suggestive beauty, and can be of great encouragement to one’s heart.
Essentially the parable depicts a farmer who plants his field; who waits day and night, noting little or nothing of significance; who admits ignorance as to what might be occurring beneath his field’s topsoil; and yet, one day he observes a faint greening, which eventually becomes many blades, then many heads of grain, and finally many, full-grained heads, heralding the advent of harvest. With that, the reapers come – and their efforts promise bread for the eating and seed for further planting.
Of course, the irony of my retelling is that my description is longer than the parable itself, and probably adds little to Jesus’ original, suggestive and/or imaginative construction. His parables are truly Master-full.
At any rate, this four-verse parable speaks clearly to me of process: the Kingdom of God is a process. At moments in this process, human engagement is important; however, at other moments, and from a human vantage, little can be discerned, requiring great patience amid the nagging question and tempting assertion: “What’s happening?! Why! nothing’s happening!” However, from a Godly view, much might be happening even when nothing is visible.
Nine days ago I returned from Malawi, where, in my view, much happened in a brief span – within and to me, and I dare posit: much happened through me, although of this I cannot be certain. Like the farmer, I do believe I scattered seed, both in terms of the rich content that is John’s Gospel, but also in terms of methodology: the interactive, discussion-based, dialogical teaching familiar in the West is not greatly present in Malawi. Undoubtedly, Jesus taught via question-and-answer dialogue (surely His parables invite thoughtful discussion); but so too did Socrates or the prophetic schools within Hebrew tradition. That such a methodology is not particularly common in Malawi might simply signal a lack of resources.
I do believe that much occurred while I was present in Malawi, but I now sense, like the farmer of the parable, who, having prepared and seeded his field, wonders: Now what? So too I am now asking that question – but my return to Malawi is not in question. I will share more of this in my next blog.
In process,
Stan