Dear one,
“Growth,” I’ve frequently said, “our Creator takes great delight in growth. All we need do is look upon the natural world about us—or even our own maturation as human beings: stages and/or seasons of development are manifest.”
In so many regards, I find this observation comforting: in the hands of the Master Gardener, you and I are not yet who we will be—and I offer this encouragement as one who is neither as physically robust nor as intellectually astute as he once was. Nonetheless, I know that such growth, even in the latter days of life, is fully consistent with Jesus parable of Mark 4:26-29.
That parable, you might recall, depicts a farmer who scatters his seed; sleeps and rises night and day—and nothing happens; and then, beyond his knowing, the seed sprouts, inaugurating an eventual harvest. Very much, this is a parable about the process of growth, especially as to how the Kingdom of God grows: often quietly and unobserved. Whether understood individually or corporately, the underlying message is exceedingly hopeful: eventually the Kingdom will bear great fruit.
This noted, there is a further Kingdom parable, which complements the Markan parable of process: the parable concerning “the wheat and tares.” In this parable, Matthew 13:24-30, a farmer scatters good seed, only later to discover that an enemy subsequently broadcast “bad” seed (i.e. tares or weeds) among the good seed. As a consequence, when the seeds sprout, the tares among the wheat, the farmer allows both to grow together, until the harvest, when the two will be separated. The underlying hope of this parable, both individually and corporately, is that the conflict between good and evil, between just and unjust words and deeds will be at an end. However, until that day of “harvest,” the tension and the conflict will remain—which, however, is not fatalism, but a sincere trust that the “weeds” will not always entangle and inhibit.
I do indeed receive comfort and encouragement from both of these parables: a process of growth is at work within me (and the Body of Christ), which one day will be fully manifest. I might neither understand nor observe that growth process, but His Kingdom and its fruit will abound. Even so, within that process, “weeds” horribly retard and complicate, making of the garden anything but a beautiful oasis of lush fruit.
In both parables, patience is of the essence, as we await the Gardener, who will complete His good work.
Waiting,
Stan