READ SCRIPTURE (Mark 4:26-34)
Jesus said, “The dominion of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, the sower does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once the sower goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Jesus also said, “With what can we compare the dominion of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
REFLECT ON THE READING
According to Mark, the explanation of the parables was given secretly to the disciples. But now this meaning is proclaimed openly in the church: God makes what is low and dry to be high and green. The central occasion of this action of God is found in the cross. Walking by sight and not by faith, we all too often live only for ourselves, and we give special attention to people who appear high and powerful, as if they were the source of more life for us. But just as an annual bush — a scraggly bush that dies — is presented by Jesus as the very tree of life, just as the dry seed becomes a mighty harvest, just as God makes a sprig to be a mighty cedar, so against all appearances the cross of Christ’s death holds us into a new creation. In the word proclaimed in our homes today and in the assembly when we gather there, the Holy Spirit brings us to nest by faith in the tree of life which is Jesus Christ crucified and risen. We eat and drink the fruit of that tree. Then we are invited to live not for ourselves but for him and for all the needy world which he loves.
PRAY TOGETHER
O God, you are the tree of life, offering shelter to all the world. Graft us into yourself and nurture our growth, that we may bear your truth and love to those in need, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen..
For additional readings and prayers visit ELCA’s Worship in the Home Blog