The Parable of the Sleepy Farmer

We are continuing on in our series about all the stuff you woulda/coulda/shoulda learned in Sunday school. One of those things is parables. Another is the Kingdom of God. Sometimes those things overlap.

Parables give little glimpses of individual elements of what the kingdom of God is like. Imagine modern day Jesus, hanging out at Venice Beach, telling stories that start like this, “Well, like, you know, the Kingdom of God is kinda like this…”

No one parable gives the full story of the kingdom of God but, hopefully, they add up to something. Before I go any further- let me just say a quick word about the “big picture” of what the kingdom of God is. The Bible describes hope for a different kind of future for all of creation, and it does so in different ways. It literally talks about a new creation. It talks about the joining of heaven and earth. It talks about the coming of the kingdom of God. In any case, the idea is that God is at work changing and perfecting creation so that it one day fully embodies all of the things God has always hoped for.

What did God hope for? God hoped that humanity would take care of each other and creation. God hopes that all of creation, all of reality, will embody his values: faith, hope, love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, justice, and so on and so forth. And so, in short, the kingdom of God is a new reality that God is in the process of creating from all the stuff that already exists in creation. In other words, He’s transforming everything that is into the best possible version of itself. This means there will be peace, kindness, gentleness, and harmony. There will be no tears. I suppose we could say it will be a kind of utopia…but not a utopia based on pleasure, as we see in novels, but one based on the virtues of God (like the ones listed above).

Alright, alright. I’m close to being out of my depth. That, hopefully, gives you a sketch of a kernel of an idea of what the Bible means when it refers to the kingdom of God. Now- as for today's parable (actually, parables).

26 Then Jesus said, “This is what God’s kingdom is like. It’s as though someone scatters seed on the ground, 27 then sleeps and wakes night and day. The seed sprouts and grows, but the farmer doesn’t know how. 28 The earth produces crops all by itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full head of grain. 29 Whenever the crop is ready, the farmer goes out to cut the grain because it’s harvest time.”

~ Mark 4:26-29, CEB

This parable and the one below it are related to each other so we’re doing two parables today. I have to say- I love this parable. It is hands down my favorite. I call it the parable of the sleepy farmer. In this parable, a farmer scatters some seed. Maybe he’s intentional about it, but I certainly don’t get the impression that he’s really doing the heavy lifting in this parable. Why not? Because it says he doesn’t know how it’s growing. A true master farmer knows how things grow. He knows where to scatter the seed, how to care for the soil, how to time this all out with the seasons and so on and so on. This farmer throws some stuff on the ground and then goes and takes a nap. The farmer’s job is to scatter and then, later, to gather. The crop grows on its own.

How is this a parable for the kingdom of God? Well- I suppose it breaks down kinda like this. The farmer is a stand-in for people. We more or less scatter seed, trying to point to God, God’s work, or the kingdom of God, and then we wait for God to do the heavy lifting. When the time comes, we gather together. God brings God’s kingdom, people do not. We wait, we watch, we hope. Or maybe we sleep. But the responsibility is not on us to do the heavy work- in fact, the work is so subtle we may not even recognize the kingdom is coming even as it happens. Just as the farmer was confused by what he was seeing. That’s a very different image from the pastor who gets up and brags about all the good the congregation is doing. This parable implies that the farmer won’t be taking any credit for the crops because he’s too confused about where they came from to do so.

30 He continued, “What’s a good image for God’s kingdom? What parable can I use to explain it? 31 Consider a mustard seed. When scattered on the ground, it’s the smallest of all the seeds on the earth; 32 but when it’s planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all vegetable plants. It produces such large branches that the birds in the sky are able to nest in its shade.”

33 With many such parables he continued to give them the word, as much as they were able to hear.

~ Mark 4:30-33, CEB

We will not recognize the kingdom as it slowly arrives. This is because 1. God is the one doing the work, hovering in the background while we rest and wait. And 2. It’s because the work starts so small- barely perceptible. It begins in a whisper and though it ends with a shout, it will take quite some time to build to that particular fever pitch. The work that God is doing starts small and spreads slowly, but will one day take over and be able to offer a resting place even for creatures of the sky.

The kingdom of God will be brought by God, not by human effort. It will start small and spread slowly but it will one day be an all encompassing place of rest.

Not bad, eh?