And
he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God?
or
with what comparison shall we compare it?
It
is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth,
is less than all the seeds that be in the
earth:
But
when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs,
and
shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air
may
lodge under the shadow of it.
In Mark’s 4th chapter,
Jesus began teaching His disciples about the nature of God’s Kingdom, using
parables that confused both His disciples and the people gathered around
Him. He spoke first of the sower and the
different kinds of earth into which the seed may fall, which He then explained
to His disciples was regarding Himself as the sower, the seed as the Word of
God, and the conditions of earth reflecting the conditions of individual men’s souls. He then expounded that the Word being sown in
the world was for them like a farmer who plants seeds but does not know how or
why it sprouts into a harvest, yet reaps from it when it is ready. Then He continued teaching that the Kingdom
of God in the world was like a seed perceived as little and insignificant, but became
a mighty tree under which the humblest denizens of the earth could find refuge. At the heart of His parables was the Word
which He brought to them, the work He would do for the salvation of the whole
world, and the Kingdom He brought among men even as He called all people into
it by faith in Him. God’s Word continued
to be the Means by which He created, saved, and sustained His people in every
age, even when people (particularly religious leaders, politicians, and the fashionable
cults of celebrity) cast it aside or despised it.
There are surprising
similarities in our day, to the day in which the disciples walked with
Jesus. Secular society has largely
dismissed the Word of God as myth or worse, relegating it to something worthy
of scorn, and those who believe in it, to disrepute. The Enlightenment which followed on the heels
of the Reformation and the Renaissance of Europe ushered in a new age of
optimism in the mind of man, yet too often elevated human Reason to semi-divine
status. That march of unmoored
intellectualism brought us into the 19th and 20th century
horrors of Marxism, Darwinism, and Nietzscheanism, with variations of atheistic
totalitarianism scorching the earth in two world wars while emptying the souls
of men below even the animals… a feat of evil which was orders of magnitude
greater than any generation of men who had come before. As man individually and in his societies of
family, community, and nation rejected the Word of God, the lush gardens that
once sheltered them became wildernesses of peril and bloodshed. The supposedly insignificant seed of God’s
Word, upon which the fundamental knowledge of existence in the universe was
based and by which Western Civilization was constructed over the course of
millennia, began to crumble as the Word was removed from it. Where the Word reigned in the hearts of men,
the people thrived—and where it was absent, they suffered: a truth born out repeatedly generation after
generation in families, communities, nations, and churches.
In our day, as in the day
of the Apostles, there is no shortage of other words and ideas on how to
alleviate suffering, make the world a better a place, and restore the dignity
of man. Most of those ostensibly
academic or revered words begin with the premise that man is essentially good
and should be left alone to follow his passions no matter how perverse (an
ethic even more depraved than the ancient Epicureans they mimic); or that some
expert guild of intelligentsia will fix everything, if only everyone gives to
them all their wealth, freedom, and subservience (as if Plato’s Philosopher
King might somehow eventually rise as benevolent rather than tyrannical). One path euphemistically calls people to “follow
their hearts” while enslaving them to their passions, reducing them to hopeless
animals, and burning down every edifice of civility, while the other makes
slaves of all men to those with a Machiavellian twist on Nietsche’s Will to
Power. Both of these paths litter
history with hundreds of millions of suffering dead and the carcasses of once
great civilizations, no matter the worldly glory given to them in our age. Such grand designs born of dark human nature
and luciferian inspiration win the accolades of the rich, famous, and powerful
in our day, and they appear to tower over the seemingly small and insignificant
Word which God sends into the world as His Kingdom come.
And yet, without ever a
break in the testimony of human history, though ages of men may wax and wane in
their appreciation of it, the Word of God continues to bring forth the Kingdom
in which is the rest and restoration of souls.
In every time, ours included, the Word of God comes to bring us the
Truth of who we are, who God is, and the universe in which we find
ourselves. His Word speaks to our Duty
and Obligation both before our Maker and our fellow man. His Word reveals to us that we are rational
creatures of body and soul with eternal destinies, made in the image of our Creator,
and placed into a rational universe we can explore, study, and comprehend. Yet of even greater significance, His Word
reveals His love for us as individuals and our world as a whole, what He has
done to redeem us from our slavery to sin, death, hell, and the devil through
His Vicarious Atonement upon His Cross, and what He has given to us by His Holy
Spirit to live out our lives in this temporal world so that we do not lose the
things eternal in the next. By His Word
He has given us the Means of Grace so that we might repent and believe His
lifesaving Gospel, dying to the evils of the world and rising up to a new life reformed
in the image of Jesus Christ. Restored
as individual souls to our Savior King, we are sent out to build in the world
those good edifices which promote and safeguard the preaching and hearing of
the Word of God, from the families we build which propagate the human race, to
the fellowships and communities and nations we form under that same Eternal
Word.
Insignificant as the world
may consider it, the Word of God endures forever, as do all those who take refuge
under its branches by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. There is no other means of man’s conception
which compares to what the Word of God creates, as the Omnipotent King of the
Universe brings His Kingdom among men through His unconquerable Word. Hear that Word as it comes to transform you
by the power of the Holy Spirit working in Law and Gospel, creating in you the
heart of love and mercy which flows from the One who first loved and had mercy
upon you. Know now that He is your
refuge and your strength, your defender and your champion against every evil
and calamity you may face, and that He has done all things necessary to guard
and keep you unto eternal life. Hear Him
today, that the Word of God may dwell richly in you, your family, your
community, and your nation, and that by grace through faith in the Son of God,
days of refreshing and joy may abide with your forever. Amen.
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