He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
Mark 4:26,27
Living in central Florida, we’re surrounded by food production. No matter what direction you drive into our town, you go through cattle ranches and citrus groves. Go out a little bit further out and you’ll go through acres and acres of strawberries and tomatoes growing in fields alongside the road
On a much small scale is our garden. Or, should I say, Mary Ann’s garden. She has about a dozen tomato plants in large pots with individual irrigation microjets. She nurtures and feeds them with an assortment of liquid and granular fertilizers and soil conditioners.
We also have three compost piles where we recycle all manner of organic matter. Any and all vegetable materials goes into the compost heaps along with grass clippings and leaves gathered from around town. Additionally, I’ve made a deal with local restaurants to collect their coffee grounds and tea leaves which make their way into the compost piles.
The thing about producing food is that it’s a gradual process. There’s no such thing as instant anything. It requires patience, demanding that you invest time, over time.
The story Jesus tells is not about just any seed, or someone else’s seed, but the seed that this man scattered. It’s not just personal, it’s very personal from the get-go. The man scatters his seed, the seed he bought, the seed he collected, the seed he stored, the seed he took into the field, the seed he personally scattered.
He scatters his seed, and then – nothing. You can almost hear the crickets in the background as empty nothingness passes. His seed doesn’t immediately pop up like a jack-in-the-box. It doesn’t instantly grow, bloom, and produce grain like microwave popcorn. He must do that very un-American thing: waiting. And all the while he waits, all he can do is nothing.
He throws seed on the ground, and he’s done with the seed. What follows is day after day of waking, looking, waiting, sleeping. There’s nothing to be done. He actively scattered the seed, now he can only, passively, wait.
But it’s worse than that. In addition to waiting and not being able to do anything, he also doesn’t know what’s going on, how it happens. Yes, he knows that you spread seed on the ground. But after that, it’s a mystery. He really has no clue why, or how it happens.
It is a dull, monotonous life. After all the anticipation and activity of scattering, there isn’t anything else to do but wait. Waiting for results from what he’s already done. Waiting for something to happen, but he doesn’t know how it happens.
We want to know. We have to know. We are willing to do just about anything to know. We’ll make deals with God, promising anything, just so that we are told so we know.
We have this empty space in our lives, in our heads, in our souls. And we think that if we get enough details, if we get the right information, that it will fill that hole. If God would only explain his reasons, we think that we’d be able to understand it all. Then, and only then, comforted by knowledge would we be able to relax and have faith.
But that’s a lie. Jesus didn’t say;
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you information, an explanation, answers, data, reasons.
No, Jesus said something altogether different, and more satisfying.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
In the midst of doing nothing, waiting, Jesus gives rest. In exchange for our restless worry and fidgeting, Jesus gives refreshment. When we give up the need to know, to have all the answers, we get all of Jesus.
When we’re grasping for answers, for information, for reasons and explanations, the only thing we get is that emptiness in the pit of our stomach and restlessness in our soul. But when we let go of our need to be in control, and reach out to Jesus, something amazing happens.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:29
We find rest for our souls. Rest that finally satisfies. Rest that finally lets us breathe that sigh of release that we’ve been looking for all our lives. That’s the real know-how we’re looking for.
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