Second Sunday in Lent

Mark 3:31-4:9

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’

Again he began to teach beside the lake. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the lake on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching, he said to them: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

Mark doesn't waste any time changing gears. It feels like he forgot to put in the clutch as he quickly goes from questioning who is in the familial relationship to how Jesus' teaching is propagated. I think there is a correlation here, but it's going to take some reflective gymnastics to get there.

Jesus says, whoever does God's will is my family (my mother, brothers, and sisters). So the more profound question is, "how do people know God's will without being taught or without listening so closely that we hear it?" So, Jesus teaches them that folks only hear what they want to hear. That some with ears don't even listen, so how can they hear and respond to God's word, let alone become Jesus' family?

I've always loved the parable of the sower so much because I think it tells us not to worry too much about where you cast the seed. Some seeds will fall on good soil and grow up to be healthy plants that produce good fruit. This plant grown on good ground will also increase the yield and help others grow good fruit. While the cultivation of good soil is essential in agriculture, that's not the point. Jesus shares this teaching to show us our responsibility is to cast the seed! Share the message! Nurture the relationship and become the family!

The gap between Jesus explaining who has been grafted into his family is not far-fetched from those who scatter and grow seed. If we listen to God, we are then supposed to go out and propagate God's message. The message of forgiveness and reconciliation. The message of becoming family and among those who do the will of God. 

It's not an easy task. In fact, it takes us being indiscriminate about who we invite (where we scatter our seed). It's about us not getting a say in who is in and who is out of God's family, just because we don't think their soil is good enough. So, what are the implications for us this Lenten season? One of the questions we could use for self-examination is, "do we feel like we are a connected part of God's family in Jesus?" If we don't, then "how might we listen a little more closely and scatter seed a little more recklessly?" If we do, then "what might we do to grow closer to Jesus to carry out his mission of reconciliation?" 

Remember that we are children of God, and our purpose is to live the message of love and reconciliation of in Jesus... and we listen closely so that we can live as part of his family that follows God's will with our message and our actions.

Mark 11:12-25 (NRSV)

On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.  Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it.  When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.  He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it.  Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.  He was teaching and saying, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'?  But you have made it a den of robbers.”  And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.  And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.  In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.  Then Peter remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered."  Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God.  Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.  So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  "Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses."

The word that stands out today is “forgive.”  Among all the talk about fig trees and driving the money changers and merchants out of the temple, Jesus tells the disciples to forgive anything that you have against anyone.

The meaning of the cursed fig tree is strange.  It almost seems that Jesus was "cruel" and unjustly condemning.  To see a leafed fig tree, even at an unseasonable time, warranted the assumption that there would be fruit on the tree.  But this tree was an oddity; the leaves were there, but it was fruitless.  This phenomenon, therefore, served as a perfect “visual aid” for an important lesson that Jesus wanted to teach.  Jesus has talked about fruit before and the responsibility to bear good fruit (referring to the believers obligation to spread the Good News).  The fact that the fig tree did not have any fruit, and then was withered, parallels Jesus teaching about those that don’t bear any “fruit.”  This was discussed on March 7, 2012

The fig tree incident surrounds Jesus driving out the moneychangers from the temple, saying that it is a house of prayer.  The placement may have an indication of the importance of the use of money.  If money or currency is used in a manner that doesn’t give glory to God, then it is accursed.  However, if it is used to assist in the building up of the kingdom of God, to care for others, to provide for the needy, to bring about social justice, to make sure churches and temples represent the best we can offer, then we bring forth “good fruit” for the kingdom of God.

We should always use all that we have all the time to bring glory to God.  That’s the call that I hear today.  We have a responsibility as believers to express our faith by the way we live our lives.  This includes how we use our resources.  If we give a tithe (10%) to our churches, then our churches are able to operate and help society provide much needed support to those in need.  This all boils down to what is in our heart.  Do we have a thankful heart of forgiveness or do we have a selfish heart?

Mark 4:1-20 (NRSV)

Again [Jesus] began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.  He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 'Listen! A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil.  And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away.  Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.  Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.'  And he said, 'Let anyone with ears to hear listen!'  When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables.  And he said to them, 'To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that "they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven."'  And he said to them, 'Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?  The sower sows the word.  These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.  And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy.  But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.  And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.  And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.'

This passage, which immediately follows where we left off yesterday, oddly starts with Jesus teaching them “beside the sea” in parables.  It is interesting that this particular parable is not only a parable, but an explanation of the parable.  This is helpful when reading it 2000 years later.  What jumps out to me is that Jesus teaches them many things “in parables.”  The word "parable" comes from the Greek παραβολή (parabolē), that means "comparison, illustration, or analogy.”  It is a succinct story, which illustrates a lesson, or sometimes an instructive or normative principle.

It is worth pointing out that Jesus is teaching using the analogy of a sower in an agricultural society.  This is a great idea.  People new how to plant and harvest, their life depended on it.  Not like today when folks have gardens in their back yard to grow fresh vegetables.  If you didn’t sow wisely, you didn’t reap, and you would probably starve.  One would think that by using this reference, people would more than likely understand what Jesus was talking about, but that isn’t the case.

So, we get a rare opportunity to hear Jesus explain what he is talking about.  He explains how the seed is word (aka Word of God, the Good News, the Gospel, etc…).  Call it what you will.  The path, the rocky ground, thorns, and good soil are all the hearers or receivers of the word.

Jesus relates the Word to the receiver in the agricultural analogy clarifying that good soil bears good fruit.  In other words, the hearer that receives the Word of God, takes it to heart, and acts on it, will in turn do the good work to build up the Kingdom of God.  The call in the scripture today is be good soil!  Be soil on which when the word of God (the seed) falls, it takes it in and acts on it to produce good fruit for the Kingdom of God.

John 15:1, 6-16 (NRSV)

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower.  Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.  As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.  I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you.  I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.  You did not choose me but I chose you.  And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

Today is the feast day of St. Matthias, the apostle in the book of Acts that replaced Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:23-26).  This reading from John’s Gospel was selected by the church to commemorate Matthias, who was never mentioned in the Gospels.

The phrase that stands out to me is when Jesus tells his disciples to ‘bear much fruit.’  I am not sure why Jesus uses this imagery, but it stood out.  God the Father is the vine-grower, Jesus is the vine, we (as followers or disciples) are the branches.  If we think about the relationship that the scripture is telling us, it makes sense.

The vine and the branches that Jesus uses to describe the relationship between God, him and his followers represents a living thing (a vine) that intertwines within itself.  It grows and takes form and frame (the commandments).  The vine sustains the branches and nourishes them so that they are able to bear any fruit, much less good fruit.  The love flows to us through Christ (and allows us to live in the love).  If the branches are tended then the vine grows stronger.  (much good fruit)  If the branches get too thick then the vine can be choked out.  Branches that do not receive their life force from the vine wither and do not produce fruit.  However, if the branches are enriched and remain strong then the fruit produced will be ripe and plentiful.  This is the fruit that will ‘last.’

I think that in this reading, Jesus is calling us to bear much fruit.  However, not just ‘much’ fruit, but much ‘good’ fruit.  Fruit that will last, and fruit that will sustain and nourish, and allow the vine to grow strong and continue.  As a church sometimes, it seems that we are incorrectly concerned with the quantity of fruit rather than the quantity AND quality.