The Message, June 16, 2024: "You Want Some Mustard With that Dog?" Mark 4:26-34

Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
June 18, 2024

“You Want Some Mustard on That Dog?”

A Message by Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
Mark 4:26-34

            When Renee and I moved into the parsonage for the church I served in New London, New Hampshire, the garden beds around the house were overgrown with weeds. The previous occupant of the house did not have any interest in maintaining them.

            I spent the remainder of the summer and the fall weeding and trimming and getting things in order preparing for the following spring. I could not wait bring the gardens back to something that the church members would be proud of.

            May rolled around and I rushed to the garden center and bought plants, and compost, and garden soil full of nutrients.  On a nice, sunny day I got to work and carefully placed and planted all of the various plants. Two weeks later … they were dead.

            Members of the church family that were skilled gardeners with experience gardening in New Hampshire told me, “Oh … you NEVER plant anything before Memorial Day. We still get snow and frost in May.”

            I returned to the garden center … wondering why they did not have giant signs that read, “Hey Idiot! … Do Not Plant Before Memorial Day.” Here is why they do not have that sign … I bought more plants and planted them the first weekend in June.

            The second summer that we were there, I decided to add a vegetable garden. I planted peppers, green beans, squash, and pumpkins for the fun of it. I am not really certain what I did wrong, but my squash were not quite right. I called them squmpkins. They looked like squash, but had skin or rind like a pumpkin. They were inedible.

            In the last twenty-five years my gardening skill has improved. However, on the occasions when I plant something with which I am unfamiliar I am gripped by doubt and uncertainty.

            Last summer, I bought Renee peonies for her birthday. The box arrived in the mail, I opened it and saw two bags of STICKS. Roots. Uh oh. There were no instructions enclosed with them. I prepared the soil and planted the “sticks.” I was not sure if they were right-side-up or upside down. And I waited. I waited until this spring … just a few weeks ago … and hoped that I had planted them correctly.

            They came up! Most of them. One of the “sticks” might have been a stick. They came up. They have not bloomed yet. That may have to wait until next summer, but they came up!

            On the previous occasion when I have preached on the Parable of the Mustard Seed, I have skipped over the first verses of the passage … the little parable without a name.

            This chapter in Mark’s Gospel begins with the Parable of the Sower. You know how it goes. The sower scatters seed wantonly. Some of the seed lands on the path, some of it lands on the rocks, some of it in the weeds, and some of it on fertile soil. Jesus then goes on the explain what happens to the seeds based upon where they landed. The seeds on the path were trod upon and eaten by birds. The seeds on the rocks were scorched by the sun. The seeds in the weeds were choked by weeds. And the seed that lands in the soil came up and yielded a good crop.

            In this little parable without a name, the focus is more upon the seed and the soil than the sower. I just referred to the two verses as the parable without a name, yet there are those who call it “The Parable of the Growing Seed.” Yes, the sower scatters the seed … but then does nothing night and day. It is the seed that does the work. It is God that does the miraculous, powerful work that results in life and yields the grain for the harvest.

            In my travails in the garden, I have harnessed the power of the internet, sought advice from my friends and family, and have had some success. But … all I did was enable the power of the seed, the bulb, or the root. I prepared the soil, the seed, the bulb and the root did the work.

            In these two little parables, Jesus gives us more information about the Kingdom of God. In this first one, Jesus tells us that God has this. God’s power and God’s Spirit are at work. We can help scatter the seed, but it is God who works upon the roots. It is God animates them and gives them life. It is God who makes them grow.

            We cannot control or dictate how God’s Word works in someone else. We cannot control how God’s Voice speaks to another’s heart, how God’s Hand touches another soul. That is God … only God.

            This little parable is part of Jesus’ message about humility and his warning against arrogance. It is a reminder that we do not control the power of God, nor can we usurp the power of God. That is not our role. We could even argue that we are not the ones who prepare the soil. That is Jesus. That too is God. Jesus says, “All by itself the soil produces the grain.” We scatter the seed.

            The second parable, the Parable of the Mustard Seed, is much more familiar to us. The image is an easy one for us to visualize and understand. The mustard seed is a very small seed, and it grows into a large bush. It grows into something large enough and strong enough to offer shelter to the birds of the field.

            For you gardeners out there, the mustard plant is not a perennial. It is an annual. It has to be planted every year. Every year … every growing season … the mustard grows from a seed into the largest of all bushes.

            A couple of years ago, a friend of mine asked me if I thought that Jesus had a sense of humor. My response was, “Yes! Of course! I think that he had a wicked sense of humor.”

            The Parable of the Mustard Seed is an example. In ancient Palestine, the farmers did not work for Guldens … or French’s … mustard company. In fact, the mustard plant drove them crazy because it spread and spread. They were always yanking the mustard out of their gardens. So, the fact that Jesus compared the Kingdom of God was a bit of humorous irony on his part. It spreads and spreads and you cannot stop it! If Jesus offered this parable in my backyard, he could say, “With what shall we compare the Kingdom of Heaven? It is like that beach rose. It grows and grows, and spreads and spreads.”

            Obviously, Jesus’ point was NOT on the weed aspect of mustard. His point was the power that dwells within each mustard seed. The power of the Word of God. The power of the Kingdom of God.

            When we take the two together, Jesus makes it clear that the power of God is at work in the world. The power of God is at work in people’s hearts, minds and souls. The Kingdom of God will germinate and take root and grow and spread. We cannot know HOW the Word of God works within people’s lives or how it moves them, but it is working and growing in God’s time and at God’s pace.

            In our own experiences and in our lives, we have witnessed the power of roots. They can work their way through hardened soil, they can crack and break concrete, they can push through the smallest cracks in the pavement.

            The power of God is beyond our understanding and our comprehension. It is beyond our control and influence. The Kingdom of God cannot be contained or confined to human parameters. Nothing can stop the purposes of God.

            The parables also offer us words of encouragement.

            Take heart. Do not be concerned if change or growth is imperceptible. We cannot see the tree grow from one day to the next.
Do not feel as though you cannot make a difference in this work and in this world. You are not alone.
Do not look down upon humble beginnings. Growth takes time. It requires patience and steadfastness. We cannot give up after a day or two, we cannot expect immediate results. A good garden takes many seasons to develop.

            The promise of growth should give us hope. God is not impatient. Quite the contrary. God is steadfast and true. God is faithful and will always be faithful.

            You may have noticed that unlike the Parable of the Sower, Jesus did not explain what these two parables mean. He offers them to us without explanation so that we may ponder them in our hearts.

            What does the Word of God mean to me in my life? How does it speak to me? Comfort me? Heal me? Inspire me?

            What is my place in the Kin-dom of God? What role do I play? Am I ready to play my part? Or are the roots still growing for me?

            What can I do to serve in the Kin-dom? What can I do to share God’s Word? How can I live so that others can witness Kin-dom life?

            How can we offer God’s Voice in a way that speaks to the people of today?

            The answers to these questions will be different for each of us. The wonderful message of the Mustard Seed is that there is a branch for each of us in that beautiful, great and powerful tree of life. There is shelter … a home … for each of us in God’s wonderful embrace.

            Thanks be to God. Amen.

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