Rev. George Miller
January 21, 2024
Mark 4:1-9, 26-32
Today we come to an exquisite reading, one that really
shows how Mark understands that Jesus is for the people, from the people, and
of the people.
We’ve seen Jesus go out into the wilderness, call upon menders
of nets and gatherers of fish, offer physical restoration to a Mom, and possibly
allow his own roof to be dismantled.
Now we have Jesus back by the shore. He is casting his own kind of net, using breath
and words to bring light to the people.
This is such a holy scene set in such an important setting.
Jesus is preaching to the people at a place in which the
water, the boats, the men making an honest living fishing are behind him,
beside him…
…and in front of him are the sloping hills of green,
filled with people farming the land who could be clearing the earth of thistle,
plowing the soil, swinging their arms as they sow seed, or stooping to harvest
the grain.
The lesson Jesus teaches today is told in a spot in which
the fishermen can look up and see the farmers and the farmers can look out and
see their brothers upon the sea.
Jesus is situated between two groups of hard-working individuals
who make sure that everyone eats and has food on their plate.
Jesus is preaching between the often ignored, forgotten,
poorly paid members of society.
And what does Jesus teach about?
The everyday things that the people would have understood-
sowing seeds and yielding a crop, the ripening of grain,
the time of harvest, weeds that grow wild, and birds that find home.
Once more Mark shows us how REAL the Jesus experience
is.
That the Son of Man chooses to go to where the people
are, while they are doing the most regular and underappreciated of tasks, and
he uses what they do as parables for the Kingdom of God.
Jesus did not have to choose this route and teach in this
way.
Jesus could have stayed in the synagogue. He could have hung around the court of
Pilate. He could have went to the homes
of the elite and offered to tutor their children.
But Jesus chooses to be beside the sea with its sweat and
smell and songs of adventure.
Jesus could have used any image to discuss the Kingdom of
God.
He could have used golden scepters and bejeweled crowns,
he could have used opulence and over-the-top characters.
But instead Jesus used what the people knew, who they
were-
Of the earth, from the land, attached to the seasons.
In doing so, Jesus once again validates the sacredness of
the every day.
Once again, he makes us marvel at the miracles in the
mundane.
He offers validity to what the people do.
In other words, Jesus is saying to them “I SEE you. Your reality is worthy of representing God
and the Kingdom of the Lord.”
Think about us right here in Highlands County.
We live where 376,000 acres are devoted to agriculture,
making up 53% of the ground around us.
The market value of agricultural products we sold was
$196 million in 2017, making us the 12th highest in the state.
But yet, how often do we see state and national politicians
come our way to visit us?
How often do we tell people where we are and the response
is “Where’s that?”
Last week we visited Rev. Kuiper at the Fort Meyers hospital
and each medical person who came in the room had to be taught a geography
lesson about Sebring.
Think about this- in a County in which 53% of the land is
agriculture based, how many of us know someone who works the land and plays a
part of putting orange juice in our glass and beef in our bellies?
How many people here in Highlands go unnoticed, doing
what they do so the people around them can eat?
THOSE are the people that Jesus talks about today, they
are the people Jesus calls to follow, they are the people Jesus offers healing
and restoration to.
That is amazing.
Because by seeing them, by valuing what they do, that means
Jesus sees us too, that Jesus values who we are and what we do.
Jesus is not easily impressed with magi and wisemen,
kings and scribes, politicians, and power players.
Jesus is at the water, sitting in a boat, no doubt
getting his clothes dirty and feet wet, and he is teaching while all around him
men fish and folk farm.
And he says “Listen- a sower sows seed into good soil and
yields thirty, sixty, hundredfold.”
Jesus says “Listen- the Kingdom of God is a harvest of
ripe grain.”
Jesus says “Listen- the kingdom of God is like a teeny tiny
seed that grows into a home for the birds of the air.”
And we are all the better because of it because once
again Jesus is saying that what we do matters, where we are matters, who we are
matters to God.
And that is exquisite information to have.
Amen and amen.
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