Mysterious Miracles

Mark 4:26-34

June 14, 2009

Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.

A couple of weeks ago, Maureen Wong brought to church some heirloom tomato seedlings to share with those of us who want to start a garden this year. For a while now, I have spoken about the idea of everyone starting a vegetable garden and when harvest comes, we can share our produce with each other. It would help us to eat more organically, teach us how to share our abundance, and learn that all good things come from God. I accepted one of Maureen’s seedlings as a way for me to finally get off my butt and stop just talking about starting a vegetable garden and do it. So I did!

I went out to Home Depot and bought two planting boxes, two strawberry plants and one yellow pepper plant. Along with the heirloom tomato plant, I put them in the boxes. All four plants were doing pretty well until I remembered Maureen telling me to make sure to pull off the lower branches and bury the plant down this far only letting the top of the plant above the soil. But when I noticed the tomato plant while seemingly doing okay, I thought it was too high off the soil. So I reached in with my hands to pull the plant out, pulled off the lower branches and then I reburied the tomato plant deeper in the soil. But later that afternoon, the tomato plant wilted. It laid flat on the soil. I killed it!

Two days afterward, it was still a pathetic wilted plant and I thought for sure I would need to go to Home Depot to buy another tomato plant and not tell Maureen what I did to her gift. But on Monday morning when I went out to get the Chronicle, I noticed the tomato plant revived! It was like Easter morning.

Somehow when I was at church last Sunday, attending the Finance Committee, leading worship, attending the Square and Circle Club’s 85^th Anniversary Luncheon, having Sunday dinner with Lauren, Daniel and the girls, checking email, reading the paper, going to bed and getting up in the morning, a miracle happened. This heirloom tomato plant that I yanked its roots off is now alive again!

The Sower

Gardeners love this fourth chapter of Mark. Three out of the four parables deal with seeds and growth. And even with that fourth parable, we can interpret from a gardener’s standpoint that the basket that covers up the lamp must be, after all, a garden basket, a bushel basket, a necessary receptacle when picking the gardener’s fruits and vegetables at harvest time.

The parables this morning tell a story about God. God is the agent of the growth of his reign. The growth of the reign of God is in God’s hands, not ours. We do our work, but growth is finally up to God. It’s true that I went out to buy the planting boxes, got some garden soil, mixed up some Miracle Gro, and almost killed the tomato plant by burying it deeper in the soil. But the growth and revitalization of this tomato plant was finally up to God.

I almost gave up on this little plant. But it’s a reminder that, when all is said and done, God’s reign is up to God to grow. God is busy, even when God’s work is not always visible to our unenlightened eyes. God’s growth is often imperceptible to our eyes. But for me, this little heirloom tomato plant is a mysterious miracle—I can say God is working when I’m not noticing it.

Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like a sower who scatters the seeds on the ground, goes to sleep day and night and then one day the seeds sprout and grow to become a plant with a full head of grain. The sower has no idea of how this seed mysteriously becomes a plant with grain. After seeing the miracle of the ripen grain, he goes out to harvest it to enjoy and feed his household.

While I started with seedlings, I have no idea how these little plants will eventually provide me with juicy strawberries, tangy peppers, and sweet tomatoes.

Sowing Sermons

The parables for today reminded me that while I would like to see myself as a gardener of fruits and vegetables, I am ultimately a sower of sermons. As you probably know, I have been in ministry for almost 35 years and during that time and especially for the past 11 years, I have preached a lot of sermons! And the longer I preach there is a sense in which I know less about preaching.

When I was a young preacher, just starting out, I knew a great deal about preaching. I had my three-point outline. I exegeted the passage. First say this, then that, and the congregation hopefully responds, “That was a good sermon, Pastor! We got it!”

But now, more than 500 sermons later, I know less about preaching than I once knew. Why do some of my “best” sermons—on which I have spent much time writing—fall flat, wilt on top of the soil, and die and many of you are yawning and dozing off?

And even more mysterious, why do some of my worst sermons, slapped together on a Saturday night, held together with tape and glue, succeed? I mumble through, losing my place, throwing out undeveloped ideas, and asking for your mercy and forgiveness, and you come out at the end of the service, grasp my hand, saying, “Thank you. God really spoke to me today, preacher!” It’s a mysterious miracle!

Here is what I think. Maybe I know less and less about preaching because I know more and more that preaching is not really something I do. Preaching is what God does. It’s not a sermon until God’s speaking makes it a sermon.

This sower that Jesus spoke about in this parable is probably one of the lousiest gardener there ever was. The gardener slings the seeds on the ground and then he went to sleep. He didn’t mix in any Miracle Gro. The seeds probably landed on bad soil and terrible conditions. But wonder of wonders, some of the seed germinated, took root, and produced a fine harvest. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is beyond our control. Our job is to plant the seed. But then it’s ultimately up to God to do the rest.

As a preacher, the challenge of preaching is to invest myself in the craft in which I, the preacher, am not in control. It’s not God’s word until God speaks and makes it God’s word. God’s word is a gift that only God can give.

Miracles in Our Midst

It’s without saying that we are living in troubling times. The news out there seems to always be terrible news. I’ve heard from a few of you that you don’t watch or listen to the news because it’s all bad news. And you probably won’t like the idea that I’m going to remind you of some of this. But US service men and women are dying and innocent citizens are perishing still in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The North Koreans are threatening the world with nuclear weapons and they have just sentenced two American journalists to 12 years of hard labor. Forty small children died in a Mexican state-run nursery from a fire. And they are still recovering bodies from the Air France plane that went down in the Atlantic. This is why many newscasters try to find a good story, often a human interest one, and feature it at the end of their programs, leaving us with an upbeat feeling.

Close at home, we are all facing an economic downturn with no end in sight. We all know of people who have lost their jobs and are disillusioned over what the future will bring. Some of you who are unemployed are here this morning. But this parable tells us not to lose hope in the face of this global economic downturn. God is at work in history even when it’s imperceptible to our eyes. We believe that God is working right now in helping those who are unemployed to gain strength in their situation and to prepare themselves when new opportunities arise. We don’t know how it works but we absolutely believe that God is working for more available jobs.

We have been praying for many who have been seriously ill and recovering from surgeries. For those who have become increasingly frustrated and impatient and earnestly seeking for better health, this parable tells us not to lose hope when your body, mind, and heart are slowly but surely being healed. We don’t really know how healing happens, but it does. God enables restoration as well as the realization of the meaning of life for us. It is always a gift of God that we come to understand who we are and whose we are especially when we are facing physical health.

In every stage of life, we are in relationships with others and some of us are in intimate relationships with spouses and significant others. But like almost everything in life, these relationships that once had strong bonds of love begin to tear apart and stretched out leading to difficulties and heartaches. But this parable tells us to not lose hope when we make every effort to rebuild broken and strained relationships. When we are honest and sincere with ourselves and with the people we love, God will mysteriously mend those relationships. We don’t know how it really works but we absolutely believe that God is working with you and through you because ultimately, God’s love for us is made visible in Jesus Christ who came to relate with us in person.

And in the face of all those global problems and troubles that we hear about every day, this parable tells us that hope is on its way. God is working all the time to make things right and just and fair and at peace again. We don’t know how God does it—seeds becoming plants that produce a full head of grain but God does. And God will win out in the end because ultimately this is God’s world.

Mustard Seed

The other parable in our lesson today is that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. While it is the smallest of the seeds, it grows to become the largest of plants with such large branches that the birds of the sky can find shade within it.

For Mark’s church, these words brought support and encouragement to new Christians as they worked to preach and live out the Gospel. When this group of Christians was confronted with societal hostility and the power of antagonistic authorities, the mustard seed gave them hope and encouragement in this beleaguered community.

As we said, we are living through some challenging days today as well. But be absolutely confident that this church is like a mustard seed that is already grown as big as 10 feet high to shelter the birds of the sky. It will also shelter you in times of trouble and uncertainties. We will not let you down.

As a preacher, I am sowing sermon seeds of hope and I trust that a few of them might take root in you.

I know of a Baptist preacher who took a few months on a sabbatical to travel around the country to attend church worship services in dozens of places and listen to scores of sermons. When he returned home, I asked him, “What did you learn about preaching during your sabbatical?”

He replied, “I learned that, when it comes to preaching, if anybody hears anything in a sermon, it’s a miracle.”

Sowing Seeds

It’s like scattering seeds that are thrown at random on the ground. Some sprout; most of them don’t. But those that do are nothing less than miraculous.

When I look out into the sanctuary, I imagine that you are this large garden. You sit there in your seat on any Sunday morning. You could just as easily be seated elsewhere. Your mind wanders, thinking of all the things you’ve got to do once church is over. You’re not in the best of moods, spiritually speaking.

And yet, miracle of miracles, wonder of wonders, you hear something. Something in the scripture, a word or two in the sermon, a tune by the choir, took root in your soul. You heard your name called. You rise, you sprout, you soar, you just had a meeting with God; you have been encountered by God. It’s a miracle!

Jesus says it’s like that with God’s word. Sometimes it takes root in your heart. Sometimes it’s all wasted. Sometimes God uses all this to reach out and seize your life, and sometimes God passes you by until maybe next week. It’s a gift. It’s a mysterious miracle!

Every morning when I head out to work, I pass by my two planter boxes and I look at the four little plants—including the heirloom tomato plant that I almost killed. It has taking root. The tomato plant looks like it’s now on the road to live and hopefully in 60 days, we’ll have some fruits and vegetables to share. But for the life of me, I have no idea how these little plants will produce juicy strawberries, tangy peppers, and sweet tomatoes!

It’s a mysterious miracle. It’s a gift from God and like my sermon seeds, I hope that it will take root in you. But I don’t really know except that it’s a gift from God. And slowly, almost imperceptible to you and to me, we believe that God is making this a better world for us.

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, we are here this morning because somehow, in some way, you secretly planted a seed in our hearts and minds. When we were sleeping—just focusing on ourselves, just dozing through the sermon, just daydreaming about nothing—you somehow got through to us, spoke to us, and enabled us to hear your voice. Help us to believe that you are always making all things new again. Remind us that especially in these most troubling of times that you are slowly but surely bringing wholeness, justice, and peace among us today. Lord Jesus, giver of the seed, giver of the growth, bring your word to harvest in us today. Amen.