Rector’s Daily Reflections Wednesday 16th June 2021
Thought for Today
This week, I’m writing a series of reflections about some of the parables which appear in the fourth chapter of Mark’s gospel. The parable I’m going to write about today is particularly intriguing. It only appears in Mark’s gospel and I wonder what you make of it.
It’s been called the parable of the growing seed and the parable of the fruit-bearing earth. This is what Jesus said :“The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Perhaps Jesus told this parable to get us thinking about the process and reality of spiritual growth. It reminds us that the process of spiritual growth is sometimes hidden and beyond our knowledge. The seed has been planted, and it is growing, but the growth is underground, so we do not see it. And then the time comes when the first shoots appear, and the growth is apparent to all. I am sure this is true in our lives : God’s work of inner transformation can sometimes be hidden for months or even years. But it is happening, nonetheless, and in due course God’s work of transformation will bring forth its fruit.
And that is another aspect of spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is what God’s Holy Spirit is doing in us. It is a dynamic process, because God’s Holy Spirit brings the gift of new life. In God’s good time, his work of transformation will have reached the stage of completion; but the process has its stages, and it will take its time. In the language of the parable, the seed which God has planted will have had the time it needs to have grown into a mature plant, and it will be ready to be harvested.
It is reassuring to know that God is always at work in our lives – even at times when we might have lost touch with him, and think he has forgotten about us.
Prayer for Today
Lord, you plant seeds of new life, in our lives and in the lives of others; help us to nurture those seeds, with love and faith and hope. Amen.
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