1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• The first parable (v. 26-29) is commonly called “the parable of the seed growing of itself” because the seed grows with no help from the sower. Dr. Skinner calls this parable “boring” noting, “its plot has all the suspenseful drama of an ordinary elementary-school life sciences textbook.” One possible reading is the certainty of growth. The “seed” of the kingdom of God will take root and grow without our knowledge of how it happens or our help.
• This parable is a counterbalance to the more famous parable of the sower (also in Mark 4), where seed is sown on a variety of soils and only some of it grows. Whereas there, so many seeds fail to produce that one might question God’s commitment, here the growth is inevitable.
• Where Jesus lived, mustard was a common and sturdy weed, think dandelions. It had some medicinal qualities, so it was not completely useless. But it was definitely not a cash crop. Mostly it grew like crazy, was not easily eradicated, and good luck keeping it out of your garden. Dr. Skinner quipped, “Better be careful what you pray for when you say, ‘Your kingdom come…’”
• Jesus referred to the mustard plant as “the greatest of all shrubs,” which is a strange description. Rather than raising the level of shrubs, Jesus was shocking people into a different way of understanding greatness. Rather than something extraordinary, Jesus described the kingdom of God as something that will show up and take over the whole landscape.
Works Sourced:
Perkins, Pheme. “The Gospel of Mark.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
Skinner, Matt. “Commentary on Mark 4:26-34.” Working Preacher.
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