Scripture: Mark 4:26-29
He also said, patient “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, purchase whether he sleeps or gets up, illness the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

Thought for the Day:  What Jesus is trying to convey here is that it takes time for an idea to germinate and spread, especially a radical idea. Jesus was full of radical ideas, like his idea that we should all love and care for each other as equal beings of God; like his idea that our relationship with God should be intimate and personal. After 2000 years, those seeds are apparently still germinating, as humans continue to find reasons to fight over our differences rather than exalting our similarities—like the simple fact we’re all human and living on a small, shared planet.

The seed we should really be fertilizing is our connection to God, because in growing our faith, in understanding that we are literally children of the Divine, we grow as human beings, becoming more loving, more concerned with the impoverished, the down trodden, the outcasts of society. A relationship with God allows us to sprout into a more compassionate and Christ-like human.

In this parable Jesus also reminds us that nothing is accomplished on our own. Even the seed must have assistance from rain, sunshine, and fertile soil. We’re all in this together, and if we want to see the world evolve into a place that values love and equality, then it’s time for us to start letting the seeds of faith that have been growing in us since birth (and possibly before) to take root and sprout.

Prayer: God of all ages, may you always be my soil, my sunshine, and my rain, nurturing my faith and allowing it to grow into the fullness of love, mercy, justice and compassion found in Christ. Amen.