Parables on patience, silence , reaping and the power of one from Mark 4
Parables about kingdom growth and power Mark 4:26-34
Remaining silent and speaking when no one else will are both hard to do. There is a time " to keep silence , and a time to speak.." Eccles 3 ...As well as in Esther---Esther 4:14 “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?". "Courage is almost a contradiction in terms: it means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die." - Gilbert K. Chesterton.
1. First silence and patience..In today's parable about the kingdom the man plants the seed but it does not come up right away. " And (he) should sleep, and rise night and day and the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how." 4:27 Mark
This is hard for us to do, to wait for God to bring the harvest when we have planted. As well, in Proverbs 25:11 " A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." But having the right timing to do this is so important.
Faithful sowing we may say. Patient waiting and then joyful reaping. ( Erdman) " Only the contemplative vision growing out of times of solitude and silence makes possible a life of activity in the world" Living with Contradiction Esther de Waal " We need time and space to be alone, to find ourselves in solitude before we can give ourselves to another in true togetherness. " p. 87 de Waal
" The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." 4:28
Silence & patience for the harvest will come. " The world simply does not understand this need to be alone. As Anne Morrow Lindbergh says, ' Anything else will be accepted as a better excuse. If one sets aside the time for a business appointment, a trip to the hairdresser, a social engagement, or a shopping expedition that time is accepted as inviolable. But if one says: I cannot come because that is my hour to be alone, one is considered rude, egotistical , or strange.' "
2. The second parable of the mustard seed is very encouraging when we see that it has power even though it is the smallest of seeds , and yet when it is sown it grows into a huge tree. For ex. William Wilberforce, from 1789 to 1833 introduced resolutions in the British House of Commons to abolish slavery , but it took all these years to get it done right before he retired .
We may want to call it the power of one. His persistence finally paid off.
" The kingdom of God..is likea grain of mustard seed...though it be less than all the seeds upon the earth, yet when it is sown, groweth up, and becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches..." 4:32
We have mentioned Esther who risked her position as queen to save her people the Jews. ...Would if she had not spoken? Would if she had just gone with the flow, and the leadership that was not aware she too was Jewish . A whole people was saved because of her speaking out.
This is not a new illustration but it is worth hearing because of its power, "
This is a true story of something that happened just a few years ago a USC. There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God could not exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic.
For twenty years he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever really gone against him (you’ll see what I mean later). Nobody would go against him because he had a reputation. At the end of every semester, on the last day, he would say to the class of 300 students, "If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" In twenty years, nobody ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "Because anyone who believes in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove he is God, and yet he can’t do it." And every year he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students could do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students were convinced that God could not exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through; but for 20 years. A few years ago, there was a freshman who happened to get enrolled in the class. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about this professor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major. And he was afraid. But for three months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what the class thought. Nothing they said or did could ever shatter his faith, he hoped. Finally, the day came. The professor said, "if there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" The professor and the class of three hundred people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the room. The professor shouted, "YOU FOOL! If nothing I have said all semester has convinced you that God does not exist, then you are a fool! If God existed, he could keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!" He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleats of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. And as it hit the ground, it simply rolled away, unbroken.
The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. Three hundred students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of his power through Jesus."
Silence, patience, joy in reaping and the power of one.
Remaining silent and speaking when no one else will are both hard to do. There is a time " to keep silence , and a time to speak.." Eccles 3 ...As well as in Esther---Esther 4:14 “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?". "Courage is almost a contradiction in terms: it means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die." - Gilbert K. Chesterton.
1. First silence and patience..In today's parable about the kingdom the man plants the seed but it does not come up right away. " And (he) should sleep, and rise night and day and the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how." 4:27 Mark
This is hard for us to do, to wait for God to bring the harvest when we have planted. As well, in Proverbs 25:11 " A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." But having the right timing to do this is so important.
Faithful sowing we may say. Patient waiting and then joyful reaping. ( Erdman) " Only the contemplative vision growing out of times of solitude and silence makes possible a life of activity in the world" Living with Contradiction Esther de Waal " We need time and space to be alone, to find ourselves in solitude before we can give ourselves to another in true togetherness. " p. 87 de Waal
" The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." 4:28
Silence & patience for the harvest will come. " The world simply does not understand this need to be alone. As Anne Morrow Lindbergh says, ' Anything else will be accepted as a better excuse. If one sets aside the time for a business appointment, a trip to the hairdresser, a social engagement, or a shopping expedition that time is accepted as inviolable. But if one says: I cannot come because that is my hour to be alone, one is considered rude, egotistical , or strange.' "
2. The second parable of the mustard seed is very encouraging when we see that it has power even though it is the smallest of seeds , and yet when it is sown it grows into a huge tree. For ex. William Wilberforce, from 1789 to 1833 introduced resolutions in the British House of Commons to abolish slavery , but it took all these years to get it done right before he retired .
We may want to call it the power of one. His persistence finally paid off.
" The kingdom of God..is likea grain of mustard seed...though it be less than all the seeds upon the earth, yet when it is sown, groweth up, and becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches..." 4:32
We have mentioned Esther who risked her position as queen to save her people the Jews. ...Would if she had not spoken? Would if she had just gone with the flow, and the leadership that was not aware she too was Jewish . A whole people was saved because of her speaking out.
This is not a new illustration but it is worth hearing because of its power, "
This is a true story of something that happened just a few years ago a USC. There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God could not exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic.
For twenty years he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever really gone against him (you’ll see what I mean later). Nobody would go against him because he had a reputation. At the end of every semester, on the last day, he would say to the class of 300 students, "If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" In twenty years, nobody ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "Because anyone who believes in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove he is God, and yet he can’t do it." And every year he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students could do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students were convinced that God could not exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through; but for 20 years. A few years ago, there was a freshman who happened to get enrolled in the class. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about this professor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major. And he was afraid. But for three months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what the class thought. Nothing they said or did could ever shatter his faith, he hoped. Finally, the day came. The professor said, "if there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" The professor and the class of three hundred people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the room. The professor shouted, "YOU FOOL! If nothing I have said all semester has convinced you that God does not exist, then you are a fool! If God existed, he could keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!" He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleats of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. And as it hit the ground, it simply rolled away, unbroken.
The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. Three hundred students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of his power through Jesus."
Silence, patience, joy in reaping and the power of one.
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