Episode 76: Mark Part 21–The Mustard Seed and the Galatians Sandwich

This week we have two more growth parables about Kingdom growth which I am going to supplement with one of my favorite teachings–the very uncomfortable “Galatians sandwich.” This is our second to last week in Mark chapter four and it only took us twenty-one weeks to get here!

Transcript below

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Part 21—The Mustard Seed and the Grain of Wheat

²⁶ And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” ³⁰ And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹ It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” ³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Today we are going to talk about the second and third growth parable. The Parable of the Sower was the first. These parables all have as their theme some kind of Kingdom-related growth. The first covered our growth or lack of growth based upon how we respond to the Word of God and particularly the Word of the Gospel sowed through Yeshua/Jesus. But, despite this being another two parables concerning seeds, neither will have the seed functioning as the Word of God again. Instead, these are “Kingdom of God” parables that start out with some variant of “The Kingdom of God is like” or “What is the Kingdom of God like?” Remember that parables are extended metaphors or similes comparing one thing to another, but a metaphor is never an absolute. Your eyes might be like the sea before a storm, but that doesn’t mean Buttercup is going to get struck by lightning or swept overboard if she sticks around. Parables are “like” a situation or thing but they are also “not like” the situation or thing. If we get bogged down too much in trying to force the analogies into equivalencies, where everything perfectly matches up, we will stretch and ruin the message of the Word. Believe me, there is more than enough there as it is and we don’t need to go beyond Yeshua’s beautiful Kingdom messages here.

Hi, I am Tyler Dawn Rosenquist and welcome to Character in Context, where I teach the historical and ancient sociological context of Scripture with an eye to developing the character of the Messiah. If you prefer written material, I have five years’ worth of blog at theancientbridge.com as well as my six books available on amazon—including a four-volume curriculum series dedicated to teaching Scriptural context in a way that even kids can understand it, called Context for Kids—and I have two video channels on YouTube with free Bible teachings for both adults and kids. You can find the link for those on my website. Past broadcasts of this program can be found at characterincontext.podbean.com and transcripts can be had for most broadcasts at theancientbridge.com

All Scripture this week comes courtesy of the ESV, the English Standard Version but you can follow along with whatever Bible you want. A list of my resources can be found attached to the transcript for Part two of this series at theancientbridge.com.

²⁶ And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

Right away, “The Kingdom of God is as if” and so we know that Yeshua is going to share a “mystery” about how the Kingdom works. In this case, the picture is incredibly familiar. A man scatters seed on the ground and so far, it sounds very much like the parable of the sower, but it isn’t. We really have to push away that desire of needing to use the one to interpret the other. This, by the way, is also called a similitude. Oh boy, you didn’t think you were going to have an English lesson today, right? A similitude is when one thing closely resembles another. So, we pull back away from the Parable of the Sower and we just allow the word picture to form in our heads because this is what Yeshua’s audience would have done. Picture it, a man scatters seed on the ground.

 ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 

First, I want you to notice that it says nothing at all about the soil or wasted or fruitless seed. The man has scattered seed and then he sleeps and rises, night and day, as Jewish/Biblical days are reckoned as beginning and ending at sundown. I imagine most of you know this. As the man does nothing, the seed sprouts and grows. Agriculture in ancient Israel was wholly dependent on rainfall. If it did not rain, the crops died and there would be famine. No sprinkler systems, no diverting water from the Nile like in the movie King of Dreams, okay? They were 100% dependent upon God supplying the rains. We just can’t even come close to imagining what it was like to live under those conditions because we have a lot of amazing tech. I live in the high desert here in Idaho where we divert water from the Snake River into canals but not in first-century Israel.

I personally imagine this as the sowing of the barley right after the Festival of Sukkot/Tabernacles at the time of the early rains. And I know that may jar your sensibilities but the agricultural year in Israel began in the seventh month, not the first and so they had the early rains in the fall after the festival and the late rains in the Spring after the barley harvest and Passover. We know this from the Gezer calendar, which I did a teaching about for Yom Teruah/ Rosh Hashanah/Feast of Trumpets last year. They would work hard to get that barley seed scattered and then they would plow it into the ground and then they would pray for adequate rainfall over the winter to grow and sustain the barley. This was the time of year when the wadis would go from dry mini canyons to deadly rushing rivers in a matter of minutes as the rain from the high country flowed in and swept away everything in its path.

And so, there is nothing else to do. He has completed his agricultural sowing for the season, until the spring and he cannot do anything to help the seeds live or grow. But, without his assistance, the seeds do sprout, and they do grow, but he has no idea how it is happening. Science is fun and all those little videos about the seed sprouting under the ground and all the biological processes and we know all that stuff and about their genetic coding telling them to do it, but all this man knows is that it works, right? It’s going to end up feeding his family. Nothing else is really important.

The key here that Yeshua is communicating is that the growth of the seed is a mystery but grow it does. If a seed is placed in soil and if there is adequate rainfall, it will always grow. It is an incontrovertible fact of life. Just as the seed emerges from the soil and becomes a mature plant, the Kingdom was coming in a way that could not be foreseen until it suddenly erupted and began growing out of control after Pentecost.

²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 

All the sower did was scatter the seed and plow it in. The “earth” does the rest with no help from the sower, who proverbially sleeps all winter long. But the growth is not out of order or erratic—one thing at a time, in logical order. This is not an unnatural thing but a sane and ordered occurrence. Growth is always like that—no one except Mithras springs to life full-grown from a rock. You see the growth, step by step, even if you don’t quite understand why it is happening. It was predictable only in that it would happen—not in the why or how it occurred.

²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Here’s the farmer back again, who was away from the grain all winter just praying for rain at the right times. He returns at the harvest and puts His sickle to the grain. I want you to notice the word translated “grain” here. It is karpas, meaning fruit.  This isn’t the word for wheat, sitos, or barley, krithinos, but the word for fruit. And you probably know where I am going with this because yes, it is the same Greek word used for the fruit of the Spirit. Let’s see where else this word karpos pops up because it will be important:

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matt 3:8-10, John the Baptist)

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. (Matt 7:15-18)

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:20, Parable of the Sower)

And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” (Luke 13:6-9)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (John 15:1-8)

What do we have over and over again here? God’s expectations for the growth of not only fruit but good fruit among His people. There is good fruit and bad fruit but the parable we are talking about today, the sower does not return until the fruit in the field is mature. Not a few stalks of grain here and there and the rest gets harvested unripe, He waits for the field to be mature—one way or the other. What does mature fruit look like? Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

What does bad fruit look like? Gal 5:19-21 gives us an ugly window into that and I call this the Galatians sandwich because believers enjoy reading most of these and judging the people who do these things. But if the sower is returning for mature fruit, we need to really take a hard look at what bad fruit looks like when it has matured. Because, yes, bad fruit can be ripe and ready to be harvested just like good fruit. Just the outcome is not as positive.

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, (yeah. that’s right–death to the perverts, idolaters and drug addicts, ha! those rebellious losers!) enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy (um… my Spidey senses are tingling, must be the enemy trying to steal my peace, time to move on) drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. (yeah, drunken orgy-goers!) I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (that’s right–those sex-crazed crazed, drunken idol worshipers aren’t inheriting the Kingdom!)

So, we have here what I call the Galatians 5 sandwich, or “the other guy” sandwich. We sure do enjoy calling out the first five and the last two of these–and why? Well, because they are grotesquely obvious sins that only blatant sinners commit, at least in the open, right? No challenge there–and no one feels bad about themselves (not unless they start looking at other, more socially acceptable addictions or questioning themselves about whether watching sex scenes in movies counts as sexual immorality). But we aren’t here to talk about those. We’re here to talk about the works of the flesh that people pass off as righteous zeal or don’t give much thought to at all. Zeal–remember that word, as it will be important later.

Enmity–the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something. For example: “enmity between Protestants and Catholics”

Whoa there, Nelly! If there is one thing that I see in too many of the people around me, it is open hostility to people and/or things. I see people who hate Catholics so much that they would rather die horrible deaths than give Catholics credit for the good works they do – and those poor fools who do dare to give Catholics credit get called papists or worse. I actually did get called a Jesuit spy once upon a time for something silly—oh yeah, I debunked a lie against the last Pope. I don’t like it when people lie about other folks, no matter who they are. I see people hostile beyond logic towards Jews and Protestants as well – to the point where everything and anything about them has to be mindlessly attacked and discredited – even if good, or at worst, harmless. That’s enmity, living your life in hostility–it is not a Kingdom principle, and more than that, it compromises our ability to love and grow good fruit. And yes, I am sure that, despite the Scriptural warning, the reason why you are personally doing it is entirely justified. (That, boys and girls, was sarcasm. In fact, my eyes rolled so far out of my head when I said it that I had to call my kids to go look for them)

Strife–angry or bitter disagreement over fundamental issues; conflict. For example: “strife within the community”

Disagreement over fundamental issues is not the problem here, you see, but when it becomes angry and bitter–oh yes, big problem. This is when we see the insults and cheap shots brought to the table instead of just sticking respectfully and honorably to the facts at hand. Of course, we don’t limit our anger and bitterness to the fundamental issues, we get angry over the tiny ones as well, our pet doctrines. Of course, our pet doctrines are never small–in fact, there are no small issues in Scripture, and failure to recognize that means that someone isn’t really believing the entire Bible. Right? Right? Maybe not. Strife is founded on and rooted in control issues and fear, which are both contrary to the fruit of peace and self-control. There are things to stand our ground on, but not with bitterness; stands to take in passion, but hateful anger? Very few issues actually warrant anger, and when that anger morphs into hatred among believers? Except for our issues, because they are the most important, and we always have the discernment and maturity to hate wisely, don’t we? After all, our track record has been spotless so far. (Yes, more sarcasm)

Jealousy–I am going to risk making you really irritated and point out that the word translated as jealousy is zelos–yeah, it looks exactly like the word zealous for a reason. In fact, half the time this is translated, it is rendered “zealous.” Zeal is probably one of the most self-deceiving forces on earth and there is a big difference between the Jews coming to Yeshua in Acts 21:20, who were zealous for the law that they had grown up with and knew inside and out, and when James and Paul combined that same exact word with selfish ambition (James 3.14) and strife (I Col 3:3). Problem with zeal is that I never met a single person who didn’t think their brand of zeal was the righteous kind–you know, like Paul when he was arresting and persecuting believers and holding the coats of those who were stoning Stephen?

Jealousy, the other way to translate this word, is an ugly thing, it is a blinding thing. Twice in my time as a believer, I have had jealous wives after me – the first time because a choir director became strangely fascinated with me (I know, I mean like look at me, right? What gives? Who knew that albino Oompa Loompas were so alluring?) and the second because – honestly, that was nuts because, to me, the guy was just needy and constantly whining and I don’t think that any woman (other than herself) would be attracted to that. I certainly never saw him as anything other than annoying. But jealousy is not a logical thing, it doesn’t look at the evidence, it is suspicion and paranoia driven. It happens in personal relationships, yes, and also in any situation where people feel threatened.

Fits of anger–this is the one that applies to me more than any other on the list, boy howdy. Just ask my kids. I am one of those people who just BAM! EXPLOSION. As much as I would like to wage a sarcastic defense of this one, it strikes WAY to close to home for me to even joke about. It isn’t funny because I hurt people with it. None of the works of the flesh are funny, and this one gets unleashed against kids, and innocent bystanders on social media way too often, when we launch into knee-jerk accusations and insults over very little, when even a lot should never move us into this area.

Rivalries–competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field. For example: “commercial rivalry”

This should never even begin to happen in the faith world, but it sure does. I have seen people in ministry go to great lengths to halt the popularity of others, sometimes over disagreements in doctrine but sometimes simply over audience share. The problem with rivalry in religion is that it is never above board–we shouldn’t be competing against each other but cooperating. Rivalry in ministry leads to one thing and one thing only – the creation of personal Kingdoms and Empires. We can’t build the Kingdom of Heaven by destroying its Living Stones.

Dissensions–disagreement that leads to discord. This goes beyond just being disagreeable in your disagreement (which is shameful enough); it morphs ruthlessly into a form of disagreement that ruptures relationships. Honestly, when I look at the relationships being torn apart by flat earth/spherical earth, it definitely qualifies. And for that matter, by archaeologically unsupported stories about Nimrod being responsible for Christmas, leading us to accuse our loved ones of gross idolatry based on theories and “just so” stories that no archaeologist or ancient Near Eastern historian or Bible scholar has been able to substantiate. People who actually agree that the Word became flesh, worked miracles, was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead, and ascended to the Father–the very idea that they are going to be driven apart by a piddly little nothing of a debate about what shape the earth is, it boggles the mind. Shame on us if we can agree on the craziest (and truest) story ever told, without a doubt in our minds, and we are daring to call such brain candy salvational. There is a reason that Paul said, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (I Cor 2:2).

Divisions – this is what happens when dissensions go too far, and generally is coupled with strife and rivalries. We divide up into little groups that are now created in our own image, which each side firmly believes to actually be God’s image. Got idolatry? Yes, most divisions are entirely pride-based, although we tell ourselves differently. We can’t bear to sit and listen to something we disagree with, not even when we are wrong (not that WE are the wrong ones, oh no, surely not! They are wrong, and probably because of rebellion and on purpose, to boot; we are just defending orthodoxy). Oh man, the stupid things that divide us when we agree about so much.

Envy–a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck. Since coming into the ministry seven years ago, I see this a lot more than I used to. People in the body unashamedly announcing their envy of other believer’s money, following, children, health, etc. I admit that I myself, being barren, am prone to ugly fits of envy when X is pregnant AGAIN, and when people with healthy, physically sound kids are complaining about things that seem stupid to me as a special needs mom, or when such and such is complaining about the burdens of being pregnant when I got my kids the hard way, through a very messy adoption that cost us just about everything. Did you see what I did there? I vocalized what is usually only in my thoughts, and I did it to show what envy looks like. Should I be mad that some people don’t know the heartache of being barren? Do I want them to be barren? Of course not! Do I want other people’s kids to be disabled so they can get a taste of my life? Heavens no! And the last one, good grief, no one should have to endure that. I wish I was the only member of that club. You see, envy isn’t just about what they have, it’s about unconsciously wishing that someone else was privy to our pain. Envy is entirely selfish and often rooted in ingratitude and pain, and yes, it is a work of the flesh because our pain is no excuse.

These aren’t on a different list from “the biggies”–they are included as equals on the same exact list. And the people who do them will not inherit the Kingdom of God–you see why I push character over knowledge?

Each of these despicable heart conditions are sandwiched in between the outward, obvious works of the flesh–the sins everyone can see. Coincidence? No way. This is the sandwich Paul described when he talked about how flawless he was in his Torah observance, while inside being a murderer. Paul kept the Feasts, he kept the Sabbath, he tithed, he ate clean, he threw coins at beggars in his gate–and he was a murderous wretch on the inside. No one cared because he was keeping the letter of the Law in the strictest sense on the outside. Paul knew what he was talking about, and what he was doing when he wrote this. At least Paul wasn’t making excuses for himself anymore, so when are we going to stop rewriting the works of our flesh as somehow being virtuous and justified acts of righteousness? I tell you the truth, we have to want to see ourselves as villains before the Spirit can even begin to get a word in edgewise. Until then, we are just fakers keeping a set of rules and patting ourselves on the back for being so obedient–but image-bearers? No, that requires integrity inside and out, that requires picking up our Cross and carrying it. It requires pain, and suffering, to be like the very image of the unseen God.

You need to know that, if after reading all that, your response isn’t introspective but a “yeah but what about…” then you have completely missed the point that we are all included in this list, and that this sort of list is meant to offend our flesh. It’s our choice, however, whether we give voice to that flesh or simply tell it to shut up for once and stop making excuses.

Let’s get back to the text and finish up with the very famous Parable of the Mustard Seed.

³⁰ And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹ It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

Did you know that in medieval times, mustard seed was called “eye of newt”? I mean, come on, you didn’t think witches were going around gathering newts and removing their eyes, did you? Talk about time consuming! No, that was the common household name for mustard seed. I suggest grossing out your kids with that bit of information. “Hey mom, what’s this tangy taste in my sandwich?” “It’s eye of newt crushed and mixed with vinegar, dear.” Mwahahahahahaha.

Mustard seed is proverbially small. There are about 750 seeds to a gram, but that is still much larger than the orchid seeds they knew about and used. Orchid seeds, get this, which are grown for their tubers which are eaten in that part of the world—if you wanted to have enough to equal the size of an aspirin tablet, it would take half a million. But, in the ancient world and particularly in Judaism at that time, the size of the mustard seed was often used for this type of comparison. So, this isn’t an error in the text, it is a proverb using a well-known idiom. Remember that the Bible is about communicating God’s message to His people, it is not a science book. If it was a science book, we would never have any chance of understanding it because our idea of science compared to what God knows is like tinker toys and I say this as a degreed chemist, okay? I mean, what we think we know we really don’t even know compared to what there is to know out there. Yeshua is communicating a principle, not giving a Horticultural lecture.

Pliny had some interesting observations about the mustard plant. He was a contemporary of Yeshua, meaning they lived at the same time. He was quite the Renaissance man when it came to studying out and recording naturalistic facts and such. He could be called the inventor of the modern Encyclopedia and it wouldn’t be too far out of line to say so.

With its pungent taste and fiery effect, mustard is extremely beneficial for the health. It grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand, when it has once been sown, it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once. (Pliny, “Natural History” 19.170-171; Rackham et al. 5.528-529)

In other words, mustard made life better, but it was a colossal pain in the butt to get rid of once it had taken root. Right now, I am trying to eliminate a morning glory infestation of my yard. You can’t pull it because if you do the roots will go even deeper and the problem is worse. You have to kill the roots all the way down and there is no pretty or easy way to do it. If you have morning glory weeds, you know exactly what I am talking about. Under the right conditions, the above-ground parts can grow up to a foot or more (or a lot more) every day. Their seeds can lay dormant for up to fifty years. I am sorry, but that is just EVIL. But the frustration I have with morning glory is the frustration that the Romans and the Communists and so many other governments over the past two thousand years have had with the seed of the Gospel. It gets planted and it’s going to infect someone. Maybe not everyone but someone and once it does then it’s there in the midst of society and it can’t hardly be gotten rid of. Not to say that there haven’t been successful extermination campaigns in some areas, but that generally just makes the “problem” worse because when unbelievers see the faith and hope and difference in believers as they die, they are profoundly affected by it. This is why it is such a tragedy when believers absolutely bristle and howl and pitch a fit over being opposed. It’s bad fruit. Very bad fruit. I say this often, if we aren’t different from the world then we are no different from the world. You can avoid immorality all you want, but if you lash out when opposed then you are no different than the world. We have to learn to take the blows to the cheek and turn the other one, not hit back. Our egos are irrelevant.

You know, I used morning glories as a modern equivalent but maybe a virus is a better partial modern picture. One that just infiltrates everything and is so hard to get rid of (pre-antibiotics, anyway). Just a thought. Remember, parables are this is “like” this in some way, not this is “exactly” like this in all ways.

³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Again, we have the insider/outsiders language and pay attention to the fact (as we have seen over the last four weeks) that no one was doomed to be an outsider. An outsider could become an insider. Stick around, stick close, and press in deeper, ask the questions. If they stuck around, Yeshua would teach them and they would become disciples. Not the Twelve, but disciples. We know of at least seventy-two more disciples beside the Twelve.

Next week, we start a new series where Yeshua is no longer dealing with opposition from humans but goes back to battling the cosmic forces of nature, demons, and death as the powerful Yahweh-Warrior of the prophets.