1. The Parable of the Seed
Since the day of Pentecost we are reflecting upon how the Disciples acted after being filled with the Holy Spirit . The reflection should also allow us to seek how we must live in the secular world as christians. More exactly how to take part in forming God’s kingdom on the earth. Today we read Mark chapter 4 in which Jesus tells the parable of growing seeds, which concerns procedure of realization of the kingdom of God amid us.

Mark reported this way Jesus’ appeal at the beginning of his ministries ;- “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)

The verses above don’t promise us a future life in heaven in exchange for the belief in the good news but tell us we can be changed into God’s children through the faith. Then our new lifestyle can change neighbors too. As the result of those reactions in chain the God’s kingdom will be born. The words ” God’s kingdom” are “¦Â¦Á¦Ò¦É¦Ë¦Åί¦Á ¦Ó¦Ïῦ ¦È¦Å¦Ïῦ (bas-il-i’-ah ho theh’-o) ” in Greek, which means “the dominion of God.”

In contrast to Heaven, ruled by God, is serene human world is filled with sins and aggressiveness. Nonetheless the sinful world can be altered to God’s kingdom by christians who repented and make efforts by following in the footsteps of Jesus. That is the meaning of the verses above.

Today we will read the parable of the seed to develop the reflection upon formation of the kingdom of God. The first part is about outcomes of different ways of sowing ;- “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.(Mark 4:3-7)

It is obvious that the seed represents the good news, or God’s words. “Seed which fell along the path” is a comparison of the good news heard with closed mind. Such a mind is like a sterile soil. “Rocky places” implies a type of character which is easily stimulated but unreliable.

The parable might be based on Jesus’ own preaching experiences. People listened to Jesus’ preaching and were exhorted. But many of them didn’t keep it in mind. Despite such results Jesus did never despair because he knew ultimate power of God’s words as the immortal seed. Jesus says ;- Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” (Mark 4:8)
Jesus continued ministries with an unflinching determination by trusting fruitful results promised by God.

2.The Parable of the Growing Seed

The second one is about how the seed grows. ;- He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, 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.(Mark 4:26-28)

The farmer sees that seed sown on the ground sprouts and grows and will give fruits. However he doesn’t know how. The good news is the same as good seed on good ground. God’s words which were well planted in humans heart sprout and grow. But even preachers don’t know how. They only continue their faithful acitivies by believing in the result.

Jesus explained its outcome also with comparison ;- Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."(Mark 4:30-32)

Jesus taught repeatedly the kingdom of God has come. But majority of people didn’t acknowledge the meaning. They can not see the significance of the message because “it is the smallest seed.” Thus they rebuff Jesus’ teaching and continue thinking the world is ruled by Satin and filled with sins. They ignore the upcoming kingdom of God.

As long as Jesus was healing the ill and casting our evil spirits the crowd followed him. But once the authorities accused and arrested Jesus they scattered away. So did even the disciples.

Jesus’ ministry was like a master seed, scarcely seeable at the beginning. The preaching activities could not produce tangible fruits during his life on the earth. It needed enough time to make the importance of the Cross and Resurrection. But after all numerous sprouts came out from the Cross and grew, which formed the early church. Then, nowadays, a third of the world population believe in Jesus as Lord the savior.

Today’s invocation verses are 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 ;- I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

It is God’s spiritual power that breed the life. Therefore Paul says ” It is God who makes the seed grow, not those who planted or watered it. However efforts of farmers is indispensable for cultivating seed and christians’ for realizing God’s works. Therefore we are compelled to work as God’s farmers.

3.Take part in God’s work

Every year Tokyo Baptist Theological Seminary schedules summer school and the organizers titled this year’s session “Christianity and edonomy.” The participants of seminar will contemplate how to qualify christians’ desirable lifestyle in today’s economic world. The lecturer is Mr. Toubou Yoshinobu, a professor of Aoyama Gakuin university, who wrote in one of his works :
– Rationalists of modern society give the priority to profit-seeking spirit and rejected humans’ voluntary and charitable desire. In contrast to that attitude Jesus exhorted us to love each others in altruistic way, without requiring any return. We as Christians must seek political and economical objects based on such a love to build a new society. ( “Kamino kuni to keizairiron - God’s kingdom and economical theory” ISBN¡§9784764265530 p 66 ¡ËAnd he states also problems in modern societies can be resolved with the wisdom written in the Bible.

As a matter of fact, many persons in the modern world think in profit- seeking way. For example big companies consider human working force to be merely a factor of total costs. And they look for methods to minimize it to obtain maximal gain. As a result of that they forgot the fact that working force consists in human efforts. Therefore many of temporary workers were put to redundancy during this recession and that tendency generated numerous social problems. Besides employees of vulnerable status were not administrated by the department of human resources but by that of logistics as if they were row materials. They were considered to be a security valve in case of decreasing products needs. When we were looked at this way we can not feel any satisfaction or joy in working activities. Such a system violates human dignity. Act of working must lead us to to realize our being. We as christians must try to establish a new paradigm which can allow all members of the society to become and feel useful for others. Thus human acitivities must be “good work.”

I tell you now about a man who concretized the concept of that “good work.” His name is Muhammad Yunus *, a Bangladeshi banker and economist. He had been a professor of economics where he developed the concept of microcredit. Microcredit is a system of loans which supports entrepreneurs who are not qualified for traditional bank loans.

Recently he had a new idea. It’s called social business enterprise (SBE)*, and the first step is realization of a yogurt factory in Bangladesh. In parallel he achieved to make clinics opened, which offers free ophthalmological treatments and operations to the poor.

However “social business enterprise"* is not a simple charitable project. ThoughYunus termed it as “social benefit maximizing kind businesses” that are created to do good to people, not paying any attention to making personal gain. It can also collaborate with global businesses. He said this new concept of enterprise might save and renew fundamentally the present system which is amid severe economic crises all over the world.

He founded also Grameen Bank* too,which provide credit to the poor as a tool of poverty reduction. The word “Grameen” was derived from the word “gram” or “village”, means “of the village”. In 1976, during visits to the poorest households in the village of Jobra near Chittagong University, Yunus discovered that very small loans could make a disproportionate difference to a poor person. Jobra women who made bamboo furniture had to take out usurious loans for buying bamboo, to pay their profits to the moneylenders. Today 3.2 million borrowers benefit from its total lending of 42 billion dollars and debt-repayment ratio arrives 98% high. Mr Yunus says thanks to the Bank 46% of borrowers successfully were emancipated from poverty. In 2006, Yunus and the bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

The Grameen loan system was experimented in Arkansas at the request of then-Governor Bill Clinton in 1985 and continue to spread till in 60 countries, alomost all successfully. Yunus thinks the desire to help others embedded, even in various degrees, inside all human beings. And the capitalism which is incomplete now can become complete by fulfilling such a desire through economic activities.

Even though he is a Muslim I think his work contributes to establishing the kingdom of Godon the earth. Nowadays our society lost the notion of morality, which was overshadowed by priority of economical development. But if we start making daily and basic efforts to restore it we can give birth to a well balanced society. Then a tiny seed of God’s kingdom should sprout there. When a pharisee asked Jesus when the God’s kingdom would come he answered ;- “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you."(Luke 17:20-21)

We must decide to take part in God’s work by keeping in our mind ” the kingdom of God is within you”
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Muhammad Yunus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_business_enterprise
http://www.nextbillion.net/news/muhammad-yunus-on-social-business
Grameen Bank http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grameen_Bank