Mark 4:26-29
[Jesus] said, “The kingdom of God is like this: A man scatters seed on the ground, and while he sleeps and rises, night and day, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. The ground produces fruit on its own: first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head. When the crop is ready, he swings the sickle without delay, because the harvest has come.”
Dear Heavenly Father,
There is something incredible about how plants grow and the similarity of our faith. That tiny, dead seed is placed into some dirt and watered. Then this miracle of life happens. Lord, this is amazing! Through your creation, you have established how life will reproduce by its one kind, even though we have no idea what causes that lifeless seed to come to life.
Likewise, what is even more impressive. You take a dead soul, and someone casts the seed of your word in it, through the application of the water and the word in baptism; it germinates and springs to life—what an incredible miracle. Through the daily use of reading your scripture, the soil around the seed is tilled. Throughout our lives, you use the power of your word properly divided to take care of us. Using the law—your commandments—you cultivate and prune us. Through your gospel and the regular feeding of the Holy Communion, you give us the nutrients we need to grow.
As we see the seeds we plant in the garden sprout and grow, similarly so does our faith. When we share your gospel with others, seeds of faith are sown so that they, too, will come to know you and spring to life. On our last day, the sickle is swung, and we are taken home in the harvest of our end. All this is possible because of Jesus’ sake; his holy life and innocent death gave us life. Because we are covered in Jesus’ blood, we now have eternal life and certainty of salvation. Amen.
Pastor Roger Emmons
When you sow the gospel’s seed in someone else, you may not see it germinate right away. It is not our place to know how or why this happens, but the Holy Spirit does. Just sow the seeds.