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Sound & Season is a daily audio devotional designed to connect the routine moments of life to the rhythms of the Church seasons.
This is Sound and Season. It's Friday, 9th day of Lent. Our passage today comes from the gospel of Mark chapter 4 verses 21 through 29. And Jesus said to them, is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed and not on a stand? For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest, nor is anything secret except to come to light.
Jeffrey Heine:If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. And he said to them, pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And he said, the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.
Jeffrey Heine:He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Jeffrey Heine:Like a lamp placed upon the stand, the kingdom of God is meant to be revealed. It is meant to be made manifest. So Jesus begins with a parable about the kingdom of God. He offers a picture of what the kingdom is like. It's like a man patiently scattering seed and in time from seed to sprout to blade to ear, then bearing grain.
Jeffrey Heine:The growth unfolds, the grain germinating and developing. That is the coming kingdom of God. It is emerging, untamed. The heralds of the good news of the kingdom are like the sower who does not make the grain grow on their own, but is faithful to the work of sowing. It is the earth that produces the grain, and it is God who produces his kingdom by himself.
Jeffrey Heine:And when the grain is ripe, the sower becomes the reaper, because the plentiful harvest has come. That is why Jesus says that it is God's good pleasure to give his children the kingdom. It comes from him, and the children of God receive the kingdom that he has grown. Lord, hear our prayer, and let our cry come to you. Let us pray.
Jeffrey Heine:For according to your great mercy, you have caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us. Guard us by your power and grant us the eyes to see, ears to hear, and will to respond to your grace and your mercy today. O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the holy spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.