Cedars And Seeds

Thus says the Lord GOD: I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain; on the mountain heights of Israel, I will plant it. It shall put forth branches and bear fruit and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs. And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the LORD, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, wither up the green tree, and make the withered tree bloom. As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do. (Ezekiel 17:22-24)

For whom have we been majestic cedars providing protection for all who dwell with us?  Who have we raised high through our charity, honest and sincere praise, or just plain love?  Who has been withered through sadness, but we made them green again by our forgiveness?  Ezekiel did not ask these specific questions, but his words can be used by us to frame questions God might ask, and we are compelled to answer.

Our Gospel is tied to this reading.  It’s from Mark and reads: Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.” 

He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private. (Mark 4:26-34)

We are all like mustard seeds thinking we are small and inconsequential, although many of us are haughty and high-mighty, self-assured egotists (God bless us).  We seeds have been scattered on the ground, but unlike in the Gospel when all the seed sprout and grow without care, such as water and fertilizer, we need both that we get through faith and worship.  When that happens, we yield fruit for the Kingdom of God.

Deacon David Pierce