This weekend we heard from Mark’s Gospel two parables of what the Kingdom of God is like. The challenge many Christians have is that we mistakenly think that the Kingdom of God is “eternal life”, or it is where we go when we die. But actually, the Kingdom of God is here and at hand…and it must continue through us, with us, in us and frankly despite us. How? By planting Gospel-based seeds. What does that mean? Check it out…

1. 13 June 2021 11th
Sunday in Ordinary Time Princeton, NJ
1 Deacon Jim Knipper
As we have come out of the season of Easter and the subsequent solemnities, we find ourselves rejoining the
Ordinary Time of our liturgical calendar – for it was back in February 14th that we last stood here, on a Sunday,
wearing green and celebrating these numbered Sunday’s. So, since we are in Cycle B of our calendar, we will
spend the rest of the year continuing to walk through the Gospel of Mark...where at the beginning of this year we
heard read from this Gospel the proclamation that, “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at
hand.” And now this Sunday we pick up with this Gospel by listening to two parables that describe what this
Kingdom of God is like.
But the challenge many Christians have is that we have mistakenly thought that the Kingdom of God is “eternal
life”, or it is where we go when we die. So, before we dive into this Gospel and the metaphors given to us today,
I thought it best that we take a few minutes to get a better understanding of what this term - Kingdom of God –
really means. For it was…and is…the guiding image of the entire ministry of Christ.
Spiritual teacher and writer Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault writes, “Jesus would say that the Kingdom of God is within
you – that it is here and at hand – that it is now and not yet – that is an experience accessible to you right now.”
In one of his many pieces regarding the Kingdom of God, Franciscan Richard Rohr writes: “Jesus teaches that
right relationship (i.e., love) is the ultimate and daily criterion. If a social order allows and encourages strong
connectedness between people and creation, people and each other, people and God, then you have a truly
sacred culture [called] the [Kingdom] of God. It is not a world without pain or mystery, but simply a world where
we are connected and in communion with all things. The Kingdom is about union and communion, which means
that it is also about mercy, forgiveness, nonviolence, letting go, solidarity, service, and lives of love, patience,
and simplicity.”
Author and activist Lisa Sharon Harper describes it this way: “Evidence of the presence of the Kingdom of God
is thick wherever and whenever people stand on the promise of God that there is more to this world—more to
this life—than what we see. There is more than the getting over, getting by, or getting mine. There is more than
the brokenness, the destruction, and the despair that threaten to wash over us like the waters of the deep.
There is a vision of a world where God cuts through the chaos, where God speaks and there is light. There is a
vision where love is binding every relationship together.”
And…theologian and author Brian McLaren has thought deeply and practically about what Jesus means when
he speaks of the Kingdom of God. He views it as synonymous with the Gospel itself, when he writes: “Jesus
proposed a radical alternative – a profoundly new framing story that he called good news – which brings hope,
healing, joy, and opportunity. The term Kingdom of God is at the heart and center of Jesus’ message in word
and deed. As a member of a little colonized nation, Jesus bursts on the scene with this scandalous message:
The time has come! Rethink everything! A radically new kind of empire is available—the [Kingdom] of God has
arrived! . . . Open your minds and hearts like children to see things freshly in this new way, follow me and my
words, and enter this new way of living.”
So, using those insights into the Kingdom of God, we turn to today’s Gospel – and hear that this Kingdom is like
a mustard seed – the smallest of all seeds – and, yet, a seed that rapidly grows into a bush 10 to 12 feet tall.
We will often hear a number of explanations on this metaphor regarding this seed – such as, how love and or
faith can begin small and with nourishment can grow and grow…which is all good. But we need to take a
second look into this parable, for the agricultural crowd listening to this story knows all too well that the mustard
seed is an invasive weed! It is the last thing anyone wants in their field. A farmer would not only want to get rid
of such a plant, but also rid themselves of the birds that are hiding in the bushes and eating all the good seed!

2. 13 June 2021 11th
Sunday in Ordinary Time Princeton, NJ
2 Deacon Jim Knipper
No one in their right mind would ever sow mustard seeds…well…no one, unless you are God. Remember, in
today’s parables Christ is describing The Kingdom of God – he is describing God’s Love – and like the sower
who casts the mustard seeds that are rejected by most, this parable reminds us that God’s love encompasses
all. That during our darkest moments, divine love can change us from feeling rejected to feeling special; from
feeling broken to feeling mended; and from feeling abandoned to feeling united. God’s love reaches the red and
blue, the white and black, the divorced, the depressed, the homeless, the jobless, the immigrants and the
addicted.
And lastly…I point you to the opening of today’s Gospel when Jesus describes the Kingdom of God as seed that
is scattered on the land that will sprout and grow and will yield fruit that will be harvested. My sisters and
brothers – the Kingdom of God requires you and me to do the planting. For the Kingdom of God is an evolving
new world order, a new age, a promised hope which all began in the teaching and ministry of Christ, and it must
continue through us, with us, in us and frankly despite us. So, the seeds that you and I plant really matters!
And after these past 18 months of the pandemic as well as so much unrest within our social-political-financial
fabric of our country – and as we return to being back in Church, and as we begin to move through this post-
pandemic period, and as we mourn the death of over 600,000 just in our country alone – what seeds do you and
I need to be planting? Because let’s face it – we can’t be surprised by the fruit we bear, or that our family bears,
or that our communities bear or that our country bears - if we continue to plant all the same seeds as we did
before. For if we truly want different fruit that will benefit our children and their children and their children’s
children then we need to plant different seeds – gospel-based seeds that will expand what Jesus began, that will
treat all humans with dignity and that will give reverence to all of creation. Indeed – this is the time of fulfillment –
this is the time to be planting new seeds that we need to then nurture so that they will bear fruit rooted in the
Gospels, fruit that will spread the good news, fruit that will bring forth Divine love - for, indeed, the Kingdom of
God is at hand.