Receive What He Has Promised
Piety
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36
"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 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." Mark 4:26-29
Study
Study is the second leg of the tripod because Mark reminds us that we know nothing. In speaking to the many agrarian farmers in Galilee, Jesus basically says that the land yields the crops and the farmer can help them along with planting, watering and more. However, the bigger question is that the farmer really does not know the mystery of how the land provides this food for us.
Likewise, we have no idea how the Kingdom will come to pass.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, but it is also even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.[i]
To overcome these issues, Jesus offers all manner of axioms and practical “wisdom.” Despite that, we wallow in our ignorance and hypocrisy.
Yet through the pairing of Mark and Hebrews, we are pointed in the right direction. The practical consequences from these reflections on the priesthood and the sacrifice of Christ should make it clear that we have direct and confident access to God through the person and teachings of Jesus.[ii]
Action
Will we know why the Kingdom has come any more than we why the harvest comes? By heeding the practical wisdom of Jesus in the spirit in of mercy that it is offered, we are to encourage one another to Christian love and activity. And, like the reminder yesterday, we are to stop judging others so that we can avoid the sin of hypocrisy.
We must continue to overcome that ignorance by planting the seeds that we have faith will one day grow. We must continue to water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
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