1 Samuel 15:34-16:13; Psalm 20; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17; Mark 4:26-34

Have you ever watched someone demonstrate something that obviously takes skill, yet they can make it look effortless as they ice a cake adding fancy swirls or flowers, capture a landscape in a few brushstrokes, score a goal, step into a canoe without rocking the boat, or pick out a tune having only heard it once, then start improvising? If you watch a potter working at a wheel, it’s incredible the way a few hand movements can transform a lump of wet clay into an elegant vase, bowl, or anything they want – at least good potters can. I remember my first lesson – having lined up three lumps of clay, all carefully kneaded and patted into grapefruit-sized balls, finally leaning forward, draped in an old bath-towel, ready to throw one of them dead centre on this moving target when it happened…. Cut off mid-sentence our instructor was saying something about fixing the clay on the wheel before spinning it up to full speed, when a great lump of dirt flashed past miraculously missing a shelf full of pots, but splattering everyone in its path with a trail of muck like the tail of a comet and finally thudding against the far wall, then sliding down in slow motion like a slug. There are obviously tricks to the trade and we had just learned one. Since then, I have learned a few more, but still find with wheel work that no matter what I plan to make the final product remains a mystery as the clay takes on a life of its own – a vase turning out to be a plate, a bowl becoming a candle-holder and one of my more ambitious creations which started out as a birdfeeder becoming a garden gargoyle. Despite that, or maybe because I do not have full control I can have fun, enjoying every stage of the process and find it fascinating how things develop, often turning out differently from what I had in mind. It is like discovering that many things and people are not what they seem at first glance.

That’s what all today’s readings tell us, saying things may not turn out as we expect, or be what they seem – nor people, at least, not in God’s eyes. Just as we are told God sees beyond appearances, looking into people’s hearts to see their true potential, we are urged see others through God’s eyes, and look at life through the lens of faith to appreciate the possibilities, seeing ourselves and others become a new creation in Christ, so constantly evolving. Faith gives us a new perspective on life, one that has a marvellous sense of mystery and some surprises in store, but optimistic, so at ease with not having all the answers – curious, but ever hopeful as we move forward.

Take the Kingdom of God which we are supposed to be moving towards or are we there already? Jesus said it is near, even inside us, so is it here, do we carry it around with us? He didn’t describe it as a place, so what is it – a spiritual dimension, a state of mind, way of being, or way of seeing the world? Jesus didn’t define it geographically with a set of coordinates, nor in the kind of concrete terms we may prefer, but using parables instead. Why? Perhaps because they are open to a variety of interpretations to help us realize the many aspects of God’s rule which expands even as our own understanding of it expands. The idea of the Kingdom constantly expanding, or growing, fits well with images of seeds growing and evolving miraculously into grain or lush bushes. Before folk had figured out how plants grow, the wonders of nature were just that, awesome wonders and full of mystery. What better way to talk about God’s Kingdom – in terms of mystery that folk were familiar with, and comfortable using, since life contained so many mysteries 2000 years ago? Maybe we have lost something of that wonder, and with it a reverence for good things that are outside our control – the gifts and blessings we enjoy.

Having spent several years working in scientific research, it seemed the more questions we answered, the more questions those answers raised, but I felt we made progress in moving a step closer to understanding whatever it was that we wanted to understand. Similarly, as I try to probe the meaning of the parables, once I seem to answer one question, more pop up. For example, who is the person who scatters the seed? If it is God, then how come it says he doesn’t know how the seed sprouts and grows, only when the grain is ready to harvest? And what is the harvest anyway? Could the sower be Jesus, the seed the Good News he came to share, and the harvest the fruit of his labours? Are we the ones who scatter the seeds of God’s love, and although we may never know how it will develop, those converted to belief in God’s goodness by what they gather from us are the harvest? Whoever does what apparently something grows as if all by itself – grows naturally without anyone’s help once something has been scattered. And without answers to any of this, while the growth remains a mystery, we can count on it. What’s more the Kingdom of God is like every part of the process from the planting to harvest, so since the coming of Christ perhaps the Kingdom has been growing wherever something life-giving is happening, even inside us – as he said. Let’s check that out against the second parable which compares the Kingdom of God with the tiniest of seeds growing into something great that protects and provides a home for other creatures. In this case the seed growing miraculously into something good, for the benefit of others, is likened to the Kingdom of God. So what is that? Love? Peace? Justice? Good news that brings hope? Anything that is life-giving? What would that be for you?… for those you know and love?… for folk who are struggling?

I believe, one of the most precious gifts we can give, a gift that can plant something new and wonderful in another person’s life, a gift that can grow in wonderful ways we might never know or understand, or be able to control is a kind, well-placed word chosen specially for that person and situation. If I were to add up the key words that have changed my life truly changed my life for the good, I reckon they would total less than two minutes – I’m talking specifically about words that have planted seeds, although encouragement from others have helped the ideas grow. Just the odd phrase or comment has been enough. Looking back, would you have seen in yourself the person you have become, or done the things you have done without someone else seeing your potential? I think those who plant such hopes and ideas in our minds are all agents of God’s Kingdom. What did it cost them? The time and interest to look at us through different eyes, then the time to tell us. That’s all it took, but often what it does take to help folk put aside their old perhaps negative ideas and start seeing themselves in a new light. Is that what Samuel did, take the time to see something in David – see this youngest son, the least significant who had been left out (literally), as their future king? Then once the spirit and seed of an idea was planted in David it grew in him. Maybe we are all called to be king-makers of sorts, all called to see the good in others and plant seeds of hope, then patiently watch them take shape. Things may not end up as we imagine, but that’s OK – a bit like my pots, but a lot better, because we are all in the hands of an expert potter who can mould us into something more wonderful that we might imagine. That’s all part of the mystery and wonder, part of the process we call the Kingdom of God – like the seed of goodness growing within us, and growing out from us in a process that never ends.