Sun Kwak, “Night and Day”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kknSw23FSdM

TEXT: Mark 4:26-29

[26] And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. [27] He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. [28] The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. [29] But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

SERMON: “Night and Day”

Back in the middle of the season of the Coronavirus lockdowns, I came across this video where Carey Nieuwhof was interviewing Tim Keller. And it was a confusing time for everybody, a time where there were plenty of questions. And Keller, by this time, had been retired about five years after forty years of pastoring and specifically 28 years with Redeemer, the church he planted. And so, he was asked what he thought the future of the American church was. And of course, these were all projections. But Keller did his best Gandalf enactment. And he gave this hopeful proposition to the church, to continue to do what we’ve been doing. That whether or not the church is persecuted or opposed by civil authorities and society, God would do the growing. That if the American government allows for the church to be the church, then the church will grow through unhindered proclamation of the gospel through preaching the Word. But also, he said that if it were to be the case that the church is to be persecuted or actively opposed with the government putting restrictions and threats upon the church and Christianity, then that would also direct us toward further growth. That historically, Christianity has thrived in times of hardship and persecution. Because it’s in these moments of circumstantial darkness that the light of Christ has shined most brightly. And something Charles Spurgeon said about the early church when facing adverse circumstances — Never was the victory of patience more complete than in the early church. The anvil broke the hammer by bearing all the blows that the hammer could place upon it. The patience of the saints was stronger than the cruelty of tyrants. There’s no exact answer to how God sustains his church and his people. But he does, and he has. And in every season, he will — no matter how dark or hopeless the situation may seem. For The Kingdom of God is not something we orchestrate — it’s something we participate in.

There are parts of this parable that we’re in today that are hard to comprehend and interpret and make sense of. There are parts that are clear as day. And in many ways, both are equally hard to wrap our hearts around. But from how I’ve read and understood this parable, there’s a deep comfort with how Jesus relates to our reality. Because right in the midst of this parable and right in the midst of the black and white and the grey in between, Jesus is right there. And wherever he is, we have hope, comfort, and light in the most perplexing of situations and in the most dampened of circumstances of life in this fallen world. Because what we’re told today in our parable, we read in verse 27 — He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. And it’s not about being absent-minded and confused. But there is a mystery to how God works in the black and white and in the grey. He’s given us a formula to follow, but it’s not one to be mechanized in accordance to manmade expectations and desires. Our job is to scatter the seed. And it’s not ours but God’s work to grow those into a harvest. Verse 28 tells us — The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And I know most of us aren’t familiar with this kind of agrarian speech. But this is normal and ordinary process, in proper order. So, there’s nothing shocking about how this harvest is coming about. It’s normal and ordinary and habituated. And this is, as I’m going to argue, the ordinary means of grace, that the church is to undertake — preaching God’s Word, observing the sacraments, and participating in the ministry of prayer.

And what is it that we preach? Well, we continue reading in verse 29 that when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come. That combination of words of sickle and harvest appears just six times in the New Testament. Once here and the five other times in Revelation 14:14-20, where we read about the judgment and wrath of God upon those outside of the cover of Jesus. Haddon Robinson, who once taught preaching at Gordon-Conwell, at one time, said of parables that younger preachers tend to get really excited about the parables, but older preachers have learned to fear them. Because these parables were verbal knives that functioned to cut into human imagination and to use stark images to delineate those who belonged to Jesus and those who would not. And we read over in verses 33-34: “With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.” And our job is to understand what Jesus has explained. But as we read in Deuteronomy 29:29, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. Because for centuries and for generations, God has used the ordinary means of Word and sacrament to sustain his church. Because the things that are revealed belong to us forever and ever. And what is it that we read in Colossians 1:26? The mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We preach Christ, we make him known, as he’s been revealed to us, in every season and circumstance.

There’s this film October Sky starring young Jake Gyllenhall and John Cooper. And they play this father-son relationship in the context of a coal mining town in Coalwood, West Virginia. And Jake Gyllenhall plays this high school boy Homer Hickham. And his dad John Hickham, played by John Cooper, is a senior coal miner in their town. And so, at one point, they’re having this conversation about Homer’s future and possible career paths. And Homer can’t stand the thought of becoming a coal miner, just like his dad. And to his father’s disappointment and offense, he makes this known. And so, John tells his son — The coal we mine makes steel, Homer. And if steel fails, this country fails. And to my wife’s mocking me to this day, that’s the extent to which I understand with how steel is made. I never thought to look into it, to study it. That whenever I saw steel, I just heard John Hickham’s reprimanding of his son and narrating to myself — Oh, in some way or fashion, that right there has to do with coals. And I think that’s a little bit like what we’re reading today in verse 27, when we’re told that the farmer sows, and he sees the growth, but he knows not how. And I’ve heard all kinds of explanations for this. But it’s not like the farmer sees seed sprouting and growing in unexpected places, and he’s just thinking — NO WAY, did not expect that to happen. I mean, he’s scattering seed on the ground. His expectation is that something WOULD happen. And I don’t even think that it’s particularly supernatural growth he’s observing and responding to. I think the clearest explanation is that he does not know how. It’s not his place. This is pre-Google and Chat GPT, pre-YouTube. You couldn’t just learn about things on the spot. He doesn’t know, meaning he doesn’t know the science behind the growth. He just knows it happens, and he trusts the process. His role is just to scatter seeds. And as a church, our job is not to mechanize growth or to provoke change. It’s our job to present the life-giving Word, to scatter seeds. And in God’s wisdom and in his know how, it’s what he’s used for generations to hold his church together.

Now, there’s a wrinkle here, with this ordering of words in our parable. We don’t know how the growth comes, but we do know certain things we can expect. And we find this through the unusual ordering of night and day, as we find in verse 27. And it’s seen in tandem with the sleeping and waking of this farmer in the parable. So, you might not think anything of it, when you think of the logical ordering. Because you sleep in the night and rise in the day, unless you have odd working hours. But remember, this is an agrarian analogy. You don’t find a whole lot of farmers without the guidance of sunlight. Also, when you peruse the Scriptures, the expected ordering with the combination of those words is not night and daybut rather day and night. It’s what we read all throughout the Psalms, and it’s a figure of speech — something we might refer to as, “All day long.” But in contrast, the ordering of night and day is lesser used in the Scriptures, which signals us to a different emphasis — not one regarding the length or duration of an activity. But rather, this has more of a focus upon the length or duration of one’s waiting. It’s about a longing in the dark for the dawn, with a rather ominous undertone. It’s something we’ll read of in Mark 5, with the demoniac who ravages the night. We read there in Mark 5:5that night and day he was among the tombs and on the mountains crying out and cutting himself. It’s the picture of one who’s held in bondage. It’s also what we read of Anna, in Luke 2:37, when praying ceaselessly for the coming of the Messiah, longing for the King to come to his people. We read there that — She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. In the darkness, there she was waiting for the Messiah to come. And I think sometimes, we undergo seasons of protracted darkness. And we might wonder and ask — Where is the light? And we might even wonder — Where is God? Where is Jesus? It’s for and in these seasons that we have this word. To answer the mirage of questions — Why is God making me suffer? Why is this season so dark? Why is it so heavy? So long? It’s in these seasons where we must hear these particular words — we know not how. That we sow, and we trust in the promises of the Word. Because while we might not to make sense of our circumstances, we lean into what we do know. What we do know is that God is not absent in the night. He’s present and active, and when we trust in his ordinary means of grace, he sustains his people and provides the growth. All we do is sow and scatter until the time comes when he puts in the sickle, when Jesus comes back again to make all things new, to wipe away all tears, and to make all things right and to exact proper judgment. But between now and then, we scatter and sow, and we trust in God’s Word, to work in our hearts even in seasons of darkness and slumber.

One of my favorite parts of The Lord of the Rings is the introduction of Aragorn, who is the Christ figure and the true King to sit upon the throne of Gondor. But as you might know through the earlier parts of the story, what propels the narrative into motion is when the ring to rule them all falls into the hands of a hobbit named Frodo Baggins. And he comes from this place called The Shire. But as he comes into possession and responsibility of the ring, it’s his mission to drop it into the molten lava of Mordor, where it was first forged. Because that’s its only path to destruction. And so, the plot centers around the ring. And Frodo is tasked with this seemingly ominous and impossible mission. Against him, there are minions of Sauron, the dark ruler who, if he were to possess the ring again, would enact his dark powers in menacing and inescapable ways. And so, there are these dark riders who are referred to as the Nazgul, who ride between The Shire and Mordor, with the singular motive of hunting for this ring. And so, when Aragorn is first introduced, it’s after Frodo and the three other hobbits had experienced the darkness of these Nazgul. And upon first glance, this Aragornseems to be all too similar to the Nazgul. He’s actually known as Strider, at that point. And because he’s taken on this shadowy form that seems to resemble the Nazgul too much, the hobbits are initially a bit distrusting. But then, a couple things happen. Through a pub and inn called The Pony, they receive a letter from Gandalf, the great wizard and their friend. And he assures them of this Strider with the exact words that would be repeated through the lips of Striderhimself — All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. And so, Aragorn, upon meeting these hobbits does his best to convince them that they can trust him, that he can be their guide to Mordor. Saying that as the rightful heir and king, he took on the shadowy image of Strider, the dark rider, in order to master the route from The Shire to Mordor, telling them — I know all the lands between The Shire and the misty mountains for I have wandered over them for many years. And when telling them at last why they should trust him, he unveils his identity to them — I am Aragorn, son of Erathorn. And if by life or death I can save you I will.

My friends, I’m not a wizard. And I’m not privy to any secret information that you also don’t have access to. The things revealed to us are for all of us forever and ever. But I know a king, and he’s also my friend. And he took on all the shadowsand mastered the road of darkness, in order to be our guide. And it was he who was swallowed into the deepest darknessin providing a way, a path for us from earth to heaven, from sinfulness to forgiveness, from rebellion to embrace, from wrath to grace, from night to day. Because his stapling words of his presence with us, in the midst of dark and ominous times. Here’s Jesus, the Son of Man, who came to seek and to save the lost. The road from The Shire to Mordor is ominous and dark, figuratively speaking. But it’s one that our Savior has mastered, in his commitment to us. So, in these seasons of darkness and valley traversing, we scatter and sow. We trust in his Word, for it is our guide. It will unfailingly lead you time and time again back into the arms and the commitment of the one who died for his people and stepped into our darkness. And he wore this deepest darkness upon his heart so that whenever we incur moments where we feel alone and surrounded by dark and ominous presences, we can know that he’s been there. And he’s right there by our side. He’s mastered darkness, and there is no darkness he does not know. For night and day was his experience from the Upper Room to the cross. And on that darkest Friday afternoon, the darkness swallowed him up for our salvation and protectionand for his promised presence amongst us every step of the way. Some things in life, the answer is — We do not knowand We know not how. But what anchors us is what we do know. And through the story of the gospel, we know a king, who is also our friend, who mastered the road of darkness in order to be our everlasting guide. Take his hand today, and be lead to the well of grace, where forgiveness is found, where the people of God have for generations drank. Because of the abounding and unending grace and love of our God.