students of jesus

My friend Jamie Stilson believes in the power of Ugly, by which he means we learn to take off our religious masks and stand naked before God. Ugly will liberate us from false spirituality and is a celebration of the beauty of God’s grace reflected through our weaknesses, not our strengths. I hope you will find him as ugly as I do, because in him God's grace shines through. Everyone should own a copy of his book, The Power of Ugly. Jamie blogs here and tweets here.

As I write this it is Holy Saturday, the day in-between the cross and the resurrection, the day of waiting, the day of disillusionment, it is the day I find myself living in most of the time. Jesus tells a parable that gives us hope and encouragement to celebrate this living in-between. It is a parable that gives us great insight into how the Kingdom works without giving us any answers. The parable I call Ugly Sleeping is found only in Mark’s Gospel, 4:26-29:
“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Jesus had already spoken parables of the Kingdom being like sowing a seed, but in this parable he gives us the secret knowledge of how it works. We love to understand how things work so we feel like we are more in control; we love the how to messages that fill in the blanks with the knowledge we need to be happy and a little holy. But in this parable Jesus explains how the Kingdom works when the seed is sown by telling us “the seeds sprouts and grows though the sower does not know how.” You may say that is not an explanation but a mystery--and you’d be right. How the Kingdom works is beyond our understanding but it does work. Can you live with that? I am very cautious about anyone who is an expert about how God works. The longer I walk with Jesus the less certain I am. The more I learn about the Kingdom the less I really understand. This is ugly theology but trust transforms it into beautiful childlike faith.

In essence Jesus tells us that after we have done our part by sowing in faith all we can do is to go to bed! The alternative which I often select is to stay up striving, worrying, fearing, and some faithless praying. One of the best examples in my life would be the teenage years of our three daughters (you can read more in The Power of Ugly, the chapter called Ugly Parenting). We sowed the seed over and over in our daughters hearts, singing over it, praying for it, crying about it, shouting at it to grow but rarely did we just go to bed in perfect peace knowing that in the hiddenness and silence God was powerfully at work. It is a battle to believe that God’s seed is more powerful than a teenagers rebellion.

Jesus goes on to describe the growth of the seed as producing “all by itself.”  The word Mark uses, automato, is only found one other place: in Acts 12:10, where a huge iron gate that is locked “opens for them by itself” so Peter is able to escape from prison. This word is of course where we get our word automatically. Jesus says that the seed needs no help from us, leaving us in a place of humbleness and helplessness. Once we have done our part we must believe that God is faithful to do His. The miracle of resurrection is the basis of our faith for which we wait on Holy Saturday while the “seed is planted.” We will not know how but we will know who is working. Is it enough for us to see no evidence, hear no noise of work going on, to stand helplessly by knowing there is nothing God needs from us and go to bed in peace?

The sower went about his daily life being faithful to his responsibilities knowing that in the unseen, the underground Kingdom was at work ready to break forth at any moment. This hope floods the ordinary moments of life with Kingdom expectations. Free from the need to understand in order to believe and delivered from the false responsibilities of trying to make His seed grow we rest in Him.

In many ways going to sleep is like dying, in fact, the New Testament refers to dead believers as “sleeping.” I am not sure teaching little children the traumatic prayer “now I lay me down to sleep  and pray the Lord my soul to keep and if I die before I wake, I pray my soul the Lord to take” is the best way to get this truth across. Jesus teaches us in this parable that one of our greatest acts of faith is going to bed with a complete trust that while we sleep He is working and His kingdom is advancing. In sleep we are completely helpless and totally inactive, depending on Him who never slumbers or sleeps. (Ps.121:4) The seed will sprout all by itself in the miracle of resurrection and we will not know how it happened but we will certainly know Who made it happen. Yes, God is working while we sleep and while we live our ordinary lives, but it is usually unseen and without noise.

To be Kingdom people we must embrace our helplessness, knowing He does not need our help. We should celebrate our ignorance of how His Kingdom works, while we in faith expect the blade to sprout up. Tonight why not try laying your head on the pillow in faith and practice dying? Get some “Ugly Sleep,” knowing God is at work.