Mustard Seed Faith

3rd Sunday after Pentecost

Today's Readings: 2 Cor. 5:6-17; Mark 4:26-34

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Jesus spoke many parables and as we are told this morning, he did so as the crowd was able to hear it. We in Iowa can certainly hear parables about planting and harvesting. We here at SEEDS of Faith can certainly hear parables of seed and growth, can’t we!? Thankfully, these are examples we can understand and relate to! Even if we aren’t actually farmers, chances are we know a few, or we have seen the planting and the harvesting of the fields play out before our own eyes.

The kingdom of God is like the smallest, tiniest little seed on earth – the mustard seed. Yet from this tiny, insignificant seed comes a hearty bush seemingly overnight. Now Jesus could have easily said the kingdom of God was like an acorn which yields the massive oak tree which houses critters, provides shade, and stands tall above the land like a true, mighty king! But God’s kingdom is not like the ones humanity has seen before is it? It’s unexpected.. deceptive even; what seems small and insignificant.. what seems weak and defeated.. is actually where God can be found. And notice also, Mark’s version is not about the soil, nor is it about the farmer, but “the earth produces of itself” (v.28). God has planted the seed of the kingdom and it will accomplish what God intended for it to do.

There is a lot of waiting that happens after a seed is planted. There are a lot of nights of sleep and rest that go by before the seed begins to sprout, and plenty more nights of sleep before the harvest comes. Slowly but surely the seed grows, and in this case the mustard bush begins to expand and welcome into it’s ecosystem birds, bugs, squirrels, and life forms of all kinds. It does not exist for itself, it does not exist for the farmer; it exists as an integral part of a whole; meant to live and thrive together under the care of the Creator God.

Wow, God really does get a lot done while the world sleeps! Sometimes we have to step aside and get out of the way.. we have to finally turn in for the night and get some rest and wake up to see the wonders God was up to during the night. We know this is true, not just from this parable, but also of course from the TOMB! The women woke up that Easter morning to see the wonders of God, the risen Christ, that transformed the world forever and we are still witnessing the fruits of that labor today. Sometimes we have to get out of the way, let God work, and by holy grace reap the benefits in the morning.

The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that produces a bush that welcomes an ecosystem that works naturally and gloriously, just the way God intended – as a thriving community that works and lives together in harmony. That’s kind of hard for us to imagine today in America. In a society where rest is almost a bad word and making room for God is something we can only mayyyybe squeeze into our calendars every once in awhile and going to sleep to let the earth produce for itself is RISKY because we have to be OUT THERE, working, producing, being relevant and useful, calculating how to yield the most crop for the biggest gain! Plus, in a society where individualism always trumps community, a bush like this just seems like a hassle and even a problem. We don’t want all these bugs and critters coming into our space. And if you do plant crops, you don’t a bush like this nearby! You don’t want those critters eating and destroying YOUR plants - that’s your money, your livelihood!

What a concept to imagine that perhaps we weren’t meant to live this way, but rather we were meant to be one with the rest of creation.. Perhaps, we weren’t meant for constant work and production, but for rest and harmony with the earth, God, and each other.. God created the earth to produce of itself, laid the groundwork for the seed to become the bush and trusted that it would do so. We are, at our core, just another seed God has created and trusted to the process.. Yet we know that if toxins poison the soil, the earth will not produce – the seed will not grow. Such is true for us as well. Greed, hatred, racism, sexism, consumerism, individualism (just to name a few) – all these ‘ISMs’ are toxins being pumped into our soil from all sides, cutting us off from growth, from one another, and even from God.

So I wonder, how do we get back to the welcoming branches of the mustard bush and it’s ecosystem of birds, bugs, squirrels, and life forms of all kinds!? How do we begin to see this bush as an example of the kingdom of God? How do we cleanse our soil and begin to regrow and relearn how to live as an integral part of a whole?.. Friends, I don’t have the answers, but I do have my hunch that the needed transformation is rooted in love.

We were meant to live and thrive together under the care of our Creator God. I believe God showed us on the cross that God still believes in us.. that the seed God has sown WILL accomplish what God has intended at creation. In Christ Jesus the kingdom of God IS at hand. The seeds of the kingdom have been sown right here on this earth in Christ and God will bring it to fruition! And we know God follows through – God keeps promises – God accomplishes what God sets out to do.. even if it happens while we are fast asleep.

The kingdom of God IS at hand and is as unexpected and underrated as the tiny mustard seed. The kingdom of God IS at hand, calling us all back to our roots, back to the vast ecosystem God set in motion and still tends to.. the life together God intended for us all. Come; “let us gather that we might be to each other branch and shade, that we might rejoice in God, who tends our intentions and blesses our rest.” Amen.