Grow Weeds Grow!?
3rd Sunday after Pentecost, June 17, 2012 (Mark 4:26-34) with II Cors5:6-17 in the b.g)
Sometimes on Saturday mornings I make the time to actually read the newspaper. Have you ever noticed that so much of the news is disturbing? This week Luca Magnotta has been in the news. What is going on inside of a person that would cause him to even think about such things- to say nothing of doing such things? Syria has also captured headlines. Allegedly, parts of the Syrian military are murdering hundreds of their own people who are in favor of democracy. To make things worse, those committing such atrocities are being supported by some outside forces, particular governments or even countries. Much of the rest of the world simply watches. At home in Canada there is a Security Guard who allegedly has murdered some of his own colleagues for personal financial gain. The accused is 21 years old. I find this disturbing, depressing. Many are led to despair, bitterness, apathy.
Yet on Sunday mornings we gather here. We come in the midst of all our "news", of all that is our living, to be around a cross, a font, the Scriptures. We come to praise, to hear, to receive. What do these realities have to do with each other? Can this second group of realities, these apparently "small", "ordinary "things" have anything to do with, any influence upon, even the ability to impact or even transform those first group of realities, the disturbing news of our lives?
There are times when I really wonder about that ...
So, let me ask you a question. How do you feel about weeds – and no, I didn't mean weed, as in marijuana even though we live in Greater Vancouver. I said, weeds. How do you feel about weeds- you know those pesky things that seem to be able to grow almost anywhere.
Personally, I don't like them. I try to control them. I do avoid pesticides. So, my means of attack is to cut, to pull, to dig up all the weeds I can find. In the aftermath of my efforts you can't see any weeds in our yard. But the rain falls! The sun shines – even if just a little bit. Within a day or two or at most a week – those weeds are pushing up again: in the alley, in my lawn, in the flower beds, even through the asphalt. No matter how many times I try to get rid of them. No matter how thoroughly I attempt to control them - I am not able to do so. They persistently grow and return. Someday I will be dead and "gone". I suspect that the weeds will still be coming up. It's enough to seriously discourage me, as in what's the use, throw in the towel. But yet...
Did you listen to and for the Gospel today? Jesus tells numerous parables in Mark. Some people think that the parables are kind of like object lessons. There is truth in an object lesson. And there is profound truth in Jesus' parables. But the parable's truth is larger than any object lesson – much more than just small beginnings can have huge, even enormous endings. Jesus' parables are intended to upset the apple cart, to cause any who have ears to hear to actually see themselves, others and God in new light. And from that new light, dare I say it, to CHANGE or more accurately, BE CHANGED AND CHANGING!
So look again at Jesus' parables. I want to focus on the 2nd one. "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all seeds on the earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."
In attempting to hear this parable I want to begin by offer two disclaimers. Jesus exaggerates here. The mustard seed isn't the smallest of all seeds. The mustard seed is small, but not the smallest – even then. Secondly Mark's Gospel differs here from the parallels in Matthew and Luke – the mustard seed doesn't become a great tree but a sizeable shrub. Although these details are noteworthy I don't think that they are the main point of the parable.
More importantly, mustard is a weed. Yes, I said a weed. As such most people wouldn't plant it, because you can't control it. Mustard grows in the middle of sown fields, on hill sides and even manages to pushing its way up through asphalt and brick surfaces. But here as Jesus speaks about the kingdom of God – that is the reign, the influence, the very dreams of God for the world, Jesus uses this weedy image. Could it be that Jesus is saying that God's reign is far beyond any human control? Could it be that God's dream that human beings love each other, care about and for their enemies, and actually forgive one another – all of that stuff, could grow among us like weeds?
Once the seeds are sown – seeds that are seemingly ever so small that many see them as completely insignificant: seeds like a preacher preaching, a parent or someone else teaching Bible verses, exemplifying love; seeds like a chunk of bread and a sip of grape juice or wine – things that you can find at your 7-11 and the liquor store, that these seemingly "small" things when coupled with God's promise take root and begin to grow, to push up in the world and our lives with a power that can soften our hearts, open our minds and change the status quo. Could it be?
What's happening with you right now? What are you doing "out there"? Are you "just" living for yourself and those closest to you, whom you think or feel are similar or even "like" you – or could there be so MUCH MORE to life than that?
There's another curve too. At the end of this parable Jesus says that once the mustard seed grows into the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches , then even the birds of the air can make nests in it shade. Is this just a nice picture where creatures are given safe haven in something that started small but then became much more significant? Or, does Jesus intend much more?
The parable preceding the two in our gospel this morning is the parable of the sower. In that parable, the birds of the air came and snatched some of the seed that was sown on the ground to prevent it from growing. But now Jesus tells a parable that has even such birds, attracted to what is growing in God's kingdom. They are no longer snatching the seeds that give rise to the kingdom.
We live in a complex, wonderful and sometimes horrific world. Still, God is here in the midst of it all. We need to trust that God is working through the suffering and risen Christ, as the Spirit blows in and through people and creation. This "work" of God is not always visible. Sometimes we even resist such work. May God forgive us. Yet, despite the resistance, God does not stop working. God continues to call, to stir up obedience by employing many different means. Even now God calls us to trust, to obey, to have hope as we hear Jesus' words of mustard seeds growing, as we drink wine and eat bread, as we are once again grasped, embraced and even "dragged into" trusting that God loves and forgives even us even as God calls us to join HIM/HER in the endeavor to love and embrace the world in its complexity, wonder and brokenness.
May the kingdom, the reign, the influence, the dreams of God grow and grow and grow to their fruition. And may we be part of God's weedy growth both for God's sake and the sake of the world. Amen.