A series of sermons on the parables of Jesus

“From little things big things grow”

The parable of the mustard seed Mark 4:30-32; Isaiah 61:1-4, 10-11

The story

In Jesus’ parable for today’s meditation, God’s ways are again likened to the story of a seed. This time the question is not about the fate of the seeds asking us about the fate of the word of God in our life. The emphasis is also not on the self-activity of the seed bringing about grain for the harvest. The emphasis is on size and contrast and growth, on process and surprise and courage and confidence and hope.

The mustard seed “is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.” Now, the experts in our midst, the gardeners with global experience and the biology professors probably know that that is not exactly true. There are in fact smaller seeds than the mustard seed. But then Jesus was not a biology professor and the Bible is not a handbook for gardeners. So for Jesus, for those peasants who listened to him, and for us who want to discover Jesus as God’s word for us, it is the smallest seed; the smallest seed we can think of. Indeed, people with an eye sight like mine can hardly see it.

It is sown into the soil. There it slowly explodes and it “becomes the greatest of all shrubs – indeed not only the seeds grow, but also the story grows: Matthew and Luke speak of mustard “trees” – and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” Again, scientifically speaking, the mustard bush is probably not the greatest of all shrubs. But for Jesus, for those peasants who listened to him, and for us who want to discover Jesus as God’s word for us, it is. And I can vouch for it – I have seen it! – that birds can build their nests in its branches and people can find relief in its shade from the scorching summer heat.

Hope and courage

There is this saying, I think it comes from Martin Luther:

Nothing is too small, God is smaller, Nothing is too big, God is bigger!

The second part of the saying is no problem to us! “Nothing is too big, God is bigger!” That is how philosophers of the past have described God: God is bigger than anything we can think of! “Bigness” and “God” somehow belong together, only that God is bigger than bigness.

Our God made the heavens and the earth. With mighty miracles God led his children from Egypt into the promised land. The temple of old and the cathedrals of new are the visible reminders of the presence of a big God. In the name of a big and strong God the church has fought the heathens and the infidels; and Christian faith has fuelled the scientific and technological revolution around the world. Christian missions followed in the trails of business and military to expand the Christian empire. And when we are sick and poor and depressed and helpless, we all hope for a big God to pull us out and to lift us up.

But things can go quite wrong if we only focus on God’s bigness. We may think then that God is not concerned with the little things of life. We may forget that from little things big things grow. I hear it quite often that people hesitate to share the little things of life with God. They feel bad praying for their cold or depression when there are so many people worse off, they say.

With today’s parable Jesus wants to introduce us to a wonderful mystery. A mystery that can speak hope and courage into our life. We are not only told that “nothing is too big, God is bigger”, but we are especially told: “Nothing is too small, God is smaller”.

And it is God who is smaller, thus placing smallness under a promise of growth. Just as the smallest seed can produce the largest shrub, so God can take the smallest thought, the smallest prayer, the smallest deed and make it into something significant and beautiful.

Promise

Therefore we can sow our mustard seeds. Did the little black lady – Rosa Parks is her name – know when she entered a bus in Alabama and said “no” when the driver told her to get up for a white person, that her “no” would inspire and refuel a successful civil rights movement? Did the Christian pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer know that his costly “yes” to God would inspire young and old generations later? Nothing is too small, God is smaller. Our smallness stands under God’s promise.

Please take this quite personally. With the gift of life we have all become gifted. Everyone of us has been gifted. The question is simple and personal. Will you recognised your giftedness and will you make what you have available to God. Not to recognise your gifts and not to make them available to God is withdrawal from the Lordship of Christ over your life.

Nothing is too small, God is smaller.

Jesus

There is good reason for this hope that God takes the small things of our life and if we offer them to God, he makes them into something beautiful. There is a ground for the courage to make our gifts available for Christian ministry. It is not an illusion. Jesus tells this story and Jesus staked his own life on the promise that God would take small things and make them into something large. He “sowed” his life. Small deeds. A word here; a helping deed there; acts of solidarity here; a prayer there.

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)

The seed that Jesus sowed into the history of humanity grew. And today, 2000 years later, in a totally different culture, we still take our place under the Lordship of Christ.

The church

This parable also addresses us as being the church. The church is not the “kingdom of God”. God’s reign can not be identified with any human institution. But it is also an illusion to say: Jesus, “yes”, the church, “no”. Such a view is very individualistic and abstract.

God’s reign seeks people and people belong together and shape a community. In the community of the friends of Jesus the values of God’s reign are reflected.

The world

The promise of the seed includes the whole world. The shrub will be so large, “… that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade” (v. 32). This imagery is well known in the ancient Jewish world and it is used to express the hope that one day all people will dwell in the shadow of God’s tree.

But the seeds must be sown, otherwise a shrub can not grow. Keith Joyce talked about support for children. You may support one child. It does not cost very much. Do you know what that child will be one day? A teacher? A nurse? A doctor? An engineer? We don’t know and we don’t need to know. It is God’s world. We are responsible for we know – and we know of children in need; and we are responsible for what we have – and then we can leave it to the Spirit of God to give the increase.

Another illustration. Take the story of Aung San Suu Kyi. Her father was assassinated when she was 2 years of age. At the tender age of 15 she left her home country Burma when he mother was appointed ambassador to India. Ms. Suu Kyi was out of the country until 1988.

In 1988 her mother had a stroke and she flew back to Burma. She got caught in the second struggle for independence – following the first independence from Great Britain in 1948 after some 60 years of colonial rule.

While she was away from her homeland the Burmese way to socialism had failed and in 1988 it was officially classified as one of the “least developed countries” which is a status conferred by the United Nations on countries where many of its people have to live in abject poverty. This lead to massive non-violent demonstrations all over the country. People were demanding democracy, human rights, economic freedom and development. The response from the dictatorship was brutal and thousands of unarmed demonstrators were killed, pro democracy leaders were executed or imprisoned without a trial.

On September 18, 1988 the military elite declared itself as a new regime, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). They promised a multi party election for May 27, 1990. The main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), was founded by U Tin Oo and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Burma’s foremost independent hero General Aung San. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was the most popular candidate. She was placed under house arrest on July 20, 1989 and her candidacy was barred. However, the people of Burma voted in 1990 overwhelmingly for her party, the National League for Democracy. Of 472 parliamentary seats 392 were captured by the NLD. SLORC – in the mean time called State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) – was desperate, however, to stay in power and therefore refused to honour the election.

Although she is virtually under house arrest and her movements are restricted to Rangoon, many people suspect that one day she will be the prime minister.

Invitation

My friends! Don’t despise the small things in life. Indeed: cherish them and
make them available to God. Offer your gifts, your time, your talents, your
energy, your money, however small and place them under the Lordship of Christ.
The same Christ who staked his life on the truth of a story about a mustard
seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it is sown, it produces the largest
of all shrubs. May God grant us ears to hear, hearts to understand and the courage
to act.

Rev. Dr. Thorwald Lorenzen
http://www.canbap.org.au/parables.htm