After last Sunday...and the week I have had in ministry...you could say that this Sunday's lectionary readings were programmed for me. I have been struggling and at times have wondered if I should just throw in the towel. Even getting myself to sit down and look at the assigned lessons for the Fourth Sunday After Pentecost was hard.
I started out being really taken in by the Epistle lesson, which is Paul's lamenting letter to the church in Corinth. But the more time I spent looking at the line about how "the love of Christ urges us on," I kept getting drawn over to the parable about the mustard seed.
I felt the amulet of faith that I wear around my neck every day...which includes the verse as it's quoted in Matthew 7. My mother gave me that pendant on my 16th birthday, one of the critical years in my journey through life. Interesting that this parable...captured on the back of mustard seed sealed in lucite given to me 40 years ago...became the link between the world as I'm seeing...the world as Paul was experiencing it...and the message that Mark's Jesus wanted us both to hold onto as we faced the challenges of ministry.
Texts: 1 Sam. 15:34-16:13; 2 Cor. 5: 6-17; Mark 4: 26-34
“My Lord God, I
have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the
road ahead of me.
I cannot know for
certain where it will end.
Nor do I really
know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not
mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that
the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have
that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart
from that desire.
And I know that if
I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about
it.
Therefore will I
trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I
will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my
perils alone.”
That prayer is by the Trappist monk and mystic Thomas
Merton. A friend of mine shared it with me during my many years-long fight with
God as I wrestled with understanding my call to ordained ministry.
It’s a perfect prayer for anyone trying to work
through the maze of life choices.
And for me…making a commitment to trust God and follow
a path toward ordination was huge.
I kept asking myself…and by extension…asking God,
“Are you sure?”
“And if you’re so sure…how am I supposed to do this
thing that you want?
How do I follow this call?”
In our readings these past few weeks…we’ve been
hearing the “call” stories of so many of our biblical ancestors.
We’ve witnessed they’re attempts to listen and then
follow where God seemed to be leading them.
From our First Reading…we can tell that Samuel was
struggling to tune into what God wanted.
He kept looking on the outward appearances of Jesse’s
sons…and letting looks deceive him.
But God’s desire was to lift up the young David…out in
the field…minding his father’s sheep.
He certainly wasn’t looking to become the heralded
king of Israel.
But when God told Samuel…”This is the one!” David said, “Yes.”
And his “Yes” was the path that established a lineage
for Jesus.
We also heard Paul writing to that irascible church in
Corinth.
In the chapters before our reading today…Paul talks of
the pain and hurt he has endured from this church.
A person in their midst had been maligning him…so much
so that he had to retreat from there and write them this letter.
See: even Paul knows that special pain of “church
hurt.”
An ache that cuts deep…especially when one can’t
escape that stirring of the Holy Spirit within that will not let you simply
walk away.
No matter how frustrating and how daunting the
task…that “love of Christ” urges Paul on.
And then we have Jesus telling this parable about the
mustard seed.
Anyone who has ever dabbled in cooking Indian
food…particularly curries…will be familiar with the ways of a mustard seed.
They’re often dropped into hot oil to pop and add a
nutty flavor to a dish.
They add just the right taste to bring out the
complexities of the other seasonings that dance on the tongue.
In our Gospel…Jesus uses this image of a mustard seed
to his audience of peasant farmers as a way of preaching to them about the
kingdom of God.
We hear this parable and I imagine it
might recall for some of us pendants on necklaces.
There was a time when it was popular to have one of
these amulates of faith…with the mustard seed encased in Lucite.
I actually wear one around my neck.
But while we might have sentimental attachments to
mustard seeds…or delight in what they can do to make our meals more delicious….
those farmers listening to Jesus in the First Century would have been shocked
to hear him say, “Guess what, y’all: the kingdom is like a mustard seed.”
Mustard seeds….and the great big bushy shrubs they
grew into…were an annoyance.
These were invasives….they were the most unwanted weeds.
And yet here’s Jesus saying that this is what the
kingdom of God is like?
Answer: Yup!
As much as we might not want to think of God’s kingdom
as invasive or annoying…when God injects God’s self into our everyday…things
get disrupted.
The Way of Love…the Way of God…does that.
It’s unpredictable.
It’s messy.
And it’s also liberating and live-affirming.
It disrupts the Way of the Every Day…and counters the
societal expectations that tend to limit our ideas and our dreams and rob us of
joy.
The audience who heard this Gospel way back when were a
people who were definitely in a struggle with their society.
Jesus is talking to a minority group…a people living
under the rule of the Roman Empire.
Ched Myers is a biblical scholar whose written a lot
about the Gospel of Mark.
He notes that this parable about the mustard seed was
also a message to the Markan community who were feeling small and inadequate to
the task of discipleship.
By using this example of a mustard seed…it gave them
something they could visualize…and relate to. Because in their cultural
experience…they felt a little bit like a bunch of mustard seeds.
A tiny minority…looked upon as a nuisance.
For the people of Mark’s community…this parable served
as a reminder that while they might be small…and while they might not know
where things were headed… if they kept their faith… the Jesus movement…the
faith that they had been grounded in… would grow.
The Jesus movement would disrupt the order of Empire.
The Jesus movement…a movement of reinvigorating the
people of God…would grow up and be seen and draw others to rest on its branches…like
the birds in the parable.
This parable was the ultimate pep talk for them.
And it’s a great one for us as well.
By comparison to other churches… we are a small
community of Episcopal believers….which is already a minority among the
Christian churches in Valdosta.
We live in a part of the country where just
identifying as an Episcopalian may get you looked at funny and questioned about
whether we read the Bible.
(For the record, I hope you not only say "Yes" to that
question, but I hope you let them know that it’s amazing how well the Bible
quotes our Book of Common Prayer!)
Our sanctuary isn’t built to be a corporate,
program-sized church…holding four to five hundred people on a Sunday.
We may not be big in numbers…but we can still make a
profound difference in people’s lives.
Not by ourselves alone. But by leaning into our
faith…and our trust in God.
Allowing ourselves…like St. Paul…to let the faith and
belief that Christ lived…died…and rose again…for the benefit of all people be
that spark…that tiny seed that urges us on.
We may trip and fall.
The path may not always be clean and clear cut.
But with discernment…with listening…and with trust…we
can and will do great things for the good of all people.
I began this sermon with a prayer…and I want to end
with this one…it’s my favorite concluding prayer from the Daily Morning Office.
I think it’s a good one as we think about where God is
wanting us to grow in our lives:
Glory to God whose power working in us can do
infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
Glory to God from generation to generation in the
church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment