Matthew 13:31-33; 44-52
Our Gospel lesson today tells us what the kingdom of God is like – a mustard seed, a hidden treasure, yeast, a pearl, a net. All these things start out small, hidden, ordinary and wind up big. Today we’re going to focus on one of the most recognizable of the items Jesus’ talks about – the lowly mustard seed.
Look at that little mustard seed taped in your bulletin There was once a time when you were no bigger than this one little seed. In those cells no bigger than this seed, were contained all the genetic instructions necessary to direct the development of organs and tissues, bones and nerves, glands and blood, limbs and hair. When you were still this tiny, it was already determined whether you’d be male or female, what the color of your skin and eyes and hair would be. Can you imagine that you were once this small? Think of this: at some point, we were all small enough that taken together, we would all fit easily in the palm of a small child’s hand. I bet the whole world could probably fit in this sanctuary!
I am not a biologist, I don’t know the exceptions to the rule, but from what little I know, we are not unique in this way. All living things and creatures we see around us also began their lives as a seed-- one little cell. We could draw a parallel with non-living creation: great masterpieces of literature, art, architecture, music, inventions, the ways of thinking that direct our lives -- all first began as fragments of ideas and were carefully worked upon, edited and redone many times before achieving their final form. So much that can come from one little seed.
Jesus asked, what shall we compare the kingdom of God? Jesus didn’t talk about fancy stuff – the Roman Coliseum the great Temple of Jerusalem. Jesus chose little things, ordinary things, that in the hands of God become great.
The Kingdom of heaven it is like a mustard seed, Jesus said. Like the one taped to your bulletin. To fulfill our calling as a people of faith means understanding that there is nothing more important than the mustard seed. The mustard seed is not only small, it can also grow in just about any soil, and just about anywhere in the world. Once it gets started it is persistent, it grows and grows. So, to have a mustard seed faith means seeing as God sees. It means to have that ability to look past all that on the outside and look upon the heart. To see within the seed the dominion of God – where the ordinary, small acts we do can be powerful and significant. Yet we despair at the magnitude of problems we see around us. We throw up our hands and wonder “What difference can my little contribution make?”
We think this way because growth and change aren’t easy. Sometimes we want to speed it up, like we’ve learned to do when we inject hormones into chickens, or by force feeding pigs or cows. We add all kinds of fertilizer to speed up the maturing process of fruits and vegetables. People are not like cheese: we cannot put people into casings and let them sit on a shelf, inject a few chemicals and expect a perfectly ripe product in four months. We cannot force growth. We cannot determine its outcome. We can only faithfully tend to it, doing what is needed everyday.
When a friend of mine, Chris, was a teenager, he was once in an accident. He had been hit by a car, thrown out of his shoes. His parents did not know where he was, because Chris had talked a friend into deceiving their parents so they could go to the movies. They missed their bus home and had to walk. Then the car hit him. Chris was bleeding profusely, and in shock. He thought he was going to die. As a crowd of strangers gathered. Then one woman, brought a blanket and covered him. She held him and talked to him, not knowing if he were going to die in her arms. Chris was taken to the hospital and recovered completely. But he never could find that woman again to thank her. He never learned her name. But Chris will always remember her. Chris credits this woman with leaving an indelible mark of grace on his soul -- with shaping the course of his life, toward faith and toward service. Chris is now the executive director of a prominent program for working with the homeless in Virginia, called Homestretch, Inc. I had the honor of developing with Chris a NYC Church program for homeless addicts for ten years. That unnamed woman planted a seed in Chris’ life which has reached out and touched countless of lives over the years.
Now, you may wonder, like me, this act weren’t so small. It was pretty significant. Or you may think, “I’ve never been called to save or change someone’s life like that.” But, how do you know? How do you know? God doesn’t always let us see the long-term results of our acts toward others. Every act of goodness, every act of mercy, every little seed, matters to God.
Hilde Back’s was a schoolteacher in Sweden, when she decided to sponsor one child’s education in Kenya. Hilde’s sponsorship of Chris Mburu cost about $15 per month. Thanks to Hilde’s generosity, Chris wound up graduating high school, going to University of Nairobi and then attending Harvard Law School. He became a U.N. Human Rights Advocate, and he started a charity. He petitioned the Swedish embassy to find the name of his anonymous sponsor. Then he named his nonprofit the Hilde Back Education Fund (HBEF) after the benefactor he never met.
The Fund pays tuition for deserving poor students in Kenya. Since the charity’s start, 934 children have been supported . . . so far. That doesn’t even include the impact on their families. And who knows how many of these students will be inspired, as Chris was, to give back?
It’s interesting that the only reason Hilde Back was even alive to support Chris was because of a stranger’s kindness. Hilde was a Jewish child living in Germany during the Nazis’ reign. Both of her parents were killed in concentration camps, but a stranger helped her escape to Sweden. Hilde said that as a Jew, she wasn’t allowed to go to school in Germany. It seemed natural for her to sponsor schooling for someone who couldn’t otherwise attend.
Little acts, that we take for granted, can and do have a significant, life- changing impact on people. A compliment. A hug. A task done well. An act of trust. Getting involved. In the hands of God, they become powerful. The woman with the blanket never knew how she changed the course of one life. How was her life changed by an act of kindness? How were those bystanders changed? How many lives here have been touched by Chris, thus indirectly by this woman? And what small acts of kindness shaped THAT woman that put her on the path to respond out of love and concern for Chris.
Is a tiny, mustard seed significant? Is a little leaven important. Is one singular pearl beautiful? Is a hidden treasure worth the work? Can one net make a difference? Do the little things we do have any impact? Does our life have importance in the large scheme of things? To our God who is all powerful, omnipotent, and omnipresent, who knows the number of hairs on our hand and the grains of sand on the beach, every seed of love planted, tended, watered, pruned, is a branch in the realm of God.
Look at your seed again. Remember what is important. Remember from where you came. A little seed. And countless seeds, sown by countless, unknown people, over countless years. Over centuries. Only God could orchestrate such a living tree, with roots and branches that stretch out over millennium, scattering seeds in every new generation. One seed, one act at a time, over time.
God places an inexhaustible supply of seeds in our hands every day. A whole generation, in our hands. Seeds to be sown everyday. Tended everyday. Until the Kingdom of God is realized in our midst. Amen
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