Today’s reading is Mark 4:26-34
Seeds and growth. Birds and shelter. These are the elements of the parables. In the first sermon in this series on Tending the Creation, Pastor Ray reminded us that you don’t have to tell a lion how to be a lion. You don’t have to tell a giraffe how to be a giraffe. And today, you don’t have to tell a mustard seed how to be a mustard seed. Plant a seed and it grows. You don’t have to tell it to send down roots, to send up a stalk, to branch out, to leaf out. You don’t have to tell it to gather nutrients from the soil, to transport the nutrients to the leaves, to gather CO2 from the air, to gather in the sunlight and transform all of these into new growth. You don’t have to tell it to provide shade for the birds to make their nests in. You don’t have to tell it to return oxygen to the air; to produce seeds in great abundance so that there are enough for other creatures to eat, use and enjoy. The mustard seed simply does what it was created to do. And it is all gift. Seed, soil, air, water, sunshine. Shade, oxygen and back to seed. Gift all the way down and all the way through. It receives by gift and it returns by gift.
For the seed, that potential is there from the beginning. It is a natural part of how it was created. And that, says Jesus, is like the kingdom of God. Although we may not be intended to take these stories literally, Jesus’ stories are always literally down to earth. Seeds, mustard plants, fig trees, planting, harvesting, birds of the air. Common stories; ordinary people doing everyday things. Hardly an exalted vision of the kingdom of God. And, of course, that is the point! Jesus puts the incarnational focus not on himself, but on those around him; on the world around him. To what do we compare the kingdom of God? It is like a mustard seed. The kingdom of God is like the most common things around us - that is how they were created, that is why they were created; if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
So what does that say about human beings and the kingdom of God? There is a strand of Christian thought, from Augustine through Calvin, and down to modern interpreters, that says that human beings do not have the potential of a mustard seed; or at least they argue that, if humans had it originally, it has been corrupted. This strand of thought holds that there is a concept called “original sin” that is irreversible. The best that can be happen is that God will look past our permanently corrupted nature and will accept us anyway, which he graciously does for some because of Christ.
There has always been another strand of Christian thought, often less prominent, that says that human beings are created in the image of God and that nothing that we have done or could do, can change the potential that God creates inside of us.
We may, and I, at least, usually do, fail to realize that potential, but it always exists. But if God created us with such potential, why can we not be like the mustard seed? Unlike a mustard seed, God also creates us with consciousness, with awareness. We are consciously aware of our surroundings and of our ability to manipulate our surroundings. But we are not solely aware of our surroundings, we are also self-aware. In our self-awareness, we look for meaning - for a full life - in what those around us are doing. What we see is a constant striving after material things. This is natural. It is even, to an extent, necessary. We do have to make our way in the world. And we have been given the ability to make choices about how we do that. But because we are self-aware - focused on the self - what we perceive is that self-interest governs. We know, somewhere within our heart and our soul, that we are created for more than satisfying the needs of the self; but we are distracted and that is not what we see and hear. We know that we are not self-sufficient, but we are distracted and that is not what we see and hear.
We have even developed explanations for why the interests of the self are our highest calling. Modern economic theory says that the cumulative effect of each of us, pursuing our own self-interest, will lead to the achievement of the greatest possible common good. In a world without God - and that is the world that many now believe we live in - that may be true. If there is no God, then self-interest may be the only reliable principle around which we can organize our common life. And in a world without God, it may be the best we can do to maximize the common good - even though it will leave out many.
I think about the story, told in the three gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, of the rich young man who came to Jesus asking what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Sell everything and give to the poor, Jesus told him, and follow me. Based on this scripture, many sermons have been preached about the problem of wealth. But maybe that is not the primary point of the story. Maybe the point of the story is that “eternal life” - a meaningful life, a fulfilled life, a true life - is a gift. You cannot do anything to earn or inherit a meaningful life. That life is a life lived like a mustard seed - as gift. All of our striving to achieve what the self wants to achieve is a distraction. If eternal life, a meaningful life, is what you are looking for, you need to give up the preoccupation with self. You need to let go of it. That doesn’t mean that you do not take care of yourself; the mustard plant does what it needs to do but it is all within the context of gift.
The rich young man already had what he could gather on his own. But he knew there was something he was missing. He characterized that as “eternal life.” I don’t know exactly what he meant by that, but I think Jesus is making it clear that whatever that is, it begins in this life. And it begins by knowing that where we began and where we end is “gift.” And if we let go of our striving to achieve on our own merits and look at what we have been given and what we have to give - we will understand that we are already part of the kingdom of God - operating under God’s economy.
There is a story about three researchers who work in the area of genetics and DNA research. After many years, they believe that they have figured out all the secrets of life. They are standing around talking amongst themselves and decide that they can create a human being from scratch. So God sends an angel to them and the angel says, “So, we hear that you think you can create a human being.” They are, of course, initially surprised, but explain their research and all the progress they have made in understanding genetic structure and they assure the angel that, yes, they can create a human being from scratch. So the angel looks at them a minute and says, “Well, let’s see.” So they gather all their equipment together and gather up a handful of dirt and the angel says, “No, no, no. You have to start with your own dirt.”
It is gift all the way down and all the way through. Before we can begin to find fulfillment in our lives, we must understand where we come from and what a gift that is. This is not solely a Christian insight. The Zen teacher Kobun Chino Roshi, when asked why Buddhist’s meditate, said it this way, “We sit . . . to make life meaningful. The significance of our life is not experienced in striving to create some perfect thing. We must simply start with accepting ourselves. Sitting brings us back to actually who and where we are. This can be very painful. Self-acceptance is the hardest thing to do. If we can’t accept ourselves, we are living in ignorance, this darkest night. We may still be awake, but we don’t know where we are. We cannot see. The mind has no light.”
In this parable, Jesus is leading us to see who we are, where we come from, whose we are - and that it is all gift. He is asking us to be self-aware in a sense different from that which we learn from watching the striving of others. But awareness of the gift we receive is not the whole of the parable.
Being part of the kingdom of God is not solely receiving gift. After the mustard seed has grown and flourished, that flourishing results in gift, as well, for God’s other creatures, so neatly demonstrated by the birds. The shrub “gifts” back; shade for the birds to make their nests in; and we would add giving life-giving oxygen back to the air and an abundance of seed that sustains and makes more pleasurable life for others. God did not create human beings independently from the creation of the world; but as part and parcel of that creation; that we, like the mustard plant, might tend it and shelter it, including our brothers and sisters.
But it isn’t easy. Distraction comes easily. We need a practice which pulls us out of our distractions. We need a practice, not simply an intellectual understanding. We need a practice in which we intentionally open our hearts to ourselves and God while simultaneously and intentionally opening our hearts to others and to life.
It isn’t easy - we live in physically and psychically noisy times - technologically connected, electrifying, distracting and complex. But whether we are in a cubicle, a cafe, a kitchen, or a classroom, our lives are our principal paths and our spiritual work. If we can turn away - you will recall that the term “repent” means turn away - if we can turn away from our distractions we are like the mystics and holy ones, walking on this altar of the earth.
Is there such a practice of turning away? Not just a one-time “decision” - but a continuing practice that can become part of our lives? Buddhists call it mindfulness. Paul calls it “praying without ceasing.” It has always been part of the Christian life, but often felt to be reserved for contemplatives who could live away from the world. It is not that limited. This is practice that you won’t get solely listening to a sermon or attending a seminar. It is a practice - a way of living - that turns one toward God. Contemplation that turns in so we can see the kingdom of God and then turns out so we can participate in the kingdom of God. We can begin here. We can learn and practice together. [You will hear more about this.]
We have heard the parable, so let’s not waste time. Let’s recognize and usher in the kingdom of God now. I know who I am. I know who you are. We are part of the kingdom of God. We are like a mustard seed; planted in the soil of God’s love, nourished by the living water; inhaling the air of God’s mercy; bathed in the sunlight of God’s grace. And all of those are taken up in our roots and through our leaves. We grow and spread our branches and give shelter to God’s creatures. We tend God’s creation. This is who we are; it is who we are created to be. And, praise God, it is glorious! Let us together develop the eyes to see and the ears to hear.
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