Lectionary 17A Pr 12
Grace Lutheran Church Lakeland, Florida
July 26, 2020
Gen 29:15-28 Psalm 119: 129-136 Romans 8:26-39 Matt. 13:31-33, 44-52
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It was the Spring of 1977, the second year my husband and I spent in the first house we owned in Indiana and we were excited to plan our first garden. You see, we had to take down a dying walnut tree the fall before and were going to have the stump ground out and work all of that mulch into the soil – we were very excited about the crop we would harvest.
So, Earl tilled the soil, carried wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of these stump grindings, working them into the soil in this garden of about 20’ by 10’, maybe a bit larger. We planted tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, green beans, leaf lettuce, green peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet peas, and I think we even tried some cantaloupe. We tended, watered, fertilized, weeded, and waited.
Then we realized that something absolutely unexpected was happening. As various produce approached the harvest stage, we realized that we were harvesting the cutest and littlest peppers and eggplants we had ever seen. Our beefsteak tomatoes were like cherry tomatoes. Everything ready for picking was in miniature.
What had happened here? Well, a neighbor (who watched Earl tilling wheelbarrow upon wheelbarrow into the soil) was a master gardener. As we were harvesting and commiserating, he told us that with all those stump grindings that Earl was tilling into rich soil – he was actually tilling in a toxin as well as making the soil extremely acidic – neither of which was particularly conducive to a good harvest. “I guess you learn a lot with your first garden, don’t you?” quipped our neighbor.
Simple action, very unexpected and even extreme results.
In the first parable of today’s Gospel – simple action, followed by unexpected and even extreme results. But instead of the tininess and meagerness of our first garden, this parable is about super-abundance. And all of these parables are about the kingdom of heaven – the kingdom being ushered in in a new way in the life of Jesus.
Throughout the Old Testament there are references to God’s kingdom being like a mighty tree reaching to heaven, a noble cedar, and a tree with many strong branches – all of these are big stately trees – I’m reminded of the redwoods in the Sierras in northern California. And the people to whom Jesus was speaking would be familiar with these images – and may well be surprised at the words they next heard from him.
He said that the kingdom of heaven starts out not with the larger seeds and slow growth of the cedar of Lebanon. No. Rather Jesus tells his followers that the kingdom of heaven starts with something very small – a mustard seed – which is very, very small – less than a 1/16th of an inch – that’s less than the width of the metal which makes up a paperclip. The mustard seed grows quickly and produces annual shrub. Yet in this parable, the shrub actually becomes something different – it becomes a tree – and not just any tree. It becomes a tree in which the birds of the air have places to nest and dwell. Simple action – planting a seed – with dramatic results. A seed for a shrub produces a tree that is huge – large enough for all the birds to dwell in.
The kingdom of heaven comes into being in unexpected ways. The kingdom of heaven comes in Jesus who as God – present when the whole of creation came into being – indeed God the very one who “hung the moon” – became fully human – Jesus, who got hungry, slept, maybe snored, had dirty feet and hands, hung out with the socially scorned. From this Jesus comes the kingdom of heaven in which all can dwell.
Simple actions – dramatic results. In our baptisms, the simple action of water and word, brought each of us into relationship with God through the power of the Holy Spirit – a dramatic result indeed. We call this “grace.” Not something that we worked hard for, not something that we earned, not something that we are entitled to, not something that we must cling to for fear of losing it. Pure gift from our heavenly father.
So what happens with this gift? The seed planted in us – individually and as this congregation and as a national church and as the Church universal – this seed grows into something unexpected and great and this result is part of the coming of the kingdom of heaven.
We here at Grace are not the mustard tree, we are not the kingdom of heaven – BUT, we – individually and collectively – are part of the branches of that mustard tree on which all the birds of the air may nest, dwell, live.
And my friends, as we all know, being a branch is not always easy. There may be loneliness, fear, sickness, brokenness. There may be despair, poverty, disability. Yet, in today’s epistle, we hear amazing promises about this “branch life” that we share.
We hear that the Holy Spirit – the very Spirit who was hovering over the waters at the time of the creation of the universe – “helps us in our weakness.” Yet the Greek is much stronger than “helping;” it includes notion of coming along side of someone, of putting hands on them and moving forward with them. And not only that. This very Spirit prays for us with groanings too deep for words.
And we hear the amazing promise that all things work together for good for those who love God.
And, we hear that God has chosen us, called us, justified us, and glorified us – can you imagine this! God is on our side! And if God is on our side, who could ever be against us!!
And, not only do we have the best advocate there could ever be – but even more than this. The promise is that here is nothing that can separate us from God’s love. Not death or life, not angels or rulers, not things present nor things to come, not powers, not height or depth, not anything in all of creation, is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Think about that. This happens not because of anything we do. Martin Luther taught that “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or come to him – but the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel – and does everything that is needed to keep me in faith.
That my friends is grace.
And this grace continues to come to us even in this Life in the Time of Covid-19 as we gather together, yet apart, to worship the Triune God, as we pray with and for each other, as we serve our community, as we bear the kingdom of God into the world that needs it so.
In these simple actions God works amazing and great results just as a magnificent tree came from that small seed for a shrub. Thanks be to God! Amen!
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