Rev. Eugene N. Nelson, Jr.
The Community Church of Sebastopol
July 28, 2002
Matthew 13: 31-34
Over the years when our family has vacationed in Southern California, Betty and I have enjoyed going to Knotts Berry Farm and enjoying a chicken dinner at Mrs. Knotts Chicken Dinner Restaurant. Now our children think this restaurant is majorly uncool, but Betty and I like it -- we even went there on our honeymoon (only the best places for us!) -- and so they tolerate it. But every time we go and walk around and see how Knotts Berry Farm has grown, even from the time when I first went there as a child, it is amazing to think that it all began with a berry stand on the side the road, with homemade pies and jams. Who would have ever thought that such a small, seemingly insignificant beginning, would grow into today’s Knotts Berry Farm?
Now of course, when we are in Southern California, we sometimes go to that other park down the road. I read that Walt Disney was at one time a penniless cartoonist, working for a Kansas City ad agency. There was a mouse in his small apartment and he made some sketches of that mouse. Eventually he and his sketches moved to southern California. And the rest, as they say, is history. Again, who would have thought such humble, simple beginnings, the drawings of a mouse, would become the Disney Empire? You never know what might grow when even small, insignificant seeds are planted.
In my own life, I can recall a conversation during a Christmas reception with the minister of my church, whose name also happened to be Nelson, though we were not related. He said to me, “Gene, I think you should consider the ministry.” Bill was always very direct. My first thought was … the ministry? You’ve got to be kidding! I was going to be an attorney, make lots of money and retire young. He couldn’t be serious -- the ministry? But the seed was planted. And as I went through college, it continued to grow, slowly to be sure, but it grew. And each Christmas I’d go home and he would talk to me about my plans, just kind of watering that little plant that he had begun. And here I am today. At least now you know who to blame! For better or worse, me being here today can largely be traced to that initial conversation. You never know what might grow from the planting of small seeds.
I’m sure you can say the same thing in your own lives, can think of similar examples; something which at first seemed almost meaningless which later took on great significance for you, for the direction of your life – a chance conversation, a book you read, turning left instead of right – something which helped to shape your life, something important growing seemingly from nothing.
Which brings me to our parables for today. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…..” “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast (or leaven…).” I wonder, do they still make those little mustard seed necklaces? They had a gold chain and a little case. Inside that case was a tiny, tiny little seed. You could barely see it. Obviously, a reference to this parable. “From the tiniest of seeds”, says Jesus “grows the greatest of shrubs.” Do you hear what he is saying? It is a parable of hope, of reassurance.
I think back to the film, “O God.” God, played by George Burns appears to Jerry, the assistant manager in a grocery store. Jerry was played by John Denver. Now you might think that God appearing to someone might be pretty cool, but in fact, it causes Jerry nothing but trouble. Along the way he gets taken to court, loses his job, he becomes the laughing stock in his community, he almost loses his wife and family. At the end of film, he goes to God and says something like this, “This was a wasted effort. Nobody listened, nobody changed. Nobody believed me.” He is having a little problem with the direction he has chosen. But God, George Burns, replies: “We planted some seeds. We’ll see what happens. Have faith. They were good seeds.”
These are tough times for people of faith. It’s tough to be honest in a world that rewards dishonesty; it’s tough to be generous in a world that rewards greed; it’s tough to be a peacemaker in a world that rewards violence; it’s tough to seek reconciliation and forgiveness in a world that likes to hold a grudge and get even; it’s tough to be a disciple of Jesus in a world in which any number of would-be messiahs entice us with promises of instant gratification. But no whining allowed. We don’t have it any tougher than those who have gone before us; at least no one is throwing us in prison. The fact of the matter is that it has always been tough to be people of faith. Little wonder that Jesus spoke of his way as the narrow way. It can be frustrating, it can be discouraging. For how many Christmases have we sung of “Peace on Earth?” Where is it? For how many Easters have we sung of “New Life?” Where is it? And as far as I can tell, the old life still seems pretty firmly in control of things.
But in response to all this, Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed….” Stay faithful. Don’t give up. God is not defeated. God is not finished. The last word has not been spoken. You think that mustard shrub is something? Folks, you ain’t seen nothing yet! Don’t you let the world tell you that anything is impossible, that the way things are is the way things must always be. Oh, the things God is going to do with even the smallest of seeds!
I am tempted to stop here, say a prayer, receive the offering and go home – go home before we look any closer at these parables. Let’s just stay with the upbeat, hopeful message, what do you say? And in fact, that message remains. But, as he always seems to do, Jesus begins to give things his is own particular spin. The seemingly plain message becomes a bit more convoluted as we get a little deeper into these parables.
The first clue that things may not be quite right is the shrub. In the Book of Daniel there is a reference to a mighty tree standing majestically at the center of the earth, a tree with a top that reached to heaven, so huge that “the birds of the air nested in its branches.”
Now that is what kingdoms are supposed to look like – like the massive cedars of Lebanon or the towering redwoods growing along our own coast. If I was telling the parable, I would say the kingdom is like a majestic redwood, powerful, strong, seemingly ageless. But Jesus doesn’t go in that direction. He says, the Kingdom of Heaven is like, well its like a shrub – a big shrub to be sure, but still a shrub. Now His point remains in tact – the kingdom grows to great size from very small beginnings - but it seems to be that another point gets made as well. The kingdom may break into the world in a form we do not expect. We want a mighty redwood, we get a shrub. Our expectations for this kingdom just might get turned upside down.
This is verified in the parable of the yeast. A little yeast leavens a huge amount of dough. Again, great results from a small beginning. But this isn’t just a cooking illustration.
A number of commentaries on this parable point out that in Jesus’ day, yeast was a popular symbol for corruption, decay, even death – think of a body swelling. New Testament professor, Thomas Long, writes that to use the phrase, “a little yeast leavens the loaf,” was equivalent to saying, “one bad apple spoils the barrel.”
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. Clean out the old yeast that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened.” He is speaking of the power of a little evil in one’s life. Evil and sin can work in our lives just like leaven in dough. Not exactly a positive image of leaven. But that is precisely the image Jesus uses to describe the kingdom, the reign of God. Why does he do this? Why use an image that he knows will be negative, even offensive? What is he saying about this Kingdom?
A young girl came in from playing outside with a large tear in her pants. This annoyed her mother very much. Understand, she was a loving and patient mom, but this was not the first time, this wasn’t the second time…. In frustration, she said to her daughter, “Now you go to your room, take off those pants, and sew up that tear.” Of course the girl had never had a needle in her hand in her entire life.
A little while later, the mother went up to check on the girl’s progress. She found the pants in the middle of the bedroom floor. She went in, looked around, but her daughter was nowhere in sight. She looked all over the house and finally she saw a light on down in the basement. She went to the basement door and called down, “Are you down there with your pants off?” A big voice answered back, “No, ma’am, I’m just reading the gas meter.” Sometimes things aren’t as they seem, or as we expect them to be, so we had best watch our assumptions.
I think this is the point Jesus is making with these simple parables. People might very well have expected Jesus to talk about the Kingdom as being like a great tree. He gives them a great shrub. They certainly would have expected him to compare the Kingdom with unleavened bread, which is clean. He instead speaks of leavened bread, which is corrupted. It is as if Jesus is saying, “Don’t think that I have come to bless all of your assumptions, your expectations, your values, even your world. If anything, the Kingdom I preach has come to corrupt your world, you might say to corrupt the corruption, to turn it upside down, to challenge you, to challenge your conventional wisdom, from the inside out, rather like…leaven. In the words of one colleague, “Do you get it? Do you get it? The kingdom of God establishes a new world, where people’s value rests on the fact that God loves them. Jesus brings life to the poor, the sick, the least. The old world has passed away where people do whatever it takes to get ahead. No longer are people to be used up and tossed aside for the continued success of some multinational corporation. The new order rests on God’s rule that even the illiterate peasant deserves to have enough…God’s realm turns the old order upside down. Everything has become brand new.”
For some, this new world is it is as offensive as leaven. For others, it is as hopeful as the potential contained in a tiny mustard seed. But one thing is for sure: In the words of Thomas Long, “One cannot see the kingdom pervading the world, but when its covert fermentation is accomplished, the bland flour of the world will have been transformed into the joyous bread of life.”