EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on July 21, 2020. This was the 16th digital service we performed after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic.
At the end of tonight's gospel, we know that Jesus turns to his disciples and he asks them if they understand his parables. And they answer emphatically, "Yes!"
Well, I decree, they must be smarter than me because I still do not know why someone who would find a treasure would then go and bury it, and sell all of their riches just to buy that plot of land back.
Nor do I understand why a merchant who would find a pearl would sell all of his belongings just to buy that pearl back again.
But as much as I don't necessarily understand those two parables, what I do know is that through this litany of parables that Jesus tells us tonight that he's trying to explain to his disciples the nature of the heavenly kingdom. And through using everyday images that the people of that 1st century would have understood. He's trying to explain to us -- and to them -- that the heavenly kingdom is closer at hand than we realize.
In fact, using a fishing net or a pearl, at that time, or even the idea of leavened bread -- even that lowly mustard seed that was so important to ecosystem of that 1st century agrarian people -- Jesus was laying out very simply for this crowd that heaven IS in our everyday images.
And the most accessible of these images tonight, to me personally, is the example of the mustard seed. In other words, as Jesus uses that seed to tell his parable, he's telling us that very big things are borne of the smallest things.
You might recall that on other occasions that I've shared with you that I really do enjoy the parable of the mustard seed. I have several personal stories that make it important to me. I like, of course, the Gospel of Mark version, Chapter 4:30-32, but I find stories ... real life stories ... that fall in the line of the mustard seed parable fascinating.
I made another round of calls to our congregation last week, and if I missed you, I apologize. I will again be calling through the list. ... But I was talking to one of our members and the subject of Paul Harvey came up. And many of you will remember that Paul Harvey was a very popular radio personality, and in addition to doing weekly news, the crux of his show was to tell a story. And Paul was very fond of telling stories about small things that turned into big things. And of course, the catch line of his program, at the end, was always ... and you can say it with me, "And that is the rest of the story."
I am fascinated by stories such as this. I'm fascinated by the mustard seed stories. And I suspect that my fascination with stories such as this, which is actually a phenomena who scientists who study it call the "butterfly effect,"and that links back to a book that was written about it. And you can look that up, of course. But my fascination with such stories started in probably about my sophomore year of high school turned me onto reading. I'd never been a reader in my teen years, and because of our friendship I started to mirror his reading habits.
For the very first book that drew me in was a book about Hank Aaron.
For those of you who don't know who Hank Aaron is, he was a baseball star, and once upon a time he held the homerun record in Major League Baseball for a long time, more than a generation. But what I found interesting about Hank Aaron is that he was a bench player for the Milwaukee Braves up until the point the player in front of him one night was injured. And so he was called into start the game, and he never left. And he went onto an All-star career and to set the homerun record. Because of that one incident in which there was an injury, Hank Aaron got into the game and set the course of baseball history on its axis.
And ever since then, through my studies in history up through college, I've been fascinated by these small little mustard seed acts. These butterfly effects you might call them. Of course, there are an infinite number of stories that are like these mustard seed stories throughout history. Seemingly inconsequential decisions or acts by humans that loom so large in shaping the world.
I also image that, much like me, each of you can recount one of your own mustard seed stories. A decision that led to a course in your life, or an act that somebody else performed on you that changed your life. Or even just a wise word that was said to you. I'm sure that you all could recount countless times where a very small, seemingly inconsequential thing, altered the course of your life.
Tonight we are now all seemingly gripped by two such mustard seed stories: The first, of course, being a worldwide pandemic. Who could have thought that, four or five months ago, that something invisible to our naked eye -- this microscopic-sized virus -- could wreak such havoc on our world. Financially, and health-wise and sowing division among people.
Secondly, of course, counting back only a couple of weeks ago, it seemed so much longer, even the second act that has drawn us together, for better or for worse, was the death of George Floyd.
Now, neither virus in itself, nor the death of George Floyd in itself, do much to change the world. But the cycle of events that both the virus and George Floyd's death touched off has careened around the world, and shocked us all. We all feel the effects of seemingly, at one point, very small incidents in our world.
I know these things are weighing on all of us, on all of our minds tonight, as COVID numbers continue to skyrocket, and there's still unrest in our cities. It leads to political divisions, and fights over whether to mask or not to mask, or to gather or not to gather, or to school or not to school.
But even through all of that division that I hope that you can find some solace in our gospel tonight. Because just as sure as a small event can shock our world in the most negative of ways, Jesus tells us that small events can shock the world in positive ways as well. Just look to the mustard seed.
Our gospel assures us that God can use the tiniest, the cheapest, the most inconsequential ... or invisible act or thing or decision or person ... to bring forth the Kingdom of God right here in our midst. Our gospels are littered with stories such as this. Just think back to your Sunday school days, and you can tick them off as well. David and Goliath. Of course, there are many, many more.
Even today, the Kingdom of God is spreading in ways that we can't even imagine. A pandemic has forced us for the past couple of months to have services like this, and not allowed us to come together as a congregation and be in one room. But I've spoken about this before, and just tonight -- and our videos others will watch through the week -- we are reaching more people than on an average Sunday in the past. That in itself is a mustard seed. A mustard seed that of course is changing our rural congregation for the better.
But the key is, that in all of this, I think that what is most important is that we have to remember that we as God's people here on earth, as witnesses to Christ's love, it's up to us to allow this spreading of the kingdom to take place. You see, we have our part to do as well. Not that God can't act without us, but we are asked to plant those mustard seeds. We don't get to just sit back and say, "God, it's all up to you."
While that very well could be. That's not what God is asking of us. That's not what Christ is asking of us as his disciples. God's promise is: "You go plant those mustard seeds. And I'll make sure that it rains enough to water them. I'll make sure that those mustard seeds get the sunshine enough they need to germinate. I'll make sure to keep those critters away from munching on the leaves once they poke up through the ground."
But we have our work to do too. God ensures that if we plant those seeds, that He will help make those seeds strong enough one day that they can hold birds, making their nests in them.
It's not too hard tonight, Faith Family, to extrapolate out what I'm imploring of you is that we have a tremendous burden that is placed on us and our communities and our states and our nations for sometimes questions that we can't answer. But it is this gospel tonight that I hope gives you solace to realize that sometimes the tiniest of acts, sometimes the tiniest of the footsteps that we follow in Christ's path ... can reverberate around the world. They can change other people's lives. They can help others see the face of Christ. And it is in that news, the news that the most inconsequential of seeds, the little ol' mustard seed, can germinate into such beautiful examples of God's heavenly kingdom here on earth.
And that is the Good News for this Tuesday evening, or Sunday morning, Faith Family. ... Amen.
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