Sermon for June 17, 2018      4th after Pentecost       “Little Things Mean A Lot”

I tell you the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, it is tiny and apparently insignificant but when planted grows to be a bush large enough for birds to nest.

Parables being parables have many meanings. The truth remains consistent but time and context add insight and new understanding. Jesus told the parable to help the people understand that the Kingdom of heaven is not what they expect. The kingdom is found in small, seemingly insignificant moments and things, yes like a mustard seed. It brings to focus the teachings of Jesus: the first shall be last, the least shall be the greatest, two mites are more than that given from excess, a seed must die to live, I must die so that all might live and have eternal life. This teaching was new, difficult and hard to imagine then and it is no easier now.

Perhaps you have heard the story of the Princess and the pea, or the grain of sand in the oyster. Perhaps you have been walking and had an annoying rock in your shoe or sandal? When you finally stop to shake it out, you are amazed that the annoying bit was not much bigger than a grain of sand, where you thought a small boulder would fall out. Little things matter. But let’s not just assume that they are there to annoy. Little things matter to make life richer , more meaningful and beautiful. Have you smiled at someone, have you bought a coffee for someone or someone did the same for you, did you get a call or email, did someone pick up the change you dropped and returned it. Has someone done some small thing that meant the world to you? Have you done the same?

Kathy reminded me of a story titled ‘Two Coffees’ where a young man in line buys the coffee for the man behind him in line. It seemed like no big deal but the older man was deeply appreciative. Some months later, they happened to be in the same place at the same time. The older man stopped the younger and recounted the story. He said he was going to see his wife in the hospital where she was being treated for cancer and the outlook was grim. He was feeling depressed and angry. You bought a coffee and in that instant my spirits were lifted and hope shined through. Thank you he said. The younger man was moved to tears that a random meeting and a $2 coffee would mean so much.

Jesus reminds us in this parable that we are the small thing for another.

The story does not end there. For Jesus is telling the parable as biography. I am the mustard seed and to grow into something grander I must die so that I can be more. A hard lesson for the first followers and for us in the 21st century. Jesus says repeatedly that I will die and rise again on the third day, the temple will be destroyed and I will rebuild it in three days. Jesus is the mustard seed that dies so that all might have life and life in abundance.

We are living in an age of staggering ‘me first’ and ultra-protectionism and if I have learned anything from history, those two false beliefs held together as a truth are dangerous and destructive. Through the ages, people have believed that Jews were evil, blacks were an abomination to God, that women were not persons under the law, that those who are LGBTQ are to be outcast and that Muslims are terrorists. These are false truths proclaimed as true so that some can be perceived as better. The first and best teaching of Jesus is: Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, love yourself and love others. Jesus died so that we might come to a better understanding of this truth.

The message of Jesus might seem like a small thing in the world as it is now. I believe that God will not let the seed of love die in the ground in the 21st century. I believe that God has planted that small seed in all of us who believe Jesus is Saviour and it will, through our small actions cause the calloused hearts and closed minds to be opened.

I would like to share one of my favorite poems with you again. Dawna Markova is the author.

“I will not die an unlived life, I will not not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance, to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom. And that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit”