Mark 4:26-34
Follow the Yellow Brick Road! Follow the Yellow Brick Road! One
of my favorite movies when I was growing up was the Wizard of Oz. Lying on the
floor of our darkened living room, mesmerized by the sights and sounds of this
story about a girl from Kansas, her little dog, Toto, and the ruby slippers that
sparkled and shined, it was easy to be transported to the land of Oz.
One of the first times I can remember watching The Wizard of
Oz was soon after my parents had purchased our first color television set. I
was able to witness the transition from black and white to color, and the story
seemed to take on a whole new depth and meaning.
Technicolor added visual depth to an already unusual story. I
especially remember the visit to Emerald City, and the “horse of a different
color.” But most of all, I remember the element of fear that runs like a thread
through the story.
Every time they turned around, Dorothy and Toto, and their
new friends were faced with some terrifying situation or another. Despite their
fear, however, somehow, some way, they hung on to a semblance of hope, and this
hope kept them going; it kept them moving onward even when things seemed hopeless.
Alone, any one of these characters may have given up and
given in to hopelessness and despair. But together, they faced their fears; together,
hope kept them moving forward, facing the next challenge, giving it their all, because
they trusted that if they faced their fears and persevered in following the
Yellow Brick Road, their hope would be realized.
They just might reach their destination, and that indeed,
hope would win the day over seemingly overwhelming fear.
A few decades after our friends made it out of Oz another
blockbuster film hit the scenes: the Hunger Games. Like Dorothy searching for
the wizard, the main characters in this film are up against seeming impossible
odds.
At one point, the mastermind of the situation declares “Hope
is the only thing more powerful than fear." But for that very reason it is
as perilous for a dictator as it is useful: "A little hope, is effective;
a lot of hope is dangerous."
Looking at today’s scripture texts, it is this characteristic
of hope that Jesus points us to.
Jesus has been speaking in parables to explain the kingdom
of God is like; In this kingdom, hope wins out over fear. In today’s text, Jesus
likens the kingdom of God, the kingdom in fact inaugurated with the coming of
Jesus himself, to the tiny mustard seed.
I would hazard a guess that mustard is not a seed or plant common
to most of us here today. Living in the Mid-Atlantic when I think about
mustard, I think about all the wonderful varieties that come in jars in the
grocery and gourmet cooking stores. We
don’t really think about the nature of the plant this condiment comes from. But
this was a plant people of Jesus’ time would know about.
Jesus tells them that the kingdom of God is like a mustard
seed, sown upon the ground, the smallest of seeds, yet when it grows up it
becomes so large that it is able to
shelter birds as they nest in its shade.
We might think this would be a good thing, right? Yet, the original listeners to this parable might
think Jesus is joking. Mustard was a pesky, even somewhat dangerous plant. It
wasn’t the kind of seed you would want to sow in your garden. In fact in some
places it was even outlawed.
A few years ago I was in Southern California during the late
spring, and the hillsides were positively covered with the shining yellow heads
of millions of wild plants bobbing in the wind. As it turned out, it was, you
guessed it, mustard; Tenacious, hardy, extremely prolific, mustard.
It was like an invasion of dandelions, or kudzu, or wild
grape – or any other invasive plant you can think of – begun somewhere as a
single plant that wantonly spread its seed all across the field, and then, greatly multiplied.
It was this kind of mustardly behavior that threated crops
and vineyards of Jesus’ time; for these are plants quickly take over and choke
out other, preferred, plants.
According to the parable, what else is this plant good for?
Sheltering birds. That’s a good thing, right? But if we look back to the
parables before this one we will find birds picking off the desirable seed that
one might want to sow.
It makes you wonder what on earth Jesus was saying when he
compared the kingdom of God to a plant that takes over where it is not wanted, gets
out of control, and attracts those who are not necessarily welcome!
This, Jesus says, is what the kingdom of God is like. And
yet, we are encouraged to welcome, to promote, to embrace the kingdom of God as
if it’s a good thing! Holy Flying Monkeys, what is Jesus thinking?
Like the mustard plant, the kingdom of God can’t be
controlled. The kingdom of God comes about at God’s will and God will not be
contained or controlled by any other powers, and especially not by any powers
on earth.
The kingdom of God will draw in and shelter those that might
be considered undesirable–
the outsider,
the
powerless,
the
addicted,
the
HIV infected,
the
abused,
the
convict,
the
uneducated,
the starving,
the
poor and needy
the
sinner – all of us.
The kingdom of God has come to take over, to overturn the
status quo, to transform the kingdoms of the earth. For those who benefit from
the status quo, this is not good news.
But for the first listeners of these words, many of whom
were outsiders in their own communities, many of whom were ostracized in their
own community, many of whom were disenfranchised, this is very good news. For
the early church, struggling through fear, this gospel was good news.
For us, today, who sometimes feel beat up, like outsiders,
like pretenders, this is likewise very good news.
This is
news that gives us cause to hope. These
are words that we can trust, sent by Jesus to invade the
scariest,
darkest,
most
isolated,
loneliest,
most
shameful,
most fearsome corners of the world
and of our very lives.
The kingdom of God conveys hope; the only thing more powerful than fear.
A
little hope is effective;
a
lot of hope is dangerous.
Jesus
gives us is maximum hope.
Yet we might ask, how is it that this hope is as perilous as
it is useful? Who is it dangerous to?
The hope Jesus offers is dangerous to the powers that subjugate
the marginalized; that benefit from the
exploitation of the powerless; for those who enslave the weak and overpower the
poor.
The hope Jesus offers is dangerous to those who deal in
fear-mongering, like unscrupulous leaders, drug lords, terrorists, both domestic
and foreign; like those who promote fear and hatred toward targeted groups of
people; like corrupt officials in public and private arenas.
The good news of this gospel, my friends, is that even more
than the mustard plant is hard to control, the kingdom of God cannot be controlled.
It cannot be restrained. It cannot be contained.
We may sometimes look around us and feel discouraged. Starting
right here in the church, we look around, and we see a lot of empty seats here.
We feel fear.
We turn on the nightly news or pick up the newspaper, or
turn on the internet and we feel fear. We fear for the future of the church,
for the future generations, for the future of our country and world. Such fear
can bog us down, can keep us from moving forward.
If our friends from Oz had given in to hopeless despair however,
they never would have kept going, overcoming the obstacles in their way, defeating
the darkness in their world. They never would have discovered the gifts they had already
been given.
The good news in this gospel is that God is already growing,
spreading, exercising, and God is giving and will continue to give each of us the
gifts we need to anticipate, participate in, and to offer hope in this kingdom
of God.
We see some of these gifts in food that is gathered to share
with those who need it; this week, a young family, whose father was sidelined
by an injury and the family car lost in an accident, were fed and given
assistance by the donations you have brought here to Grace.
The kingdom is at work in quilts that are made for Lutheran
World Relief, change that is collected to
bring life to dead places of despair, mosquito nets that are being provided to
help prevent and treat malaria, and homes being built for the homeless.
As disciples of Christ, when we share the love
that God
first showed us in Christ,
we
participate in the kingdom work,
sharing
hope in the world.
The kingdom of God is spread through soup kitchens, through
blood that is donated, through prayers said for loved ones and strangers alike
each week here and worship and daily, by many of us, in our personal times of
prayer.
The kingdom of God is at work when we share a smile and a
kind word with the lonely, send cards to the homebound and reach outside of our
church community sharing a caring touch, prayer or word of encouragement. Kingdom
work is being done when we mentor a youth whose life is filled with
uncertainty, give generously of our time, our talent and our treasure, because
we are so very grateful for all that God has given us.
Where have you seen the kingdom of God at work, and where
have you participated in sharing the hope of the kingdom with others?
When we live in hope, we get things done. When we live in
hope, we are able to reach out in joy to help those who need to experience the
love and joy of this kingdom work. When we remember the indiscriminately
shared, sheltering love of God demonstrated in the example of a simple, small
seed, we learn what it is to live in hope, trusting that God will grow the
kingdom as God has always done.
We share hope that is stronger than fear, driven by the
grace of God, who frees us to turn the black and white of the status quo into
the brilliant, life-giving, life-sustaining colors of the kingdom of God. God
will continue to scatter seed, continue to invade the dark and stormy places of
the world.
May God grant us each hope stronger than fear, more powerful
than any power on earth, and more dangerous than we can dare to imagine.
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