Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

Psalm 131, Matthew 13: 31-35

"It is the smallest of all seeds…" Matthew 13:32

In all my years of doing funerals and memorial services I have yet to see an obituary that got it right. Of course the newspaper was correct in the vital statistics of birth and death dates. They usually get the names of the surviving family members correct. It is not what the obituary says that is the problem. It is what gets left out. Obituaries don’t really tell us who the person was.

I sit with the family and listen as they describe for me their father’s life. I already know the big things: his military service in World War II, his degrees, career, club and church memberships. I am looking for what made this man unique.

A daughter tells me what she most remembers about her father. She recalls something so small one would expect her to have forgotten it as insignificant. She says, "Daddy used to drive me across the city and we would play a game by betting on the stop lights. If the light was green when we reached the intersection then Daddy won and I had to give him a kiss on the cheek. If the light was red, then I won, and Daddy paid me a penny. It was some time before I realized that Daddy was slowing down about a block before the light in order to hit it on the green."

A son recalls that his dad would stand at the door as the family finished getting ready to go somewhere. "Dad would call out to the family, ‘five minutes.’ Then he went out to the car and started the engine. We knew if we weren’t in the car in five minutes he would leave without us. I learned punctuality from my dad."

It is the little things in our lives that often get remembered. It is an accumulation of the small things that make us who we are. Little things can turn out to be very important.

Do we appreciate the importance of the little things in our lives? It is easy to become distracted by big, important things so that we forget to pay attention to the little things. Psalm 131 says, "I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me." This is the focus Jesus brings in the parables we are considering today. Let’s think about the power of little, ordinary things to make a difference.

The Mustard Seed

He presented another parable to them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."

The Leaven

He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened."

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable.

This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world."

Matthew 13:31-35

A pastor, priest and rabbi were discussing at what point a person becomes fully alive. The priest said he agreed with his tradition which taught that life biologically begins at the moment of conception. The rabbi responded that his tradition believed life begins and ends with breath. He explained that just as God breathed into Adam and he became a living being, so it is our breath that makes us alive. The two turned to the pastor and asked what his tradition taught. He responded, "I figure life begins when the children leave home and the dog dies."

In today’s parables Jesus answers the question, "When does the Kingdom of God begin?" According to Jesus the Kingdom of God begins in such tender and subtle ways that most people miss it entirely. It is like a mustard seed, so tiny that hundreds of them can fit on the tip of a finger. Yet such a small beginning turns into a huge plant. Or to use the second image, a little yeast leavens the whole loaf of bread.

I read some years ago about a teacher in a large city school district whose sole responsibility was to tutor children who were hospitalized or recovering at home. She was called by an elementary teacher to visit an injured boy in the hospital. She was asked to work with the boy on his nouns and adverbs so he would not fall behind in class during his hospitalization.

She drove to the hospital and found the boy’s room. As she entered the room she realized he was in the critical-burn unit. Looking at the boy in the hospital bed, she noted that this child was severely burned and in great pain. She was tempted to turn around and walk out of the room. However, her eyes met the boy’s eyes and his questioning gaze held her attention. She quickly explained that she was a tutor from the school sent to work with him on his nouns and adverbs. She hastened to add that if this was not a good time, she could come back the next day.

The next day, as she approached the boy’s room, a nurse stopped the teacher. The nurse asked what she had said to the boy. They had noted a significant difference in the child’s attitude. He had shown a rapid turnaround after the tutor had left. The nurse explained that they had been very worried whether he had simply given up hope. "Yesterday," the nurse said, "he turned the corner. He’s fighting back and responding to treatment." The tutor tried to recall what she might have said. Surely nouns and adverbs would not have such an effect on the boy.

The boy later explained that he had completely given up hope until he saw the tutor. Seeing her brought him to the realization that he could get better. He said, "I figured that they wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?"

The Kingdom of God happens when God’s rule invades first an individual’s heart and then, through that person, makes a difference in the world. How do we know when a person’s heart is first opening to the rule of God? It happens in such tiny, subtle ways that we usually do not realize what is happening until much later. Every so often, though, we get a glimpse of God working.

The Kingdom of God begins in ways too subtle to see. As tiny as a mustard seed. However the seed grows into the large mustard plant. The mustard plant, when fully grown, shades the rest of the garden. So it is that as people pray and care for the small, ordinary things in life, major changes can result. A changed heart leads to a changed world.

A World War II fighter pilot recalls a bombing run over Germany when he was hit by German shells. He felt the impact and was amazed that he did not go down. When he landed safely behind the allied lines, he asked the repair crew to check the plane carefully because he was sure he had been hit. Indeed the crew found eleven shells in the plane. None of them had exploded on impact.

They took the shells to the lab for examination and found they had been improperly loaded. None of them had the explosive charge necessary to blow up the plane. Inside one of the shells they found a piece of paper with a hand-scrawled note. The note was in the Czech language. When translated it read, "This is all we can do for now." It was later discovered that Czechoslovakians who had been captured and forced to work in a German factory were doing their little part to help the allies by misloading shells.

We may not be able to win the entire war in one big decision. But we can make a difference in our own small way. Do we believe that God can take such small acts and change the world?

What little part is God calling you and me to do for Christ’s Kingdom? Is there some seemingly small, insignificant thing that if we did it, God would multiply its effects? What would that look like?

Let’s consider the parable of the mustard seed in its context. Matthew simply lumps it together with other parables about God’s rule invading our lives. Mark places the parable of the mustard seed in the context of other planting and farming parables. It is in Luke’s unique placement of this parable that I see the challenge for us today.

Luke has the mustard seed parable in the context of a healing miracle. Jesus was teaching in the synagogue when a woman crippled for eighteen years appeared. Jesus compassionately spoke a healing word to her. He announced that her affliction was removed. When he touched her she stood straight and began praising God. Might we speak some healing words into a situation to set someone free this week? Could something as small as paying attention to a hurting person really make a difference? Can God use our ordinary words to bless?

I recall a story that Dr. Fred Craddock told about sitting in an airport waiting for a flight. He was in a friendly conversation with a businessman when a fundamentalist youth group came through the place handing out tracts and witnessing for Jesus. When one young man buttonholed Fred and the businessman, the youth was unimpressed to learn that Dr. Craddock was a seminary professor. Turning toward the businessman the youth asked if he had ever been blessed by God. It was clear the young man wanted a testimony of divine intervention and dramatic miracles. The businessman responded with this story.

He said, "Some years ago I was sitting in a concert hall listening to a soprano sing the most beautiful music. She had a very beautiful solo voice! When she finished the concert, we gave her a standing ovation and she agreed to sing one encore. Someone from the audience called out, ‘Danny Boy.’ She agreed to sing it but first wanted to tell us the meaning behind the words to that song for her. She had lost a husband and two sons in World War II. She said she always sang the song in their memories."

The young man listened as the businessman continued his story. He was seated in the front row of the concert hall and could see the tears in her eyes as she sang those words, "Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling…." He continued, "The audience hung on every word. When she finished, as the hall filled with applause she turned to leave the stage and suddenly collapsed. From the front row I was the first person up on the stage. I cradled her head in my lap as someone called for a doctor and others called for an ambulance. She opened her eyes and looked into my face and said weakly, ‘God bless you.’"

The businessman concluded his story. "To this day I don’t know what happened in that moment. All she said was, ‘God bless you.’ From that night my life changed. I found I could believe in God. I joined a church. I grew to love my family more. I’ve never been the same."

Can such small things really make a difference? "God bless you," to a stranger? A reaffirming touch on the shoulder of a friend? A welcoming smile to a visitor? A listening ear to a widow? Can the kingdom of God really start as small as a mustard seed?