I don’t know what type of mustard plant the Gospel (LK 13: 18-21) today is referring.  The seed apparently grows to the size of a large bush, wherein birds come to dwell.  I recently planted some mustard seeds that will hopefully yield mustard greens.  I am watching the first leaves break the soil and grow, actually quite rapidly.  I don’t know that the birds are as interested in the plant, but I do know that my cat likes to lay on top of the young plants, much to my (and the young plants’) dismay.

The seeds that I planted are very small and it is actually hard to try to plant one seed at a time since they are so small.  The clumsiness involved with trying to plant them one at a time finally gives ways to just scattering the seeds in bunches as they fall from my fingers.  It’s like they defy being separated from each other, since they are so small.  I understand that they need to be thinned at some point to allow for growth to occur without too much competition for space and nutrients in the soil.  We’ll see how that goes…So, this is the kingdom of God?…

Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like?
To what can I compare it?
It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.
When it was fully grown, it became a large bush
and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”

Now this bush that grows from the mustard seed in the Gospel parable attracts birds to dwell within it.  Something so small as a mustard seed, which by itself is something unnoticeable, hard to manage, and seemingly quite insignificant can grow into something that yields a “home” for others – in this case, birds.  I guess we should also look at the Gospel that we heard at the beginning of the month, also from Luke, about mustard seeds (LK 17: 5-10)::

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
The Lord replied,
“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Matthew (MT 17: 20) doesn’t even bother with simply moving a mulberry tree, he goes for the gusto:

Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain,  ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

So we have, in one instance, the mustard seed as somehow symbolizing the “kingdom of God” and, in another, as signifying faith.  They may not be that far apart – faith and the kingdom of God.  So…what about this mustard seed – this tiny seed that has powerful potential to grow into a “home” for others (birds) and also to empower those to do wonderful things (moving mountains)?

What is the seemingly latent power of God, that is so small, but apparently totally significant, that lies within something like a “mustard seed?”  I think back again on how clumsy it was when I was trying to carefully drop each mustard seed separately into the soil.  I did not accomplish these separate plantings, but just ended up dropping what I had between my fingers however they fell, then covered them with soil, watered and waited.  There is a certain amount of trust that comes with planting seeds.  You do what you can to prepare the soil and properly plant the seeds, but in the end, it’s up to a lot more than you and your capacities to enable the seed to grow.  The sun and rain have something to do with it for sure.

So, perhaps one way to look at this wonderful symbol of the mustard seed in the Gospels, especially in terms of faith and the “kingdom of God,” is to first off, recognize that we have the seeds.  We are entrusted with these seemingly insignificant little morsels of life. In other places in the Gospel and even in the epistles of St. Paul, we hear these seeds referred to as “gifts.”  So, what is the purpose of “having” something at all?  When we try to “hold on” to what we have been given, the accompanying self-indulgence eventually leads to disaster and exclusivity.  When we do this, we hurt everyone else, and even though it may not be so obvious to us, we hurt ourselves at the same time.

It could occur to us that we are entrusted with the mustard seeds so that we can plant them.  And the planting could be the most important piece in all this.  And I am not talking about the meticulous process of trying to ensure that everything is just right (conditions, soil PH, etc.) but sometimes just do it – just plant the seeds.  Drop them into the soil, with all the clumsiness that may come along with that.  When we get to the point where we actually do something, we are already receiving back a gift.  When I plant these seeds, I hope that they will grow, and I will do my small part to help that to happen, but ultimately I am simply responding to the call to trust that something more than me can possibly happen.

Another way of seeing this is that when we respond to some need that we perceive, we are already in a posture of listening and receiving, and ultimately this is what we call trust.  A funny thing about trust is that you are taking a risk by letting go of some control over the outcome and having to rely on other things, people, and ultimately God!  Could this be what “moving mountains” really means?  The mountain moved is our ego out of the way, responding in trust and risk, which is precisely what constitutes a truly loving action, and then…trying to be patient, with care and ongoing support, but ultimately trusting that God will “make it grow.”

This is not a rote “dismissal” of responsibility that we sometimes are tempted into when we say, “I’ll just give this over to God.”  Instead it is a giving over to God that entails giving your self over to God.    And it is when this happens that we can really receive the grace and strength and courage to “grow.”  Then we become “homes” for each other, just like the birds in the mustard bush.  Then, we become “mountain movers,” because we are on the mountain, trusting that God is leading us into a deeper understanding of life and relationship.

We have to “grow,” in order to share our selves with one another.  This is the strange irony perhaps, but it is the only way, as Jesus is telling us that we can really BE who we are called to be.  Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Luke has Jesus talking about having faith the size of a mustard seed so as to “say to the mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea.”  It is the difficult uprooting sometimes that we must go through in order to grow.  It just takes that mustard seed of trust – of giving over that which will then be a giving “back” – that “grows” you and me and everyone else too.

I am patiently hopeful that my clumsy planting of the mustard seeds will grow enough to have at least a few people over to share them by the end of the year.

Peace

Thomas