ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET

First Sunday of Trinity, 14th June 2009
Sermon preached by Fr. Gerald Beauchamp at the Parish Mass

Readings: Ezekiel 17. 22-end; 2 Corinthians 5. 6-10; Mark 4. 26-34

A class of young children was having some quiet time drawing. The teacher asked them to use their imaginations and draw anything they liked. The children got busy with paper, pencils and crayons. The teacher looked over their shoulders as they worked. She saw the usual things: a house, mummy and daddy, the pet dog. Tommy whose father was a limousine driver was drawing his dad's car. Then the teacher came to Lucy.

Lucy's face was full of concentration but it wasn't clear what she was drawing. The teacher crouched down beside her. 'That's an interesting picture', she said 'what are you drawing?' 'I'm drawing a picture of God' said Lucy emphatically. 'Oh', said the teacher trying to hide her surprise 'but no one knows what God looks like.' 'Well', Lucy replied confidently 'they soon will'.

Jesus painted pictures of God. OK, he didn't use paper, pencil and crayon. He used word pictures. He told stories. He told parables. In this morning's gospel St Mark says that Jesus only spoke to the crowds in parables. I'm not sure what Mark was on the morning that he wrote that. Looking at the gospels as a whole Jesus taught in a variety of ways. The Sermon on the Mount in Mathew's Gospel is a straightforward piece of teaching.

But no matter, Jesus did tell parables: lots of them. The meaning of many is obvious. If we hear the parable of the Good Samaritan we tune into our need to be compassionate. If we hear the parable of the Prodigal Son we think about forgiveness. But other parables are a bit more obscure and that goes for this morning's especially the one about the mustard seed.

In order to work towards the meaning we need to start with the context. We're in the latter part of chapter four of Mark's Gospel. From the beginning Jesus courted controversy. In chapter three the scribes accused him of being possessed by a demon but as Jesus himself is casting out demons the scribes are wrong. 'How can Satan cast out Satan?' asks Jesus (Mk 3. 23).

Chapter four begins with that well-known parable of the sower. The sower broadcasts the seed and some falls on the path, some on rocky ground, some among thorns and some on good soil. The meaning of the parable is about our responsiveness to God's word. There are plenty of obstacles to hearing and putting it into practice: the pleasures of the world for one. But the first obstacle that Jesus mentions is Satan, the Accuser. The seed that falls on the path and is eaten by the birds is likened to Satan. Satan comes along quickly after the seed (God's word) has been thrown and gobbles it up.

So we're on familiar Markan territory. Mark constantly opposes God and Satan. We, the hearers of the parables, have to make choices and decide whose side we're on. In Mark it's all very black and white. The parable of the sower is then followed by the two parables we heard this morning. After the parable of the sower Jesus seems to get on a bit of a roll.

The purpose of any parable is to create a shift in the hearers. By using an image or an experience that's easily accessible Jesus creates Ah-ha! moments. Something clicks into place within us. When we hear the Good Samaritan most of us have either been robbed or we can easily imagine it. We know what it's like to be vulnerable and in a mess. We get the importance of compassion. When we hear the Prodigal Son we know what the ungrateful young are like. We've either been there ourselves or we've seen it with our own eyes. We get the notion of forgiveness. The parable of the sower also sinks in once we've had it explained by Jesus although you do get the impression that he does the image to death. That's why it's possible that the explanation owes more to the writers of the gospels than to Jesus himself.

So, we get the contrast between good and stony ground. And we can grasp the first of this morning's parables about the farmer who sows his crop and then waits for the results. Two thousand years ago people had less understanding about the workings of nature than we do now but the general point stands. Nature takes its course. It's 'automatic'. That's the Greek word that's used: automate. Like the harvest our part in the kingdom of God is to recognize the signs of the times: see when the fields are ripe for the harvest and act. We are not to be 'stony ground' (hard-hearted). We are to be fertile and willing workers for the kingdom. So what about this mustard seed? Well, the important thing to recognize is that Jesus is telling a joke. This is not just Ah-ha! but Ho-ho! The clue is in this morning's first lesson. The prophet Ezekiel speaks of God's activity as like the planting of a mighty cedar tree. In the shades of its branches birds of every sort will nest. Jesus says something similar about the shrub that comes from the mustard seed. The birds of the air can make nests in its shade. As so often in the ministry of Jesus he's bringing things down in order to make them accessible. Prophecy (long dead until the time of Jesus) had been hallowed by tradition. It had become the prisoner of the scribes, those who could argue over the minutiae of what the ancient seers had said. Then they used it against the people that they were teaching. Ezekiel's imagery and those who interpreted it had become rather lofty: too remote from ordinary people. They stood over and against them.

But the really side-splitting idea for those who heard Jesus preach was the idea that anyone would plant a mustard seed. No one is their right mind would sow it. Mustard was a weed. It grew everywhere. If you were a farmer you spent your life ripping it out of your crop. If you wanted mustard you took it from the hedgerow. Otherwise it was a menace. You certainly wouldn't be planting it. And as for it getting so big that that the birds of the air are going to start nesting in its shade well that's hyperbole. Mustard just ain't that big. It's interesting that Mark having spelt out in wearying detail the meaning of the parable of the sower says nothing about the meaning of the parable of the mustard seed. It looks like he didn't get it.

There are a lot of interpretations of this parable but here's my take on it.

Firstly, Jesus is taking a swipe at the scribes. They are 'satanic' (accusing), always wanting to put people down by putting them in the wrong. This is not Jesus' way. He was the rabbi who taught not through accusation but through proclamation: proclamation of the kingdom of God. He didn't find fault but offered forgiveness.

Secondly, Jesus is indicating that the kingdom isn't something rarefied like cedar. It's like mustard seed. The kingdom is ubiquitous. It's there for the taking. It's interesting that Buddhists also honour a story about mustard seed. The story goes that a woman is desperate after bereavement. The Buddha tells her that he will bring her loved one back to life if she can collect mustard seed from a family that has never suffered a death. The woman goes from village to village. Every home has mustard seed but none have escaped the tragedy of bereavement. Finally, she realizes that bereavement is universal. What she must do is what everyone has to do: to grieve but also to know that death is a fact of life. This is part of her enlightenment, her path towards a fuller understanding of life. The kingdom of God too is all around. What we have to do is to open our eyes to see it.

Thirdly, I suspect that Mark didn't get the parable of the mustard seed because unlike the parable of the sower it challenges his rather black and white view of things. You are either for Satan or you are for God is Mark's view. Weeds are the works of the devil but then Jesus uses a weed as an image of the kingdom. How can that be? Perhaps the either/or isn't always true after all. Ask any gardener: they'll tell you that a weed is simply a plant in the wrong place. Mustard may be a menace if you're trying to grow something else but it has its uses. Mustard has its place in the world.

We live in a world where one group seems always to want to get rid of another group. Tragically religion is easily conscripted by one lot to legitimise getting rid of another. War seems endemic but what would the world look like if everyone had an honoured place? Wouldn't that be like the kingdom? I think it would.

What does God look like? No one knows. But they should do because God should be seen in us and through us. That's what the incarnation is about: God seen in human flesh. We are to be walking parables: testaments to God's grace. People should be able to gaze upon us and say Ah-ha! Or is that usually Ho-ho?