God's Check-list
Ordinary 11

June 17, 2012

God's Check-list

by Linda Kraft

Mark 4:26-34

Our gospel reading for today is about something insignificant that grows and grows until it’s bigger than you could ever imagine. I have two examples for this phenomenon.

On my day off this week I was very busy trying to make a 5-cubic yard pile of mulch disappear. There were plenty of places for it to go in our yard. We have one area on the south side of the house that never gets any sun, thanks to our neighbor’s trees. So we’ve planted a few shade-loving bushes there. Since grass won’t grow there, most of the area is covered in mulch. But there’s one area that my husband despairs over each time he cuts the grass.

Several years ago a neighbor gave me a few strands of a pretty ground covering vine. I planted it in this shady area and it has thrived. From those few short strands have come large patches of 15-inch high, densely leafed bushes that produce yellow flowers in the spring. It’s pretty, but it spreads like wildfire. Every time we mow the lawn we need to actually run the mower UNDER the edge of the plants so we can stop it from spreading where we really don’t want it to go.

My second example is even more invasive and it happened right here. A couple months ago, as I was teaching about the 6th commandment in confirmation class – you know, that’s the one about sex, not committing adultery – the discussion took on a life of its own. Now I’ve been teaching and preaching for 40 years and I know how to talk about nearly anything. As the conversation moved along I advised the kids that they should be sure to talk to their parents about their family’s point of view on some of the things we talked about.

It seems a couple of the students went home and told their parents the exact opposite of what I was teaching. Of course that shocked the parents. It took a couple weeks for me to find out there was any concern at all and by the time I did, the situation had grown all out of proportion. What had been a simple mis-heard or misunderstood comment had taken on a life of its own. Efforts to speak with the parents were of no avail. Offers to bring the misunderstanding to the Mutual Ministry team for mediation were refused. Ultimately, one parent contacted the church and withdrew membership for the parents, two children and the grandmother.

It’s a sad turn of events, but it profoundly illustrates the parable of the mustard seed starting so small and growing beyond expectations.

That day with the crowds and the disciples, Jesus used an example these farming and fishing people would easily understand. Remember, those were the days when oxen pulled the plows and seed was scattered by the sower and rain was prayed for so the crops could grow in this arid land. The farmers knew enough about planting to realize it was good for them to leave a field unplanted for a season to give it time to replenish its nutrients for a better crop the next year.

So, the farmers would leave the field unplanted, but that’s not to say NOTHING grew there. If you’ve ever driven through areas where grain is grown, and it’s the right time of year, you have probably seen what can happen when a field is left fallow. Not grain but other plants take over. That’s the way it was in Jesus’ time, too. Today our farmers have herbicides they can spray or bury in a field when it’s left empty for a season to help prevent this invasion, but back then the plants were grown organically and an unplanted field took on a life of its own.

An empty field was an invitation for naturally invasive plants to take over and thrive. Nobody wanted mustard plants to take over their empty field. It was nearly impossible to get out once it took hold. Yet Jesus used this uninvited weed to illustrate the meaning of the kingdom of God. Where the prophets had used the might cedar to remind people that God was in charge, caring for and nurturing the people he loved, Jesus chose to use a weed. A weed!

Boy, that Jesus. You just never know what he’s going to do next. Using a huge tree as a symbol for the kingdom of God is easy to understand. Why would our Lord use such a distasteful image for the reign of God?

Well we’ve seen Jesus, before, dealing with the way the world had become over the years. He came to enlighten everyone about what God really wants to happen. Jesus knew the people had been taught that they could only be righteous, right with God, if they obeyed all of the Law and demonstrated their allegiance through their interaction with others. They’d learned that it was up to THEM as to whether God would love them or not.

Jesus wanted them to consider a different way God’s love could come to them. It’s called grace. Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, the smallest of seeds, yet it produces an overpowering abundance. That’s the way God’s love is. It even comes to those who don’t want it, who think they don’t deserve it, who’ve been told their way of living is outside God’s desire for humanity.

Sure the people understood that priests and holy men and perfect wives and mothers were embraced by God, but I’ll bet they wondered about themselves and if they measured up to God’s standards. Jesus tells them – and US – that measuring up to a set of standards is not a requirement on God’s check list. In fact, there’s only one item on God’s check list. One thing that’s necessary for us human beings to deserve God’s love and inherit God’s kingdom. Can you guess what it is?

How many of you answered with something WE need to do, like having faith, going to church, being kind to everybody, serving the needy or reading the Bible each day?

The one item on God’s check list that is essential for you and me to inherit the kingdom IS NOT something WE must do. The one item on God’s check list to see who deserves to have God’s love is actually a task only God can perform. One thing. Not something WE can accomplish. The one thing on God’s list of how we get God’s love is our creator’s directive to himself to love all he has created, all that exists, including you and me and every other person in this whole wide world.

God loves. That’s how we inherit God’s kingdom.

Y’know, we church people have noticed something about each other and about the OTHERS who come to us here in this special place we come to week after week. It seems there is a pattern that has developed over the past 50 years or so. The formula works something like this:

Then the cycle starts all over again. What’s happening in those missing years?

Sometimes we get to thinking that we’re especially loved by God because we come to church, no matter what. And THOSE people who don’t come regularly or even for years are somehow less important to God. What does Jesus have to say about those ideas? Huh-uh. Not so fast. Remember God’s to-do list. Nothing WE do gets us God’s love; God’s kingdom is ours because God wants to love us, and them, and them, and yes, even THEM.

Yeah! THAT’s why we come to church, and feed the hungry and pray for the sick and dying and clothe the naked and visit the homebound and... We thank God for the gift of righteousness by living our lives in love.

So the next time you’re tempted to think God’s love is yours and not theirs, remember what’s on God’s check list. It’s all about love. Amen

(Comments to Linda at kraftylynx@gmail.com.)

Linda Kraft

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Trumbull, CT