Homily – Sunday, the 16th of June 2024
Reading: Mark 4:30-32
He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
Have we ever felt too small and insignificant in life? The parable of the mustard seed that Jesus narrates gives us some food for thought. The Anglican presence in Freiburg could be very small but we are reminded in the Scriptures “do not despise small beginnings (Zech 4:10) for in the sight of the Lord everything is significant and important.
Richard saw his friend Davies coming on a Friday morning with a heavy load of books while not all was needed that day. Davies told Richard he was going to give it away when Richard offered a hand in carrying the heavy weight. After class Richard said, why don’t we go for a coffee. That was a long conversation that followed and the beginning of a strong bond of friendship.
Years later Davies threw a party celebrating fifty years of friendship with Richard and on that day he said. Fifty years ago on the Ides of March I had given up on life. Cleaned up the entire house so that mom would not need to do much there and decided to give all my books away before I ended my life. As my mind was turbulent like a God sent angel Rich came up to me and held my bag and we agreed for a coffee. It was a small act but that one small act changed my life. I decided to live and celebrate small acts of kindness. Today fifty years later I want to thank you for that one small act that changed me.
Small acts of kindness is what the world celebrate love amidst all that is happening around us
Mustard Seed adds Flavour and Fragrance
When we hear the comparison- the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed- what are the initial images that come to our mind. In several cultures mustard is an important ingrediant in cooking. My earliest memory of the kitchen where my mother used to cook was that once the fire is lit and the pot is warm oil is poured and once the oil is warm the first step of cooking is putting some mustard seeds and it is interesting to watch it breaking open and then the masala is added to the curry. I called my mother yesterday and asked her why do we give so much importance to the mustard.
She in her characteristic humour said- Don’t underestimate the power of the little mustard seed. The tempering of the mustard is primarily to add flavour to the cooking. It adds depth to whatever is being cooked. Secondly it adds fragrance to the curry, it has an aromatic function. Eating is a sensory experience and the smell is as important as the taste and the mustard seasoning affects both. She said, even in Western cultures people use the mustard sause seasoning even for salads they use. The third impact is the textural variation that mustard brings into the cooking. She said- it influences the texture of the curry. Traditionally mustard is believed to have therapeutic functions and is good for the digestive process- it prepares the food to be acceptable to the body. There is another important aspect, she added and that is the fact that it connects us to our roots and traditions. It was part of our cultural heritage that we used mustard seeds to initiate the cooking. Kaduku Varukkal as we call it in my language is integral to our cooking culture and we remember our ancestors each time we do that. It has an intimate element of memory attached to it. As we put those mustard seeds, our grandmother used to say- thank you Lord for food one more time, thank you Lord for the parents who taught us cooking, thank you Lord for people who would share this food with us, thank you Lord for reminding us that in the breaking and in the heat- there is a purpose that we break for life to be more meaningful for others.
Therefore in any culturally sensitive hermeneutics of the kingdom of God and in inter generational and multicultural reading of the understanding of the kingdom it is all about adding flavour, aroma, texture, healing and memory into the contexts you are placed in.
Mustard Seeds teaches us the Significance of Smallness
The first image that comes to our mind when we think of the mustard seed is its smallness. The parable also acknowledges that- mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth. However within the smallness is the potential and the potency to grow into one of the largest shrubs. The Bible continously teaches us the significance of smallness. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, one of the smallest towns of Judea; when Jeremiah is called in 1:6-7, he tries to say- I am too young- too small to this great task and yet the Lord says- don’t say so, just get going. In the story that narrates the intervention of Elijah ending the great drought in 1 Kings 18:44 we read- A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea. In the feeding of the five thousand it is an insignificant portion of five loaves and two fish that is used to feed the five thousand. When the widow offers a small coin see what the narrative is – As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” In Judges 7 when we hear of Gideon chosing his army against the mighty opponents he is asked to chose a small army of 300 people. We read in Judges 7:7 what the Lord says- “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home. In the story of Goliath and David- one is a mighty warrior and other significantly small yet the Lord was with the smaller one and his stones. All these and many more Biblical narratives affirm the bigness of smallness.
Pope Francis rightly said- No one can grow unless the person accepts his or her smallness and Pope John XXIII said the awareness of my smallness and my nothingness always kept me in good company. Pearl S Buck once wrote, “God is not in the vastness of greatness. God is hid in the vastness of smallness.” It was Mother Teresa who said- God loves small things best, especially when done with lot of love. Remember Symphonies begin with one note follwed by another and goes on one by one, fires with one flame, gardens with one flower, master pieces with one stroke and when you cherish each small step it paves the way to the best that is yet to be (M Dhilwayo).
“Sometimes you make a very small move and then suddenly a giant door opens and a new exciting path appears before you and thus you understand how something such small carries a potential to create such big magic! Now you know that small is big!” (Murat Ildan)
Always remember that the small things are not small things for the small. The shoe box gifts that are sent on Christmas day had once an old spectacle reaching a young boy who realised he could read again for he never had an opportunity for an eye test. A small gesture that changed a life was the beginning of a great movement of gift sharing of children. The Shoe Box Sharing.
Remember for the mustard seed to turn into the great shrub there is the falling to the ground and dying. There is the sprouting of new life and when we go through tough patches in life- this thought should always be in us- God is stirring us up to bring out the great potency within us.
Mustard Seeds shows us the possibility of Inclusiveness of the Kingdom of God
At the CAECG Standing Committee yesterday we were looking at the theme for the September meeting of CAECG in 2025 and one of the suggestions was “Intercultural church for a multi cultural world.”
I took a close look at the tree in our garden that almost branches out to my balcony yesterday. I was amazed at the variety of birds that we found there. Sparrows and doves and woodpeckers, robins, blackbirds, tits and swallows, the cuckoo and the goldfinch and several more I could not identify. I read the Biblical text again- it puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
A close look again I saw squirrels and their dreys (nests) in the tree. A closer look there were numerous insects. Varieties of spiders had webs in it. Small fungi like mushrooms were seen in its bark. There is of course the bats and the beas, butterflies and moths. Apart from the snail and the snug there were also different varies of plant spieces seen within the eco system of the tree epiphytes and parasites. There could be thousands more of mircro organisms that I could not see. Some stay, Some visit and Some watch from afar.
That diversity and variety is exactly the nature of the Kingdom of God. Philip Graham reminds us, “the family if God is ethnically and culturally diverse. As Christians we not only permit such diversity, but we cherish it. This is because God cherishes ethnic diversity. God is not colour blind, God is colourful. God welcomes worshippers from every nation, tribe, people and language as we read in Rev 7:9 and God’s plan of redemption is for all the peoples of the world in all their rich diversity.
The kingdom of God has space for all. I sometimes watch the birds that come to our bird feeder. At times eight to nine birds happily eat together. At times, one strange bird would come and would not allow any other bird to come near. It behaves in a funny way that sends off the other birds. Unintentional biases can sometimes be like that of this bird. Some people think the church their exclusive domain. It is where we are reminded of William Temple who kept reminding that the church should be the only organisation in the world that should primarily exist for its non members.
When we decided to affirm our beautiful variedness and launch out on our Fragrance in Freiburg initiative the challenge was that the kingdom of God is not somewhere far away but among us here and now.
I was particularly moved by Before the Coffee Gets Cold a 2015 novel by Toshikazu Kawaguchi which Pearly from Heidelberg brought to our notice.
Don’t leave anything for later.
Later, the coffee gets cold.
Later, you lose interest.
Later, the day turns into night.
Later, people grow up.
Later, people grow old.
Later, life goes by.
Later, you regret not doing something…
When you had the chance.
AND NOW IS THE CHANCE TO LIVE OUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Life is a fleeting dance, a delicate balance of moments that unfold before us, never to return in quite the same way again.
Regret is a bitter pill to swallow, a weight that bears down upon the soul with the burden of missed chances and unspoken words.
So, let us not leave anything for later. Let us seize the moments as they come, with hearts open and arms outstretched to embrace the possibilities that lie before us. For in the end, it is not the things we did that we regret, but the things we left undone, the words left unspoken, the dreams left unfulfilled.
LET US MAKE OUR LIFE AND OUR CHURCH TRULY THE FORETASTE OF THE KINDGOM WHERE ALL HAVE SPACE AND DIGNITY.
Conclusion
The imagery of the mustad seed has strongly influenced post colonial hermeutics. In the attempt to deconstruct hegemonies and biases the nest of the birds were read with new eyes. The predominant narrative that had the nest of the birds was in the Cedars of Lebanon (Psalm 104:16-17, Ezekiel 17:24, Duet 4:20-21 etc) and Jesus is here subverting that imagery replacing the Cedars of Lebanon with the Mustard seed and shrub.
Post-colonial re-reading of the methodologies of the empire challenges us to reimagine the kingdom or reign of God. Decolonising theologies would mean looking at the impact the EMPIRE and kingdom concept had on the already and the local and how it affected the governance structures prevalent and redefine the power dynamics. We need to search a better word to let the younger generations get the idea and is kingdom a good word for them?
Any imagery of the seed turning into a plant is always read in the light of the seed dying, losing its foreignness and integrating to the local soil. Post colonial hermeneutics interprets sacred scriptures with sensitivity to cultural and historical contexts of the colonised peoples. Mark for instances says, mustard when sown is the smallest of the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of shrubs. This becoming should not be at the cost of the well being of others that share the space.
Matthew and Luke uses another phrase of Jesus that refers to the mustard seed. Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6 mentions the words of Jesus- If you have faith, as grain of a mustard seed, if you say unto this mountain to remove yonder it shall (Matthew) and Luke talks of the Sychamore that would be planted in the sea. Faith like a mustard seed takes the distance away from God.
Vinod Victor
June 16, 2024
Freiburg Anglican Church 
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