(a not very brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr ... in parts ... and this is the final part)
When we started this journey a few weeks back, I promised you I would explain what sabotage had to do with mustard seeds, and I will perform on that promise this week. The first week we looked at the labor movement in 1920 and the fact that sabotage was sometimes employed by those who were pro-labor. The second week we explored why we often feel our faith is inadequate, that it doesn't seem to stand up to the standard of "mustard seed faith."
In the third week we wanted to understand just what Jesus meant when he told his disciples "I assure you that if you have as much faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this hill ("mountain" in the NIV), 'Up you get and move over there!' and it will move --- you will find nothing is impossible."; so we spent some time learning about the mustard seed itself. We learned that, over time, the mustard seed transforms itself from the smallest of seeds into the largest of plants, that our faith could be similarly nurtured from weakness to strength.
Here's where we tie all of that together. During the labor movement of the 1920's, certain labor leaders considered sabotage a legitimate means of drawing attention to their cause. It should be noted that even those who agreed (clearly the minority) saw these as the acts of desperate people; last ditch efforts to be employed only when all other means had failed.
One of the most effective weapons of sabotage employed by these folks (you saw this coming, right?) was the mustard seed. Saboteurs used to sneak large amounts of mustard seeds into concrete mixtures. They were so small, no one noticed them among the sand, pebbles, and other ingredients. The "miracle" of the mustard seed occurred long after the liquid concrete mixture had been poured into forms and hardened. Those little mustard seeds did enormous damage. How?
Just by being themselves.
Remember what Jesus said about those little seeds? "... it grows and become the largest plant in the garden." Even encased in concrete, those mustard seeds just kept in growing. Nothing more.
And nothing less.
What would it be like if WE were those mustard seeds? Would we look around us and say, "Oh well. I'm completely blocked in. There's nothing I can do." Or could we bring ourselves to say, "I may be a tiny mustard seed, but I can do what I was designed to do. God doesn't ask any more of me than that. I will grow." When those seeds grew, they did a real number on that concrete. It crumbled to pieces under the onslaught of those little mustard seeds.
Just so we're clear, I am NOT suggesting you go out and use your God-given gifts destructively. I AM recommending you consider that Jesus may not have been talking about size, alone, when he used the mustard seed to illustrate true faith. What is it to have "as much faith" as a mustard seed? Isn't it just that amount of faith needed to go on doing what God designed us for, even when surrounded by adversity?
Height, width, breadth ... none of these dimensions matters in a human being. The dimension that matters is depth. Next time you find yourself thinking your faith is too weak or second rate ---perhaps feeling blocked in or immobilized by the hard things in your life--- remember the saboteurs and their tiny mustard seeds. Trust that God gave you a faith that, though now tiny, will grow; a faith that, in the end, will grow so large it will overshadow your problems. The branches of your faith may even, in time, become a haven for others. Nurture it.
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As always, if you are in Waco Friday morning, you're invited to join our little band at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m., downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages. We would love to have you drop in.
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 14 (19) (August 7, 2011)
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 and Psalm 105: 1-6, 16-22, 45b
1 Kings 19:9-18 and Psalm 85:8-13
Romans 10:5-15
Matthew 14:22-33
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