+Z’ev

Today’s assigned readings:

1 Samuel 25:1-22, Acts 14:1-18, Mark 4:21-34

Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Mark 4:26-29

We humans have a very odd way of following this Jesus, no? I read last night that St Olaf once ordered people to convert to Christianity or they would be beheaded. One of the stories told of St Nicholas is that he punched Arius in the face, knocking him out in front of the council of Nicea. St Alexander Nevsky is known not for his peace but rather for leading the Russian armies in war. Many saints “preached the crusades”.

Despite all of this Christianity is sometimes realised as a religion of peace and, of course, its primary founder taught and lived a near-pacifism.

And, despite all of this, the Gospel spreads.

I’ve been told that the only thing that will make God laugh is the line, “I have a plan…”

And it would seem to be true of the Church as well, no? To go from 12 guys (etc) sitting on a dusty hillside listening to an itinerant preacher to several thousands, to State Religion of the Roman Empire in 300 years must have seemed a miracle in and of itself, but it seems a far cry from the idea of “my kingdom is not of this world”, no? And yet “The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.”

God promised that his word (Jesus) would not go forth in vain. Always the return is a harvest to reap. Despite what we do to it, or, perhaps, more to the point, keep trying to do it.

When I first moved to NYC, I said I didn’t want to move again… 13 years later, when I moved to San Francisco and said I’d found my home… 7 years later I moved to Asheville, NC, certain I’d not move again… Tonight I was invited to come live in Buffalo, NY… which would put me really close to my Canadian boyfriend. My spiritual journey has been such as well, although I don’t think I need to recount all the changes I’ve gone through. Most of these has been my own plan, but not the *changes* in plan which have come about from the earth which “produces of itself”.

A plan is nice… but life is what happens when you had planned other things. Despite what we do to it, or, perhaps more to the point, because of what we do to it, life goes on.

I want to emphasise that I’m only talking about the human point of view for we can not see from God’s point of view.

Another scenario is that there is no way for the Gospel to spread at all: clearly the entire concept of “resist not evil” and “turn the other cheek” is counterintuitive. The ideas of welcoming the stranger, of supporting the weak are anti-evolutionary, anti-tribal, anti-thermodynamic. And yet, despite all of that or, in fact, because of it, the Kingdom grows. We see this today in what are called the “mainline churches” in the USA. So many reports of “failing” or “closing” or “dying” and yet here and there are signs of life. The Gates of Hell won’t prevail. How much less so our human attempts at stopping it?

The how of this is, I think, evident in the next parable - that of the mustard seed. Point of fact a mustard isn’t a tree and it’s not that large. Perhaps we need to think of this from a local cultural standpoint or maybe from the standpoint of any tree: they all start from tiny seeds. And then they grow into huge creatures, putting forth ” forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” Being Celtic, I like to think of an oak. I’m surprised Jesus didn’t use the date-palm. But whatever the seed has encoded in the DNA is what comes out.

The Kingdom of God - being God’s own - is like that. Our lives - being God’s own - are like that. We work out our salvation on the path not that we plan, but rather on the one that happens to us. We know not how, but it happens. As Dumbledore said to Harry Potter, it’s the choices we make that matter.