The Shrub of God
Rev. John Shuck
First Presbyterian Church
Elizabethton, Tennessee
November 20th, 2005
Reign of Christ Sunday
The disciples said to Jesus,
“Tell us what Heaven’s imperial rule is like.”
He said to them,
“It’s like a mustard seed. [It’s] the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.”
Thomas 20:1-4
Parallels: Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-19; Matthew 13:31-32.
Sources: Q, Mark, Thomas
Luke 13:18-19: What is God’s imperial rule like? What does it remind me of? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and tossed into his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky roosted in its branches.
Mark 4:30-32: To what should we compare God’s imperial rule, or what parable should we use for it? Consider the mustard seed: When it is sown on the ground, though it is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth, yet when it is sown, it comes up, and becomes the biggest of all garden plants, and produces branches, so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.
Matthew 13:31-32: Heaven’s imperial rule is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet, when it has grow up, it is the largest of garden plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and roost in its branches.
Thomas 20:1-4: The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us what Heaven’s imperial rule is like.” He said to them, “It’s like a mustard seed. [It’s] the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.”
Today I want to introduce another parable of Jesus that offers us a glimpse into the divine domain—the presence of God. Parables help to keep us alert. They remind us of transcendence. They invite us to ask: Where do we see God at work in the world? What is important? What is sacred? What do I need to pay attention to?
In today’s parable of the mustard seed, the disciples ask Jesus what the divine presence is like. They are open to learn. He tells them with a parable. “[God’s presence] is like a mustard seed. [It’s] the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.”
Go run with that. A good spiritual practice is to live with that parable. Struggle with it. Memorize it and take it with you through the day or through the week.
Because the parables of Jesus are so familiar to us, they have been domesticated. They have been laden with meanings over the centuries. To help us to hear them afresh, we have to do a little research, some literary criticism now and then, to appreciate their insights. The point is not the criticism however clever it may be. The point is the parable and what it draws you to become.
This parable occurs in four gospels, Mark, Luke, Matthew, and Thomas. Each version is slightly different. In Luke and in Matthew, the mustard seed becomes a tree. In Mark and Thomas a large shrub. Actually in Matthew it becomes a large shrub then a tree.
In all four gospels, birds of the sky either roost in its branches or nest in its shade.
But the basic structure is similar to all four versions. It goes like this
Basic structure:
Mustard seed (known for being small)
Sown on ground (garden) (field) (prepared soil)
Becomes a large plant (largest of plants) (a tree!)
Birds of sky roost in its branches (nest in its shade)
At face value, the parable is about a miracle—a small seed becomes a large plant so large that birds nest in its shade. The kingdom of God is from small to big—the tiny faith of a mustard seed can produce a large spiritual result. This parable has had a fairly common application. God does great things with our puny faith.
Here I am, just little old me, not much to speak of, but thanks to God, my miserly little pittance of faith becomes a great thing. Good things come in small packages. Don’t despise your puny little self, for God can make a miracle out of you yet.
A surface reading provides that meaning.
But there are some other interesting things going on here.
There are a couple of oddities about this parable. It is really stretching credibility to suggest that a mustard plant is a tree. It is no tree.
Pliny the Elder, a contemporary of Jesus and the author of a first century encyclopedia entitled Natural History had this to say about mustard:
"It grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once." Bernard Brandon Scott, Hear Then the Parable, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989), p. 380
The mustard plant—more of a weed—is an annual—not like a tree of course. It dies at the end of the year. As far as plants go, it can get up there, four to five feet. I remember seeing a mustard plant when I was in the Holy Land about ten years ago. The tour guide pointed it out to us. It was about six feet. I took a picture. It wasn’t very impressive. It had branches, but I didn’t see any birds on this particular plant. If they were to nest in its branches or under its shade, they would have to be very small birds.
We had mustard in Montana. We didn’t plant it. It is a weed. If you aren’t careful, it will take over. It can be dangerous to a garden. As Pliny said, it is hard to control. But it is no tree. No majestic wonderful thing.
Why would Jesus, or his editors, suggest that the divine domain is a mustard seed that becomes if not a tree then a really, really big bush, with birds in it? That image really doesn’t work.
Some have suggested that Jesus was having fun. He was spoofing his hearers’ expectations.
Jesus was a master of understatement. There was a long tradition about a symbol for empire—the noble cedar. In the book of Daniel we run into this. In this story, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the nation that took Israel into exile, has a dream. Daniel, the great Jewish hero, interprets the dream for him. Here is Nebuchadnezzar recounting his dream:
Upon my bed this is what I saw;
there was a tree at the centre of the earth,
and its height was great.
The tree grew great and strong,
its top reached to heaven,
and it was visible to the ends of the whole earth.
Its foliage was beautiful,
its fruit abundant,
and it provided food for all.
The animals of the field found shade under it,
the birds of the air nested in its branches,
and from it all living beings were fed.
-- Daniel 4:10-12
Then Nebuchadnezzar goes on to say that a “holy watcher” comes down from heaven and orders the tree to be cut down so that all would know that “the Most High is sovereign over the kingdom of mortals.” Nebuchadnezzar is distraught and asks Daniel what the dream means. Daniel tells him that the tree (that is tall and stretches to heaven with birds of sky nesting in its branches) is Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. The dream is a prophecy, says Daniel, that Nebuchanezzar will be cut down.
The tree with birds nesting in its branches is a symbol for the empire—in this case Nebuchadnezzar’s empire.
In another case, the prophet Ezekiel speaks to Pharoah a prophecy he has received from Yahweh:
The prophet speaks to Pharoah who is like the great cedar of Lebanon
Ezekiel 31:1-8
In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2Mortal, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes:
Whom are you like in your greatness?
3Consider Assyria, a cedar of Lebanon,
with fair branches and forest shade,
and of great height,
its top among the clouds.*
4The waters nourished it,
the deep made it grow tall,
making its rivers flow*
around the place where it was planted,
sending forth its streams
to all the trees of the field.
5So it towered high
above all the trees of the field;
its boughs grew large
and its branches long,
from abundant water in its shoots.
6All the birds of the air
made their nests in its boughs;
under its branches all the animals of the field
gave birth to their young;
and in its shade
all great nations lived.
7It was beautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its branches;
for its roots went down
to abundant water.
8The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it,
nor the fir trees equal its boughs;
the plane trees were as nothing
compared with its branches;
no tree in the garden of God
was like it in beauty.
Then the prophet, speaking for God goes on to say that because the tree was high and proud of its height, God has cast it out by allowing foreigners to cut it down. Again, a tree majestic and high representing the kingdom of Egypt with birds of the sky nesting in its branches is cut down.
In the previous two examples, the cedar represents a foreign empire, Babylon and Egypt. One more example—again from Ezekiel. In this case the cedar represents the Empire of God—which is the restored future Israel.
Ezekiel 17:22-24
Thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will take a sprig
from the lofty top of a cedar;
I will set it out.
I will break off a tender one
from the topmost of its young twigs;
I myself will plant it
on a high and lofty mountain.
23On the mountain height of Israel
I will plant it,
in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit,
and become a noble cedar.
Under it every kind of bird will live;
in the shade of its branches will nest
winged creatures of every kind.
24All the trees of the field shall know
that I am the LORD.
This tree, with birds of the sky in the shade of its branches, is the promise by God of a restored kingdom of Israel. The “noble cedar” is the symbol for the kingdom of God.
Those who heard Jesus’ parable would be familiar with that tradition. What is the kingdom of God? It is a noble cedar with birds of the sky nesting in the shade of its branches. That is what he would be expected to say. Because in saying he would be following in the tradition of the great hope and promise for Israel.
But Jesus lampoons the image. The kingdom of God is no cedar—but a mustard shrub. The birds in the branches are the giveaway. Jesus is having fun. And he has a message.
I think what Jesus was doing is similar to what Ben Franklin did. Ben Franklin once suggested that the bald eagle is a bad idea as a symbol for America. A better symbol of our country he suggested should be the turkey. Franklin wrote:
the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird…a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.
http://www.greatseal.com/symbols/turkey.html
Was Ben Franklin being serious? Did he really think the turkey should be our national symbol? Probably not, but he was being serious as to how we were going to see ourselves as Americans. Careful if you think of yourselves as eagles lest you think too highly of yourselves and confuse yourselves with the elitist nobility of Europe. America is scrappy and courageous, made of common stock.
Jesus was offering his parable of the kingdom in a similar tongue in cheek fashion: It is as if he is saying, I know you are expecting me to say that the kingdom of God is a mighty cedar and that God will turn you into a great and noble kingdom. Well, here is reality: you are more like a mustard shrub than a cedar. And that is not a bad thing. Cedars get cut down, but mustard is a tough weed, hard to control, that comes back year after year.
Last week in the adult Sunday school class, Dorothy Irwin suggested that in our area a good symbol for the kingdom of God would be kudzu.
Jesus was big on understatement. Jesus spoofed traditional images to give us insight into his understanding of the Divine presence. An insight into what it means to be authentically human. I think Jesus was telling folks not to put their hopes in becoming some future conquering empire, but to look around to the common mustard for insight.
That is your symbol, Jesus seems to say.
The divine presence is everywhere among you, attainable by all of you, producing not grand and majestic things, but instead--good things.
Mustard is a good thing. He has medicinal properties. This might help us understand why the person in the parable planted it in the first place. Once again, Pliny the Elder:
Pythagoras judged [mustard] to be chief of those whose pungent properties reach a high level, since no other penetrates into the nostrils and brain. Pounded it is applied with vinegar to the bites of serpents and scorpion stings. It counteracts the poisons of fungi. For phlegm it is kept in the mouth until it melts, or is used as a gargle with hydromel. For toothache it is chewed….It is very beneficial for all stomach troubles….It clears the senses, and by the sneezing caused by it the head.
Scott, p. 380
What does this all say to us about life? I am beginning to realize that the most important, the most sacred moments in life are not found in the completion of my big plans, but in the interruptions along the way. I am discovering that ministry is what happens when I am planning to do something else. The mustard seed is much more realistic than the majestic cedar for me as the place to locate God’s presence. The sacred moments, the god-breathed manifestations, are the people we bump into while we are on our way to do something we think is important.
The common mustard seed helps us to put our plans in perspective. The renovations are on hold for a little while as we negotiate costs with the various contractors. This pause causes us to scratch our heads. We may feel a sense of frustration that our plans are on hold. But ministry has not stopped. Ministry is not going to happen when we finally get the rooms in order. Ministry is how we are caring for one another in the meantime. Life is always in the meantime. Our choir is singing; we have a nursery for our children; we have found spaces for our education program.
Our plans will come to fruition in their time; in the meantime, which is when life happens, we are doing ministry. The ministry that is happening in this church is very important.
Our Session asked us to make estimates of our financial commitments to this community for 2006. Today we have consecrated those commitments. What have we committed to do? Here is what we probably won’t do:
This community is not likely going to be the great cedar of Elizabethton with a shining 500 foot high steeple that towers over the Tricities. People are not likely going to travel for miles around to see us and marvel for how magnificent and stately we are.
While we are faithfully putting together programs for our Sunday school and youth, it isn’t likely that they will razzle and dazzle—but there will be ministry for and with our youth. It isn’t bad to have big plans and grand visions. We need to remember however, that Jesus spoofed all that when he reminded us not to look so hard for the cedar that we miss the mustard. Don’t be so majestically minded that we miss the sacred in the everyday. Ministry is what happens in the weedy places, in the in between times.
We are a mustard crowd. A bit wild. Hard to control. Tend to grow outside of the prescribed garden plot. But there is a reason for mustard people like us. There are healing properties in mustard and healing properties in this community.
People find wholeness here. We find the holy here.
For those who have been wounded by toxic religion, this place has been the medicinal mustard that accepts the unorthodox, that encourages freedom of thought and spiritual exploration, that welcomes insights and people from other religions, that works for justice and peace, that imagines a renewed creation, and that opens its doors to everyone.
So…On behalf of those who we do not yet know, but who will come this next year and find healing, hope and encouragement in this place, I thank you. Thank you for your commitment to this community and for being a mustard seed!