2014A 7 Pentecost Mustard and Eschatology (Matt 13:31-33, 44-52)

Nancy S. Streufert
27 July 2014

1
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

For more than a decade, Dick and I lived off the grid in the Santa Ynez Mountains just west of
Santa Barbara. The place where we lived is called Hollister Ranch, a one-time 14,000 acre cattle
ranch, now divided into roughly 100-acre parcels. Our parcel was at the top of the ridge about
1500 feet up and we had a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and Point Conception, and
often before the fog rolled in, we could see the Channel Islands.

The area around Santa Barbara has a climate similar to that of the Mediterranean: rain in
January and mostly dry the rest of the year. Wildfires in southern California are a constant
danger because of the dry climate. Mudslides on hills denuded of brush by the summer fires
are an all-too-common after-effect of the winter rains.

One of the tools firefighters have used to keep the soil in place is to plant mustard, a hardy herb
(some would say weed) that is fast-growing and that proliferates because of the many tiny
seeds it produces. During the springtime at Hollister Ranch, we were able to see from our
house the land below carpeted for miles with the yellow blooms of the mustard plants.

I learned something about mustard plants this week; I learned that they are annuals that grow
between two to six feet high, and only rarely do they grow taller. Now correct me if Im wrong,
you gardeners, but it is my understanding that if a plant is an annual, it means it dies off every
season and must be replanted the next year from seed. This means that the mustard plants at
Hollister Ranch were replenished every year through the seeds they made that were scattered
by the wind.

It follows then that mustard plants do not grow into big trees that stay around until the next
spring when birds begin to build their nests. The crowds around Galilee where Jesus was
preaching would know this. So what was Jesus talking about when he said that "[t]he kingdom
of heaven is like a mustard seed . . . [that] when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and
becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches"? How would
the crowd have reacted to this parable about the mustard seed?

The Bible has always been controversial, but the interpretation of Jesuss parables has been a
particularly important focus over the centuries because their words are attributed to those of
our Lord Himself.

For centuries after the Protestant Reformation, the parables came to be understood as
narratives intended to instruct Christians in moral behavior. It wasnt until the 20
th
century and
a movement of intense research into the history and culture of first century Palestine that this
understanding began to change. Biblical scholars disagree about a lot of things, but there is
widespread agreement among them today that the primary purpose of Jesuss parables is not
to teach moral behavior, but rather to proclaim truths that are eschatological, a big word that
theologians use to describe last things or the end of time. This is the time when Jesus is
expected to return in glory as we say in the Nicene Creed to judge the living and the dead.
2014A 7 Pentecost Mustard and Eschatology (Matt 13:31-33, 44-52)
Nancy S. Streufert
27 July 2014

2

Jesus central message in his teaching, then, is to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of
God: what life will be like when Gods reign is total and Gods mission of reconciling the world is
complete: the time when God will set all things right.

In his parables, Jesus begins with something familiar to his listeners: the sowing of seeds, the
presence of mustard plants, for example. Then he presents a different vision of the world that
challenges what they (and we) know as normal. Parables are often disturbing stories that
threaten the listeners secure world. When Jesus spoke of the mustard seed becoming a tree, it
would have been surprising to his listeners. The challenging feature is that the future tree of
glorious proportions filled with life and abundance is in continuity with the present smallness
and ordinariness of the scrubby little mustard plant. Thus, Jesus turns on its head our common
worldly wisdom. He teaches instead that through humble everyday things will be great glorious
things in the end times.

______________

Pam Gossard preached a couple weeks ago on the extravagance of the sower who would toss
seeds anywhere and everywhere rather than carefully planting them in well-prepared good soil,
risking loss of expensive seed. Since then, I have been mindful of this notion that we cant be
sure what effect our efforts to spread the gospel will have on anyone. As with the sower in the
parable, all we can do is to be extravagant in our sowing and leave the rest to God.

This idea of sowing seeds of the good news of Christ stayed with me prominently this past week
during our fifth annual Childrens Music & Arts Camp. It is our mission at the camp to provide a
safe place for children to explore who they are, to be creative in their very own unique way just
as God created each of us to be.

The camp theme this year was The Spark of Creation based on the song the children learned
from the musical Children of Eden by Stephen Schwartz. We averaged about 22 children
every day, with nearly half from the MAC and the Eureka Rescue Mission. Each morning, Paul
and Pam Gossard led the children as a group in singing All Things Bright and Beautiful among
other songs about the beauty of Gods creation. Along with the singing, Pam taught the
children to use sign language with some of the songs to add another mode of expression. In art
class, they created lovely paintings and collages of flowers and birds and chameleons and
whales; and they learned how to play keyboards and each had a turn at playing the organ. We
saw the wonder on their faces as they entered the nave of the church and the delight in their
eyes when Merry played the organ and especially when she pulled out all the stops!

I hope you will visit the Churchs Facebook page to see the pictures posted there from each day
of camp to get a glimpse of what the Music & Arts Camp is all about. And I am pleased to tell
you that Pam and Paul will be singing All Things Bright and Beautiful during communion just
as it was sung during camp!

2014A 7 Pentecost Mustard and Eschatology (Matt 13:31-33, 44-52)
Nancy S. Streufert
27 July 2014

3

I dont know if we have been sowing seeds of the Kingdom in well-prepared good soil that are
the children who attended camp last week. I know that I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit
throughout the week and I believe others involved in the camp did as well.

I know what one of the mothers told me about her two children who struggled with behavioral
issues during the early years of camp and who now have matured noticeably: music, she said,
has become what centers them and is what has helped stabilize their lives. They now are
singing in community events. Did we sow the seeds that put them on this path? I dont know.

Im sure you have heard Christians, particularly evangelical Christians, speak of practicing
kingdom behavior or how they are doing the work to bring about the kingdom. Maybe you
say or have said these things yourself. I know I have. But we must be careful with this kind of
thinking. We have the best of intentions and we think we know what to do, but our knowledge
is limited and we dont have the big picture.

It is my sincere hope that we are bringing the good news of Gods Kingdom to the children who
come to our camp; that they feel loved and that they will come to know and love God as the
fruit of our actions. But it is not for us to assume. It is for us to trust God and to follow what
we believe we are being called to do and say at any particular moment. We must always
remember, that it is God who is bringing about the Kingdom and it is we who are Gods
instruments.

Camp Living Waters begins next Sunday. Let us all pray in the coming weeks for the children
and the camp staff that the seeds of Gods love will fall on well-prepared good soil.

To quote from Pams sermon:
As followers of Jesus we are sowers. Fling widely and generously, trusting in the Spirit and the
power of Gods word to do the good work of fruitful growth.