"Big Ol' Bushes" - Sermon for Pentecost 3

Sermon:

Text: 2 Corinthians 5:6-17, Mark 4:26-34

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who makes us big old shrubs.

            I love gardening as most of you know, I get that from my mom, who has a real green thumb when it comes to that. I love going through the greenhouse and looking at all the options, picking ones that mix well with each other. I even love the process of planting them, picking where you want them to grow, getting some dirt under your fingernails. I like watering even! Of course I think a lot of that has to do with just liking playing around with water sprayers. I’ve always loved doing that, sometimes to my dismay. I was watering once when a kid and decided to spray the back door to the garage. Not realizing that it was running straight down the door and under and flooding the garage a bit. Got in a little trouble with that one.

            I love all parts of Gardening, except one. And I think most of you know what I’m talking about. Weeding. Hate it. It takes too long, it’s always the hottest day of the year when you have to. And you just know they’ll all be back again after the next rain. We don’t even call them by name, they’re just weeds. We tear them out and throw them away.

            And it’s with that in mind that I look at our parable for today. And I think there are a multitude of things that Jesus is getting across with this Parable. First, He’s saying this is the kingdom of God. A mustard seed being sowed in a field. First of all, if you didn’t know, wild mustard like what Jesus would here be talking about is a very invasive weed in the middle east. And without the sprays we have now days, it would be even worse in his time. If you got Mustard in your field, you now have a never ending battle with it. So, first of all, Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is like a mustard plant in a field, it’s a weed that never is going to go away. The Kingdom of God is something that’s going to keep coming and coming and coming. And that’s great!

            But, then there’s something different. The plant that Jesus then describes is not like a normal mustard weed. This does not mean that we dismiss this parable, but it shows that in the kingdom of God, a mustard weed is not that same mustard weed. Mustard is usually a little big, but it’s a greeny leafy plant, strong enough for a bird to land on, but definitely not to make a nest in. And it’s not going to shade all that much.

            But, here Jesus describes this huge shrub strong enough to shelter many birds in it’s branches. Jesus is seeing things differently than we would.

            In our text from 2 Corinthians we see Paul writing a second letter to the people of Corinth. Telling them not to be as concerned about the persecution they are going through. They are growing disheartened and Paul tells them that Christ is urging them on, giving them hope, and promising unending life. And then he closes with one of my favorite passages. “¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;  even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.¹⁷ So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”

            There’s a powerful idea there, the idea of sight. We see what we want to see so often. We see things for greater than they are, or see other things as smaller than they are. Paul is being self reflective here I believe, he recalls his own experience of blindness during his call by Christ and understands that now through Christ he sees things differently. Where before he saw others as enemies, those who must be punished and killed, now through Christ he sees them as beloved Children of God.

            And that’s the thing. We also should see differently, but we don’t. Where we should see big old mustard bushes strong enough to support nesting birds in the shade, we see small plants that aren’t able to do anything. Where we see weeds that annoy and destroy, Christ sees big old bushes that support those around them.

            Where we see people around us who we think are worthless or drains on society, Christ sees beloved Children.

            Where we see ourselves as failures, Christ sees our potential as big old bushes, shading those around us, spreading the Kingdom of God.

            We don’t see as we should. We don’t see others around us as worthy. We don’t see them as being valuable at all. Heck, we often don't even see them. We walk past the poor and homeless on the streets. Maybe we help with a soup kitchen or food pantry, but we barely look those people in the eyes even as we help them. They are just weeds to be plucked up and thrown away, they don't even have names.

            How many of the problems in our nation right now would go away if we saw each other as Children of God? If we stopped seeing all black people as thugs, and all police as power-mad authoritarians. If we stopped seeing all poor as welfare dregs, or all rich as self-centered people only concerned about the bottom-line.

            What if we saw a new creation like Christ, and saw them as Children of God.

            Do you see that Christ is with you?

Do you see that you are in Christ?

Do you see that Christ has called you?

Do you see yourself as a small weed that chokes society? Or do you see yourself as Christ sees you?

Do you see that Christ has made you a big old bush?

In Christ, you are that grand bush, you are no choking weed, you are a bush that stretches to the heavens, you don’t choke out those around you, but nourish them with safety and shade.

            The Kingdom of God is the Children of God, this family, going out as big ol' bushes, shading and giving comfort to the world, seeing those around not as weeds to be pulled, but Children of God to be nourished and drawn in.

Amen.