Weed or flower

June 14, 2009
“A Weed or a Flower”
1 Samuel 15
Mark 4:26-34
Year B
Second Sunday After Pentecost

Easter Flowers – Lillies, hyacinths, azaleas. Our sanctuary was filled with the lovely aroma of all of these special easter flowers. They all have a story of resurrections, and they remind us that the world is ,coming a live again.

But there is another easter flower that outshines them all - The most prolific Easter Flower – the dandelion

The qualities of the dandelion – the dandelion grows everywhere. It is strong it is hearty and it grows everywhere. Once lady talked about how she needed to get them out of her year, before her neighbor complained. They grew so abundantly.

Is it a weed or a flower?

God created both with a purpose

The point Jesus was trying to make when he tells the story of the mustard seed

The uses of mustard today – today we use mustard as a condiment, and so we think of it as a food.

But in Jesus’ time the mustard plant would have been a weed. He uses it as an example of faith.

Would not have grown into a tree, and is not the smallest seed in the world. And you cant do a whole lot with them.

The reality is that they are a nuisance. Once you plant them you cant get rid of them. They are everywhere. And the more you try to unplant them, the more they seem to appear.

His audience would have been laughing at him, or laughing with him as he talked about mustard. You don’t really need to spend a whole lot of time planting them, they can take caer of themselves.

The good news is that God does not call us to be mustard plants – a weed. Even though all weeds are plants of God and thus have a purpose.

He calls us to have the faith of a mustard seed. To realize that we are the beginnings of something big. Something prolific at least.

Mustard plants are the plants of God. They don’t grow themselves. And they do not grow according to human care. When the seeds are planted – God does the rest of the work to make them grow.

We are not called to make anything happen, to make anything grow. To just plant the seeds with our faith. To walk away and to see what happens.

When we see situations that are impossible, we have no idea of why God is telling us to plant the seeds. We just do as we are told. God sees differently then we do.

God instructed Samuel to go to Bethlehem to look for a new king for Israel. He took his oil and his sacrifice and he went to the house of Jesse. Jesse had lots of hardworking, strong capable sons. Samuel was sure that the oldest, the strongest, would be God’s pick for King.

Yet God reminded Samuel that even though he sees the outward appearance, God sees the inside. The heart. God had picked the youngest son, David to be the new king of Israel. Samuel anointed him.

But one thing that I did not realize about this story was that this did not happen immediately. It took years for David to grow up, and for the turn of events to make things happen.

And yet from that moment forward, he knew that God was working his destiny out for him. And that if God anointed him King, one day it would happen.

He had the faith of the mustard seed that one day – he would do prolific things. But in God’s time and at Gods will.

That is the lesson for us- we spend so much of our lives waiting for results. Waiting for things to happen. Waiting for proof that our efforts are not in vain. Waiting to see that someone our work is making a difference. Waiting for our destiny.

And God has to send events and people to remind us – that we are not in control. We can plant seeds all day – but we cant make them grow. We have to wait on God to do that. Furthermore, we are not encouraged to plant easter flowers, which have to be cared for- and nurtured, and watered, and babyed. They are pretty to look at, and they satisfy our need to think that God needs us. We are planting mustard seeds, like dandelions – which once planted take on a life of their own. Or more precisely god takes care of them better than we ever could. They grow strong and hearty and spread the message of God’s love everywhere – you cant stop them once they get started.

We never know what we are starting – just start it anyway.

There once was a man – who forgot to kiss his wife goodbye – he was in such a hurry. Yet his wife noticed and felt slighted. She went and yelled at her son who was getting ready for school – that his shirt was wrinkled. When his sister came down for breakfast – he yelled at her. She went outside and kicked the dog – just for being him. This family was in turmoil, starting off to have a bad day, and no one seemed to know why and no one seemed able to do anything about it. They were mad, because someone had shown them anger. And they unknowingly passed it on to others. – It is sort of like the world we live in – where we live in a state of consequences and actions in which we have no control. But after being kicked, he dog came up to the little girl and showed her an act of kindness – he licked her nose. That changed her whole day and her whole outlook on life. She went and volunteered to help her brother iron his shirt and get ready for school. They both remembered to kiss their mom good bye as they went off to school to help a younger child get on the school bus. The mom felt better, and vowed to do something nice for her family. When her husband came home she greeted him with a big kiss. And asked him how his day went. The father – with no thought of how his actions affected his family. Went on with his daily routine, but announced to his family that he was taking them to Disney world next week. The whole family changed – just because the dog licked the nose of the little girl. One small act, one mustard seed planted. One soul willing to not get caught in in the way the circumstances were, but in what could be done in the moment to make a difference. And it made a difference. A very subtle difference in the life of this family.

It is okay for us to do big things – but Jesus encourages us to plant mustard seeds. Plant little things in which God can use and turn into weeds. Things prolific enough to take on a life of God’s amazing growth.

In time, God’s time – our actions will change to circumstance – and eventually change the world in ways that we cannot imagine.
Amen.