I was supposed to be Sherry. What I mean to say is that I was supposed to be a born as a girl. My parents had already had their boy, and in their two child family plan, I was supposed to come out as their beautiful, delicate, baby girl, named Sherry. Of course, God has a way of taking our plans and completely ignoring them. Thus, a baby boy named Jira was born. I guess that if there are not any boy names prepared, you get named “Jira.”
Now, I do not know what Sherry was supposed to be when she grew up, maybe a teacher, maybe a nurse, maybe a glass ceiling breaking, high paid CEO (One can always hope for a rich child, right?), but what God brought about was a rural pastor, named in such a way as no one even knew if he was a man or a woman before he arrived. And, with a wife with a name that looks a lot like Randal (her name is spelled Randele) on paper, that did not help the situation any.
Despite all of this, God is able to use those who are completely unexpected…faulty as Pastor Jira may be. Yes, Jira did just speak of himself in the third person…it is a character flaw.
What I mean to say in all of this is that the kingdom of God functions in ways that we do not expect at all. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, Jesus says, that was sown into the ground. It is a tiny seed. The shrub that it grows into is considered by some to be a weed.
Just thirty years after Jesus’ death, Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History says this about mustard: “it is extremely beneficial for the health. 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."
In other words, it sprouts quickly and grows and expands quickly, and it endures forever and ever. It sounds a lot like the thistle in my yard.
None-the-less, Jesus says that the mustard seed is like the kingdom of God. It has humble, tiny beginnings. And, as it grows you might not actually be certain if it is beneficial, or a noxious weed.
But, what we think about it as it grows and spreads means nothing because it is what God thinks about it that truly matters. And, God uses the mustard shrub as a home in which the birds can grow and do bird things, and God uses the kingdom of God as a home for us, and a home for those who we may not expect. It is a weedy sort of home where we can all grow together and do Godly things.
But, do you see? All of this goodness is unexpected. God does things in the most unexpected of ways and through the most unexpected of characters.
It is almost as if someone spreads seeds all over the place, not knowing where it is all going to fall. And, it is almost as if that person, as Jesus teaches, goes to sleep, and then goes about his day not knowing what the seed is going to do or where it is going to sprout.
But, mysteriously, the seed does sprout and grow; “first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.” Now, as it grows, it does not come into full bloom all at once, it takes time. But, this seed of God, this good news of God, that was generously spread all over the place, does eventually grow, bearing big heads of grains, which are good as food, which are life-giving, and which are able to fall into the ground and grow more and more.
And, I do not know if all of this metaphor of scattering seeds is helping or hurting your understanding, but if you are anything like me and you are right now screaming in your heads, “Just spit it out man,” here it is: God puts God’s truth and God’s love in unexpected places and within unexpected people.
Who would have ever thought that words of healing could come out of the mouth of dirty looking woman whose car broke down on the side of the road and she just needed to hitch a ride? But, in the conversation along the way, the woman brought the right words at the right time. Who would have ever thought? But, God has made it happen.
Who would have thought that a prostitute would team up with a church to save the lives of hundreds of AIDS patients who were thrown out of their families and thrown out of their homes in the early 80s? Who would have ever though? But, God has made it happen.
Who would have thought that a single death in Minneapolis would have us all thinking about, in one way or another, how to be better brothers and sisters in Christ to our neighbors of color? Who would have ever thought? But God has taken a terrible event, sown words of grace and justice within, and has made it happen.
And, who would have thought that a faulty, imperfect guy that was supposed to be named Sherry would be standing in front of you, talking about the unexpected ways of the God’s love and God’s kingdom? Who would have ever though? But, it is happening.
You are no different. In you I see someone upon whom Jesus’ seed of grace has fallen and taken root. As impossible as it may seem, God’s word of grace has grown in you. And it has endured, even through the terrible days. You know which days those are. You know the dark days. But, notice that the grace of Jesus has endured and grown in you anyway. Maybe, the dark days made that grace even stronger. And, maybe it did not. Maybe, that grace is still little, like the stalk of a plant, just at the beginning of growth. But, it is there none-the-less because Jesus is generous in giving us his truth and his grace. We have seeds of the kingdom spread all around us, and like a weed, it sprouts up everywhere.
Maybe, the grace of Jesus Christ is sprouting in you right now? Maybe, God is using you as a bush to harbor life? There I go again with the bush metaphor!
In real words: maybe God is using you in a way that helps a person, or a non-human member of God’s creation, to know what it is to be loved with an unconditional love…to be supported in an unconditional way…to be given a second and third and fourth chance…to grow into the grace-filled person or being that God has created them to be?
Maybe, you look like a weed to the outside world, but God knows better. God has filled you with the self-less love of the cross.
Maybe, you are already walking with Jesus in the kingdom of God.
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