I was supposed to be a girl. Do not worry; I am not undergoing a gender identity crisis. What I mean to say is that my parents expected me to be 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. Of course, God has a way of taking our plans, looking them over, and completely ignoring them. Thus, a baby boy named Jira was born. I guess that when you unexpectedly get a baby boy, you name him “Jira.”
Now, I do not know what the girl version of me was supposed to be when she grew up; maybe a teacher, maybe a nurse, or maybe a highly paid lawyer who could give her parents a nice retirement? Who God created in the end 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 on paper (her name is spelled Randele), as I understand, that did not help the whole gender situation any. This is all to say, that I have been unexpected for much of my life.
But, God is able to use those who are completely unexpected. Yes, every once and a while God can even use me; as flawed as I may be.
What I mean to say is that the kingdom of God functions in ways that we do not expect at all. Jesus describes the kingdom of God as being like a mustard seed that was scattered and sown into the ground. The kingdom of God is like a tiny seed that grows into a large shrub that many people would classify as 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 that I have been battling forever and ever. If you try to destroy it or mow over it, it spreads as far as the mower can throw the pieces. And, then it grows into these enormously tall plants in which the bees rest and the gold finches perch.
Jesus says that the kingdom of God is exactly like that! Jesus says that the kingdom of God is like the mustard seed. It has humble, tiny beginnings, but it soon grows out of control, housing animal in its shade. But, those who struggle with taming mustard do not appreciate its shade nor do they harvest its yield, rather they wonder if it the bush is beneficial at all? Many view it as simply a noxious weed.
But, what we think about it as it grows and spreads means nothing. 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.
We are the same. People may look at us and wonder if we are simply a weed. Or, we may look at others and wonder the same. But, God uses even the most unexpected of us to be someone through whom others find a friend and find a home.
The kingdom of God is offered by Jesus as a home to both those who we expect, and for those who we may not expect. It is a weedy sort of home where we can all grow together and experience Godly things.
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, does eventually grow everywhere, 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.
What that all means is that God’s truth and God’s love is planted in unexpected places and within unexpected people. But, because it is planted everywhere, and it is invasive, it spreads!
Who would have ever thought that a 15 year old blind child would improve the lives of millions of people for centuries to come? But, after Louis Braille was blinded at age three by an accident in his father’s harness making shop, God used that child while he was just 15 years old to develop a system of code that a blind person can feel, in order to read. He was 15 years old. Who would have ever thought? But, God made it happen. God grows goodness in unexpected places.
Who would have ever thought that the single most important spreader of the gospel of Jesus Christ would be an evil man who used his influence and authority to persecute Christians and have them killed? But, the Apostle Paul was chosen by God to be a bearer of the good news of Jesus Christ. A murderer of Christians became the champion of Christians. Who would have thought? But, God made it happen. God grows goodness in unexpected places.
And, who would have thought that a faulty, imperfect guy that was supposed to be a rich female lawyer 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 thought? But, it is happening as I speak. You could say that God grows goodness in really unexpected places.
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, bearing fruit, even through the terrible days.
God’s seed of grace has grown in you, even during the dark times of your struggles. The grace of Jesus has endured and grown in you anyway.
Maybe, the dark days made that grace grow even stronger, reaching ever higher, like a weed that is overshadowed by a taller plant, so it must stretch even higher to see the sun? Maybe the dark days made your grace grow stronger, or maybe it did not. Maybe, that grace is still little, like the small shoot of a plant bursting from the soil, just at the beginning of growth. But, it is there none-the-less because Jesus is generous when planting in us his truth and his grace. We have seeds of the kingdom spread all around us and in 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 noxious bush which secretly provides life and protects life under your branches? Maybe, God is using you in a way that helps a person, or creature of God’s creation, to know that they are loved with an unconditional love? Maybe, God is using you to support someone in an unconditional way? Maybe, God is using you to give a second and third and fourth chance through that persistent, weed-like forgiveness of Jesus Christ? Maybe, God is using you to touch someone’s life, allowing them 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. It does not matter what the outside world thinks. The only thing that matters is what God thinks. And, God has planted God’s seed of grace and truth in you. God has planted in you the self-less love seen on the cross of Jesus Christ.
Maybe, weedy as you may be, you are already walking with Jesus in the kingdom of God.
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