14 June 2009

Ezekiel 17.22-24
2 Corinthians 5.6-10, 14-17
St. Mark 4.26-34

“With what shall we compare the kingdom of God?” Some of you are likely aware by now that I try to shy away from overly gendered terms when speaking about God and when translating in English god-language from I especially try to steer clear of talking about the kingdom of God. Think of what we know about kings. The kings in Scripture were, for the most part, power-hungry creeps and cretin. Even Solomon who is generally regarded as the best of Israel’s kings enslaved his own people, rapaciously annexed land, and treated women like possessions – according to scripture, he had 300 concubines – concubines meaning as most of you know “sex-slaves” – and 700 “official” wives. (So much for the concept of Biblical marriage . . . . . . ) As for other, non-biblical kings – we in the States have less than fond memories of George II (of England, folks!), and the contemporary British Royal family certainly have not comported themselves all that well.

In spite of all of that, I’m choosing to retain king language for a bit this morning, least we miss some of the . . . insult! . . . of today’s gospel – an insult especially to us 21st Century Americans. God’s kingdom is not some cozy domestic arrangement; it is most assuredly not a democracy; it is not something anyone has any right to vote on; it may not even be a realm where rights – as we conceive of them – have any place whatsoever. In God, there is no such thing as the sovereignty of the individual, nor do special interest groups have any say in anything. Rather, God in God’s kingdom is an absolute monarch, a king, an emperor, and – yes – even a dictator. God gets to do what God wants – and to hell with us if we don’t like it (double entendre intended). But then again, I suppose we can comfort ourselves by saying that with God as king, it’s going to be a moral kingdom – the realm where the good guys finish first for a change.

Now, the reign of this king, says Jesus, is like a mustard seed. The mustard seed of which Jesus speaks are not the same as ours. The mustard seed of scripture, the seed of the black mustard shrub, was, unlike our yellow mustard seed, very tiny – little larger than a speck of dust – and just about as hard to get rid of. And yes, as Jesus reminds his listeners, it becomes a big shrub – around twelve feet or more tall – and it grew everywhere – it was an invasive species – sort of like those stinky Sumac trees – or like Kudzu, if you prefer. Mustard bushes were trash trees, something to be weeded out and gotten rid of. How odd then to equate God’s empire, realm, kingdom with an undesirable weed species. What was Jesus thinking? But I guess some good does come of it all – the birds of the air find shelter in its shade of these obnoxious weed. Well, yeah, that’s great if those birds are the right sort of birds, those birds one likes, pretty songbirds who don’t make big messes. But for most of us not all birds are necessarily likeable. Consider the starlings who steal the eggs of other birds. And then you have those birds that come along and eat the good seed the farmer has just sown in the ground. And there are those dirty pigeons and those horrible wood-peckers who drill away at the sides of our houses or wake us up tap, tap, tapping on our metal chimney caps at five in the morning. Then there are the birds that eat the grapes before they can be harvested – I remember people putting netting over strawberries and raspberries so the birds wouldn’t get them all, so there would be enough for jelly, jam, and pies.