The Mustard Seed

In one of the early scenes in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, Billy Bigelow sings There’s a hell of a lotta stars in the sky and the sky’s so big the sea looks small, and two little people you and I, we don’t count at all. Hammerstein knew as he wrote that Billy was wrong, we do count. We do make a difference in the world.

Mark makes the point in his metaphoric reference to the tiny mustard seed that despite its miniscule beginning the plant grows without force of will. The sower of the parable doesn't even water or weed! The sower just sows and goes about his business while the earth produces of itself, and the mustard plant organically grows and sends out its large branches. The kingdom of God like the mustard seed, grows organically. And inevitably, as day follows night, God's hidden, mysterious work plays out in the world… and in us. Mark4:26-34 

God is in all things and the seed of His incarnation in the universe is love. God is Love. Despite man’s efforts, the future of the earth, therefore, lies not in science and technology, but in the spiritual power of faith and the power of love. We are born out of love, we exist in love, and we are destined for eternal love. We continually “reinvent” ourselves through love. The love of God, as the tiniest of seeds, the mustard seed, grows beyond anything we can possibly imagine. It grows, roots, invades and is all encompassing. 

Our action in the world matters because it contributes both to the deeper incarnation of God and continues the work began by Jesus in the world, and the Mystical Body of Christ. The Christ of the physical universe, the Christ of all humanity, the Christ of all religions is not a static figure, like a goal post with an endpoint in mind. Rather, Christ is in evolution because we, are constantly evolving, spreading and invading the Kingdom like the mustard seed. (Adapted from Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, Evolving the Universe, June 8, 2018.)