Matt. 13:31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
Matt. 13:33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
Matt. 13:34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.
This week, I was tremendously saddened to hear of the death of Lieutenant Jason Menard of the Worcester Fire Department, the firefighter who gave his life Tuesday night to save an elderly woman and two other firefighters who had been trapped on the third floor of a burning building. The next day, Jason and his wife, Tina, were due to head to Disney World with their children.[1] When I think of heroism, I’m drawn to examples like Lt. Menard’s, sacrificing themselves to save others. Or else I’m drawn to the great women and men of history—to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Eleanor Roosevelt, or Dwight Eisenhower and Martin Luther King Jr.—people who seemed larger than life, who fought great battles for our society to win a war at home and abroad and to secure voting and civil rights. But when I look at Jesus, I see, as Leonard Sweet puts it, that “Jesus had a bad habit of fixating on the little and ignoring the big—the big people, the big deals, the big ideas. Jesus did not sidle up to the movers and shakers but sat among the forsaken and the inconsequential, the lame and the left behind.”[2] If God asked you and me to change the world, wouldn’t we look for a strategic point where we could reach the most people and have the most leverage? So why does Jesus have this bad habit, and what can it teach us?
First, all the best things begin small. Babies, puppies, kittens—they’re often small and often gross, so it’s a really good thing that they’re adorable! They don’t stay small forever though, right? They grow and become even more wonderful, but they start small. In Jesus’ story today, He uses the example of a tiny seed that grows into a large plant, large enough to shelter others. I once saw a church sign that read, “An oak tree is an acorn that held its ground.” Small—but growing to become amazing. It happens day by day, and then you look at the baby, puppy, kitten or acorn—and they’re an adult, dog, cat or tree. When did that happen! It’s like that with the Kingdom of Heaven. It starts as God sows hope in our hearts, calls us to Himself, and hopes we will say yes in our hearts. And with that small “Yes, Lord! I’m yours!” that seed begins to sprout and grow, and in its time, God’s Kingdom planted in us will bear fruit! God seems to delight in the small and simple—like us—taking the world by surprise.
Second, doing small things makes a big difference. Leonard Sweet writes, “Jesus did not mount campaigns against the social structures of his day but focused on the needs of neighbors and individuals.”[3] Elmer Bendiner, in his book, The Fall of Fortresses, describes one of his World War II bombing runs over the German city of Kassel. He writes, “Our B-17 (The Tondelayo) was barraged by flack from Nazi antiaircraft guns. That was not unusual, but on this particular occasion our gas tanks were hit. On the morning following the raid, Bohn had gone down to ask our crew chief for that shell as a souvenir of unbelievable luck. The crew chief told Bohn that not just one shell but eleven had been found in the gas tanks—eleven unexploded shells where only one was sufficient to blast us out of the sky…[T]he shells [were] sent to the armorers to be defused. … when the armorers opened each of those shells, they found no explosive charge. Empty? Not all of them. One contained a carefully rolled piece of paper. On it was a scrawl in Czechoslovakian. … Translated, the note read: ‘This is all we can do for you now.’”[4] Lloyd Ogilvie, former Chaplain to the Senate, wrote, “Jesus wants us to discover the might of the miniscule.”[5] How do we know that? Because Jesus wasn’t born in Rome, didn’t grow up as a prince, didn’t aim to start a movement. He was born in a tiny town in Palestine, grew up the son of carpenter, and found a couple of handfuls of people whose lives were changed by the small things he did. Though he could have run to heal celebrities, women and children, beggars and outcasts found Jesus was happy to be with them. His attitude seemed to say, “I want to make a difference in you.” Jesus knew that small things can make a big difference.
For sure, we each come to pivot points in our lives, moments of high leverage. In the course of his day, Lt. Jason Menard found he stood at one of those, where he could leverage his life for the lives of three others…and God bless him and his family, he made that courageous choice. I believe God has put you and me in this place at this time for a reason. This is a moment of high leverage for our families, our neighbors and our community. We have the chance to change this building in a way that can change this community for generations. But most of the pivot points of the world are smaller, and may pass unnoticed. Fred Craddock, the great preacher, once wrote, “To give my life for Christ appears glorious. To pour myself out for others . . . to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom—I’ll do it. I’m ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory. We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table—'Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all [to you].’ But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of saying, ‘Get lost.’ Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of water for a shaky old in a nursing home. Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love. Twenty-five cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory: it’s harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul.”[6] Do we just not see these small moments as pivot points, moments of high leverage with our family, or our neighbor? Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”[7]
What happens when our lives and our whole community fill up with grace? What happens when the love of Jesus Christ can be felt wherever we go? Don’t you want to know?
[1]https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/11/14/firefighter-saved-worcester-fire-jason-menard-faces-long-road-recovery/BYavfg3XBUEQE35A1JKhTN/story.html
[2]Leonard Sweet, The Bad Habits of Jesus: Showing Us the Way to Live Right in a World Gone Wrong, 2016, p. 165.
[3]ibid.
[4]Told in Craig Brian Larson, Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching from Leadership Journal, 1993, p. 219.
[5]Lloyd Ogilvie, Autobiography of God, 1979, p. 90.
[6]Larson, op.cit, p. 200.
[7]Matthew 5:14ff.