The texts for this morning, the Third Sunday after Pentecost, speak of the Father’s love of calling forth and employing the less apparent things in this life to bear witness to His greatness and glory, and to accomplish His purposes. I avoided customary terms such as ‘smaller’ and ‘insignificant’ just then, as these are perspectival in size and importance. A selected sprig plucked and planted on a high mountain [Ezekiel 17] becomes important as symbolic of its Creator’s power to exalt the lowly and to supplant the strong.
A ‘nobody’ shepherd youth named David (I Samuel 16) with a bent for theological poetry who was chosen last in the kingly ‘draft’ of the Prophet Samuel became the great King of Israel and the royal ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth. In the Gospel reading, the smallest of all known seeds nonetheless grows into a very large tree metaphorical of a work bearing tremendous significance and extension (St. Mark 4:30 ff).
The size, innate abilities, the earthly criteria are no matter in the kingdom of God. Who or what the God chooses becomes significant precisely because the God chose it, or it is chosen for a task…
How different this world. How tall, how big, how rich, how well connected and ‘linked-in’, how pretty, these be our criteria. Who has the clout? The polls show clearly… That clown cannot possibly win, and so on…
We seldom witness the least of people and their ideas made prominent. Power structures and connection seem to win the day, to get the job done. We would like it to be that way, then face up to the way things are.
But last Tuesday an eighth grade girl from Loudoun County, Virginia, wearing a “woman is female” t-shirt excoriated her School Board over how she and other students had been deceived by a two-year-old policy claiming boys would not be allowed in girl’s bathrooms. She retorted “Now you’re doing just that”, and proceeded to line them out further. My mind immediately went to the words of the Prophet Isaiah, “…and a little child shall lead them.” [11:5]
“Woman is female”? Yes, You go, Girl, and you bigshots look out for that young lady…
Father David+