Little Things

It is the smallest of seeds,

but when it grows, it grows into the largest of plants.

I recently saw a movie called “Little Things.”

It stars Denzel Washington as the lead investigator

in a multiple murder investigation.

The co star is Rami Malek, who plays the other lead investigator.

It is an interesting movie, but I am not sure I would recommend it.

It is a bit dark and violent.

I would not recommend it for children for sure.

Denzel Washington’s character, says

“It is the little things that will get them caught.

It is the little things that matter.”

And as it unfolds, he proceeds to catch

the committer of this crime through the little things.

But there is a little twist at the end.

I do not want to spoil it for you if you want to watch it.

It is true that the little things are what matter in our own lives as well.

It is the little things we will become known for.

The little things that we do or say that matter the most.

And of course, that is what Christ is saying in today's gospel

with this metaphor or parable of the kingdom of God.

A mustard seed is the smallest of seeds,

but yet when it grows, it becomes the largest of plants.

We know Jesus was the son of a carpenter,

but he would not have been ignorant of the farming in this time.

So he knew that this plant was not a magnificent tree,

like the ancient Cedars of Lebanon.

He did not compare the kingdom to a cedar of Lebanon,

which is a massive tree that grows up to a hundred feet.

Instead he compares it to a mustard seed.

To understand Jesus, we need to understand

what the mustard plant looks like when it fully grown.

First of all, what most anyone knows

about a mustard seed is that it grows like a weed.

It just spreads everywhere.

It is like if you have ever planted mint in your garden,

that was a mistake you made

because it is everywhere in the garden. 

You are meant to put it into a pot,

because that way it is contained.

Or you put it some where you do not mind it spreading everywhere.

Mustard seeds are much like that.

They just spread wide and super fast.

In the ancient times, the mustard seed plants were rather large.

They could grow up to about nine feet tall if left on their own.

They just would grow up quite fast.

Jesus is saying, the kingdom of God is like that.

When we plant the seeds of the kingdom of God

with our actions and our words, it spreads very fast.

It grows very fast.

Sometimes though it does not feel like that for us.

Often we do not see the fruit of our work.

And that becomes the second part of this gospel.

We do not have control over what we plant.

We have actually no role in what we plant.

Not only do we no have control, we have no role whatsoever.

He says the farmer plants the seed and

waits day and night and does not know when it will grow.

It was first the ear and then it will grow the full grain in the ear.

But the farmer has no control over the growth.

His role is to plant.

So, that is what the Lord is saying to us;

our role is to plant.

And it is the little things that matter.

Let the Lord worry about the growth that happens in our life.

It is important to break that open and

understand that look likes for us in our lives?

Because we can get maybe a little bit frustrated

when we do not see the fruit of our labors.

Especially as witnesses of the gospel.

We might get a little bit disenchanted or we may get discouraged.

Let me give you a couple of examples to help break this open

and my way to honor Father's day.

I want to give a a an example of two fathers

that played a role in my life.

First of all, my own father.

I remember all the little things my father did,

and there was nothing massive.

He was not out professing his faith from the rooftop.

He was not out proclaiming, he was not proselytizing with anybody.

But he slowly witnessed his faith in the small little things he did.

He was always kind to my mother and very gentle with her

even when she was frustrated with all of us.

And God knows there was plenty of times when that was real.

My father would calm her down and

give her a little kiss in the cheek and say, “Everything is fine.”

He would love her tenderly, gently but he was also like that with us.

He very rarely ever raised his voice with us.

He almost never ever said a bad word about anyone else.

He witnessed his faith by his actions.

I remember that long after he is gone.

He never got to see the fruit of his labors in a sense,

seeing all of his great-grandchildren and grandchildren be born

or even to see me become a priest.

He never got to see any of that, but yet he did what he did.

I remember, and so do all my siblings,

they all remember how powerful a witness he was in his life.

All the little things, nothing massive,

but all the little things mattered.

The other example I want to give you is my brother Paul.

You have heard me talk about him many times

and now he has passed on.

But as a father he was wonderfully loving

to not only just his children,

but to others throughout the extended family and even into friendships.

He truly modeled that it was the little things that mattered.

He was always thoughtful and kind and again,

rarely ever said a bad word about anyone or thing.

See how close it is to my dad?

How quick the seeds grow?

And my dad would maybe have never seen that.

But I will give you an example for Paul.

One Thanksgiving dinner, we were sitting down to eat the meal.

Paul stops, gets a paper plate and puts a meal together.

The he leaves the table while we are all eating,

and he goes down to the creek with a hot meal

for the homeless person who lives in the creek.

Again, modeling for his children and for us,

maybe even embarrassing us.

As we ate our meal, he is down feeding the homeless man again. 

It is these little deeds, these little actions that matter.

These things are what we notice and

become the mustard seeds in other people's lives.

Let me give you a third example to close out.

Parishioners parents often come to me

and they are frustrated that they do not know

whether their children are witnessing

what they have done to testify to their faith.

That can be a frustration.

And oftentimes we do not get to see it.

Well, I just returned from Lake Tahoe where

we had the annual DYR, the Diocesan Youth Retreat.

It is a wonderful gathering of 240 kids from throughout the diocese

and 60+leaders; 300 of us up there.

Over the 23 years I have been going I have been watching it

and it is always an amazing experience for me.

This time I had no official role.

I just was up there in a ministry of presence, if you would.

But the very last night, they were doing

the acknowledgements and the thank you’s,

and the leader got up and he brought all the other fellow leaders up.

He said, “Look, these are the ones who did all the work.

Let’s give them a big thanks.”

And I realized that he was on my first retreat.

My first one that I took and he was one of the kids

I took up 23 years ago from my previous parish.

Four or five of the other leaders

were some of those I took up years and years later.

And now they have come back and are replanting with their faith.

How it bears fruit from one generation to the next.

23 years later, here he is now leading the very same team.

So parents do not get discouraged by your children.

Your little actions of faithfulness, little actions of kindness,

those seeds get planted and they bear fruit in their own time, God's time.

That is what the kingdom of God is like.

That is what the Lord assures us.

The growth is his role, not ours.

Our role is to plant the seeds.

So what are these seeds we need to plant?

Because that is what we receive.

Every time we come to the Eucharist, we come away, if you would,

with a bag or a sack of seed to plant.

It what we are meant to do.

It is not just words.

And maybe even more importantly, deeds, seeds of deeds.

That is what we need to plant.

That when we are kind and we are gentle,

when we are forgiving and loving, theses are the seeds.

These are the deeds that will bear fruit

and they will spread like a mustard plant.

It will grow wide and deep and will give shelter

and shade to all who need it.

So today let us listen and hear the word of God as the kingdom of God,

as these seeds of deeds that we aree called to plant.

To let the growth be the Lords.

Let's focus on the little things, the seeds of deeds.

It is the smallest of seeds,

but when it grows, it grows into the largest of plants.