Imagine That!

Scriptures you will hear on the upcoming weekend serve to remind us that God is full of surprises, and that just when we think all is lost, a God who thinks & plans outside the box becomes vital even during seasons of change and despair. The prophets who have spoken these words are using our inbuilt hope to point out how God marvelously makes things grow into symbols of the Kingdom.

EZEKIEL 17:22-24 propounds a riddle: how can a tender twig take root and turn into a magnificent tree? “It does proclaim the prophetic Word that God’s sovereignty is comprehensive, transcendent, and inclusive of all other sovereignties.” (John Rollefson, in FEASTING on the WORD, B 3:124) Despite the political intrigues of Judah/the US, God will introduce a righteous branch which will spread so that all the birds will find their place there. Every kind; All are Welcome; all means all. God is in the process each day of overthrowing old expectations in favor of renewed signs of the Kingdom. Is Mary’s Canticle (Luke 1) coming yet to pass?

The Apostle Paul dares to speak about this understanding in his collection of letters bundled under the rubric of II CORINTHIANS. In 5:6-17 he submits that “the love of Christ urges us on” as he marvels at the unexpected workings of the Holy in our hearts. There’s a new way of seeing the Other as a kindred Child of God. “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Outside the box…

In MARK 4:26-34, Jesus tells two parables about How God Works, even in minute seeds. He speaks of the dryness of a seed, apparently dead; yet this seed contains Life and miraculously transmits the power of the fertile earth to a mighty plant–even the tiniest seed known will turn into a great tree. (My mother had earrings and a choker holding a “mustard seed”–c’mon, didn’t yours?) I suppose that it’s easier to keep and display a mustard seed than consign it to the risky growth that’s enclosed. Don E. Saliers contends that “These are hope-filled parables. God will not fail to fulfill the promise of salvation.” (ibid., B 3:142) The stories are not about judgment, or getting their just deserts; they’re about the ongoing steadfast love of the Creator who pronounced everything Good.

I often leave the room during the nightly news: it’s weird and sickening. Yet the responsive reading for the day is Psalm 92: The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; They flourish in the courts of our God… Keep on gardening, let your neighbors marvel and be glad!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Bring your friends, if you have any, to our discussion of Lectionary Scripture to be read during worship on the upcoming weekend. (It’s OK to share my grasping thoughts with others!) Every Tuesday at horacebrownking.com.