As the churches are beginning to re-open as the lockdown is easing out, with their risk assessments done, making plans for public worship, the real question that comes to the fore is, are we as churches going to get back to the same kind of being and doing church? Though we will begin to gather in our church buildings, there are still lots of restrictions in place, like we are not allowed to sing, no hymn books, no coffee and tea after the service, people sitting in social distancing, track and trace records, can’t have large gatherings, short services, no shaking hands and hugs, one way to enter and another way to exit, hand sanitization and cleanings. Will our church worship services be like what we have always known? Will our church buildings be like what we have known? When we return, it will be a different normal, perhaps we are stepping into an abnormal normal, which according to me is ‘beyond’ normal, especially in the case of church.
Jesus spoke to his disciples in at least seven parables about the mysteries of the kingdom of God in Matthew 13, and in 31-33 verses, Jesus shared the parable of the mustard seed. Over the years many have interpreted this parable in terms of size, that mustard seed is a small seed and grows to become a big tree, and so is it with the Christian faith. But if we get the facts right, we know that mustard seed is not the smallest of the seeds for there are many other seeds smaller than mustard seed. Also, mustard seed grows to become a shrub and it never grows to be a tree, leave alone to be the greatest tree. Why then does Jesus shares this parable? Yes, I know many will then argue that parables are allegorical and are told to share a message, and any literal reading of seeking facts might undermine the essence of a parable. As I re-read this parable for our times today, I find that Jesus was sharing this parable with a certain degree of abnormality in mind, that the mustard seed will grow to be a greatest tree nesting many birds on its branches. However, through that abnormality, Jesus is conveying a message of critique and a message of hope to his audience then and now, which is a message that the kingdom of God is ‘beyond’ normal.
1. The abnormal as a critique against the norm of empire:
The parable of the mustard seed is recorded in all the four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and also in the gospel of Thomas as a parable shared by Jesus about the Kingdom of God. The audience of these gospels were well aware of the first century Jewish kingdom narratives, particularly the metaphorical usage of trees representing the rulers and the empires. In the Old Testament, Assyria and Nebuchadnezzar are depicted as large trees providing shelter to many birds on their branches in Ezekiel 31:6 and Daniel 4:12. In both these instances Assyria as an empire provided shelter to many other neighbouring nations and Nebuchadnezzar as a king provided shelter to his people in his kingdom. When Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which grows to be the greatest tree in the field nesting birds on its branches, though it was not normal for the mustard seed to grow that way, Jesus picked that abnormality to critique the norm of empire by warning the colonial powers that such an abnormal will be the ‘new’ normal. The kingdom of God grows in an (ab)normal way, defying the norm of an empire, not in the normal way of growing to be a shrub but in a subversive way of growing to be a tree from a tiny pungent mustard seed. The norm of the empire is that the powerful becomes the tree and under the patronage of the powers and principalities, the rest of the nations and ethnicities seek their shelter. But the norm of the kingdom of God is that out of powerlessness, out of smallness the mustard seed grows to become an (ab)normally greatest tree so that the birds of the air can nest on its branches. The parable of the mustard seed becomes a lens to understand that Jesus’ kingdom of God is abnormal to the known empires of Assyria or Rome, yet in that (ab)normality those that are different from mustard seeds find their shelter. Jesus shared this parable of the mustard seed as a critique to the norms and normalisations of the empires.
2. The abnormal as a hopeful aspiration ‘beyond’ normal:
Who would have thought that the mustard seed would grow, become a plant, become a shrub and then turn to be a big tree, greatest of the shrubs? Jesus by sharing this parable was explaining that the kingdom of God begins as a small seed and then grows (ab)normally beyond normal. This parable expresses a hopeful aspiration of the kingdom of God, for it grows (ab)normally, beyond the expectations of the sower, beyond the expectations of the mustard seed, beyond the expectation of the field in which it grows, beyond the expectation of all the hearers and audience of this parable. As is the normal, the kingdom of God which is like a mustard seed growing up, the expectation is to grow as a plant and a shrub. But that edge or notion of growing into a tree and into a greatest tree conveys the eschatological vision of the kingdom of God, which is not limited to the normal, which is not limited to the expected, but which transcends and outgrows the normal. By sharing about the (ab)normal growth of the kingdom of God like a mustard seed, Jesus is conveying that the kingdom of God is not what we think as normal where business is as usual, but kingdom of God is ‘beyond’ normal, with unexpectedness, with surprises, with some shocks, and with no limitations. In that (ab)normality, the kingdom of God provides a hope for the mustard seed to become a greatest tree, which was unthinkable and unimaginable. Hope is not knowing the future, but trusting in the God of the future, for God will lead from the known normal to ‘beyond’ normal, into the (ab)normal walking and working with us.
3. The abnormal as an opportune space for a different purpose:
What would be the ultimate purpose of an apple tree? To be fruitful and yield a great harvest of apples. Similarly, what would be the purpose of a mustard tree? To grow mustard seeds and yield a great harvest of mustard seeds. These understanding of the purposes of the trees is a very human-centred view of the trees, where we selfishly think that trees grow fruits for the benefit of humankind. But when Jesus narrated this parable, he said that the mustard seed will grow to be a greatest tree, and never mentions about the harvest of the mustard seeds, but Jesus said “so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” Jesus presents an ecological vision of the kingdom of God, where the mustard seed grows into a tree to nest the birds of the air. The (ab)normality of this parable grows to a greater height when Jesus narrates that the mustard seed not only outgrows from a shrub to a tree, but also outgrows to nest the birds of the air. The (ab)normal growth of the mustard seed to become a hopeful greatest tree is not to enjoy the privilege of being the greatest and biggest tree yielding a great harvest, but to be a space of shelter for a variety of birds of the air to nest on its branches. The (ab)normal comes with an ecological vision of trees being grown not to meet the selfish desires of human beings, but to become a space to nest the birds on its branches. With the trees being cut down because of human greed, we can understand how much it affects the housing of the birds.
So, seeking a relevance of this parable today, as we prepare for a re-turn to our churches, the call for us is to engage in a spirituality of the (ab)normal growth of the kingdom of God. Such an engagement requires not to re-turn uncritically to the things we have always done, but to re-envision what God wants us to do at a moment like this. In the present context I see the church as a mustard seed, and the kingdom of God is where the church grows (ab)normally to be a tree nesting the birds of the air as its ecological missional calling. No one would expect the church to grow into a tree, but if we want to be part of the kingdom of God that Jesus inaugurated, it might look (ab)normal, but it is the need of the hour, to become a tree to shelter birds, save them from extinction and save the planet.
Secondly the (ab)normal growth of the church like the kingdom of God happens as a critique of the empire which comes to us in the forms of capitalist understanding of growth for whom numbers and profits are all that matter. The (ab)normal growth as a church is recognised not in the yield of the mustard seed harvest, but in providing shelter to many people who do not have shelter, becoming a space of hospitality to all those who are on the move, crossing boundaries and oceans, and by offering to be a Christian presence of sharing love, peace and justice with people in our communities. These outcomes certainly sound abnormal to many people for whom church is all about filling the pews, but the parable of the mustard seed speaks to us to think of the kingdom of God growing (ab)normally to be a tree addressing housing issues for birds, for people and to all those that are in need of shelter.
In recent news this week, the churches across the denominations in Southampton, UK are working to break down the barriers to housing preventing homelessness by supporting Southampton Churches Rent Deposit Scheme, which has till now funded 79 rental deposits in a year of which 14 were people who were sleeping rough. This for me serves as an example of how the church can grow (ab)normally by supporting housing issues for the needy among us. This is an inspiring model for us as churches in other places to take on board and strive to address the issues of housing.
Thirdly, the (ab)normal growth of the church as the kingdom of God happens in the unknown, the unexpected and the unimagined ways of doing church. The mustard seed growing to be a shrub was a normal phenomenon, but growing to be a tree, and to be a housing tree is that extra edge that Jesus was pushing the boundaries, which is but the very meaning of the kingdom of God. We cannot follow Jesus without following this ‘edginess.’ As churches today the calling for us is to allow God to push our boundaries to do things that are different from what we have always done, and to be prepared as churches to grow (ab)normally, ‘beyond’ normal, so that we become relevant for our times today.
Allow me to reiterate, for Jesus, the growth of the mustard seed is in it growing to be a greatest tree by sheltering the birds of the air, and so it is for the church in the design of the kingdom of God. Jesus in a way was abnormalizing normality and normalising abnormality. Jesus elsewhere in Matthew 17: 20 said that if we have a faith like a grain of mustard seed, we can do the impossible. May God grant us such a faith like the grain of mustard seed so that we can grow as a church (ab)normally by sheltering those needy people in our spaces. May this parable of the mustard seed inspire us as a church in our reimagining to (ab)normally grow as a church being a church with an ecological vision, and with a communitarian vision with a preference to those on the margins. Perhaps in growing (ab)normally we as a church will find our relevance today. Post-lockdown is an opportune time for us to discover and explore our (ab)normal ways of being a church.
Let me conclude with the words of Pope Francis,
“Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the ‘peripheries,’ in need of the light of the gospel.”
Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta
23rd July 2020
Pic credit: http://leohartshorn.blogspot.com/2009/01/gods-reign-is-for-birds-sermon-on.html
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