The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

15 August 2018 at Saint Peter the Apostle and St. Willian Churches in Naples, FL

Revelation 11, 19 – 12, 6, 10 + Psalm 45 + 1 Corinthians 15, 20-27 + Luke 1, 39-56

All of those images from the Book of Revelation about golden clothing and wild battles with Satan can be left to another time for a serious study of this complicated style of writing. Having not entertained the thinking of some in Corinth that the resurrection of Jesus did not really involve his body, we can excuse ourselves from Paul’s tirade today. Let’s just settle down with this simple reading from Luke’s first chapter. What is so beautiful and charming about this Gospel passage is that it is so very ordinary, unspectacular and not particularly controversial as the reading from Paul or the Book of Revelation.

We are often led to remember and admire the spectacular events of our lives ignoring the importance of the ordinary day-t0-day things, but I think the wisdom of the church on this feast would suggest that this is not wise. I think of this in terms of Blessed Stanley Rother, that Oklahoma priest who was martyred in Guatemala. Everyone who knows anything about him remembers that day at the end of July when he was shot to death in the rectory. That violent day almost overshadows all the other ordinary days of his life when he got in the morning, celebrated Mass, cared for the people, comforted the suffering, and protected the vulnerable. There is a similar risk here with this feast. We should not ignore the simple ordinary things that in the end make a person great, noble, or holy. The Assumption of Mary is the consequence of an ordinary life lived by a mother and a faithful servant of God. For Mary and for us, it will be the ordinary days that determine who we are.

In the Gospel today, Mary hears that Elizabeth is pregnant, she leaves behind her own concerns and affairs and asks, “What does my cousin Elizabeth need?” When a visit seems appropriate, Mary acts. She goes in haste to the hill country to visit her cousin. Other than the risks involved and the inconvenience, it’s no big deal. Yet, what we see here is the pattern of ordinary days: asking and acting. What does someone need followed by an action responding to that need. As simple as this pattern is, the result is often more than we might imagine. Following the pattern of pregnant Mary, we not only bring ourselves to others. We also carry Christ who is in us to everyone we service.

The glory of Mary assumed bodily into heaven is simply a preview or foretaste of our glory. Her risen body is with the risen body of Christ in a new creation. So, it shall be for us who have lived every blessed and ordinary day asking and acting.

The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

12 August 2018 at St Peter the Apostle and St William Parishes in Naples, FL

1 Kings 19, 4-8 + Psalm 32 + Ephesians 4, 30 to 5,2 + John 6, 41-51

Something happens with this text today that is important. Until now the people engaged with Jesus have been called: the crowd. Now the identity of the crowd is given. The crowd is “the Jews.” This sixth chapter of John’s Gospel is loaded with images of the Exodus in the Old Testament. There is the report of Jesus walking on the water to the other side of the Sea which brings up the image of Moses leading the people of Israel through the Red Sea. Then there was last week talk of Manna in the desert that God provided through Moses. Now today there are people murmuring just like the Israelites murmured at Moses resisting his leadership. They murmur now because they think they know where Jesus comes from. When he says: “Stop murmuring among yourselves” he means “Be quiet and listen.” They can’t see who is right in front of them because they think they know the truth about the origins of Jesus. Their knowledge stands in the way of the truth. They are not listening! The consequence is unbelief, and the only way out is to be drawn into faith by the Father, and that is the focus of this text.

As always, there are clues in the original text. The word used by John when he speaks of the action of the Father drawing people is the same word used to describe fishing nets being hauled into the boat. We must be dragged into faith by God: there is no other way to come is what Jesus is saying here. This is a troubling idea, because it leaves us to wonder what happens to those who murmur, to those who seem not to have been drawn to Jesus, and what about us, a people who are sometimes so shallow or inconsistent in our faith? It raises some questions that are not easily answered because there is no answer to the work of God except the promise and the hope that God does draw people to faith.

Jesus is not making it easy on that crowd. He does not make it easy on us either. The more they resist, the harder he makes it. When they do not accept Jesus as the Bread of Life come from the Father, he starts talking about eating flesh which is not only difficult but offensive to the crowd. He has no interest in making it easy. The fact here is that we must follow Jesus on his terms even if it seems difficult or offensive. Following Jesus on his terms is what it means to be a disciple. Bread from heaven is no free lunch but thinking that it was is what brought the crowds chasing after him to begin with. Bread from Heaven will cost Jesus his life and feeding on this bread will bring us as well to the cross.

When we begin to listen to this through the context of the Passover which is about to happen and the Eucharist we are about to celebrate, we are drawn to this altar which is more than just a table set for a feast. It is also the altar of a sacrifice. The food we find at this altar is not a free meal. To take this Bread of Life we take a share in the sacrifice, the suffering, the obedience, and the service of the one whose flesh we consume. It is costly. It is tough. But it is the only way to life, as the Father continues to draw us deeper into the mystery and wonder of his love.

The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

5 August 2018 at Saint Andrew Parish in Moore, OK

Exodus 16, 2-4 & 12-15 + Psalm 78 + Ephesians 4, 17 & 22-24 + John 6, 24-35

The first question in today’s verses has a double meaning, and the obvious or simple answer is not necessarily the best. The problem comes from the English translation of John’s original text. “When did you get here?” is the English translation, but the verb that John uses for “get” is the same verb used to say “come to be” or “begotten.” So, you see, there is another level to explore here. It is likely that John really wants to explore the reason for the Incarnation. Why is Jesus here among us on earth? With that question asked at the beginning of these verses, the rest of what Jesus says has much greater importance.

The crowd wants a sign because it is entertaining. They didn’t have Cable or Internet for fun. So, when a wonder-worker comes along, they are going to get up and get moving. They also want free food without working to earn it. It does not cast them in a particularly flattering light. That crowd ought to disturb us and invite us to take a good look at ourselves. They are chasing around all over the place looking for Jesus, but not to give something. They want to get something. Never mind that Jesus might want something from them: their faith. There is a deliberate attempt in John’s writing today to connect this event to that meeting of Jesus at a well with a Samaritan woman. Jesus wants something there and he wants something now from us. At that well, he wants that woman’s faith even though they are talking about drinks of water. Here, just as before, Jesus wants faith as now he talks about bread.

As we proclaim this Gospel in this assembly, Jesus looks at those who are here because they want something, and John raises a challenge to those whose prayer is always looking for a sign or begging for something. He raises a challenge also to those who go wandering around from place to place, church to church because they want to be entertained, or who complain that they didn’t get anything out of it. It fails to cross their minds that Jesus may want something they can give, faith. Perhaps it is time for us to give some sign, just as it was time for the woman at the well to give a sign and run back to bring the townspeople to Jesus because she believed. Perhaps it is time for us to give some witness to the one who is bread on this altar.

Faith and fidelity require a lot of work. There is nothing free or easy about faith. Repentance is hard to maintain. Breaking the habits of sinfulness and achieving real virtue and true holiness is the work of a lifetime. We have to grow out of the idea that Jesus came among us to get us a job, or solve some problem, heal some sickness or make us happy and more comfortable. He says today that he came to accomplish the works of God, to give life to the world. Jesus reminds those people that the manna their ancestors received with Moses came from God, not from Moses. Gratitude to God is the only appropriate response. Not “Give me more.” For us it is no different. Everything we have is a gift from God, and faithful believers never forget that. Those clothes you wear, and that closet full at home is really a gift from God. The food we eat is a gift from God, and we must remember that. The very act of that remembrance is what Eucharist is all about: remembering what God has done for us and giving back to God what God has given us, His only Son.

Jesus came to give us life. That is what we must seek above all and first of all. People of faith know the difference between what is perishable and what lasts forever. All of us must work to figure the difference, to know the difference, and to believe in the one who says to us: “I am the bread of life.” When we do, we will lack nothing, seek nothing except that which gives us life.

The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

29 July 2018 at Saint Andrew Catholic Church in Moore, OK

2 Kings 4, 443-44 + Psalm 145 + Ephesians 4, 1-6 + John 6, 1-15

There is someone in this Gospel today who says nothing. Because Jesus, Andrew and Philip do tall he talking, it is easy to ignore his presence. There is young boy in these verses who very is important and he is worth some reflection and wonder. Without him, there would be no story. Without him there would be no wonderful sign worked to draw people to faith. He has no name which in Gospel literature is always important.  Having no name makes it possible for us to stand in his place.

There is no way of knowing how or why Andrew noticed the boy, but perhaps five loaves of bread over and above two fish might be hard to hide. Even the appetite of a growing young boy would probably not need five loaves. He clearly had more than he needed that afternoon. John records no conversation between the boy and Jesus. All we know is that he surrendered what he had to Jesus and something extraordinary happened.

Even before five thousand were fed, and before twelve baskets of left overs were collected, there is something that leaves us to wonder about what happens when someone who has enough or even more than enough sees a need and responds to the request of Jesus to surrender it all. It brings to my mind another young man who came running up to Jesus asking what he must do to be saved. When Jesus asks him to sell what he has and give it to the poor, he walks away sad. I’ve always thought that what was lacking in that young man was imagination. He simply could not imagine living without all his stuff. In contrast to that young man stands this boy face to face with Jesus willing to surrender everything he has knowing that there were five thousand hungry people behind him. I doubt that he could ever have imagined what was about to happen, but that did not keep him from handing over all that he had.

Without a word said, that boy speaks to us today. He speaks to a people who have more than enough, more than they need. In a world that is hungry and thirsty, homeless and lonely, that young boy shows us how to create abundance. In that unrecorded conversation with Jesus, I suspect that Jesus never said: “Keep some for yourself.” I think Jesus asked for it all. With childlike faith, that boy trusted and gave without a worry about going hungry himself. He could have stood on the sidelines watching, or like those other disciples said: “It isn’t enough”, but he didn’t.

We are reminded today about how life flourishes when virtues are practiced. In a world of both over-consumption on the part of some, and suffering and hunger on the part of many, we are reminded about living simply and virtuously, and what can happen when we know we have enough and turn over to Christ everything we have. As this chapter will continue for the next several weeks, we will discover that Jesus never came to feed us on bread, but to satisfy our hungers with his Body and Blood.

The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

22 July 2018 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Jeremiah 23, 1-6 + Psalm 23 + Ephesians 2, 13-18 + Mark 6, 30-34

This is the only time in Mark’s Gospel that disciples are called “apostles.” It only appears in Matthew’s Gospel once, six times in Luke, and never in John. I think it is important to understand this fact because we tend to think of “apostles” in terms of those twelve who may have some special place or calling, which then allows us to be excused too easily from taking up our duties as disciples of Jesus.

The Gospel of Mark is really a School of Discipleship. It is a catechesis, a formation program for anyone who would be a disciple of this Rabbi, Jesus. Notice today that he teaches the people and that they have come to hear him teach. They have already expressed their amazement at his teaching in a Synagogue. They express their amazement because he teaches with authority, which means he is authentic backing up what he teaches with deeds and behavior. He teaches them care for one another, and then he heals. He teaches them to feed the hungry, and in this Gospel, he is just about to do that. He teaches them about forgiveness, and he forgives Peter and even those who nail him to a cross. He wants them to hear the Word of God, so he opens the ears of the deaf. He wants them to see the glory of God, so he restores sight to the blind. He wants us to have life, so he raises up a dead girl, the only son of a mother, and he calls Lazarus out of a tomb. All so that we might be one, might live in unity, and live in peace.

Every one of us in this place has heard the call to be a disciple, a student of this teacher. It is why we are here and not somewhere else at this hour. In terms of history and time, the teacher has gone after teaching us everything that was revealed to him by his Father. Day after day, we understand the feelings of Jesus when he looked at the people. It was way more than pity which is a soft way of translating the gut-wrenching word that Mark uses in the Gospel. It is the same feeling a parent would have at seeing their child in suffering.  Jesus makes the needs and wants, hurts and pain of these people his own.

Disciples of Jesus Christ look at our world and ask what deep and truly human hopes and hungers are being unconsciously expressed in the blind competition of sports fans, the addictions that plague every level of society, the supremacy movements and all the “isms” that divide us who live on this earth. Some political leaders benefit from discord and division, and some religious figures make a fortune suggesting that we should wait for everything to be resolved in heaven and then look upon all our riches as blessings without a word about the obligations that come with these riches.

Jesus taught those people, and he still teaches us. What he teaches is the Will of God, his Father. He teaches that the needs and wants, hurts and pain of all people are our own, and that when anyone is hungry are hurting we are all hungry and hurting. So, he teaches that God wills for us to all be one. He teaches that mercy and compassion is the only way people made in his image can respond to another. He teaches us to feed, to heal, to forgive. He does not teach us judgment or vengeance. Having taught us these things, he has sent us out to teach and preach. We do so first by what we do at home, in an office, at school. It is not necessary to teach or preach with words. In fact, until there are deeds and until there is action, the words are in vain and are empty. As the Lord waited for those twelve to return and report on what had happened, he still waits for us to complete his work on earth, and only after we have fulfilled his command should we find a place of rest. The question now is, how much longer does he have to wait?

The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

15 July 2018 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Amos 7, 12-15 + Psalm 85 + Ephesians 1, 3-14 + Mark 6, 7-13

After last week’s rejection of by those who’s unbelief left Jesus with nothing to do there, he has moved on to neighboring villages. The memory of that distressful and disappointing experience was surely still fresh in the mind of the Apostles. Given their behavior on other occasions, they no doubt expected quite a welcome for the home-town hero who was already so famous bringing glory to little Nazareth. Now they are being called in pairs for a serious and detailed instruction. Then they are sent out with power to do all that Jesus was doing and preach repentance. When I stop to think about it, I am always amazed over what is going on here. Jesus had a lot of confidence in that rag-tag group of twelve he has called away from fishing boats and tax tables, their families, and everything that is familiar and comfortable. There is no evidence at all that they are capable of doing what he asks, but he sends them, and they go. Next week we will find out how it goes. But for now, we are left to decide whether or not we are outside of this story looking in, or whether or not we too are being sent. It should be noticed that he sent them all, not some and not best and brightest. Every single one of them is sent. There is no one left out of the mission. It would seem to me that St. Mark is making a point here for his church and for us all.

In the end, this is what the whole experience of discipleship has been about. In some ways, I’ve always considered Mark’s Gospel to be a “school of discipleship”. The disciple learns and then does something with what they have been taught. For these disciples of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel, it would seem that a kind of “internship” has begun, a trial run, to see what they can do with what they have learned. It is the same for all of us. At some point in our discipleship, we have to do something with what we have learned. At some point it’s time to stop going to Bible Study and get on with Bible living! While all learning is a life-long endeavor, there does come a time when you start doing something with what you’ve learned. It is always a great challenge for us to be active, not passive followers; to be not only receivers but also givers. Not barren or dead branches on the vine, but living and fruitful ones.

My friends, belief in God is very uncomfortable because it increases our responsibility. If there was no God, then there would be no point in being responsible because if there is no God, life is just random chaos and eternal night. If someone comes to us and asks for help, we should not turn them away with pious words saying: Have faith; take your troubles to God and God will help you.” Doing that acts as if there is no God, as if there was only one person in the world who could help this person, namely yourself. Reliance on the providence of God is essential, but it cannot be used as an excuse for doing nothing.

One winter day a man came upon a small boy sitting begging on a wind-swept city street. The boy was shivering from the cold and obviously in need of a good meal. On seeing him the man got very angry and said to God: “Lord, why don’t you do something about this boy?” And suddenly God replied: “I have already done something about him.” The man was surprised and said: “I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but whatever you did, doesn’t seem to be working.” “I agree with you.” God said. “By the way”, the man asked, “What did you do?” The reply from God came. “I made you.”

We are God’s instruments. That is our dignity and our responsibility. Notice carefully that in the instructions before we set out, we disciples are told to take nothing. All that we have to give is what we have received from Jesus Christ. These are qualities that cannot be contained in a sack or a belt. If Jesus sends us out in his name, he must know that we have what it takes to do what he asks. When we leave here in about thirty minutes, the mission begins. We do have what it takes, and it will be enough.

The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

8 July 2018 at St. Peter the Apostle & St. William Churches in Naples, FL

Ezekiel 2, 2-5 + Psalm 123 + 2 Corinthians 12, 7-10 + Mark 6, 1-6

We are beginning a new chapter of Mark’s Gospel today. In the past weeks with chapter five we have seen an enormous momentum building as Jesus travelled throughout Galilee and beyond. His presence has been marked by healings, exorcisms, and even as we heard last week, the raising of a dead child. Crowds of people have experienced liberation, healing, and the tender compassion of Jesus. Now in chapter six all of that comes to a sudden stop. What demons, sickness, and death could not stop disbelief does. This is a greater obstacle. It is not that the power of Jesus is limited, but the people are hindered from experiencing his power by their unbelief.

The problem being experienced there is not confined to that place and that time. For lack of a better term, I’ll call the problem “Limited Religious Imagination.” In other words, Jesus was not acting right. They could not imagine that God might be revealed in someone so familiar, in a neighbor, in someone from Nazareth. They expected God to be revealed in the way Moses or Abraham experienced God. More simply put, they could not imagine the truth or the reality of the Incarnation. The whole idea that God might come and be revealed in the flesh and blood of someone who is just an ordinary and familiar neighbor was too much for them. They could not imagine this. Jesus would not fit into their religious imagination.

Ultimately, those people of Nazareth were stuck with the idea of their ancestors who begged Moses to tell God not to come too near lest they die of fright. They would rather have a God who was frightening and dangerous. When God became Man in Jesus Christ, it was too much for them. They refused to believe that God could be revealed through ordinary people and events. It is easy to have faith in a God who is distant and silent, a God who sits behind a veil in the Temple or for us, a God who is locked in a Tabernacle. But, let that God cry out as his son is nailed to cross, and it’s too much. Let the Body and Blood of that God be consumed by a neighbor or an enemy, and the challenge of becomes too much. Our imaginations and our expectations about how, when, and where God will be revealed have to be wide open, wide enough to believe that God could be revealed in a lowly son of a carpenter from Nazareth or be revealed in the man who is nailing shingles on the roof next door who comes from some foreign place or the man mowing our grass!

Sadly, every now and then, I am asked by people what I think about Pope Francis, and sometimes those people express displeasure about his leadership, style, and the things he says and does. Why? Because he does not fit their mold, their model of what the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of St. Peter should act like. They remind me of the people of Nazareth. It’s not that they are bad, but they are going to miss something powerful and merciful because their imaginations are so limited.

My dear friends, there is another subtle part of the message in Mark’s Gospel that comes as a warning. The all-powerful God can be limited by human unbelief. We must learn from those people in Nazareth says St. Mark. The message of God’s nearness comes packaged in what looks very familiar. When that familiarity frightens or challenges us, calls into question the racism, ageism, or sexism of our age, we must take a look at and awaken our imagination because God’s ways are not our ways, and God’s voice may sound very familiar.

The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 July 2018

Wisdom 1, 13-15; 2, 23-24 + Psalm 30 + 2 Corinthians 8, 7, 9, 13-15 + Mark 5, 21-43

Two miracles stories and two women lead us to reflect upon the ministry of Jesus Christ, his mission, and his method. On the surface it looks like one of them is healed and the other brought back to life. That’s what it looks like, but what you see is not always what you get. Consistent with Mark’s style, there is commotion here. He seems to like that. There is always a rush and always a crowd. In the midst of that chaos there always stands one who is calm and peaceful. To get beyond the surface of these two incidents, it is helpful to understand that there is problem with English as this Gospel is translated. Two words in English come from one word in Greek and Latin: to save and to heal are the words that come out of the Latin word “Salus.” If you think of it this way, you can begin to get the idea: a salve like an ointment can bring healing, but when you see it in print and add to the spelling you get “salvation.” Once you get that point, you can go deeper into what is happening here. These are stories of salvation, not simply miracles of healing.

The consequence of sin that Jesus is always confronting is alienation or separation, and he comes face to face with that consequence in these verses. His presence and what he does restores relationships. The older woman is no longer ostracized from her husband and her community. Because of her bleeding, she would have been an outcast from everyone even her husband for fear of sharing her fate. The loneliness would have been worse than the bleeding. The little girl is restored to her parents, and even more so, by calling her “daughter”, Jesus is bringing her into the larger family of God’s loved ones.

The mission of Jesus is a mission of reconciliation, of healing what is broken apart, and the healing becomes even greater as it becomes salvation. These women are saved, and the wonder of it comes from the action: touch. That older woman touched him, and at that moment, be becomes unclean. He traded places with her. He brought her into his relationship with God, and now he will be the one who is cast out and the one who bleeds. Then, he touches that twelve-year-old who is dead. He trades places with her as well. Now he is the one who will die so that she can live.

You see, the mystery of salvation is being revealed here. We will be saved when we have been touched by Jesus Christ: touched by his love, touched by his grace, and touched by his word. What it takes is faith, prayer, and hope. We see this in that official, Jarius and in the woman. They both have hope, one has faith, and the other asks in prayer. The great hope for us comes through in a subtle way we might miss. God’s saving grace is available to everyone from important officials who have names to little old people who go nameless into eternity, but whose names are known by God alone. This is our hope today for we remain a people broken and in need of that divine touch. It will come to us in a few moments when we are touched by and reach out to touch the Body of Christ. In that action what is broken is healed, what is lost is found, and in Communion we are restored both to each other as a family and to God who longs to bring us home.

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

24 June 2018

Isaiah 49, 1-6 + Psalm 139 + Acts 13, 22-26 + Luke 1, 57-66, 80

The shadow of old Sarah and Abraham falls over the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Almost like bookends two faithful couples begin and end the story of Israel bearing witness to the power of God’s favor, love, and grace. We should not reflect upon what God does with Zechariah and Elizabeth without recalling how God acted with Sarah and Abraham to begin restoring creation to its glory.

There was an expectation among the Jews that the prophet Elijah would return to earth to prepare God’s chosen people for the coming of the Messiah. Reflecting upon the prophetic witness of John, Jesus declare that John was that Elijah person they were expecting. Like the first Elijah, John was a truth teller. He spoke to the truth to power, which is a sure way to get into trouble when power is a living lie. He disturbed the comfortable and comforted the disturbed. The message of John, whose birth we commemorate today, is as challenging now as it was when his voice cried out in the wilderness. Not everything the powerful do is morally right. Not everything enshrined in the law of the land is right even though it has become the law of the land. Then and now, there are things enshrined in the law by the powerful that are not just or morally right. Abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, are obvious examples, and there are more. Those things may be lawful, but they are not right, and John would speak up about it.

John the Baptist was a finger pointer, and many artists paint him standing tall and wild looking and pointing his finger at Jesus of Nazareth.  In contrast to all of us, John points to Christ. We point too, but usually at one another in a gesture of blame or accusation just as Adam pointed to Eve who pointed to a serpent. We might do well to learn from John something about pointing, because that might be what God wants of us; a people who point the way, who lead others to Jesus Christ by what we say and what we do.

The question asked by the neighbors and relations gathered around as John is born is important. “What will this child turn out to be?” It is a question that could and should be asked of all of us. “What will we turn out to be?” It is another way of wondering what God wants us to be. Is there a divine purpose for our lives? Perhaps it is the same purpose God had for John’s life. Perhaps God would have us speak the truth with courage and speak that truth to power. Perhaps God would also have us point out the Savior and make way for Jesus leading others to him by the example of our lives.

Take note that we celebrate this birth just days after the summer solstice as the daylight now begins to fade and decrease. We will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on this night in exactly six months, a few days after the winter solstice when daylight will begin to increase. We are the bearers of that light through the darkness to come and will be the ones to whom others should look when they fear the darkness and long for hope.

The Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

17 June 2018 at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Mustang, Oklahoma

Ezekiel 17, 22-24 + Psalm 92 + 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10 + Mark 4, 26-34

It was December 1, 1955. A 42-year-old black woman boarded a bus to go home after a long day working and shopping. She found a seat at the start of the black section. At the next stop some white people got on so the driver ordered her to get up and give her seat to a white man. Tired and worn out from cleaning up after white people all day, she simply said, “No.” The driver called the police. She was arrested. Word got around quickly, and a local preacher called a meeting. They made one simple demand: that passengers be seated on a first-come first-served bases. To achieve this end, they began a boycott of the buses, and people walked to work. We know the rest of this story. It has become part of our national history in the slow and step-by-step movement toward achieving justice for all. Just because some colonists signed a piece of paper that proclaimed “liberty and justice for all” didn’t mean it was going to happen before the ink dried. It took from 1776 until 1955 for this nation to get serious about it making it a reality, and we’re still not there.

In a world growing more and more accustomed to instant everything these parables and the truth they reveal are difficult to hear and incorporate into our faith and life. There is something about us and our culture in this country that leads us to think that bigger is better. We have to have the tallest, the fastest, the biggest of everything. Then we fool ourselves into thinking that these superlatives are the best. We expect everything to be instant from the flipping of a light switch to the opening of a packet for an instant meal. It may be quick and it may easy, but that stuff in the packet is not really healthy, and the truth is, it does not taste as good as something made patiently from scratch.

These two timeless parables speak to us. They speak to the powerful and the control freak in us a disturbing message and reminder. We can’t do everything, and our attempt at it borders on idolatry. We have our role, our mission, and in speaking to his disciples, and with Mark writing to an impatient church, the message is clear. You plant the seed, and that’s all you need to do, but keep planting. We cannot make the seed grow. We can’t make a seedling grow faster by pulling on the top of it. We will just pull it out of the soil and destroy it.

Further, this pair of parables warns us about thinking or trying to do things big. Big is not best, and big does not necessarily produce a great amount or a great harvest when it comes to seeds. Great buildings begin with one brick. A book begins with one word on a page. A lifelong friendship begins with a chance encounter. With everything that lasts, there can be no hurry. Hurry ruins many things. The true savor of life is not gained from big things but from little ones. To sample a wine the taster needs on only a sip. Bad habits and sickness creep up slowly in little steps. Alcoholism begins with one drink and then maybe just one more “little one”. Marriages come apart not from one big fight, but from countless little slights and offenses over a long time.

The Parables that Jesus speaks to us today encourage those who are disappointed over how slowly comes the victory of goodness. They calm those who are in hurry with an invitation to slow down and savor the moment. Learn how to wait and enjoy it. These little parables correct those who want to be in control with a reminder that there is only one God, and it isn’t any of us. We may plant the seeds, but we must resist the temptation to think we know how to make them grow.