Bigger is better is how we usually understand things.
Go to McDonalds and you’ll be tempted to upsize your meal from small to large.
Buy something on TV shopping and they tempt you with a 2nd one free or they’ll add in a heap of accessories.
Or go to Costco and everything is jumbo size.
Our phones that used to be smaller are now getting bigger and bigger screens As are our TV screens.
And, even though I haven’t quite caught up with the technology, I see that most office computers have 2 computer screens so they can work across more information.
Bigger is better whether it’s our houses, our bank balances, our military – even our churches.
It’s almost like we are fighting our own personal Cold Wars where we have to outdo others.
What we continually seem to find, however, when it comes to God, bigger is not necessarily better.
When God chose Israel as his chosen nation he specifically told them – that he had chosen them not because of their numbers or power (indeed, they were a fraction of the human population and a distinctively minor power among the nations but because He loves them
St Paul tells the disciples that God chose them not because of their numbers, influence or power.
He says: think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,
When the disciples were concerned about the huge task that was ahead of them they asked Jesus to increase their faith so they could be up for the challenge:
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
And again Jesus uses the mustard seed to explain that faith is not about size.
He said: With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
Smallness is the focus of today’s Parable of the Mustard Seed.
From God’s perspective, things are often not what they appear to be at first.
The tiny mustard seed may seem small and insignificant, but it contains something very valuable to emphasise that size can be deceiving.
It helps us understand that out of a small thing can come something powerful?
And what does Paul say about God’s power? The weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
And that’s because the power of God is hidden behind the illusion of weakness:
It is hidden behind the seemingly weakness of Christ’s humiliating death: Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Smallness is what Jesus referred to again and again in his ministry.
And we know, too, that smallness is the basis on which the church began.
Even small churches have their advantages over larger churches.
It’s interesting that one of the key focuses of large churches is their “Small Group Ministry”.
The dangers of focusing on size is that we can too easily be tempted to trust in size rather than faith in God.
St Paul urged that in our 2nd reading today:
We are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord– for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Paul’s concern was the temptation to begin to rely on that outward strength and lose faith in God.
He said: they boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.
Paul had a real thing against boasting:
In Ephesians 2 he says: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Likewise he says about knowledge: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.
Even in his own life Paul knew the dangers of boasting and accepted God’s “thorn in the flesh” – his suffering as a way of preventing boasting:
Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
So, again, Paul saw the weakness of God hiding true power and therefore when it came to boasting he said: I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
We live in a world that not only promotes bigness it idolises it.
So we avoid this temptation to join in the human view of success.
Paul says: we regard no one from a human point of view;
Rather we regard people from a Christian point of view because in Christ there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
There is nothing small when it comes to faith. Faith is faith.
You either have faith or you don’t have faith.
So never underestimate the faith you have.
Even if you feel like it’s barely there remember that Jesus said a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.
Even if you feel your faith has been battered and bruised, Jesus said: A bruised reed he will not break,
Jesus lifted the hopes of the woman whose many sins made her rejected by others – it was her many sins not her great faith which saw her dedication and love to Jesus.
I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love.
Jesus restored a woman rejected by the Law of Moses because of her behaviour requiring her to be stoned to death.
It wasn’t her great faith but Jesus’ love for her that saved her.
And what greater example do we have than the thief on the cross.
In his dying breath he simply says – remember me when you come into your kingdom.
No measure of faith there – just a death bed plea to our Lord.
Don’t be intimidated or be made to feel inadequate about your faith.
Sadly I have heard people say – if you had more faith you would be healed or things along those lines.
Jesus never said that.
In fact he said the opposite today – faith as small as a mustard seed.
But even more important, You are saved by grace “THROUGH” faith, for Christ’s sake.
You are not saved by faith but by grace.
And that is important because Paul said today – all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
But even there we do not fear about whether we have enough faith but remember – everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved – by grace.
