Tuesday, August 9

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READ: Matthew 13:31–32, (cf. Mark 4:30–32, Luke 13:18–19)

“Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 (CSB)

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Harvest on the farm was simply the best time of the year. The huge combine had a ride-along seat in the cab, the yard had action on it all day long, and the air was crisp while the fields and trees were golden. There are few things I think back on that invoke a sense of warmth and affection for the farm like harvest time.

When we were younger, that is, before we were old enough to drive tractors and combines for dad, everything was a ride. Up until my young teen years, it was grandpa’s job to drive the grain truck. We would ride with him in the cab to the field, but on the way back, we would sit in the grain box atop the mounds of seeds.

It’s very dangerous as I think about it. Sitting only inches from the edge of a truck hurtling down country roads – but you don’t hear much about farm kids dying that way, so I guess we are just a hardy breed.

As fun (and dangerous) as that was, the real fun happened when we were back at the yard because we would stay in the box as the grain was dumped into the auger. We would slide down with the grain and then climb back up and slide again until the slick metal bottom of the box was exposed and was raised too high to make the climb.

I tell you something, we would come home with seeds tucked into folds of our clothes… and bodies… you didn’t know were there until you were undressing to shower.

Now, the different crops offered different experiences. Wheat was great because it kept the truck moving without much of a break. But woe to the child who thought riding the barley or oats was a good idea. The dust from those two grains is itchy. And when I say itchy, I mean the CIA could use oat dust to extract testimonies from criminals.

Flax was very fun because the seeds are smooth and oily. Flax is almost liquid, and there were urban farm legends about kids who drowned in grain bins filled with flax.

But the best crop for truck-box-sliding was canola. Canola seeds are tiny and round. Those minute black ball-bearings would send you flying and crashing into the back of the truck box with every slide. Those seeds were so sneaky that you might find them stuck in nether regions even after you showered.

Now when I say canola is tiny, I mean it is 1mm in diameter – that’s Horton Hears A Who tiny! A mustard seed is 1 to 3mm in diameter so the comparison is there. And yet it grows into a plant big enough for birds to nest in. Canola plants are similar. We have pictures of me and my mom standing in canola that is over our 5’ 2” heads. according to Jesus, this is how the Kingdom of God starts and grows.

With grain such as wheat, you plant 33-35 plants per square foot for an average yield of 22 kernels per plant. With canola, you need just 5-8 plants per square foot. You need so little canola to seed in spring that you pick it up in bags, not with the grain truck. But come harvest, the truck will be necessary because the average canola plant will yield 60-100 pods of seed per plant with 15-40 seeds per pod.

One seed – huge returns.

One Kingdom – history revised.

A speck of faith – mountains uprooted.

This is the unexpected economy of the Kingdom of God.

We understand from the parable of the mustard seed about the potential for Kingdom growth – a phenomenon we have witnessed in history. But when it comes to the comparison of faith to a mustard seed, that is where it often stops – and it shouldn’t.

The reason is that the combined potential for power among Christians as a community is staggering. One person can move mountains – what could we do as a collective faith-driven community?

“Staggering” doesn’t do it justice.

But what are we doing with all that potential?

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Worship – Meredith Andrews has a song called, “Faith and Wonder.” They go together, don’t they?