St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Emmaus, PA
Reflections on The Season of Pentecost
The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, July 26, 2020
By Rev. Jane Bender
Dear St. Margaret’s Family,
Greetings to you all and I hope this letter finds you well! This week’s Gospel from Matthew has a series of parables that offer us insights into the meaning of The Kingdom of Heaven. I like the fact that St. Matthew uses the phrase The Kingdom of Heaven in addition to the other writers who say The Kingdom of God. This phrase harkens to the Lord’s Prayer that God’s will may be done here “on earth as it is in heaven”.
Jesus does not use grandiose subjects in describing the Kingdom of Heaven – indeed, He uses the most modest of illustrations: a mustard seed. That faith, even though small as the size of a mustard seed, can move mountains.
“Jesus put before the crowds another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
Later on in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus uses the image again illustrate the power of even a small amount of faith.
“For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”
I am mindful, as I’m sure you are, of the recent death of the incomparable civil rights leader John Lewis of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia. To say that John Lewis came from modest beginnings would be an understatement. He was born into poverty and his parents worked long and hard to give John the best they could. But the reality was that they were living in the segregated Deep South (Alabama) where not one single African American person was registered to vote in the 50’s. But, John persevered, eventually went to college and The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King became his mentor. John Lewis became a pivotal witness to the Civil Rights Movement and among many other things, particularly in Voter Rights. This amazing individual, John Lewis, who was a mustard seed of influence at his birth, grew into the mighty tree of change – where many were saved and liberated. What an example of great things arising from small beginnings!
May we all claim that mustard seed of faith which is in us – to live into God’s will for us and for our
world.
God bless you and keep you in God’s loving embrace,
Jane+
