I’m going to do something a bit weird today.
No, not that weird.
I’m going to talk about a Sunday Gospel passage that has already passed. I have been very busy in settling down to the new situation after the move, and I just haven’t gotten back to my usual flow on posting here. Even if I had, this was one insight that I didn’t have an inkling of until it hit in a church service.
Have you ever been listening intently to the sermon prepared by the priest/pastor only to have a seemingly random connection shine out to you? Then, you just couldn’t get your mind off of that insight – that epiphany. Honestly, it seemed that your insight had little to do with what has been said. The rest of the world continues to play on like a movie while you seem to stop within that moment and an old Bible passage just suddenly “clicks.”
Has that ever happened to you?
That’s one way of describing contemplation, and it is the highest stage of lectio Divina. It is the grace of God dipping down into the mundane matters of earth, or, perhaps, it is our minds reaching up to a near-divine insight – a “Eureka!” moment. However we look at it, these are some of the moments that something “magical” happens.
Anyway, I had one of those moments a couple of Sundays ago. It was in this passage. I’ve heard it a thousand times. Jesus is teaching the disciples about forgiveness, and they lack faith, as always happens. He shoots back at them that if their faith was the size of a mustard seed, then they could say to the mulberry tree “Throw yourself into the sea,” and it would go.
Usually, I read this passage and think “Yeah, I wish I had that faith too,” but this time something was different. I saw Jesus’ words in a new light. Perhaps, it was due to the previous day’s visit to the Huntsville Space & Rocket Museum (which Clark loves!). They have an exhibit about Archimedes and other ancient scientists. Many hands-on machines were available displaying how that wily Greek harnessed the laws of physics to work miracles.
Anyway, when I read Jesus’ words, I realized that they weren’t just advocating a blind belief. They were about determination. If we truly believe that the mulberry tree will be cast into the sea, we WILL FIND a way to make it happen. It’s not about magic or miracles; it’s about commitment and purpose. Do we have such faith to be so determined?
What is your mulberry tree?
Stop waiting for magic…cast it into the sea, by sheer dint of grit and determination!
