The Seed Grew in the Darkness
Chesed of Malkuth Day 43 of 50 · Lovingkindness within Presence
The Mustard Seed: The Kin-dom That Begins Smaller Than You Expected
The forty-third saying of the living Christ as spoken by Mary Magdalene:
See how the Kin-dom of Heaven is sown in the field like a grain of mustard seed. The seed of the kin-dom is small; it is the love we have for one another, for our neighbors, and for God. It is the smallest of seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest of herbs. The great tree of life grows from this little seed, and in its branches, the birds build their nests and live1.
Mind the wildness of the seed. Love, untended, can become a thicket that chokes the very spirit it meant to nourish. Mustard can overrun the garden so that nothing else can grow. If we do nothing but cast seed and never tend the garden, then the work of the kin-dom is unfulfilled. The kin-dom grows through the healing relationships of its people with each other and the world. To speak the words of love without the actions they proclaim robs them of their life. Dead words harm people. The Living Words thrive in speaking them and doing them.
If the seed is never sown, then the healing of the world is never done. Do not wait for better soil, or for the moment to be right. We have a gift worth giving. If we hoard the seeds, the mice will devour them. The tree remains unplanted; the birds remain homeless. Give and receive with a generous heart so that the seed may be planted and the Tree of Life grown.
The gift of the kin-dom feels small when it is first given. It is a word, an idea, an ideal to reach toward. Small acts of loving kindness go unnoticed. Our community is small, but no fewer than thirty-six righteous people greet the Shekhinah and sustain the world. They are scattered among the nations, unseen and hidden. If they can sustain the world, so can we. Even if we whisper the Living Word one to another, it shall take root in more hearts than the speaker will ever know.
This hidden strength was found also in the garden of the tomb. When the apostles fled the Romans, the Myrrhbearers kept the faith and carried the kin-dom forward. Joanna, the wife of Chuza; Joseph of Arimathea; Martha and Mary of Bethany, the sisters of Lazarus; Mary, the mother of James and Joses; Mary, the wife of Cleophas; Salome, the mother of James and John; Nicodemus; Susanna; and I cared for the body of Jesus. The ten of us were but a few among the many who were in Jerusalem for the Passover. Only the women went to the tomb that blessed morning. I was the first to see the Risen Christ. I was sent as the Apostle to the Apostles to proclaim the glorious message to them that love had conquered the grave.
From these ten, the Word spread to the eleven apostles, then to the world so all might know the power of loving kindness to bring the kin-dom of Heaven here among us. From the moment that seemed to be our greatest defeat, the power of life went forth so all might live God. Our faith arose from an empty tomb, the most unlikely place for the seed to take root. The generosity of Christ and our Father guided us to the tomb that morning. It did not wait for a better time or for a crowd ready to receive it. The seed grew in the darkness so we might feed our souls from the fruit of the Tree of Life.
Creation itself lavishes us with its goodness, so we might all be blessed by grace. Earth does not withhold her gifts, but pours them forth in trust that life knows what to do with her abundance.
Let us restore our trust in steadfast love, which is the life of the kin-dom. When we offer what we have without waiting for it to be enough and without grasping at what it becomes after we have released it, healing flows like water.
Let us heal our souls by learning that the kin-dom does not require our gifts to be significant or impressive before they can plant the seed of the Tree of Life. The small gifts of the generous accumulate, tending the soil of the world until all is restored.
Matthew 13:31-32
Twenty years of Buddhist silence, Pagan earth-wisdom, Christian mysticism, and the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality distilled into a primer for the living journey. Creation’s Paths: A Creation Spirituality Primer, foreword by Matthew Fox.
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