Weeds, Mustard and Yeast
June 28, 2015
Mark S.
Bollwinkel
Big things come in small packages.
Let me illustrate the point with the story of one of
our least known United States Presidents.
Andrew Johnson’s presidency is considered a failure
by most historians. Yet our 17th
President was an impressive man in many ways.
Johnson, who had no formal
education, was the only tailor to occupy the White House. As Governor of Tennessee at the outbreak of
the Civil War, he was the only Southern leader to oppose secessionism. Always suspicious of the power and influence
of the aristocracy of the South, this simple tradesman believed it was the rich
who were misleading the Southern masses into war against the Union.
And Andrew Johnson never failed to
say so.
To Secessionists he was a “Southern
traitor”. There were numerous threats
against his life when he returned to Tennessee after his appointment as Senator
following Lincoln’s first inauguration in 1861.
At Lynchburg, Virginia, a mob dragged
him out of a train, kicked him, spat on him and was about to hang him, when an
old man in the crowd shouted, “His neighbors at Greenville, Tennessee, have
made arrangements to hang their senator on his arrival. Virginians have no right to deprive them of
that privilege!” The mob let him go and
he journeyed on (Boller, Jr., Paul F. ed., Presidential Anecdotes, pp.
147-151).
Where ever he went he was jeered at,
insulted and threatened. But he refused
to be intimidated. He continued to
travel throughout his state, arguing to stay in the Union. But to no avail. When Tennessee voted to join the Confederacy,
Johnson had to flee.
In June of 1864 when Johnson was
nominated for Vice-President, he was slandered along with Abraham Lincoln. “The Age of Statesmen is gone!” said the
newspaper The New York World, of the Lincoln-Johnson ticket. “The age of rail splitters and tailors,
buffoons, boors and fanatics has succeeded…In a crisis of appalling
magnitude…the country is asked to consider the claims of two ignorant…third
rate, backwoods lawyers for the highest stations in government…God save the
Republic!”
Just goes to show you that you can’t
believe everything you hear in the media!
When Johnson became President after
Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, Union politicians, knowing of Johnson’s
dislike of the Southern aristocracy, were thrilled. Some of them had reconstruction plans which
would have pillaged the South of any remaining wealth. These political carpet baggers wanted to
punish the South and make them second-class states in the Union.
But Andrew Johnson would not
cooperate with these repressive plans nor would he abandon the vision of
reconciliation left by his predecessor.
A majority of the House and Senate
passed a reconstruction program over Johnson’s veto and enacted a law which
limited the President’s power of appointment.
When Johnson defied this law, which he held to be unconstitutional, by
dismissing the Secretary of War, the House of Representatives voted to impeach
him for “high crimes and misdemeanors”.
After this impeachment a lengthy
trail began to remove him from office; his guilt or innocence to be determined
by a 2/3rds majority vote of the Senate.
As the legislators solidified their
positions, it became clear that Johnson’s fate hung on the vote of just one
man…Edmund G. Ross…who was faced with siding against the majority of the Senate
or standing by his convictions (Kennedy, John F., Profiles in Courage). Later, Ross would write, “I almost literally
looked down into my open grave.
Friendships, position, fortune, everything that makes life desirable to
an ambitious man were about to be swept away by the breath of my mouth, perhaps
forever”.
His answer to the roll call was,
“Not guilty”. Although impeached, Andrew
Johnson was acquitted of any crime. The
unfair law which he opposed was later found unconstitutional indeed by the
Supreme Court.
The vote of one man, Edmund Ross,
not only saved a President from utter disgrace, but a free nation as well. Ross wrote his wife these words shortly after
the trial, “Millions…cursing me today will bless me tomorrow for having saved
the country though none but God can ever know the struggle it has cost me.”
One man stood against the majority
and upheld the constitutional principals of our country.
One President, having opposed the
majority of his southern peers’ decision to war against the Union, also opposed
the efforts of the Northern majority to punish and exploit those same Southern
peers in defeat.
The smallest minority of one can
affect great change when that voice speaks for justice, fairness and
reconciliation. There are times when the
greatest power is only one voice.
We hear in our gospel lesson this
morning three parables by Jesus about the power of the minority.
The Parable of the Weeds points to
the coming End of the World, when God will harvest all that grows and save the
good seed while discarding the weeds amongst them in the eternal fires.
It may seem at times that there are
a lot more weeds out there than good seed.
That the evil get away with murder.
That the rich get only richer while children are hungry and the poor get
poorer. Certainly that is how the first
Christians who heard this Parable must have felt as they watched their tiny minority
of Jesus followers arrested, tortured and executed for their faith. For these folk, who were expecting the End
of the World at any time, the Parable encouraged them to know that at the End,
we will all be held accountable for our lives by a perfect and just God. In the End, no one will “get away” with
anything. A minority life-style of
active love, peacemaking and justice will one day have its reward, even if it
seems irrelevant in a world which worships power and profit.
Edmund G. Ross experienced that.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
promises great things from small beginnings.
Who would have ever dreamt that 12 uneducated Galileans and their 90 or
so followers, from the back waters of Palestine, would start a religious movement
that would 300 years later overwhelm the Roman Empire?
Over one hundred and ten years ago a
small group of people envisioned a church in the center of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Who among them would have dreamt that a
ministry would arise which has blessed thousands of people since then?
You see, minorities committed to the
Reign of God in their lives don’t get discouraged by the obstacles of the
present. Rather they see them simply as
opportunities on the way to the future.
Great things have small beginnings.
The Parable of the Yeast reminds me of Jesus’ words
in the Sermon on the Mount; “You are the
salt of the earth…you are the light of the world…let your light shine before
others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in
heaven”(Matthew 5:14-16). Those who follow
Jesus are a minority that stick out in a crowd.
Do you know how yeast works? The bacteria of the bread yeast mixed into
the flour begins to consume the sugars in its gluten, letting off carbon
dioxide gas in the process, making the dough rise and double in size and
lighten into the delight of fresh bread.
Yeast is a transforming agent. It
changes brewed grain into beer, grape juice into wine and flour into bread. And it doesn’t take much, only a hand full of
yeast will enliven “three measures” of flour that can make up to 100 loaves of
bread.
Even as a small minority in our increasingly secular
society, we who follow Jesus can be as salt, light and yeast to people seeking
flavor, guidance and transformation in this life.
An example: A handful of Christians 39 years ago in
Americus, Georgia, started Habitat for Humanity began with the contagious
vision to end poverty housing and homelessness in the world. It is no accident
that Christian churches are the main source of support for the Habitat for Humanity
program. Habitat offers a family living
in poverty a chance to buy their own home, interest free. The family will provide at least 500 hours of
their own labor on the house and then they pay Habitat back in a formula based
on their income and their family’s need.
Not only do they get housing but over the years an asset on which to
base their future self-sufficiency.
Habitat for Humanity doesn’t just build houses it transforms lives. It is like yeast.
Compared to the numbers and money of government
programs, Habitat folk are a small minority of people. There are now affiliates
over 2,000 cities and 100 countries in the world. Habitat has helped more than 4 million people
construct, rehabilitate or preserve more than 800,000 homes since its founding
in 1976.
It doesn’t always take a majority to change the
world. In fact, sometimes the majority is the greatest obstacle to the future. When we feel powerless to make a difference
in the world remember Jesus’ parables of weeds, mustard and yeast.
Even a small minority of people committed to God’s
future can turn the world upside down.
Even one voice, committed to justice and refusing to be silent, can save
a nation.
Jesus uses parables in his preaching to “proclaim
what has been hidden from the foundation of the world”. We who would follow his way are to find
courage in the truth that in spite of the weeds in our lives, the future is
ultimately in God’s hands. We are to
find the hope of the mustard seed, that even small beginnings can have great
endings. We are empowered to become the
leaven in a world desperate for transformation.
After all, who will speak out for fairness in our
work places, justice in our society and forgiveness in our homes if it is not
you and me?
Amen.
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