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June 12 Last week the scriptures invited us to contemplate the new—a different possibility. This week we begin to live into that new possibility: first in the Hebrew scripture, a new king; a prayer for that new king in the psalm; parables about the mystery of growth and change in the gospel; and in the epistle, a salute to the new creation. The selection of the unlikely David has overtones of the selection of great David’s greater son, "the stone that the builders rejected." The question is asked, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" But we remember the different vision. "We look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen." Looking not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen may illumine an often overlooked parable. Two parables are put here close together; the second one about the mustard seed has eclipsed the first one in familiarity. However, the first one, about the process of growth, speaks to our different vision. Someone scatters the seed. That is all she or he does. The earth produces of itself! Jesus was talking about the inevitability of the coming of the kingdom. That is the assurance with which we work. It was also the assurance with which St. Paul worked: "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: Everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new." VERNA J. DOZIER is an educator and lay theologian in Washington, D.C. She is the author of The Dream of God: A Call to Return (Cowley Publications) and The Authority of the Laity (The Alban Institute). |
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