Seeds of Hope: Malala Yousafzai

Mark 4:26-34

Malala Yousafzai was a bright, precocious 12 year old girl growing up in Pakistan.  She was born into a lower middle-class family with little money.  In fact, her family didn’t have enough money for healthcare, so rather than being born in a hospital, she was born at home with the help of neighbors.  But what her family lacked in resources, they made up for with ideas, learning, dreams, and a desire to help the world. Her father, a poet and teacher, educated Malala and raised her and her two younger brothers to dream big and to look for opportunities to make the world a better place. He allowed her to stay up way past her bedtime to discuss politics. Long after her brothers had been sent to bed.

But soon Malala’s life was drastically changed. The Taliban rose in power and were implementing drastic changes.  Television and music were banned, women weren’t allowed to be in public and girls were no longer allowed to attend school and receive an education.

Responding to an inquiry by the local BBC, Malala began writing a blog under a pseudonym describing life as a young girl under Taliban rule.  The blog piqued the interest of the New York Times and soon they made a documentary on Malala.

With this, the young girl gained visibility in national and international media circles.  She quickly rose to prominence and used this new platform for activism, speaking out against the Taliban and advocating for education equality. She appeared often on local media and even received awards for her efforts.

But as she became more recognized, the dangers increased. 

One day, after finishing one of her exams, she was headed home on a bus with her friends.  Suddenly the bus stopped and a masked Taliban gunman climbed on board and shouted for Malala.  Upon being identified, Malala was shot point blank in the head.

The extraordinary, promising future of an amazing young woman seemed to come to an abrupt end.

A small seed planted in a violent world.

A seed with so much potential for good but seemingly trampled upon.  S

A seed of hope tamped down in the ground.

 But God had other plans.

In today’s well-known gospel passage Jesus is using the imagery of a mustard seed and its growth to describe the kingdom of God.  Many of us, whether we knew the Bible or were active in our churches or not, knew this parable. Or at least the gist of it.  How many of us had a mother or grandmother who wore a necklace featuring a tiny mustard seed encased in a glass, pearl? It almost became a cliché to hear “if you just had the faith the size of a mustard seed…”

And to some extent, they are right.  Jesus is speaking to the potential of just a little bit of faith. Like a seed can grow into something large, our faith, too, can grow into large, impactful outcomes.  This is most certainly true.

But Jesus is also contrasting for his original audience the expectation of the kingdom of God which they had heard about through their tradition-this kingdom of God is described in Ezekiel as a “noble cedar.”  Tall, powerful, strong and stately.  But Jesus is describing a somewhat different kingdom of God –one more along the lines of a modest shrub.

Because the mustard seed, when sown, does indeed grow into the largest of shrubs.  But it’s still a shrub.  It’s not a mighty oak or towering cedar.  So this imagery would have been a bit of a shift for the disciples to hear.  The prophetic dreams of glory for Israel looks less like power and more like

Hospitality

Inclusion

Care

Despite their size, the branches of these shrubs, actively care for living things.  Every bit of their being in service to their fellow beings in creation.  Offering shelter and shade- safety and provision. 

And these mustard bushes spread like wildfire.  Some botanists compare them to ivy- they grow with abandon and soon are popping up everywhere- villages of God’s love and care for all of God’s creation.

Oftentimes, big things come from humble beginnings.

Jesus is describing the Kingdom of God as full of potential.  But it often starts small.  Like a little seed.

With God’s power something seemingly insufficient grows into something great.  Not for its own glory, but to do the will of God.  It’s about God’s power. 

God’s kingdom.

And as the passage states just before this one, it’s going to happen whether we will it or not.  The seed grows not because we make it, but because God empowers it.

As Jesus explained, the grain grows whether we are awake or whether we are asleep.  It’s God who does the growing.  The sower doesn’t control the outcomes, God does.

God uses the tiniest efforts of faith to explode them into substantial efforts.

But the sower must distribute the seed.  This is the partnering God calls us to for the kingdom of God.

But we don’t need to worry about the outcomes when it comes to faith.  Nope, God will do that.  But we are invited to plant those seeds.  We are invited to sow just a little here, a little there.  We are invited to nourish the seeds. 

Seeds of love.

Seeds of grace.

Seeds of hope and joy and promise.

Seeds of radical welcome and loving inclusion.

These are the origins of the kingdom of God.

Once these are planted.  Once these are sown.  God takes care of the rest.  And then the whole world starts to change.

After the horrific attempt on her life, Malala was airlifted to a military hospital where doctors began operating on her brain, which was swelling as a result of the bullet passing through.  After a 5 hour operation, the doctors, calling it a miracle, were able to successfully remove the bullet which had been lodged in her shoulder near her spinal cord.  Malala was later transferred to the United Kingdom to better her chances.  4 months later, after numerous surgeries, a cochlear implant to restore her hearing, and a procedure to reconstruct her skull, the courageous young activist was discharged from the hospital and released to recuperate in her home.

Malala would ultimately fully recover and rather than let fear drive her into the shadows, she courageously set out to continue her fight for female as well as children’s rights around the world.  And at the age of 17, Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest ever to receive this prestigious award.   She became a best-selling author, an in-demand speaker, and established a global foundation which funds schools in impoverished countries.

An unlikely seed God used to grow into a mighty force in the world.

Malala might have been a young 12 year old girl in the midst of an oppressive regime which didn’t value girls.

Malala might have been a child in a world which only listens to the voices of adults.

Malala might have been a citizen of a country whose needs many in the Western world turned a blind eye to.

But she was planted. 

And God had different plans.

Her curiosity, her courage, her ambition, her passion – they were all seeds which were sown and God took over.

God, along with her community, nourished Malala and grew her efforts to shed light on the oppression of a forgotten people in a forgotten world.

Malala became the face for equality throughout the world and as a result millions of girls in countries all over the world were granted education. 

That sounds a lot like the kingdom of God Jesus describes in the Bible.

But not all of us grow into famous, high profile change agents.  That doesn’t mean we are any less effective.  God uses each and every one of us just as we are with our unique gifts and even our special flaws to help build God’s kingdom.  

Yes, we all start as seeds.  But our powerful God grows us into something special. 

We don’t really know how it works.  That remains a mystery.  But being open to God using us is part of our task as partners in kingdom building.

So my challenge to you today is to reflect on how your efforts are helping build the kingdom of God.  How are you partnering with God in this place at this time to proclaim the gospel?

WHAT IS GOD DOING IN YOU? HOW IS GOD WATERING YOU? MAKING YOU GROW? WHAT NEW THING IS GOD BRINGING INTO FRUITION WITH YOU? BECAUSE IF THERE’S ANYTHING THAT’S TRUE, IT’S THIS: GOD IS AT WORK IN YOU. WHAT LIES AHEAD IS AN ADVENTURE OF DISCOVERING WHAT GOD IS DOING, AND GROWING WITH GOD AS WE SPROUT FROM SEEDS TO DO AMAZING WORK THAT WILL CHANGE THE WORLD, EVEN IF IT’S ONLY YOUR LITTLE CORNER OF IT.

Because whatever our origins, however small we view our presence, however modest or insignificant we might interpret our potential, God sees as a seed ready to be grown into something great.

AMEN!