The Gospel of Mark could be renamed to many things: the forthright gospel, the #reallife gospel, the fleshy gospel, but perhaps my personal favourite: the Mother’s gospel.
Which is the greater consolation to our weak human condition? The fact that Jesus was exasperated with people or the fact that the disciples argued and bickered about silly things even while they were on mission with the Messiah?
All parents struggle with exasperation as daily their limits in patience and compassion are pushed beyond human limits. We witness the most bizarre thinking and logic in real time; we break up the most ludicrous arguments. We are forming humans out of raw material; and God knows that making a good adult takes time. So many miniscule decisions, gestures and attitudes go into the formation of the mature human heart.
After he caught the disciples arguing about who was the greatest, Jesus shows us the meekness of his heart in one beautiful tableau. He took a child and “placed it in their midst, and put his arms around it” and said to them “whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me receives not me, but the One who sent me.” Notice the use of the word “it” instead of “him” or “her” when referring to the child. At this time in history, children did not have much to offer society. They were not productive and they were often not found chatting with adults. At the time of Jesus, a child’s world in Judea was small and their movements were mostly confined to their homes where they watched their mothers keep things running. “Early childhood education” was playing in mom’s skirts.
At first glance, we think this story is about loving children and seeing them as innocent and semi-divine. It’s not so much about that. It’s about honouring smallness and potential. It’s about never tiring of doing what is right even if there seems to be no pay-off in sight. Jesus is showing us that we must not overlook the tiniest “unimportant” detail. Because he doesn’t. This sings into the heart of a mother. A mother carries with her a thousand tiny details. She is the vessel of life beginning in the moments when she co-creates a human being from “unformed substance.” She accompanies her little “unformed” adult through all of the learning of manners. Shoe-tying, teeth brushing, eye contact when greeting someone, offering a hand to someone who has fallen down: all of it needs to be taught right down to the last detail.
The parents model how to express emotions in healthy ways even as they themselves learn these very things. The disappointments and the joys, none are too small for a moment’s worth of lingering. Lingering over small things creates memory and intimacy. Jesus knew how to linger over small things. Wineskins and sheep, fish and lost coins, pearls and pigs, weeds, and wheat. We can exhale and stop seeking approval in the big things because Jesus is God of the small ones.
Jesus, the poet, loved to weave imagery and storytelling to drive home truth. The parable of the mustard seed again shows the mysterious glory found in nurturing and sheltering tiny, seemingly insignificant things. “Though [the mustard seed] is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
When we die, many of us will not have lived lives that attract fanfare, nor lengthy eulogies, nor flashy accolades. If we’ve lived according to the values of the gospel, we will have eulogies spread out behind us in the form of thousands and thousands of tiny, scattered seeds. Our celebrity will be in the form of remembered warmth in conversation, rough hands washing dishes in the early morning, brushing tangles out after bath time while talking about library books. That hug when someone needed it. That bowl of soup for the elderly neighbour. That word of encouragement for the morose teenager at church.
“If anyone wants to be first, he shall be the last of all and servant of all.” Do not let these words – this definition of loving – scare you. Instead, let them be your sowing song for all of the mustard seeds in your pockets. Find the tiny things/ people/ moments around you and fill them with your attention and tenderness and you will find the makings of a holy and satisfying life.