An Outsized Impact
One of my favorite authors is J.R.R. Tolkien. I love The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and I’ve even read The Silmarillion. You’ve probably heard of the first two, and the third is essentially a history book of the fictional world that Tolkien created. And yes, it reads just like a history book. I think what draws me into Tolkien’s writing is the outsized impact that odd, small, and seemingly unimportant characters have on the plot of the story. I realize that is a feature in many stories, but Tolkien seems to drop them in randomly and then allows them to exit quickly without any real comment or moralization. This forces you as the reader to stop and ponder about those characters and then marvel at their outsized impact on the story as a whole.
In Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation of the Hobbit, there is a scene where Gandalf is talking to Galadriel about Bilbo the hobbit while they are in Rivendale. Gandalf and Galadriel are very powerful in their own right, and they are in Rivendale, the last stronghold of the Elves. If anyone or anything should represent great power and great ability, it is them. Yet, Gandalf says that it is Bilbo who gives him courage. Now, the exact line that is in the movie is not in the book, but it is a perfect synopsis of Gandalf and Bilbo’s relationship. As a hobbit, Bilbo is undersized, unimpressive, and not inclined to adventure or conflict. Yet, in the larger storylines of both the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, it will be the hobbits who rise to remarkable courage and action. It is Bilbo that gives the great Gandalf courage. … Quite a beautiful thing.
Ok, I realize not all of you will connect with Tolkien or the Lord of the Rings, so just take those last two paragraphs and apply them to the movie Rudy. Again, a story of an unlikely hero with an outsized impact. We are drawn to these stories because I believe our hearts crave something pure, lovely, noble, and true.
Jesus understands that side of us. And the reason we long for those things is that we were made in his image. He also understands that while we long for what is pure, noble, lovely, and true, we do so through a distorted lens of self. We think that we can cause or create the noble and true things of life. So Jesus told a parable about a mustard seed and some leaven. Two things that have an outsized impact. Uniquely, Jesus doesn’t say that we are like a mustard seed or that our love is like a mustard seed; he says that the kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed. Here it is not that you and I can have some outsized impact in relation to our spiritual, social, philosophical, or emotional brokenness. It is that his work, kingdom work, can have an outsized impact in and on us.
Yes, we long for what is pure, noble, lovely, and true. And if we want to experience more of those things, it has nothing to do with us. Instead, it has everything to do with the outsized impact of the kingdom of heaven in us.
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…