These two passages are among my favorites from the Gospels. I love the image of the tiniest seed – really no bigger than a flea – being scattered and growing into a wild, six-foot bush that looks invasive but is not. I remember taping a mustard seed to a piece of construction paper and on the backside a picture of a mature mustard bush. I called it wild and unruly and asked others what they thought. A teenager challenged me and said she thought it was beautiful because of what that bush could do for others: there is healing in the mustard bush.
There is protection for the birds as Jesus 
references in these two verses; a symbiotic ecosystem gets created for those who need it. What I thought of as wild and unruly, she looked at as good news for those who needed healing and protection. That something so tiny could produce something so good and abundant is unexpected good news indeed! To think of something so tiny in reference to the kingdom of heaven is unexpected good news! The kingdom of heaven is like a tiny seed that grows into a big bush. Again, we see the good news as being abundant, not scarce.
And, think of other references Jesus makes to the mustard seed – if we had the faith of a mustard seed, we could move mountains. Again something so small that through God’s glory and power can be made so big! That too is unexpected good news which we are invited to embrace and have faith and trust in. What mustard seed faith, what mustard seed kingdom of heaven do we need to trust that God is providing for us abundantly especially in this time of transition? How do we trust that the unexpected good news of mustard seed abundance is what we are experiencing in the here and now?
The story of the sign Jesus performs by turning water into wine at Cana is also a favorite. One of the reasons is that my son will often call me Woman if he is irritated with me. So when I hear Jesus say, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you? My hour has not yet come,” I know Mary’s eye-rolling annoyance with a recalcitrant adult child. She knows that while he thinks he isn’t quite ready to get on with mission and ministry, he is ready and what she is asking is so needed for that wedding.
So let’s talk about why it would have been such a disaster for the hosts if they had run out of wine. These wedding feasts could last up to seven days! Imagine the bill for all that wine. If you don’t provide good hospitality, what happens for your guests? What happens to the servants who were serving the wine – what is the fear if the wine runs out?
Fortunately, Jesus listens to his mother and using six 20 to 30 gallon water jars normally used for ritualistic cleansing before a meal, turns that water into between 120 and 180 gallons of the best wine ever tasted. The wine is beside the point – think of the joy, the absolute abundant joy of the servants, the wedding families and guests at this generous gift of the best coming to them so late in the party.
God is like that – the unexpected good news of God’s goodness overflowing through the mission and ministry of Jesus. God’s love and grace and mercy overflowing just when we need it. The tables will always hold more. There will always be more healing, more love, more mercy from God – it does not end. And, it will always overcome evil, it will always overcome fear. It will always move us towards more trust and faith in God – that God’s abundance is our unexpected joy and good news!
A question asked in the materials from A Sanctified Art was this: “What if the good news of God is meant to be better than we can imagine – for us and our neighbors as well?” What if these two Jesus stories – of the ways in which he brings unexpected good news to us – stretch our imaginations and our creativity to share that good news with others? What if the actions we took last Sunday will lead to the unexpected good news that is better than anything we can imagine?!
God is good and God’s goodness overflows but it often takes us out of our comfort zone or out of our limited understanding. After the teenager challenged me to look at the mustard bush differently, I could see that it wasn’t so unruly and wild after all – it did provide an ecosystem for vulnerable animals and birds. It was itself good news. And, if we look at the wedding in Cana sign not as oh look abundant wine – it’s a miracle, but instead we choose to look more deeply at the abundant joy that hospitality, community and belonging bring to all those who need it.
What story do we want to tell about how we view the mustard seed, the bush and the water into wine? What story can we tell about how there is always more love to share, more hospitality to provide, more community to belong to? What unexpected surprises of good news are coming our way to stretch our imagination and inspire creativity? I’m excited to find out over these next weeks and months. I would add that I pray we can be and stay open to the unexpected surprise that good news brings! May it be so. Amen.