God Cares for Even the Smallest of Seeds; Leviticus 19:13-19

Rev. George Miller
Oct 1, 2017
Leviticus 19:13-19

To All the Saints in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Parent.

Here we are-3rd Sunday post Irma. We are not perfect, but we are strong, adapting to our New Normal as Jesus continues taking us to the other side.

Though the threat of Irma is over, we are still reminded on a daily basis what we have survived- destroyed docks, debris lined streets, damaged drains.

And like the stages of grief, we are going through the expected phases.

There’s denial, in which one pretends Irma did not happen, or wasn’t as bad as it seems.

There’s bargaining. The whole shouda-couda-wouda stage in which one wishes they could go back in time.

I shouda had a home generator. We couda have had a better disaster plan. Things wouda been better if our officials had known Irma’s eye would come here.

There’s the anger stage. Why did you do a,b,c and not x,y,z? How did they mess it up? Why aren’t Comcast, Duke, FEMA, FL Conference doing anything?

There is the depression stage. The inability to get out of bed or off the couch and the increase of headaches, backaches, sickness and sinuses.

These stages come in and out as people wait for insurance adjusters, or receive checks that barely cover their claim.

Such stages of grief are enough to challenge one’s faith, their church, and if they’re to be honest, God.

It’s not unusual during a disaster for some people to stop attending their place of worship, to question what they believe, or to have a crisis of identity.

Eventually, there comes some sense of acceptance. The realization that things did happen, a person did the best they could have done at that time, and the lessons learned for the next real or metaphoric storm.

Most of us in Highlands County are dealing with denial, anger, depression, and the shouda- couda-woudas.

And that’s OK- because we are survivors; we may not be perfect, but in Christ Jesus, we are strong.

This also ties into today’s reading.

If you recall from last week, we made the claim that this big, beautiful book we call the Bible is a book written by survivors that is all about surviving.

Through one way of thought, Leviticus can be seen as a generator or a power line of how to live after a storm.

First, some history- progressive scholars will say that no one is 1000% certain who wrote Leviticus and when.

There is the traditional belief that these are the laws God gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai and Moses wrote them down.

Some believe these laws were created centuries later by the monarchy as a way to unify Israel and redirect them back to their religious roots.

Then there are those that believe these
were created by religious leaders post-Exile as a way for survivors to live and honor God during their New Normal.

What is the Exile?

It was a time when the Babylonians came in and attacked Judah. They decimated the land and destroyed the Temple, where God was worshipped.

They took the best of the best of Judah’s citizens away to live in Babylon for 50 years. They left the undesirables behind to fend for themselves amongst the wreckage.

After 50 years, the exiles were allowed to return to their native land, and it took 100 years for the Temple to be rebuilt.

This created all sorts of denial, anger, and depression for the people of God.

How do you worship God if there is no longer a place to worship?

How do you maintain your identity if your entire identity is wrapped in your religious beliefs and practices?

Possible answers became rituals you could do any place, and any time, and the ethical ways in which one lived.

And what better way to give validation to these rituals and practices than to claim that they were given to Moses by God a long, long time ago?

Here in chapter 19 we have the theological foundation of Leviticus, as vs. 2 states “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am Holy.”

Holy means separate. Holy means beyond and greater than the greatest thing you can imagine.

To say God is holy means that God is more powerful than the mightiest of mighties; more mysterious than the greatest mysteries.

The Lord, our God, is Holy.

Which means God is indestructible, untouchable, and unstoppable. There is no place in which God is not; no event in which God cannot act, and no boat in which the Lord cannot step into.

And because our eternal Father/Mother is holy, there are ways we can live that welcome that holiness in, remind us of whose we are, and make us holy too.

Leviticus conveys this.

And yes, some of these laws seem to make no sense, and yes- some of them seem to go out of their way to keep others in their place, but if we see them as a reflection of their time and their culture, we discover a way in which Leviticus says “God is still speaking, so you can keep living the best way possible.”

So, let’s apply this one way of viewing Leviticus into real life scenarios.

We know there are laws about food; what you can eat and what you cannot. It may not make total sense to us today.

But what if you had lost your home, your place of worship, and lived amongst people who didn’t share the same faith, but you still wanted to honor God?

One way is what you eat and how. Everyone’s got to eat. So maybe one way to honor God is to refrain from eating things like pork and shellfish.

Folk love a good BBQ and fish fry, but what if by choosing not to consume hot dogs and shrimp, you’re finding a way to respect God and say the Lord is holy?

Maybe before a meal you make sure the floor is swept, the plates and cups are washed, and you only use certain utensils.

This can sound a bit OCD, but by doing these things, suddenly the dining room table becomes sacred, the meal becomes a time in which God is welcomed, and the family is engaging in a way of worship that does not require a building that’s been destroyed.


Think about the Sabbath. If there is one thing every human being shares, it is time.

We all live in the same hour, same minute, same second, no matter who you are.

But what if you make a conscious choice to set aside a bit of time to do nothing?

You are setting aside a piece of time that just belongs to you and God. You are creating holy space through the invisible reality of time.

Best yet- it requires no tools, no talent, no money, and no energy.

By not doing anything, that time becomes holy, which brings us closer to God.

Today’s reading talks about paying fair wages, making just decisions, and not sowing two seeds in the same spot.

Think of the mercy these statutes provide to people who have endured much and may wonder where God is.

“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

Maybe you have lost your home, your place of worship, and you’re living amongst people with different beliefs, but you’re fortunate enough to own your own business.

Guess what- even if you can’t attend worship, even if you have to hide what you believe, you can worship God in the way you treat your employees and how you pay them.

Think about it- if you pay your workers in a timely manner, you are doing an act of worship; you are being holy, and therefore being brought closer to God.

If you can’t attend worship or have to hide what you believe, you can still worship God by trying your best to make fair decisions.

If you look at each situation before you as its own entity, and don’t make elitist excuses for the powerfully rich, or make enabling excuses for those you feel sorry for, you have a way to use justice as a way to worship; you are being holy, and therefore being brought closer to God.

What if you can’t do anything of these things?

What if can’t change how you eat, or take 24 hours off, or pay employees on time, or always exact justice?

Then vs. 19 says you can do something as simple as make sure that you don’t sow two seeds into the same spot.

This interesting bit of agricultural instruction is my favorite part of today’s reading.

Do not sow your field with two kinds of seed. Why?

One possible reason is this- that it is simply too unfair to make two seeds have to struggle and fight it out to see who will flourish and who will survive.

This seemingly simple direction is profoundly deep; as it indicates the all inclusiveness of God’s love.

If God knows every hair on our head, if God’s eye is on each sparrow, then it makes sense that God’s compassionate love is extended to even the smallness of seeds.

Ever wonder how deep and wide God’s love is for all of Creation? In my opinion- it is right here.

That God’s love is so grand, so mighty, so holy, that it even extends to a seed.

That God has blessed us all with so much- so much land, so much water, so much nourishment, that God says-

“There is enough for all, and no one and no thing should have to fight it out to flourish- not an employee, not a neighbor, not cattle, not even a seed of wheat, or barley, or sunflower.”

If God’s love is so rich that it even extends to seeds planted in the same soil, imagine just how great and mighty God’s love is for you, no matter what you have endured, where you are, or the things you have done or done not.

In conclusion, we are living in a New Normal, just as the people of Jerusalem did after the Exile. Like them, we are relearning, rebuilding and being resurrected.

In the process, we are reminded that the ways we live, things we do and how we treat one another is a way to worship God and a testimony to who we are and what we believe.

In doing so, we continue to grow into our identity and into our faith.

And with faith and we have hope, and with hope we have strength.

We are each in our own way holy.

We are each special seeds that have been personally planted by God, watered by the Holy Spirit, fed by the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

We each have the ability to find our way out of the dirt, to stand tall, face the Son, and praise the Lord our God.

For that, we can say amen and amen.