6-13-24 - Ugly Fruit

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.


Food waste has a colossal impact, not only on world hunger, with people starving while thousands of tons of edible food are thrown out daily, but also on our environment. The amount of fuel and water required to produce our food, 40 percent of which is thrown away in America, would make you weep.

One of the biggest areas of waste is produce – and a lot of that waste could be avoided if we would adjust our expectations of what fruits and vegetables have to look like to be considered “buyable,” and what hours of day and night we expect to find a full display in our local grocery store. In many places, efforts are underway to change those expectations, to push the virtues of “ugly fruit” and “inglorious vegetables” through clever ad campaigns and discounted pricing. (And lets not forget community fridges.)

And what does this have to do with mustard seeds, you ask? This week's parable is about things that look small or worthless having great value in the realm of God. The mustard seed in Jesus’ story may not have looked like much, but when planted it showed what it was made of – broken open in the dark earth, it yielded a magnificent plant that could provide shade and a place for birds to nest. That is the story of God's realm, a place where things are so much more than they appear to be.

“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

We have expectations of people too. We often prize the lovely, the strong, the healthy, the gifted. We assume these will be the best leaders. Sometimes we hold to that assumption even when we’re proved wrong – and thus overlook so much potential in those who may not appear to have as much to offer, but in fact are capable of much more than we can imagine, often because of the very qualities that cause us to regard them as lesser.

When have you been surprised to discover that someone you had assumed had little to offer actually made a tremendous contribution? One of my former parishioners had severe mental deficits – but oh, how eloquently she spoke of her faith. She built us up. When have you discovered that you could make a much bigger impact than you had thought possible, as you offered your gifts to God for ministry?

Let's go deeper: In what ways do you feel small or inadequate, like "ugly fruit?" How about we ask God to show us how to plant that very seed in the dark earth of God’s mysterious love, allow it to break open and grow into a life-giving gift to the world?

We all have ways in which we feel like “ugly fruit” or seeds too small for any use. And here comes Jesus to tell us that, in his Father’s kingdom, there is a purpose to every single life, two-headed carrots, bruised apples and all. We are all made for fruitfulness, and God will help us grow.

© Kate Heichler, 2024. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.