The story is told of Mother Teresa that she one day approached her superiors in Calcutta and said, “I have three pennies and a dream from God to start a school for the poor.”  Her superiors gently chided her and said to her, “You can’t build a school with three pennies…you can’t do anything with three pennies.”  Mother Teresa responded, “I know, but with God and three pennies I can do anything.”  We, of course, know that Mother Teresa not only went on to build a school for the slum children of Calcutta, but lived a life devoted to the service of the poorest of the poor.  She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003.

The depth of Mother Teresa’s faith allowed her to see beyond her limited resources to the incredible possibilities that existed within God’s providence.  Hers was what we might call a theology of abundance, as opposed to a theology of scarcity.  Despite her painful lack of finances, she trusted in God’s capacity to do miraculous things with even the smallest of resources, the smallest of offerings.  She understood that what seems to be scarcity in our eyes is actually abundance in God’s eyes.

As we just heard in today’s gospel lesson, Jesus spoke to this reality:  “The kingdom of God…is like a mustard seed, which when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all 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.”  Jesus was clearly proclaiming a theology of abundance.  Within God’s providence, that which appears to be tiny and insignificant, like a mustard seed, actually has the potential to be something wonderful and life-giving. 

And he did not just proclaim a theology of abundance, he lived it.  Jesus had an incredible capacity throughout his ministry to see beyond the appearance of scarcity to the possibility of abundance.  For example, he viewed others not so much in terms of what they were, but in terms of what they could become as a result of the liberating power of God’s love. 

An ordinary and short-tempered Galilean fishermen became the rock upon which the church was built.  A dishonest tax collector became a trusted friend and disciple.   Uneducated outsiders became leaders.  An angry Pharisee named Saul, who was a merciless persecutor of Christ’s followers, became the apostle to the Gentiles.  These persons were like mustard seeds:  on the surface they appeared tiny and insignificant, with scarce resources to help Jesus in his mission; but Jesus knew that by God’s grace they would provide abundant resources for carrying out the mission to which Jesus would call them. 

Many of us, unlike Jesus and Mother Teresa, have an unfortunate tendency towards a theology of scarcity.  Particularly during this time of economic challenge, we easily fall prey to a mindset that focuses on our limitations, most often viewing our cups as being half-empty.  It is all too easy to look at the world around us and see obstacles instead of opportunities, problems instead of possibilities. 

Unfortunately, we often have this same tendency in the church.   As we live out our Christian faith in community and seek to carry out our mission, we can easily fall prey to the theology-of-scarcity mindset.   If we’re not careful, we become hyper-focused on what we lack instead of what we have, counting our apparent deficiencies instead of our blessings.  We become maintenance-oriented, focusing all of our time and energy on making sure that the half-empty cup stays at least half-empty, instead of being mission-oriented, seeking to utilize our half-full cup for the mission to which God has called us as disciples of Christ.  In other words, we see only mustard seeds instead of the magnificent shrubs that those seeds can become.

In the parable of the mustard seed Jesus calls us to view things from a different perspective, from his perspective.  The mustard seed is a symbol of how God does things.  It may seem so tiny as to be incapable of producing anything of significance, and yet when it is planted it becomes a magnificent shrub that can provide shelter and shade for God’s creatures. 

If we truly believe that this is how God does things, than we will do things differently.  We will begin to look for the mustard seeds in our midst and we will view them with faith and optimism as signs of God’s abundant providence.  We will not be too quick to dismiss what might seem small and insignificant.  We will be more patient and less likely to give up on ourselves, on others and on the church just because we see so many signs of sin and brokenness.  We will believe in God’s possibilities even if the evidence is as tiny as a mustard seed.  Perhaps we will even develop a mindset like that of Mother Teresa which believes that with God and three pennies, we can do anything.