Taking the Long View

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Is anybody but me annoyed by those little sticky labels on individual pieces of fruit, such as peaches, plums and apples?

When I first noticed them several years ago, my first thought was, “This is something that obviously conveniences the producer or seller, but not the consumer.” They have bar codes, so they are a help to the sellers like supermarkets who often employ people at checkout counters who seem not to eat fruit and not to know the difference between a peach and a plum.

In trying to remove the label, I often have to tear the fruit’s flesh. But I am also bothered by the arrogance involved in putting a corporation’s label on something that is produced by nature, no matter how much the producer manipulates the fruit’s growing conditions and genetics.

'The Other Seed Parable'

It’s reminiscent of what I would call “the other seed parable” in the gospels, found only in Mark’s gospel. It says the kingdom of God is like a man who sows seed “and sleeps and rises night and day and the seed sprouts and grows, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.”

Obviously, Jesus is not giving an agronomy lesson here, but honestly, the lesson seems unclear. What comes to mind, however, is a meditation attributed to Oscar Romero, the bishop from El Salvador who was martyred in 1980. I’ve quoted it several times in these blogs, but I think it’s worth noting again.

“It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts; it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

Oscar Romero

“No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

“This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

“This enables us to do something and to do it well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.” 

For me, this is the meaning of “the other seed parable.”

I travelled by air recently and noticed on two occasions people going out of their way to be friendly and helpful. A custodian at an airport rest room, who appeared to be an immigrant, handed a paper towel to a pilot – who appeared to be near retirement-age. The pilot thanked him profusely and entered into a brief conversation with him.

Inquiring About His Well-Being

At another time, a uniformed airline person who was obviously a regular on an airport shuttle bus to get to her car after work spent a bit of time with the driver, asking about the driver’s time off and inquiring about his well-being.

It wouldn’t be surprising that people such as the pilot and the other airline employee, who have to deal with the public - including frustrated and sometimes hostile airline customers - might not bother being friendly and helpful with people who serve them.

But you never know the effect your kindness, or your lack of kindness, might have on others. It might make their day, or not. It might make them more kind, might make them gentler or more loving with their spouses and kids.

We’re constantly planting seeds, good ones or bad ones, and sometimes watering and nourishing them. God does the rest and “we may never see the end results.” As Romero says, people searching for God have to take the long view.

That's what I need to do regarding the labels on fruit.