In todayâs Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that if their faith were even as small as a mustard seed, they could command a mulberry tree to uproot itself and plant itself in the sea. The point is not about horticulture or impossible stunts, but about the power of trust placed in God, however small our trust initially may be. The mustard seed was the tiniest seed familiar to Jesusâ listeners, yet from it could grow a large bush. In the same way, even the smallest spark of faith, when rooted in God, contains a surprising potential. Faith is not measured by size, but by surrender... by allowing the seed to be planted and nurtured.
What Jesus is reminding us of is that faith does not depend on our own strength, eloquence, or ability to control outcomes. It is Godâs power that brings growth and transformation. If we place even a mustard seed of trust in him, he can move what seems immovable in our lives. The mulberry tree with its deep roots symbolises all those things we consider fixed, impossible to change. Our task is not to have 'great faith', but simply to have faith in a great God.
Painted in October 1889, Van Gogh's Mulberry Tree captures a single, splendid mulberry illuminated in vibrant shades of orange and yellow against a luminous blue sky. Created during Vincent van Goghâs time at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, this fiery tree grows from a rocky, nearly barren hillside, its gnarled branches awash in thick paint. We can feel Vincent's inward turbulence reflected in this canvas. On 8 May 1889, van Gogh voluntarily entered the asylum, where, over the course of the year, he painted some 150 canvases. This is one of them. In the midst of his personal turbulence, Van Gogh found solace in paint and nature: he wrote to Theo of âsuperb autumn daysâ and focused his brush on that glowing tree, which became, in his own words, perhaps âthe best oneâ among his autumn studies.
