To us it seems like an intimidating mass of hundreds, perhaps even thousands of bees. When honeybees swarm, they are looking to move, to reproduce, to start a new hive, to start a new home. It begins with the queen leaving the old hive and the rest of the bees going with her. They set up on a nearby branch or other safe space and then send out scouts to look for possibilities. These scouts find hollows and other potential places and do the math – literally. Through intricate movements they measure and map out the spaces and return to the swarm. With dance like movements, they communicate to their family what they have found, where it is, and the quality of the site. The more vigorous the dance, the more likely they will convince other bees to join them and check it out. Eventually, a consensus is reached when as few as 100 bees agree to a single site. With a special buzz and dance, the entire swarm moves as one and begins to build their new home.
You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Honeybees survive and thrive through the gifts of all the bees in the hive. While the queen has a significant leadership role, it is the entire collective, working together, making decisions for the benefit of the hive, that ensures the best outcomes. There is no partiality in a beehive. Every bee matters.
We can learn a lot from bees. Imagine a world where every person matters. A world where the gifts of janitors, cooks, nurses, foragers, construction workers, protectors, scouts, and queens all have a valid and valued place. A world where we can trust each other to make choices for the betterment of the community rather than focusing on individual interests. A world where there is no partiality because every life matters.
Some may deride such a world and call it communism. There are those who prefer the competition-based world where people are valued based primarily on their contributions and the socially constructed value placed on those contributions. There are those who prefer partiality. Some may even find comfort in the idea that they are better off than others. We would do well to ask ourselves to what extent this understanding is reflective of our faith!
You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Faith invites us to consider a different way of being, one that can be counter-cultural in a world where capitalist competition is the preference. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus illustrates this loving, non-partial way of being in profound ways. When Jesus fed the five thousand, he didn’t stop to ask who was worthy. He simply acknowledged they were hungry and offered them something to eat.
When Jesus taught about love and compassion, he didn’t segregate the group based on their potential to understand, he offered diverse stories to challenge and engage. When Jesus cured those who were sick, he looked beyond socially constructed expectations and norms and saw people in need of love and compassion. And, the oft quoted passage from John 3:16 reminds us that God so loved the world, that God sent Jesus for our salvation. God so loved THE WORLD.
It is this example of love without partiality that serves as the framework through which we are called to embody our faith. This example of love is shared to transform our relationship with each other and the world into one that is driven by love. It is this example from which our faith is meant to be transformed through works so that, if a sibling is naked and lacks daily food, we do more than say ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’.
We can learn a lot from bees who already embody this collective understanding and do not show partiality. God’s beloved Creation has wisdom that can continually challenge and change us when we are open to the possibilities. May we continually learn from the lessons embodied by Jesus and found in the wisdom of Creation so that our faith becomes enacted through loving works. This we pray as we sing: (VT) 712 Beauty for Brokenness
