The most irrigated crop in the United States, by a large margin, is grass. The space taken up by our grass is three times the size of that taken up by the second largest crop, corn. The state of Delaware is 10 percent grass. Connecticut and Rhode Island are 20 percent lawn, and Massachusetts and New Jersey are over 20 percent. Americans spend, on average, 3.4 hours per week on their lawns. And the average person will mow his or her lawn over 1000 times in his or her lifetime.
Some sources I found put the estimate at 80 million Americans that own lawns, making up about 31.6 million acres in total. We spend 60 billion dollars a year maintaining our lawns. And watering all of that grass takes up about 9 billion gallons of water a day.
My question to you is this: why?
Why do we spend so much time and effort on grass? We can’t eat it. A lot of us don’t use our lawns at all. They are just “there.” Just think of all of the things that go into a properly cared for patch of grass:
Fertilizer
Gas or electricity, or both
Pesticides
Herbicides
Seeds
All of this takes up time, money, and resources.
So why do we have them? Why is the standard house come with at least one yard with grass? The answer comes from Europe. None of the grasses we use in our lawns are native to the North or South American continent. People brought all of them over from either Europe or Africa. The native grasses were annuals like marsh grass and wild rye. These grasses weren’t that plentiful and didn’t have the nutritional value that the brought-over livestock needed. Cattle, sheep, and goats that came to the New World just couldn’t survive on the diet of grasses that existed. So settlers had to import the grasses from their home. Ships came over with “good” grasses, and with them came weeds. Dandelions, for example, came to us this way.
Before the Civil War lawns were not a common thing to see. The standard house plan included a house built very close to the street with a garden in the back. There are a number of reasons why this changed, but one of them has to do with something quite common throughout history. The well-to-do homeowners in Europe created lawns simply because they could afford it. They could pay for the upkeep and maintenance of having all of that grass. Anyone with a lawn was immediately seen as someone who had resources to spare. Wedding ceremonies were kind of like that too. You don’t need a large party to get married, but a wedding is a great excuse to show off how prosperous you are.
So now we have lawns, and they have become quite the status symbol. What does your lawn say about you? Imagine you drive by someone’s house and see a couple of automobiles (maybe without wheels) sitting on the grass in the front yard. Do you form an opinion of the people who live there, even without seeing them? What if you saw broken-down farm equipment on the grass? Or what if there was nothing on the lawn, but the grass was a foot tall? Be honest. You might not think great thoughts about the residents.
A woman was actually arrested in 2016 in Illinois for failing to mow her lawn. In 2019 a man in the city of Dunedin, Florida was fined $30,000 because he allowed his grass to grow more than 10 inches tall.
These patches of grass, which most of us don’t really need, have become a status symbol of wealth, and we are expected to maintain that status. With that in mind, I want you to read the gospel story of the Wedding at Cana. There is an interesting parallel here.
John 2:1-9
2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
It seems highly unlikely the wedding party would be unaware they didn’t have enough wine. That kind of thing simply was not done. If you are planning a wedding reception today and you know you can only have enough food to feed 50 people, do you invite 100? I don’t think you would. Imagine the embarrassment of having everyone you invited show up and you not having enough food for them. What would your neighbors think about you? But that is exactly what is happening in this story. More people were invited than they had wine for. Why do this? Here is what I think: they didn’t care. Maybe it is better to say they cared more about having all the people there, sharing in their joy, than they did about any social convention with the amount of wine present. Maybe that is why Jesus blessed them. Their focus was on sharing their joy, not on any social status symbols.
Now imagine a very similar story. Imagine a young couple having a wedding. They don’t have much money but they have a lot of friends and family, and they want all of them to share in their happy event. So they plan a reception to take place in their own back yard. The streets slowly fill up with cars after the wedding, as more and more people arrive to their new home. People show up in the back yard with the newlyweds for a party, but something is odd. The grass is half a foot tall in places. It looks like it hasn’t been cared for all summer. Weeds are everywhere. Some patches of lawn are bare from neglect. Other patches are overgrown. Jesus and his disciples are there. They were invited too. In the midst of the party, Jesus’ mother leans into Jesus and quietly says “they need a better lawn.” Jesus nods, and the grass is transformed. One second the weeds were as tall as the tall grass, and then people look down and notice the best kept grass they have ever seen. The weeds are gone. The beds are edged. The grass is trimmed and soft. The new couple is blessed. Why? Because the couple didn’t care about the social custom. Their focus was on the things that mattered: sharing their joy with their friends and family.
Societal pressure to focus on the wrong thing has always been there. People went crazy over tulips in the 1600’s. Everyone had to have them. People went crazy over Beanie Babies in the 1990’s. Everyone had to have them. Carpet used to be the show of wealth. Then suddenly it became hardwood. Red meat used to be the diet of the rich. Then suddenly it became seafood. Jesus says stop all of this. His ministry taught us to focus on the things that really matter in life.
Luke 12:32-24
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus continues to ask us today what our focus is. Is it on things that are frivolous? Or is it on things that are worth our time, money, and resources?
God Bless