Pickers-up of Unconsidered Trifles

The dogs under the table, eating the scraps.

This week I was in the Chilterns, where you see red kites. Another scavenger. Kites eat carrion and they also take rags and scraps of material to build their nests. From the way Shakespeare mentions them, they were a kind of urban nuisance, behaving a bit like seagulls around a pier diving in to steal your fish and chips.

On the other hand, red kites very nearly became extinct in Britain. Now that they've been successfully re-introduced, the way people think about them has changed. They're something special that people look out for. Their value has changed completely. As if the dogs got out from under the table and had their own cushion, and fillet steak instead of scraps.

And yet, as far as the kites are concerned, nothing has changed. They're still just being kites.

The other thing about this story - well, another thing - Jesus and the woman are talking about what he does, his ministry, and they talk about it as something that nourishes. Like the parables of the seed that grows into wheat.