The Kingdom of Heaven is like....

July 23 - Matthew 13.31-33

Jesus put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’  

Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

We are in the midst of hearing parables from Matthew’s gospel.  We had the parable of the sower who goes out and scatters seed everywhere – rocky ground, path, among the thorns, and on good soil.  Last week we heard the parable of the enemy who entered the farmer’s field and planted weeds alongside the wheat.  This week we have five parables that Matthew tells us describe the kingdom of heaven.  Today we get two of those parables.

Mustard seeds.  I have a jar of mustard seeds in my office.  They are fairly small, but they are not the smallest of all seeds.  But they are small. 

I don’t have any yeast around here.  Since the pandemic started yeast has been hard to come by.  You know that without yeast your bread will not rise.  And it doesn’t take a lot of yeast to make the bread rise. 

Both mustard seeds and yeast will lead to something much larger.

This COVID 19 pandemic has shown us how something so small that it is invisible to the eye can grow rapidly and exponentially into a destructive force that consumes all our attention and resources – as individuals, communities, nations, and as a world. 

Jesus offers a counter image to the destructive image of COVID 19.  The kingdom of heaven emerges from something quite small, and it grows exponentially, offering us something that is life-sustaining rather than life taking. 

The mustard seed.  The next mention of a mustard seed comes in chapter 17 when Jesus tells the disciples that if they have the faith of a mustard seed it can move mountains.  What is small can make an impact. 

Yeast transforms flour.  The kingdom of heaven is like that.  God’s kingdom empowers us to live as God’s people. We make a difference.   

This morning I invite you to think about your own life, and what small action another person has done, that has grown into something large in your life.  We all have mustard seed experiences in our lives – where something that seems small – grows into something large because of something someone says or does. Or maybe it is a way that God has acted that has surprised you recently. 

And so we pray:  O God, sometimes I think I know so clearly where you are at work.  I have it all figured out, and then you surprise me and open my eyes to a new thing, a new growth, and new way you are at work.  Thank you.  Amen.