I have this friend who is a traveling evangelist. He spends much of his time away from home preaching from church to church. He told me once how he came home after an extended time of travel, and said to his youngest daughter, “I think you’ve grown a foot since I saw you last.” He said his little girl looked down, puzzled (maybe even alarmed), wondering if she now had three instead of two.
You have probably heard the old saying, “From little acorns, great oaks grow.” When you look around at those big shade trees in your yard, it is hard to imagine sometime that they began with a little acorn. Having been tied up with family matters for the last few weeks, I got around to mowing the yard finally last Thursday, and it was covered with acorns. Its hard to believe that every one of those things has within itself the potential to become a huge tree. Nothing about the size of the acorn suggests anything about the size of the finished product.
Jesus spoke similarly about the
I. The Meager Onset of the Kingdom
Jesus says in v30, “How shall we picture the
With so many notions swirling about concerning swords and stallions, what is one to make of one who comes talking about seeds and soil? And when He speaks of the growth of the Kingdom, He doesn’t talk about the mighty cedars of Lebanon or the great and mighty oaks; instead He’s talking about mustard. I imagine there were more than a few who said, “Uh, no Jesus, what we need is some kind of Savior, not something savory. We need a coup, not a condiment.” But nonetheless, He says the mustard seed captures the idea of the growth of the Kingdom He wants to convey.
Those who heard Him knew about mustard – they used mustard seed for oils and seasoning, and the leaves of the plant for vegetables. But it is not the uses of the seed that Jesus was speaking of – it was the meager size of the thing. The mustard seed, Jesus says, is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil. Now some have taken issue with this, saying that botanists are aware of some seeds that are actually smaller than mustard seeds, but that is not the point. It probably was the smallest seed His audience knew of, and in fact, it was sort of a proverbial name for tiny things in ancient days. And they were tiny seeds. It would take 700 to make a gram.[1] How many of them could be trampled underfoot without even knowing they were there? You could be looking right at them and not even see them. They were tiny little things; very insignificant and unimpressive. Just like what people saw when they looked at Jesus.
He was not the kind of Messiah they had hoped for; and the Kingdom He talked about establishing was not the kind they had longed for. If only He would mount up with force and overthrow the oppressors by force, then He would have a real following. But as for this going around and preaching and all that stuff, well, He’ll just have to be content with this misfit bunch of fishermen and tax-collectors and the like. But like that mustard seed, we must not misjudge the
II. The Magnificent Outcome of the Kingdom
In comparing the
A. The Size of the Kingdom
That tiny little mustard seed, just 1/700th of a gram, grows to be “larger than all the garden plants,” Jesus says. In fact, from that near microscopic seed, the mustard plant would grow sometimes to ten or twelve feet in height, and produce a nice, shade-giving plant one can rest under. This says to us, in effect, that though the beginning stages of the Kingdom, in the teaching, preaching, and even in the sufferings of Jesus, be obscure and seemingly unimpressive, from these things a great and mighty movement will flow.
Who would have thought that beginning with a ragtag band of 12 ordinary men that, 2000 years later, that this movement would still be growing? We have the blessing of looking at it from hindsight and seeing the tremendous size to which this mustard seed has grown. In Jesus’ day, His audience only saw the seed. And they did not see it with the eyes of faith that could envision the ultimate size to which His kingdom would grow. They saw, as it were, a man sowing seeds, thinking surely it would never amount to much. We know differently. In 2000 years of Church History, earthly kingdoms have risen and fallen, ideas and schools of thought have entered and exited. But God is still building His Kingdom, adding to it another citizen every some sinner bows the knee to Christ as Lord and Savior.
Who can measure the size of His kingdom? God announced to Abraham that His descendants would be as the stars of the sky and the dust of the earth, which no one can number. Paul tells us in Galatians 3:9 that it is those who are of faith in Christ who are the true descendants of Abraham, and when John saw them gathered together in heaven, he said it was a great multitude which no one could count. From the tiny mustard seed of Jesus Christ, His life and teaching, His death and resurrection, a Kingdom of unfathomable size has been established. And thus it will continue until Christ returns for the consummation of His Kingdom.
But not only does Jesus mention the size to which the Kingdom will grow in this parable, but also He says a word concerning …
B. The Scope of the Kingdom
Jesus says in v32 that the mustard seed forms large branches; so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade. The NIV says here perch, but that is not quite accurate. A bird perches here and there, wherever it finds a place sturdy enough to alight. And birds are so lightweight, that it doesn’t take much strength for them to perch on tiny things. But the Greek wording here does not imply perching, as in a temporary landing place. The idea is nesting, dwelling, pitching a tent, making for oneself a home. The birds don’t just come and go to this mustard tree, they make a home there.[2]
The entire phrase here, “The birds of the air nest under its shade,” is an echo of Old Testament imagery. In both Ezekiel and Daniel, we find an image of a tree which becomes a home to the birds, and in both that image is understood to be people from all nations of the earth. And so by employing this phrase here to describe the
From a tiny seed, God is building a great and massive Kingdom, and when it is finally consummated, John tells us in Revelation that the multitude who enter into it will be innumerable, and will come from every nation, tribe, and people, and tongue. We must not make the mistake of ancient
“How shall we picture the
Not everyone understood that parable when first it was delivered. Mark tells us in v33 that Jesus spoke parables to the people, as they were able to hear it. Some aren’t able to hear it. To some these things are meaningless. But to others, they are the source of eternal life, and for those who forsake everything for Christ, He welcomes them into His Kingdom and “explains everything.” (v34).
No comments:
Post a Comment