Sunday Afternoon Musings
They wanted a king, an earthly king who would subjugate the Romans, turn the tables, Jews on top, Romans under thumb. They wanted something other than what Jesus wanted. They didn’t have ears to hear.
But some did.
Some heard Him say that His kingdom was not of this world. Some heard Him say that the kingdom of God could be compared to a mustard seed, a tiny round seed, the smallest of all the seeds that might be planted in a middle-eastern vegetable garden. They heard Him say that it would start small. But it would be glorious in its growth.
Matthew 13:31-32 (ESV)
31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”[1]
It would start small, but it would grow. It would start small, but it’s full-grown bloom would be a nesting place, a comforting place, a secure and glorious place. In a single growing season, a tiny planting of mustard seed could tower over a man.
The tiny mustard seed had a power resident in its nature that would express itself in its maturity in a way that was completely out of all proportion to its beginnings. So the Kingdom of heaven is. It may look small in its beginnings in any heart, in any culture, at any moment. But once it takes root in the good soil of a believing heart, it will bloom out of all proportion to its humble, tiny, insignificant beginnings.
Keep planting the mustard seed of the gospel. Keep telling people the news of the coming King. Keep telling them that the kingdom of God has come near. Keep pleading with them to repent and believe the gospel. It is their only, and it is your only hope. It is our call to glory. The king is coming. His kingdom will have no end. His will will be done on earth just as it is in heaven. Let him who has ears to hear, hear.
