He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.’
Matthew 13:31-32 NIVUK
I spent three months in southern Bohemia in the Czech Republic, training to be a missionary. I had a great time at Missionary Training School. I learned a whole lot there. Every Saturday, when we got time off, some of us would spend a few Czech Koruny, head into České Budějovice (which was the nearest city), do a little shopping, hang out for a bit and then go home.
I became quite attached to the local fast food. The hot dogs were particularly appealing. I eventually got used to having them with mustard and ketchup, but for the first few weeks, I had to learn a very useful Czech phrase: ‘bez hořčice’ – without mustard.
Unfortunately, due to its repeated use, it became one of the few Czech phrases that actually stuck in my brain.
All because of a misadventure with mustard.
This is the first of two parables that talk about the growth of the Kingdom of Heaven. There are two images used to describe it: mustard and yeast. But the whole concept of a growing Kingdom isn’t a new one. It actually comes from Daniel, where that particular aspect has a bit of an edge:
While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing-floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
Daniel 2:34-35 NIVUK
‘In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure for ever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands – a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. ‘The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.’
Daniel 2:44-45 NIVUK
Daniel dreams of a rock that starts small, grows huge and fells the world’s greatest superpowers and empires.
That rock is the Kingdom of Heaven.
So let’s explore how Jesus says the Kingdom will grow.
Firstly, let’s look at its small start.
He compared it to a mustard seed, which is absolutely miniscule: just one millimetre in diameter. Tiny. Jesus even describes it as being ‘the smallest of all seeds’.
When Jesus taught these parables, the Kingdom of Heaven appeared to be just a handful of rough and ready, uneducated men from a Jewish backwater. From the outside, it would seem quite pathetic and puny. Yes, people were following Him. But these were the dispossessed and the disenfranchised; the poor and the uneducated.
They could never amount to much, could they?
Yet their own history should tell them not to write off small beginnings.
When they arrived back from Exile, the Jews were small in number, vastly outnumbered by their pagan neighbours and facing city after city in ruins. Worst of all, their Temple – once a Wonder of the Ancient World, was completely destroyed.
Their start was less than puny. Rebuilding an obliterated nation full of traumatised exiles living in rubble seems like a Mission Impossible if there ever was one.
And their start was thoroughly inauspicious. Their opposition managed to delay the rebuilding of the Temple for around 18 years (see Ezra 4 for the withdrawal of the building permit and Ezra 5 and 6 for its reinstatement). Even when they succeeded in just clearing the site and laying the foundations, the reaction from their own people was decidedly mixed (Ezra 3:10-13).
It was in the middle of this discouragingly downbeat situation that God sent an incredibly encouraging word through the prophet Zechariah:
Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. ‘Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?’
Zechariah 4:8-10 NIVUK
‘Who dares despise the day of small things?’
Maybe sometimes we, as Christians, need to change our perspective.
Even a tiny beginning is still a beginning.
When we have a toddler we are encouraging to walk, we recount their first steps with joy to all our family and friends and neighbours.
But when we take the first baby steps to establish a fledgling ministry or outreach or work, we beat ourselves up if isn’t a success right away.
Never despise the day of small things.
The singer James Blunt is known for his incredibly witty presence on Twitter. One day, one of his naysayers was trolling him because he only had a few hundred thousand followers. Blunt’s reply was just four words: ‘Jesus only needed twelve.’
Jesus’ point here is that the Kingdom of God is small – and all ministries start small.
But they grow.
So from a small start, we see a large growth.
And boy, can this plant grow!
From a tiny, insignificant seed a plant grows that can eventually grow into a tree more than six metres high! Something so huge residing in something so tiny.
And that, again, is Jesus’ point. A small seed in fertile, receptive soil can sprout and grow to incredible sizes.
Look what happened to the disciples. They were a broken, dispirited group hiding out in a locked room (John 20:19). After several resurrection appearances, the Holy Spirit is sent upon them, the Gospel is proclaimed and five thousand people come to faith on the very first day (Acts 2:41).
Assuming there were twelve men in that room, that means that in less than twenty-four hours, they grew around 41,667% in number.
Extraordinary.
There is something else about the mustard tree too, as related by Pliny the Elder: ‘when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once.’
In other words, its rapid growth means that you simply can’t get rid of it.
It is said that one autocratic leader – I believe he may have been Chinese – once said that his people should stop persecuting Christians because ‘if you kill one, another three spring up’.
Just like a mustard seed.
And now, from that small group of just twelve men and a handful of women, the largest faith group in the world has emerged with over a billion people claiming to believe in it.
And the growth hasn’t stopped. It is unrelenting. Don’t let the media tell you otherwise. Biblical Christianity might seemingly be in retreat in Europe and North America, but it is advancing at an astonishing rate in Africa, Asia and South America, including in countries where it is seen as a threat and is illegal.
One day, as Daniel foresaw, whether they like it or not, all the world’s kingdoms and empires will lie broken at the feet of the Kingdom of Heaven. That is inevitable. And they will bow at the feet of its King (Philippians 2:9-11).
So never, ever despise the day of small things, because small things can grow into big things, and big things can rule the world.
After a small start and a large growth, we also see something else: something a lot more sinister. We see an emerging threat.
Jesus says that the birds of the air will need in the branches of the mustard tree.
This might seem like a nice picture. For example, the BBC recently ended the 17-year run of a TV show called ‘Springwatch’. This show revelled in looking out for the wildlife around us here in the UK that emerges at springtime, and a part of that consists of migratory and native birds that appear at springtime. Nature is wonderful and has a big role to play in our mental health. Something that always helps me during the warmer months is when I go for a walk in our local woodland and hear birds singing in the trees.
But that is not what Jesus is talking about
Birds in Jewish symbolism were rarely something good. In fact, earlier in this sequence of parables, Jesus has used them as a picture of emissaries of satan, who snatch the Word of God from us before it takes root (Matthew 13:4,19).
If you wonder why, you need to remember that many of the birds in and around Israel were hunters and carrion feeders, like pigeons or crows or vultures or eagles. They fed on flesh. You can see how quickly they would gain a bad reputation.
That has led many leaders to believe that these birds symbolise those with malevolent intentions noticing and joining the church. It is no coincidence that birds love to eat mustard seeds, but, under normal circumstances, do not nest in them. Jesus is stretching reality here to make a point.
When the power and influence of the church grows, so does the likelihood of people joining it for corrupt reasons.
That is precisely what has happened throughout history. And there is absolutely no doubt that it is still happening now.
Jesus was absolutely clear that it would happen (Matthew 7:15). Acts is absolutely clear that, even in the early days, it was already happening, and was a constant struggle for the Apostles and Paul (Acts 5:1-11, 8:18-23, 15, 20:29-30). Many of the pastoral letters deal with it.
The Reformation was a huge action against it.
And we can’t deny that it's still happening now. Whether it’s politicians masquerading as Christians to win power, money and votes, or prosperity preachers, or fringe liberals, whose ‘compassionate Christianity’ permits sin and denies repentance, the birds are still nesting in the mustard tree.
It seems that this parable is ending on a ‘downer’. But what can we do about it?
We need to remember the previous parable of the weeds. Jesus knows who they are in terms of their identity. They will face final judgement.
Secondly, we need to understand that Jesus knows who they are in terms of their character. He knows that shaking the tree scares them off – that they are populists without principles and that the first sign of persecution or a lack of popularity and they will flee (John 10:12-13).
Thirdly, we need to understand that we all have a role to play in contending for the Gospel within the Kingdom of Heaven. This parable is a warning of the approach of outside corruption and influences.
Now here we must be very careful. Far too many Christians have been side-tracked into believing that ‘outside influences’ include music or clothing or language (other than foul language, of course) or food or films or media or any such element. This is wrong and entirely superficial. If we are keen to eliminate ‘worldly elements’ such as these from the church, we can end up on a wild goose chase, straining gnats and swallowing camels (Matthew 23:24).
That is, we can become fantastically legalistic over things that are not sin at all, while those that are sin slip under the radar.
Our role is to challenge the spread of malevolent, anti-Christian and anti-Christ approaches to morality, doctrine and thought in the church, not to enforce a dull uniformity using our own personal tastes. Every one of us has a role to play in this – not just our pastors and leaders and theologians. All of us have to search our own lives to ensure the glory goes to Christ, not to us, and to respectfully do our part to help others to do this.
This parable is like a mustard seed itself. It is tiny – just a few sentences. But it is a hot one.
It is prophetic. It talks of the rapid spread of the Kingdom of Heaven: from its small and seemingly insignificant beginnings in a first century backwater to close to world domination – and still growing.
But it also talks about how its size and influence will attract those whose intentions are malign and corrupt.
And we all have a role to play in limiting their influence.
Prayer
Lord, this tiny little parable has so much to say. Help me to listen carefully to it. I know there are people within the church whose intention are not good. Help me to be wise and use me to limit their influence. Amen.
Questions
1. Why does Jesus use a mustard seed as an illustration of the Kingdom of Heaven? What is He trying to say?
2. Why does He mention the birds nesting Iin the mustard tree when birds don’t usually do that?
3. What should we do when we encounter those in the Kingdom of Heaven whose intentions are not good?
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