- Living in Light of the Kingdom
- Parables of the Kingdom 1 – Pearl and Treasure
- Parables of the Kingdom
- Parables of the Kingdom – The Virgins
- Parables of the Kingdom – The Net
- Parables of the Kingdom – The Workers in the Vineyard
- Parables of the Kingdom – The Wheat and the Weeds
- Parables of the Kingdom – The Wedding Banquet
- Parables of the Kingdom – The Mustard Seed and the Yeast
- Parables of the Kingdom – The Unmerciful Servant
- £20 giveaway
Sorry for the lateness of this going up this week …
The next parable in our series is actually two very short ones found in Mt 13: 31-34. Jesus uses these brilliant little pictures to communicate something about the Kingdom. Often I think he is deliberately ambiguous, allowing for different interpretations; sometimes it is uncomfortably clear what he is getting at.
However, he always seems to expect us to identify with the story or the picture, and somehow discover our true selves in what he says. They are a mirror that we can put in front of us, to see our lives more clearly in light of the Kingdom. What do you see as you reflect on these parables? … do leave a comment below …
The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast. Mt 13: 31-33
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 your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
Questions for reflection:
These parables would have been a surprise to the disciples who were expecting a triumphant and very visible kingdom. What surprises you here? What might you miss of the Kingdom as it does look the way you were expecting?
What qualities of yeast is Jesus alluding to? What implications does that have for your life?
Hey Rupert!
Good stuff. Revolution is going is going to start doing some stuff on the parables. I’ll have to glean!
Yeast emits lots of CO2 and makes alcohol!
Partay!!
But mustard seeds consolidate carbon and encourage biodiversity.
The Kingdom always increases in size and strength, but it provides a haven for all sorts of things that are not necessarily part of it, or are transient. The birds might not even realise it is growing at all.
For me it conjures up dreams from Isaiah that Jerusalem would be a place that all the nations would bring their treasures into (For protection? – clearly not this Jerusalem). That it would be a hub of cultural activity, with people coming from all over the earth, and all becoming filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah would be disappointed that Jerusalem is in such a mess, because he clearly loved the city, but he could not have imagined what use has been made of his prophecies to bless the nations anyway. And the story isnt finished yet.
Perhaps the subtle but solid Kingdom can carry society, rather than religion stamping a mere image of the Kingdom on society.
(“The government shall be upon His shoulders”, rather than “He shall sit on the governments shoulders”, which would be his right, but a little bit oppressive, and much less glorious) Better stop before I get dizzy.
Once sown, it spreads like a weed, causing havoc on the ordered garden of the land. It also throws purity boundaries into confusion precisely because it spreads indiscriminately, thereby violating the prohibition against planting two kinds of seed in the same field (Lev 19:19; Deut 22:9). The mustard shrub becomes an agent of confusion and source of uncleanliness. The goal of sowing is not to turn it into something it isn’t (a tree) but to maximize what it is (a ubiquitous shrub), a force to be reckoned with. Like the land itself, the purpose of the shrub is to provide for others, the birds of the air. (Jesus, Justice, and the Reign of God, p 206)