He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
Luke 13:18-19
With two quite average word pictures, Jesus describes how God’s kingdom works in the world. First in Luke 13:18-19 we have a picture of a gardener planting a small mustard seed that becomes a sheltering tree. Secondly there is a picture in Luke 13:20-21 of a woman hiding leaven in flour until it was all leavened for breadmaking. The first picture emphasizes the sheltering expanse of God’s kingdom and the extent to which it grows. It is large and proves a safe place for lives to be lived. The second picture describes the secretive way the kingdom of God subverts the sinful world system until all is changed by the pervasive nature of the kingdom.
I wish today to celebrate both the expansive shelter and the subtle change of God’s kingdom. Christians are scattered all over this world. Churches are light and salt. The gospel is a global phenomenon, reaching people even when persecution is the cost of its proclamation. Resisting the gospel seems to just propel the message forward. The mustard seed gospel spans the globe and believers are thriving in the shelter of the branches of the kingdom as the Word of God sustains, and the Spirit of God leads.
That kingdom change is happening just one life at a time as the yeast slowly works its way through the flour, leavening this world with the righteousness of Christ. This is the way God is growing His kingdom, not with takeovers or military displays, but with singular life change occurring on a significant global scale. The gospel of the kingdom is being preached the world over. And this is why Christians continue to bring the gospel message, making disciples one by one, to as many individuals as we can. This is the task of the church. It is how God’s kingdom expands and subverts.
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