Out of control comfort
Thursday June 30th, Matthew 13: 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." This seems odd to me. When I was a kid, one of my jobs was to go into the grain fields and pull mustard plants and they were not all that large. (I know you just read June 29ths post, what can I say?!) All that aside, what Jesus seems to be referring to is some plant that becomes out of our control and provides comfort. Mustard plants not withstanding, that seems like a good image of the Kingdom of Heaven. We are not in control, it provides comfort for all sorts of people, and it is larger than any of us can imagine.
posted by Dan at 2:02 PM
2 Comments:
I don't think Jesus meant that heaven is like a mustard tree. I think he was using the mustard seed for its size, and the tree (maybe he should have specified oak or something that gets huge) for its size. I think that Jesus wants us to plant the little tiny bit of faith in our hearts and let it grow so that others, represented by the birds, come to rely on it to support their faith. Thats how heaven becomes huge. God turns our little bit of faith into something huge and wonderful. I don't really know. I am just speculating...and hoping.
Yes, your analogy would also work. We sometimes get into the mindset that we are not ready or worthy to bring forth the kingdom. Under this feeling however is the subtle basis of sin, the desire to be god and therefore not need God. Since none of us is ever totally ready to bring forth the kingdom of God, it is easy to do nothing. It’s a nice little arrangement; we are never ready so we never do anything which in turn assures that we never get any better, sort of a self fulfilling prophecy. In your example of the mustard seed, it is not a matter of being ready; it is a matter of being there. God is able to use what seems to us to be a little bit of shaky faith for the benefit of others, and in the process, ourselves.
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