Mustard Seed Faith

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed (Matthew 13:31)

When one thinks of a kingdom, what images come to mind?

I think of kings and queens, castles and palaces, knights in shining armor. My images tend to be mainly medieval, come to think of it. Like many of you, I watched a bit of the royal wedding back in April (recorded – not live!) and it pretty much lived up to all the expectations one might have had for a royal event. There was certainly a lot of pomp and circumstance, buggies, carriages, and all that guff.

I can’t help but compare and contrast the way we see and experience kingdoms in our world with the way Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven in his own world. He uses many images to help us understand what the kingdom of heaven is like, but power and pageantry don’t seem to show up on his radar.

“The kingdom of heaven,” he says, “is like a mustard seed. It is amongst the smallest of seeds one can find, and yet when it is fully grown it makes quite a handsome tree in which birds can find rest, shade, and shelter” (author’s paraphrase).

The kingdom of heaven, it would seem, isn’t about power in the political or military sense of the word, but about life. The kingdom of heaven is alive. It cannot be measured by what you see – the seed – but by the result that will come in time. What does it take for a mustard seed to fulfill its purpose?

First, it must exist. If you have no seed, you will grow no tree.

The same is true of the kingdom of heaven. It exists, just as surely as does the mustard seed. It can be seen with the eye – even if it is very small. We see the kingdom of heaven in a baby’s smile or in a random act of kindness. It’s not big, bold and brassy – calling attention to itself. No, it is quite simply small, plain, and unassuming.

When you think about it, what we call a “seed” is actually a tree in disguise. It is the future, waiting to be planted, watered, and nurtured.

It is waiting to be planted so that in the darkness of the warm, moist soil it may break forth from its tomb and become what it is according to God’s purpose and design.

The kingdom of heaven is like that. It exists. It can be seen. It can be held, but it does no good if it remains in the holder’s hand.

Too many people are satisfied holding on to the kingdom of heaven like some treasured trinket. It is taken out of storage, turned over and examined occasionally, and then returned to safekeeping lest it be lost or stolen.

I sometimes wonder if our churches haven’t actually become safe deposit boxes people visit from time to time to see if their treasures are still there; there to be viewed, admired, perhaps even shown to special friends, but not to be taken out or allowed to be used as God intended.

The kingdom of heaven does no good if it’s lying in one’s hand. It must be planted. It must be allowed to go where God intends it to go in order that it may become what God intends it to be: shelter for the homeless, food for the hungry, or a splint for the broken-hearted.

The farmer does not look at a seed and consider its smallness; rather, the farmer looks at a seed and sees it’s potential. The farmer sees the harvest in “the fullness of time.”

I think God is like that. I think that is what Jesus is talking about. God looks at you and at me and God does not see what is there, but at what will be.

That is the second thing about the kingdom of heaven and the mustard seed. God creates, God plants, and like the mustard tree, we are the branches in which the world comes seeking shelter from sun and storm.

We are trees in disguise. We just need to branch out in faith and pass the mustard in this, our valley.