Tag Archives: mustard seed

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – WHAT’S IT LIKE?

Bible Study, ,

WHAT’S IT LIKE

‘Then Jesus asked, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.'” Luke 13:18, 19 (NIV).

The kingdom of God is like a multi-faceted and multi-coloured diamond. It is impossible to describe in it one sentence or with one idea. Jesus was constantly telling stories to illustrate yet another aspect of this amazing dimension of life from which He had come. He wanted His hearers to catch a glimpse of its wonder and its splendour and yet, like the prophets of the Old Testament and John in the book of Revelation, He struggled to communicate other-worldly ideas in human language to human understanding.

The point of Jesus’ story is lost to us if we fail to understand the significance of the mustard seed. The mustard seed of which Jesus spoke was a weed in Palestine, not the seed we use to flavour our food. If it were, for example, it could not accurately be classified as the smallest of garden seeds. The seed He called a mustard seed was as small as a grain of pepper shaken from a pepper pot.

In Jesus’ day, there were two types of gardens, the one around the homeowner’s house in which he planted flowers, or herbs for table use, and his field outside the town which he used to grow crops for commercial purposes. No gardener in his right mind would plant a mustard seed in either, to take up the soil’s nourishment and moisture for no good purpose.

So why did Jesus tell a story about a man who did something out of character by planting a mustard seed in his garden? We find the clue in His comparison between us and the way God acts in His realm, in two words, ‘tree’ and ‘bird’s. Unlike our motives which are usually selfish, God cares about the ‘birds’. Since it is a parable, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, a man plants a mustard seed in his garden to provide shelter for birds. The birds have no value for the gardener, in fact probably the opposite but, because he cares about them anyway, he does it even if it means loss to him.

How like God to something like that! On more than one occasion Jesus used ‘birds’ to illustrate God’s care for creatures who are fragile, transient, of no commercial value (except for the doves that unscrupulous merchants were selling in the temple), and sometimes even destructive to the farmer’s crops. Two sparrows are sold for the coin of least value in their currency; God cares for birds by providing them with food they didn’t grow.

In a money-driven world, to do something like that is unthinkable. It would take time, effort, and money to do something that brings no return, and yet that is exactly how God cares, not only about His creation but about us who are the crown of His creation. Of what value were we to God before He rescued us from our God-denying and self-destructive ways? Not only of no value but a liability to Him.

He created us to bring glory to Him by being mirrors of His nature. We not only failed to fulfil His purpose, we deliberately rebelled against Him, actively denying His existence, ignoring His overtures of love to us and systematically destroying His world that He so lovingly fashioned for His pleasure and our enjoyment.

And yet, God in His mercy, planted a ‘tree’ outside Jerusalem on which His Son hung naked in the burning sun, bled and died for us so that we can take shelter in His ‘branches’. This is the kingdom, the realm into which God invites all who receive His Son as their Master, to enter and to enjoy that shelter with Him in the eternal ‘now’ in which God lives.

Mysteries Of The Kingdom

Bible Study, , ,

MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM

He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.’ (Mark 4:26-29).

God’s kingdom is real, but it is different from any other kingdom on earth. It has no geographical boundaries; it is here but unseen; it is among us now but yet to come; its influence spreads across the globe like yeast in a lump of dough; it transcends colour and culture; it unites all people under one rule and its constitution is summed up in one word – love.

How does one explain a kingdom like that? Jesus used many parables to highlight aspects of God’s kingdom because it is like a diamond with many facets. It is like a seed which has within in the power to germinate and grow. A farmer sows seed in his field with the hope that it will grow without he is heal. If he has prepared the soil well and provides water to sustain its growth, the seed will do what it is designed to do.

As he waits patiently, the field begins to turn green; the tiny plants appear above the ground; the plants thrive and eventually produce the awaited harvest. What does the farmer do when the harvest is ripe? He brings in the crop because the seed has served its purpose.

Jesus had already explained that the word of God is seed. Like a grain of wheat, it has the capacity to germinate in the soil of people’s hearts. Given the right environment, it will grow and produce a harvest of righteousness in the lives of those who respond to its truth. How it happens, no one knows. Just as the farmer knows what the seed can do, so we, who scatter the seed of the word, have the confidence that, given a favourable environment, the word of God will take root and change the lives of those who receive it.

His disciples were to be encouraged. Theirs was the task to do the sowing in the days to come, “Take heart,” said Jesus. “There will be a harvest of new life just as there is a harvest of grain when the farmer sows his seed.”

Again He said, ‘What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when it is planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.’ (Mark 4: 30-32).

Another mystery! We may not get the point of this parable if we do not understand the background to the parable. In ancient Israel, the householder owned two pieces of ground. Once was outside the village where he planted his crop to sustain the family during the year. Around his house he had a small piece of ground, a garden in which he planted herbs for the kitchen. To plant a mustard seed in his herb garden would be foolish because it would encroach on the garden.

Unlike our mustard seed which is relatively big, the mustard seed was as fine as ground pepper. The mustard plant in Israel was a weed which a farmer would not knowingly plant in his garden.

However, in this story a man did plant it in his garden. For what purpose? To give shelter to the birds! Birds were a nuisance to the farmer because they devoured the seed as he scattered it on the ground. Symbolically, birds represented unwelcome people – Gentiles if you will. Yet, the kingdom of God made room for them as well.

What was Jesus saying? God’s kingdom is about mercy. When a man deliberately plants a weed in his garden to provide shade and shelter for birds – the unwanted ones who are a nuisance to him – he has understood the nature of the kingdom. He overrides his own need for the sake of others for whom no one else cares. Such is the kingdom of God!

With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when He was alone with His disciples, He explained everything (Mark 4: 33-34).

True to His intention, Jesus taught the people in parables but explained the meaning to His disciples. Those who had a desire to understand the truth would grasp the meaning of the stories while those who were hangers-on who go away none the wiser. To His disciples was given the honour of deeper truth as they followed and learned from their rabbi.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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How Much Faith Do You Need?

Christian Life, , , ,

HOW MUCH FAITH DO YOU NEED?

“The apostles came up and said to the Master, ‘Give us more faith.’ But the Master said, ‘You don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it would do it.'” Luke 17:5, 6 (The Message).

Faith ‘fitness’, like physical fitness, only comes with exercise. Some of us who are not fitness freaks, would love to be physically fit without the effort! It seems that the disciples wanted to be faith-full without the practice that it takes to increase faith.

But what is faith? Can we have faith in different measures? According to Jesus, yes. He classified faith by words like no faith, little faith and great faith but, at the same time, even the tiniest bit of faith produced results.

Faith is the confidence in the trustworthiness of another. People can have faith in each other to do what they said they would do or to be what they said they would be. The value of faith lies in the faithfulness of the one who promised. Likewise, the value of our faith in God lies is His willingness and ability to fulfil His promises. Faith is also the energy that is released when we put our confidence in the God who promised.

It is understandable, then, that it is not so much the measure of faith we have but the reliability of the one who promised, that is at stake. Faith no greater than a ‘mustard’ seed, the size of a grain of pepper shaken from a pepper pot, will get a response from God because He will never let Himself down. His reputation of faithfulness is at stake in the mix, therefore He cannot deny Himself.

Confidence in the faithfulness of God grows, not by God’s miraculously adding to it but by our personal experience of Him. This is true of the trust that grows between people. It is not something that automatically happens when two people meet and become friends, for example. As they spend time together and interact with each other, they learn to know one another and to trust one another. That trust is either betrayed or vindicated by their behaviour.

In the same way, the strength of our trust in God grows as we test and prove the trustworthiness of His promises until we are so confident of His faithfulness to His word that we would never doubt Him for a moment.

But there is another aspect to this ‘faith’ thing that we tend to forget. God is faithful to His own nature as well as to His promises. We have a tendency to want to hold Him to what we want Him to do rather than what He said He would do in the context of His nature and His will. He is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness but He is also wise and all-knowing. He sees the end from the beginning and knows where every situation is going.

We tend to use faith as a way of trying to get what we want by holding God to His word, often out of context. The devil tried this one on Jesus, only to be soundly rebuked. He tried to get Jesus to manipulate God by suggesting He jump off the parapet of the temple so God would send His angels to catch Him! That was not faith; it was foolishness.

We need to move from trusting God for things as though faith were some magic way of getting our wants fulfilled, to trusting God, period, when it’s too dark to see the way ahead. It’s saying, ‘Not my will but yours be done,’ when all of me is screaming to get out of where I am. It’s nestling in the arms of the Father in the midst of the storm knowing that I can trust Him because He is there, He is good and He is in charge.

What’s It Like?

Christian Life, , ,

WHAT’S IT LIKE?

‘Then Jesus asked, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.'” Luke 13:18, 19 (NIV).

The kingdom of God is like a multi-faceted and multi-coloured diamond. It is impossible to describe in it one sentence or with one idea. Jesus was constantly telling stories to illustrate yet another aspect of this amazing dimension of life from which He had come. He wanted His hearers to catch a glimpse of its wonder and its splendour and yet, like the prophets of the Old Testament and John in the book of Revelation, He struggled to communicate other-worldly ideas in human language to human understanding.

The point of Jesus’ story is lost to us if we fail to understand the significance of the mustard seed. The mustard seed of which Jesus spoke was a weed in Palestine, not the seed we use to flavour our food. If it were, for example, it could not accurately be classified as the smallest of garden seeds. The seed He called a mustard seed was as small as a grain of pepper shaken from a pepper pot.

In Jesus’ day, there were two types of gardens, the one around the homeowner’s house in which he planted flowers, or herbs for table use, and his field outside the town which he used to grow crops for commercial purposes. No gardener in his right mind would plant a mustard seed in either, to take up the soil’s nourishment and moisture for no good purpose.

So why did Jesus tell a story about a man who did something out of character by planting a mustard seed in his garden? We find the clue in His comparison between us and the way God acts in His realm, in two words, ‘tree’ and ‘bird’s. Unlike our motives which are usually selfish, God cares about the ‘birds’. Since it is a parable, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, a man plants a mustard seed in his garden to provide shelter for birds. The birds have no value for the gardener, in fact probably the opposite but, because he cares about them anyway, he does it even if it means loss to him.

How like God to something like that! On more than one occasion Jesus used ‘birds’ to illustrate God’s care for creatures who are fragile, transient, of no commercial value (except for the doves that unscrupulous merchants were selling in the temple), and sometimes even destructive to the farmer’s crops. Two sparrows are sold for the coin of least value in their currency; God cares for birds by providing them with food they didn’t grow.

In a money-driven world, to do something like that is unthinkable. It would take time, effort, and money to do something that brings no return, and yet that is exactly how God cares, not only about His creation but about us who are the crown of His creation. Of what value were we to God before He rescued us from our God-denying and self-destructive ways? Not only of no value but a liability to Him.

He created us to bring glory to Him by being mirrors of His nature. We not only failed to fulfill His purpose, we deliberately rebelled against Him, actively denying His existence, ignoring His overtures of love to us and systematically destroying His world that He so lovingly fashioned for His pleasure and our enjoyment.

And yet, God in His mercy, planted a ‘tree’ outside Jerusalem on which His Son hung naked in the burning sun, bled and died for us so that we can take shelter in His ‘branches’. This is the kingdom, the realm into which God invites all who receive His Son as their Master, to enter and to enjoy that shelter with Him in the eternal ‘now’ in which God lives.