Mustard Seed (Luke 13:18-19)
Jesus came preaching one message: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near!” Then He backed it up with 31 separate and distinct stories that gave us snapshots of what the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven is like. We call these parables: para ballo stories thrown down beside truths to illustrate those truths.
A few weeks ago we talked about the parable of the soil; that there are 4 different kinds of hearts that the gospel message can fall on: the indifferent heart, the uncommitted heart, the distracted heart, and the receptive heart. Last week we looked at the parable of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son. Each of these 31 parables gives us some keen insight as to what the kingdom is like and who will be included in that kingdom. Today we’ll study the parable in Luke 13:18-19.
When you think about Kingdom, you think about the Last Kingdom (pic), a series that takes place in about 850 AD. It covers Alfred the Great’s desperate attempt to keep the last portion of England, the kingdom of Sussex from the hands of the Vikings. Features Uhtred, son of Uhtred, of Babbenberg. Or Magic Kingdom (pic) or the animal kingdom (pic of lion). But on the minds of Jesus’ listeners, they might have been thinking of the Assyrians or Babylonians 600-700 years earlier and torn down the cities and tore down the temple and raped and slaughtered 10s of 1000s and carried many of the survivors off in captivity. Or maybe the Greeks who also committed atrocities including one Antiochus Ephiphenes who slaughtered a pig and put it in the holy of holies. Or the Romans who ruled the entire known world at that time with an iron fist. Or maybe the kingdom of Israel in its glory days under Kings David and Solomon. In fact, they would be thinking that the promised Messiah would come and do away with the Romans and reinstate that Kingdom that had enjoyed so much power and splendor and favor of God.
But instead, this Jesus was painting a different picture than what they had been hoping for for almost 1,000 years. This kingdom that Jesus talked about would dominate the world, alright; but not in a political sense, not in an economic sense, and certainly not in a military sense. So what was kingdom then? What is the kingdom of God? Remember, Jesus told Pilate at his trial that “My kingdom is not of this world” John 18:36. Did Jesus mean the kingdom is not in this world? No, He said it’s not OF this world. It’s a different kind of kingdom, with a different set of values and a different set of rules and a different objective. He didn’t all say that His kingdom wouldn’t be IN this world, just not OF this world.
Jesus came to usher in a new kingdom. He was and is the king. Jesus inaugurated this kingdom when He came the 1st time; He’ll consummate it when He comes the 2nd time. But make no mistake: this kingdom is mighty and powerful. It started small, but it’s influence and dominance has spread literally around the world.
That’s the point of this brief but insightful parable Jesus told in Luke 13:18-19 (on screen).
The mustard seed was used by Jesus in 5 different instances making two different but related points. In one instance, He uses the mustard seed as hyperbole, “If you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, go jump in the ocean, and it would. His point is that it’s not the size of your faith that makes a difference; it’s the size of your God that makes a difference. Here in this text Jesus says that the kingdom is like a mustard seed. A mustard seed, you may know, is one of the tiniest seeds that there is. (attached Pic). It’s like 1 mm in size. Now the gospel according to Mark says that Jesus said this seed was the smallest in the world. Some skeptics have said Jesus got it wrong; there are many other seeds that are smaller: some orchid seeds are smaller. I guess Jesus could have said, “The kingdom of God is like an orchid…” Jesus didn’t get it wrong. Remember the #1 rule in interpreting the Scripture and that is context. Context rules. Jesus is talking about a garden. But not a garden that has orchids. This would be a garden or field where you sow seeds for food. Of those kinds of sown seeds, the mustard seed is the smallest. And when fully grown, rises to 10-12’ with branches that birds rest in.
But Jesus isn’t giving us a gardening lesson. He’s schooling us on what the kingdom of God is like. And in this parable, it’s all about starting small and getting big.
As Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives (pic) about to ascend back to the Father, His disciples asked they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:6-8
So this kingdom Jesus talked about started small. He, and His merry band of brothers, 12 in all. Thousands followed jesus around wishing for bread or healing, but at the end, standing on the Mount of Olives, there were just a few hundred genuine believers. Small but powerful.
They spread throughout the Mediterranean so that by the end of the first century, the gospel had traveled to the far reaches of the Roman Empire. By the end of the 2nd century, historians estimate that there was a gospel witness in every province in the Roman Empire. The burgeoning kingdom within a kingdom. And when the Roman kingdom fell, God’s kingdom continued to expand.
And it’s still expanding today in places like China and Africa and the Middle East. It expanded to this kingdom called America, but the King’s subjects have gotten distracted by lesser things. Materialism. Socialism. Individualism. This kingdom of America was never destined to be the kingdom of God, so don’t make the mistake of considering it so.
When I came to RC 25 years ago this October, we had two flags on the stage: the American Flag and the Christian flag. I never paid much attention to them; they were a constant fixture on the stage. They’d get moved around from time to time for a drama or a Christmas program or a cleaning. One Sunday a man came up to me all in a huff: “The American flag is in the wrong place!” I looked up at the stage in the old building and saw the flag: “No, that’s where we normally place it.” He said, “Well, the American flag is supposed to be higher and in front of all other flags.” I looked again and the Christian flag was ahead of the American flag. Now, I’m a patriot, born and bread. My dad, brother, and sons served our country. I still cry when the national anthem is played when an American stands on the podium at the Olympics with a gold medal. I love this country. And its flag, whom millions have fought for our freedom under it, is a symbol that I love and cherish.
But make no mistake: this country, as great as it is and has been, is not the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God supercedes and is greater than any earthly kingdom including our own. I’m a Christian 1st and an American 2nd. And I told the guy this. He huffed and puffed off, tried to get the congregation to vote the flag placement the way he wanted it. They didn’t win the vote, but the flags were still and issue. So you know what I did? I took both the flags off the stage. I don’t want anyone to misunderstand that this church has ONE king; King Jesus. And we belong ultimately to only one kingdom: His; the kingdom of God.
This kingdom is different than the other kingdoms of the world. This kingdom is transcendent. This kingdom is this world and other world. This kingdom started small and despite the enemies of the cross will continue to exist and change the world. We dominate the world a different way: through the power of the changed life. By the power of the gospel.
Rev. 21 Blood of the Lamb; word of our testimony.
Lead into Lord’s Supper
