His Kingdom Advances

Westthill Community Church

His Kingdom Advances

Sun 13^th August 2023

Reading: Matt 13: 31-34

We know that Jesus frequently used parables to convey his teaching; indeed the last verse of our reading says that all of his teaching to the people was made using parables. The parallel version in Mark’s gospel adds that when he was alone with his disciples he explained everything to them. In many cases the apostles have included Jesus’ explanations in their gospel records. But for the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast they have not done so. So we are left to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance on what Jesus meant.

In these parables, as in so many others, Jesus taught the people about the Kingdom of Heaven. Time and again he said, “this is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.” In the parallel versions of these two parables in Mark and Luke Jesus uses the phrase “Kingdom of God,” and because of this we understand that the two terms are interchangeable.

Now notice Jesus does not introduce all these parables by asking “What is the Church like?” Some Christians are puzzled as to why Jesus so often uses the term “Kingdom of Heaven” when describing what God’s purposes are for today and the days to come. Indeed Jesus hardly ever referred directly to the Church. I believe there are two times in the gospel records that Jesus refers to the Church directly. One is when he affirmed that he would build his Church, and the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matt 16:18). The other when giving instructions as to how to deal with flagrant sin in the body of believers (Matt 18:17). But although Jesus did not often use the term “church” (Greek: Ekklesia) directly, as we have seen in recent weeks he spent much time teaching his disciples how the church should function, what their aims should be, what resources they should depend on, how they should grow, how they should relate to one another, and above all how they should relate to him.

So the gospel writers only record Jesus using the term “church” twice. But they record Jesus speaking about the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of heaven over one hundred times. The last of these is in Acts 1:3, which says: “He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God to all the Jewish people, and he spoke about the Kingdom of God to his disciples. Arguably it is the most significant topic on which he taught during his entire ministry. It is a request at the beginning of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples: “Your Kingdom come.” When advising on what things we should pursue and seek after Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God” (Matt 6:33).

So what did he mean by the Kingdom of God, and how does this relate to the Church, the body of Christ, and in particular to us here in Westhill as a local representation of his body?

The Kingdom of God is the rule of God, all that God controls and reigns over, and this includes all who acknowledge and submit to his authority. It is, of course, true that God is sovereign over all creation. Psalm 103:19 says “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” But when Jesus was speaking of the Kingdom of God he was primarily referring to those who submit to God’s rule and do not defy it. That is why John the Baptist didn’t teach the people that the Kingdom of God is everywhere, but that “the Kingdom of God is near” (Matt 3:2)., and Jesus too said “the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15).

Eventually all creation and all people will submit to his rule. But at present we don’t see that. Heb 2:8-9 says “At present we do not yet see everything subject to him; but we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour.” So the Scriptures speak of God’s Kingdom being present amongst us at this time, but still to come in all its fullness. The book of Revelation (Rev 11:15) says that a time is coming when Heaven will resound with this song:

The kingdom of this world is become

the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,

and he shall reign for ever and ever.’

So what did Jesus mean when he compared the Kingdom of God to one of the smallest things the Jewish people were familiar with: a mustard seed. I imagine this shocked them into paying attention. After all, suppose you were asked to think of something that depicts the United Kingdom, or the United States of America, or the Republic of China. You might immediately think of a lion, or an eagle or a dragon, or something even more powerful or terrifying. But to describe any of these nations as a tiny herb seed would be thought most unflattering or offensive. So who on earth when considering a picture to illustrate the most powerful realm in the whole Universe – the very rule of God himself – would come up with a tiny, insignificant mustard seed? Well, of course, Jesus did!

Just what was Jesus referring to when he spoke of mustard? For first century Jews it could have meant one of two different varieties of plant. The first is Salvadora Persica, the Mustard Tree. It grows typically to 6 or 7 metres in height. It has a pleasant fragrance, of cress or mustard, as well as a spicy, pungent taste. The tree produces very small red edible fruits, size 5mm-10mm, juicy but pungent, in clusters. Small twigs are traditionally used as toothbrushes, which gives rise to the alternative name “Toothbrush Tree”. Each fruit has a single seed, less than 5mm in diameter. The problem is that although this seed is reasonably small, it is certainly larger than most vegetable, herb and grain seeds, so it doesn’t fit easily with Jesus’ description of it as “the smallest of seeds”.

The other possibility is a middle-east variety of a cultivated mustard plant, the most likely being the herb Brassica Nigra, or Black Mustard. This plant produces small seeds, about 1mm in diameter. The plant can potentially attain a height of more than 3 metres, considerably larger than most other vegetable, herb or grain crops.

Other Jewish sources also mention the cultivated mustard plant. In culinary use the mustard plant was used both as a vegetable and as a grain crop. The Law of Moses specified that a mixture of different grains should not be sown in the same field (Lev 19:19) so the rabbis had to decide what category of plant mustard is. They concluded that it is a grain, and hence sowing just a small patch of mustard alongside other crops was forbidden. Of great interest though is the fact that the Jewish Talmud contains a description of what things will be like at the end of the age, when the righteous dead are resurrected. Included in this description is the comment that mustard plants will grow as tall as trees large enough to shade buildings, trees that can be climbed like fig trees. It is possible that this was part of the oral tradition of the rabbis at the time of Jesus, and if so it may explain why Jesus included the same idea in his parable.

It is interesting that in the parable Jesus said that the farmer only planted one mustard seed. That, too, must have seemed strange to the listening crowd. How could God’s kingdom come in such a low-key and vulnerable manner? Their hope and desire was for the kingdom to be restored to Israel, just as the prophets had predicted. And their conclusion was that the kingdom would have to be seized back from the Roman occupiers in a big way, and with a strong force.

But Jesus taught something radically different. God’s kingdom would come, he said, but to human eyes it would start in a small, insignificant way, as a tiny seed buried in the ground. But although weak and insignificant to start with it will grow to a great size. There is one thing about the plant Brassica Nigra, or Black Mustard, that I haven’t yet touched on yet, and that is its ability to replicate. Once planted it is almost impossible to eradicate. Each plant produces thousands of seeds, which scatter widely and germinate rapidly. After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension the early church was few in number and vulnerable to opposition. Indeed persecution was so severe that they were scattered far and wide. But all this served to do was to convey the seed of the gospel to new locations, in which new people came to faith and churches small and large began to spring up.

When writing to the church in Corinth Paul said,

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Cor 1: 26-29)

God takes little beginnings and with them produces great, magnificent endings. But Satan would try to persuade us to despise little beginnings and weak starts. He would lie to us that in our weakness we can accomplish nothing. But God whispers his word into our hearts, “my strength is made perfect in weakness.” When you look at your life, your gifts and abilities, what do you conclude? Do you see ineffectiveness and weakness; do you feel you have little or nothing of any worth to offer? The disciples, when Jesus told them to feed the crowd, responded, “we have five loaves and two fish, but what is that among so many?” They were at the point of sending the people away unfed. But Jesus said, “You feed them,” and proceeded to bless the little that was offered in order to feed a multitude.

In God’s kingdom the tiny mustard seed becomes a mighty tree, and that is his purpose for you, and for me, and for this church. Never, ever, think that what you have to offer God is so small and insignificant that it’s not worth giving. Jesus saw a poor widow putting two small copper coins into the temple treasury. Maybe she was tempted to think that there was no point putting it in since it was so insignificant. But Jesus said she had put in more than all the rich and affluent donors (Luke 21: 1-4).

Jesus continued to teach the people about the kingdom of God with another parable, this time a very short one: the parable of the yeast. If the previous parable took the people by surprise, I think this would have done so even more. The people, of course, were familiar with using yeast to make bread rise. Every household would have kept an active starter readily available to activate the next batch of bread dough. Except, that is, during Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For the day before Passover they had to go through their house getting rid of every trace of yeast, and that meant that every yeast starter had to be thrown out, no matter how diligently it had previously been maintained and protected. So in the people’s thinking yeast was something that was inevitably part of life, but something that needed regularly to be eradicated. It became a picture of unholiness and the all-pervasive influence of sin.

The apostle Paul spoke of this when exhorting the Christians at Corinth to eradicate sinful behaviour.

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Cor 5: 7-8)

Jesus himself spoke of yeast in this way too, when he told his disciples to be on their guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matt 16: 6), meaning that their false teaching could so easily penetrate and contaminate the Christian community and its message..

But here in this parable Jesus uses yeast not as a symbol of something negative but as something positive and good. In Luke’s version of this event Jesus starts off with a rhetorical question, “Now what’s another way to describe God’s kingdom to you? Hmm … I’ve got it! It is just like yeast that a wifey carefully mixes into a fresh batch of bread dough. It penetrates to every part of the dough, and causes the whole batch to rise. That’s what God’s kingdom is like!”

Today many of us make bread in bread machines. And I’d hazard a guess that for most of us that do so at one time or another we have forgotten to add the yeast granules. What was the result? A solid ball of rock-hard baked dough that was fit for nothing but the rubbish bin. By its presence and power the yeast transforms the dough that has no rising ability of its own, and produces something that smells good, looks good and tastes good.

That is a picture of God’s kingdom at work. It is a picture of what God does for each individual who comes to him by trusting Jesus, for he promises that his Holy Spirit will indwell us and fill us, so that our desires, our thoughts, our ambitions, our actions, our entire being may be infused with his power and purpose. Notice that God changes the individual from within. Worldly kingdoms seek to transform from without, by imposing rules and regulations upon their subjects by force. God’s kingdom works differently. It changes and transforms our innermost being, so that we willingly and gladly submit to his rule and authority.

And the parable of the yeast is also a picture of what God does through the Church, the body of Christ, in this wayward and rebellious world in which we live. For Jesus said his people would be like salt to keep society from becoming putrid, like lights on a hill to guide society in the way of holiness and right living. In these days God intends his people, and hence his kingdom, to permeate the societies in which we live, in order that his transforming power may accomplish his wonderful purposes.

In Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth he said that God

“uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Cor 2: 14-15).

So let us all continue to prayerfully seek ways that we, as a community of God’s people in Westhill, may bring the pleasing fragrance of Jesus to those in our community who do not yet know him.