He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” — Luke 13:18-19
As we have noted before, Jesus, in speaking of the kingdom, does not always explain Himself in elaborate and expansive terms. The metaphor in this passage seems, at first, to be fairly straightforward. A mustard seed is a really small seed, but the thickly-stalked mustard is a shrub that can grow to heights of ten feet or more. The kingdom starts out small and seemingly insignificant. Planted in the right ground, however, this seed grows into a large, strong, substantial plant. That seems clear enough.
We could assume that the "birds of the air" are there simply to illustrate the size and strength of the branches, and that is true, I'm sure. But birds appear quite a bit in Scripture and the connotations aren't always positive. Consider one of the earliest mentions in Genesis 15:11 when the patriarch Abram cuts his covenant with God: And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. Here the vultures and eagles are disrupting or defiling the sacrifice which Abram had dedicated to the Lord in order to establish a covenant. In passages in the Prophets, scavenging birds are seen feeding off the unburied dead as part of the judgment against the rebellious and wicked.
Consider, too, that the devil is referred to in Ephesians 2:2 as "...the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience...". Perhaps there is a little more to what Christ is telling us. We remember the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares in which the "weeds" are the "sons of the evil one" planted among the sons of the kingdom.
We get a hint of something else, also, in the next verses, Luke 13:20-21: And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” Most often in Scripture, leaven has a negative implication, graphically illustrating the carnal nature that puffs itself up with vanity and emptiness. Why would the Lord use leaven as a metaphor for the kingdom while warning His disciples elsewhere to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees", for example?
Human life is not always clear and distinct. Much of existence is continuous rather than discreet. Processes occur. Things develop. We want a revolution, and we end up growing older and becoming patient. The kingdom of God is revolutionary in its concept and implications, but it must deal with human nature. Lewis mentions an idea in The Screwtape Letters that might be called the "law of undulation". Our progress in Christ is rarely linear. We move forward, and we fall back a little. Our new-found courage pushes us into a new realm of fear. Our increased strength causes us to tackle something too big for us. That's just the way it works.
As the kingdom develops into this great, sheltering organism, it offers protection and comfort to all kinds of life, good and bad. Sometimes it grows and spreads by means that are, if not offensive, at least somewhat questionable. Sometimes the pursuit of wicked ends by evil men is turned to God's purposes. No, that's not true. Always, evil intentions are turned to good by God. Like those nesting birds, the self-centered and sinful benefit from the peace and power of the kingdom as it spreads. God's rain falls upon the fields of both the sinner and the saint. He is good all the time.
Evil among us is not going to break down the kingdom. The presence of sinners is not going to prevent the growth and fruitfulness of the children of the kingdom. The rebellious are going to rebel, and they will, from time to time, suffer the consequences of their rebellion. I used to be one of them. Sometimes I think I still might be. I am glad that the saints did not cut me down or drive me away when I wandered in for shelter from the storm.
In that loaf of bread, along with the festering yeast, there is salt — to flavor, to enhance the appetite, and to preserve. Let it rise. In that great tree that has grown up, there are some nasty birds perched in the shade. Some Christians worry about the birds. Some non-Christians can't tell weeds from wheat and think everything is weeds. Or, they think the kingdom is only a cover for the scavengers. But the kingdom has been growing and spreading for the last two thousand years, and more. You can get a mighty tall tree in that length of time, and it is not done yet. There is no need to worry about a few birds. For one thing, we can know neither their purpose nor their end.
In the same way, as the kingdom grows in us, we may run across things that disappoint and seem incongruent in our own hearts, but we should never despair. Chase the birds away, but don't cut down the tree.
6 comments:
Hmmm, never thought of it that way.
When I read that passage I thought "Birds? Ok, cool, must be a reference to a developing habitat with increased biodiveristy which is a good thing."
My wife always says that in a murder mystery movie that they don't waste any footage. What you saw was there for a reason. Maybe the Bible is like that as well?
As for one's life. I'm adopting an "area under the curve" philosophy. In other words, if one tries to please God and is mostly successful but "blows it" one time, he is judged buy the area under the curve which would be large. Conversely, some scoundrel with a death bead conversion would not have much area under the curve and that also is taken into consideration. But then there is the parable of the prodigal son so maybe I'm all wet.
The Bible doesn't waste much space. I had a preacher tell me once that he hadn't preached on "the begats" -- which implies they could be preached on. If I were dumb enough to edit the Bible and looked for words to cut, I'd probably look really hard at all those genealogies.
Last night, my wife and I were talking about a dream a family member had. This person is chronically ill and will likely die within the next year or two. In the dream she saw certain family members that had passed on but not others. The group she saw was interesting in that they were ones with, from my perspective, a pretty small area under the curve -- to use your concept.
It says that it appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. Believers are judged after death at the so-called "bema seat" judgment by Christ.
Though I don't necessarily embrace all the trappings traditionally associated with a state of purgatory, I do tend to agree with Lewis' apparent view that we may still need some work after death. Some more than others. The deathbed conversion is a good example.
How could a person who grasps the Cross by faith at the very end be in the same condition as one who has lived a life of devotion to Christ? Some will cite the parable of the workers in the vineyard who were paid equally though some had labored but an hour versus those who had worked for twelve hours. There's no question that the principal reward -- everlasting life -- is the same every case, ultimately. Also, I think that parable might be related more to the difference between the tax collectors and other sinners coming to Christ at the time and the more outwardly righteous Pharisees who followed Him.
In any case, I think it is quite possible that not everybody is "ready" for heaven at death and will need purging from their soul's attachments.
To add one more thought on that track, the attachment isn't even necessarily sinful. I went to high school with a cute little girl who was a devout Christian. She married her high school sweetheart who had grown up in the same church with her. They had a couple of kids and were living in line with their Christian beliefs, as far as I know.
One night she was behind the wheel of their car on the way home while her husband dozed and the kids slept in the backseat. My friend apparently fell asleep and ran underneath a truck on the interstate. She was decapitated and died instantly. Her husband and children survived with few injuries.
It would not be hard to believe, in that situation, that my friend would have wanted to stay with her family. No doubt she was well prepared to meet death, but that does not mean that those attachments would have loosened their grip easily.
"...edit the Bible and looked for words to cut, I'd probably look really hard at all those genealogies."
You know, those really bug me too. At one time, they literally stopped me from reading further.
But I file them at times under what Bob often says, "the secret protects itself." They were there to wear me out if they had too. And they did. Till I was ready. I'm reminded of, if you remember and I'll bet you do, to the beginning of "Get Smart" all those security doors opening to get to the inside. Why were those there?
And at other times I think, these were real people, all the hairs on your head type stuff. They're important to God, and what else that might mean because of at least that.
Good post as always, Mush.
I do remember the "Get Smart" doors -- that's a great analogy.
Birds and trees were on my mind - or at least near it - last week, so I left you a postcard in one of the rooms over at the Motel. :-)
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