(Audio)
The kingdom of heaven may be likened
The kingdom of heaven is not intuitively evident in its appearance or its action in the world. Perhaps this should be an obvious point, but it bears reflection.
All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.
Jesus taught about the kingdom in parables. In doing so he gave the humble access to the hidden wisdom of the kingdom but kept the proud from perceiving it. The kingdom itself, in inchoate form, was too humble for the world to recognize it or to take it seriously. A mustard seed could only be known to be anything significant after one knew the sort of tree it would become. Leaven was only impressive in its ability to transform the baking process to those familiar with it. Just to look at them apart in isolation was to miss their power. So too the kingdom in its seminal form. The words and ministry of Jesus did not seem like enough to bring the full world transformation that the Messiah was to bring. So too in each heart today. The words and ministry of Jesus through his body don't seem like enough to overcome the hard heartedness that is so deeply rooted in human nature.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
Through these parables Jesus teaches us hope. He allows us to see beyond the present moment, caught up in the process of growth and beginnings to the hope of the things to come. Until Jesus returns, the kingdom is always both now and not yet. But he enables us to see through his eyes to the not yet. He empowers us to live our lives here below, yet with our minds fixed on the things of heaven (see Colossians 3:2) where we have our true citizenship (see Philippians 3:20).
Only through trusting what Jesus reveals can we recognize and live out the promise of his kingdom. Otherwise things which are actually important will seem so small as to be trivial. Our own actions in the day to day minutiae of life will seem negligible when in fact they are the very place where the world is leavened, "until the whole batch was leavened."
Jesus teaches us to see things from an eternal perspective. This makes us patient with the apparent weeds, whether those are other people or even aspects of ourselves. Wheat and tares look similar at early stages of growth, and so he teaches us not to judge others too quickly, lest we accidentally uproot those who would eventually turn out to be wheat. He teaches us not to judge our own trials and even our own lack of progress too quickly, for it might be just in these trials that our progress is truly being made. More drastic means to extricate the weeds in our own hearts might prevent us from discovering wheat that we didn't realize was there. We much prefer to avoid a situation entirely rather than sitting with it and counting on God to transform us. But it is often the later to which we are called.
Even our prayer must emerge from humble beginnings, beginnings that seem almost worthless in the eyes of the world and even our own. But, because they are guided by the Spirit actually mean more than any method or effort of ours.
The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
How else, apart from the revelation of the kingdom, would we discover that the whole point of power is actually kindness and mercy? Yet the seed form of the kingdom, which only in retrospect reveals its power, is precisely kindness and mercy.
But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency,
and with much lenience you govern us;
for power, whenever you will, attends you.
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