At the church where I
serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “The Kingdom of Heaven
is…” During this series, we are spending our time together looking at a series
of statements that Jesus made about the kingdom of heaven that are recorded for
us in an account of His life that has been preserved in the New Testament of
the Bible, called the gospel of Matthew.
During this series, we
are discovering how Jesus described the kingdom of Heaven. During this series,
we are discovering how one enters into the Kingdom of Heaven. During this
series we are discovering how one should live as part of the kingdom of Heaven.
And as we go through this series, our hope and our prayer is that God would
move by the power of the Holy Spirit, in our heads, hearts, and hands in such a
way that we would live lives that reveal and bring the light and love of the
kingdom of Heaven into the areas of influence we have been given.
This week, I would
like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off yesterday. Yesterday,
we looked at Matthew 13:24-30, where Jesus told a parable, and then jumped to
Matthew 13: 36-43 to see Jesus explain the parable to His closest followers.
However, before explaining the parable that Matthew recorded for us in Matthew
13:24-30, Jesus told another parable.
And as we jump back
into this event from history that we looked at yesterday, we will see Jesus
reveal for us a timeless truth about the kingdom of heaven. So let’s jump back
into this event from history together, beginning in Matthew 13:31:
He presented another parable to them, saying, "The
kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his
field;
Matthew continues to
give us a front row seat to this event from history by explaining that Jesus
presented another parable to the large crowds that were following Him about the
kingdom of heaven. Now, as we talked about last week, a parable is an earthly
story that reveals a deeper spiritual truth. In this parable, Jesus compared
the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his
field. Now a natural question that arises here is “what is a mustard seed?”
A mustard seed was a
small seed that, when planted, would produce a black mustard plant usually grew
to approximately 3-6 feet in height. This plant, which actually is a weed,
would be very familiar to the crowds listening to Jesus speak, as it was grown and
harvested for vegetable oil and as a spice in the region where Jesus and His
disciples lived.
And for the crowds
listening, picturing the kingdom of Heaven like a small seed that usually
produced a weed used for condiments would have taken the crowds by surprise.
This would not have been the image that the Jewish people would have pictured
when it came to the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus then continued to paint this word
picture of a parable for the crowds in verse 32:
and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the
garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN
ITS BRANCHES."
Jesus continued this
parable by describing the mustard seed as being smaller than all other seeds.
However, Jesus explained that when the mustard seed is full grown, it is larger
than the garden plants and becomes a tree. Now there are people who desire to
find fault with the Bible and look for ways to prove that the Bible is not true.
And people who desire to find fault with the Bible will often point to this
verse in an attempt to prove their point.
For those who attempt
to point to this verse in an attempt to prove that the Bible is not true, their
argument goes something like this: “Well Dave, Jesus says here that the mustard
seed is smaller than all other seeds. But Dave that is not true, the fact is
that the mustard seed is not the smallest of all seeds. So here is an example
of why we cannot trust the Bible as being true and is untrustworthy.”
However, the problem
with this argument is that Jesus is not making a scientific statement here.
Jesus is not holding a science class on the different types of seeds that existed
in the region of Palestine during the early first century. Remember, Jesus is
telling the crowds a parable, which is an earthly story, designed to reveal a
deeper spiritual truth. Jesus here is using imagery and a comparative metaphor to
reveal a deeper spiritual meaning about the kingdom of Heaven.
You see, Jesus picked
the mustard seed not because it was the smallest seed in scientific fact; Jesus
picked the mustard seed because it was a very small seed that the crowds
listening to Him would be very familiar with. Jesus picked the mustard seed
because it was an exceptionally small seed that had a small and inauspicious
beginning. No one expected much from a mustard seed. After all, the mustard
seed was a weed that was planted in the ground; it grew to a relatively small
height, and it was harvested for oil and condiments, which were not
exceptionally valuable commodities in the Jewish culture of Jesus day.
However, as Jesus
continued His parable, Jesus explained that the mustard seed that He was talking
about was no normal mustard seed. Jesus explained that this mustard seed was
different because, while this particular mustard seed had a seemingly small and
insignificant beginning, when it became full grown, it became larger than the
garden plants and became a tree so large that the birds of the air would come
and nest in its branches. Jesus here is painting another word picture, this
time of a lofty cedar tree that grew in the region where Jesus was speaking. Here
is a picture of such a cedar tree.
With this word
picture, Jesus was pointing the crowds listening to a section of a letter that
is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible, called the book of
Ezekiel. In In Ezekiel 17:23, some 600 years before this event from history, the
prophet Ezekiel predicted and proclaimed the coming of a rescuer, a deliverer,
a Messiah, that God promised would rescue the Jewish people from oppression and
usher in the kingdom of heaven. And in predicting and proclaiming the coming of
a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah, Ezekiel
used the imagery of a tree to represent the kingdom of heaven, while the birds
of the air represented all of the peoples and cultures of the world who would
find rest and residence in the kingdom.
Jesus painted this
word picture for the crowds to reveal the reality that while the kingdom of
heaven would have a small and seemingly inauspicious beginning, at the end of
the day the kingdom of heaven would become so large in size and scope that a
multitude of nations, cultures, and ethnicities would be represented as
participating in the kingdom. And as Matthew continues to give us a front row
seat to this event from history, we see Jesus tell another parable to reinforce
His point.
Friday we will look at
that parable…
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