Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 4 verses 30 through 32:
30 He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;32yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’
In Jesus’ day the mustard tree was an invasive and persistent plant species. It was unwanted, yet doggedly determined, and impossible to eradicate. I think it was Barbara Brown Taylor who said the mustard bush in Israel was like kudzu in the South.
What an interesting metaphor for the kingdom come — something pesty and troublesome and absolutely impossible to control. No wonder the Empire wanted it stopped!
Authentic Christianity looks a lot like a mustard seed. It begins in a very tiny, and even invisible way. Once it’s seen, it’s unwanted and unwelcome and the powers that be always try to halt it. They do everything they can to end it. Yet in the end, it cannot be stopped. It continues to grow and grow from a single person to a group of people to a movement of the masses. Finally, it puts off branches into other parts of the country and world.
And before too long the birds of the air travel long distances and from far away places to come and make nests in its shade.
May those with ears to hear let them understand.
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