Optimist’s Roundtable
By Martha Sykes
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took in planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come in perch in its branches. “ These words are found in the gospel of Matthew 13:31-32.
Jesus loved to use parables to get a message to those who were listening. What is Jesus saying, not only to those who were around Him that day, so many years ago, but to us in this present day world that God has created for us?
Think about those words. A small seed. A mustard seed to be precise. We have probably heard this parable many times in our lifetime, or maybe not within wonder why Jesus chose such a small item to represent something as large as heave? Maybe He did it because even though the Kingdom of Heaven is enormous, are we somehow blind to its reality?
If you’ve ever seen a mustard seed, they can be a small as a grain of sand. You can probably hold thousands of them comfortably in the palm of your hand. Yet, when planted, it will grow into a very large bush. As it says in the scripture, it will be big enough for birds to build their nest among its branches.
We certainly live in a society that is enamored with bigness. It even matters with our churches, as many Christians have gone beyond small churches to big churches and even to the mega-church. World problems are talked about daily, but we sometimes overlook the tiny seed problems that are at the root of many global situations.
Little things can have great power and affect thousands, or millions of lives. Jesus chose to tell a parable about the smallest thing that His audience could identify with. At the end of this story, we realize that we should never underestimate the impact of little events.
Sometimes it takes a little bit of patience to work with people. Sometimes it takes a little bit of love to redeem a situation. Sometimes it takes a little bit of grace to bring about healing.
Sometimes doing just a small thing for someone can make a difference. We can learn a lot from this parable of the very tiny mustard seed.
