We are in love with big things.
Grand things.
Enormous things.
The Guinness world book of records are filled with a ton of big things.
Largest head
Largest foot
Largest pumpkin
Largest ball of rubber bands
Largest Appendix removed
I have not heard of a family who goes on vacations to look at cracks in the yard. But I have heard of several families who have gone to see the Grand Canyon.
And I have never heard a friend tell me that they traveled an hour to see a stream that had water running over a rock. But I have more friends than I can count who have driven over 4 hours to see Niagara Falls.
And if you are not convinced that we love big things. Then just take a look on TV. You can’t watch a set of commercials during a show that won’t mention how something is bigger and therefore better.
Naturally, we are impressed when something…anything, creates a large following. When we can participate with a big group of people on one particular thing then we think that it is something unique. A part of this is because humans, you and me, are social by nature but another part of it is that we just love being a part of something big. Any thing that makes us feel connected to things that are bigger than us feels important and meaningful. And the funny thing is that it doesn’t matter what that thing is because what we enjoy is the grandeur…the enormousness…the bigness of the thing.
So we love watching national sports where whole cities and states have “their team” that attract hundreds of thousands of fans. Except if you live in Kansas City.
We also love TV because we know that we can find people who have watched the latest Office, Heroes or Lost episode. And the more popular the show the more we feel like we are connected to what is important because everyone else is watching it.
But we are not alone when it comes to this type of mentality. Jesus had to deal with the same expectations from his audience when he spoke about the Kingdom of God. For Jesus had declared that the Kingdom of God had already started in his life and ministry. And it wasn’t like he was short on evidence. He was pointing the crowds to the healing of the sick, the lamb and the blind. The care for the orphan and widows. The peaceable way of Jesus and his disciples. All of these were indications of the Kingdom of God and Jesus tried to point people to this reality.
But the people listening to Jesus teach about the Kingdom of God had different expectations for what it would be and what it would look like. They heard teachers and scribes declare that the Kingdom of God would be known when the Jews were in political control of the land of their Fathers. They also expected that the Kingdom of God would appear with a triumphant ruler who they called the Messiah. The Messiah would come in glory and power and would right the wrongs done to God’s people, the Jews.
So how are they to accept that this small town rabbi and rag tag group of followers is their Messiah? How are they to believe that his life and ministry was a sign of the Kingdom of God being present when they expected something so much bigger than what he was offering? To this question Jesus tells them this parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amountof flour until it worked all through the dough.”
The mustard seed is said to be incredibly small.
And yeast is extremely small.
But the mustard seed and yeast grow. So what started out small and seemingly insignificant ends up being enormous. The mustard seed grows into the biggest tree in the garden. The yeast spreads throughout a large amount of dough.
Jesus is trying to tell the Jews that the Kingdom of God is the same way. He is declaring that, though who he is and what he is doing is seen as small and insignificant right now, it is of ultimate importance. He knows that his obedience to God, among the peculiar people called Jews; who live in a small plot of land; during what is a blip of time in history; will one day be revealed as the in breaking of the Kingdom of God in the world.
What does all of this mean for us, today?
First, nothing is insignificant if God is in it.
The smallest act of kindness.
The most unassuming conversation.
The long hours of unseen work.
These are all signs of the in breaking of the Kingdom if God is in it.
Second, the activity of God, not what we can observe, guarantees the great ending. So if it is big then it doesn’t necessarily mean it is important. But if it is God then the great ending is sure to follow.
Third, we need to be passionate about what Jesus was passionate about in order to participate in the Kingdom. And Jesus was passionate about radical obedience to God and radical love for other people. He was passionate about caring for the weak and oppressed. He was passionate about setting people free from bondage of all kind. If we are not passionate about those things then we are missing the Kingdom.
So foster that passion for big things. But realize that it is God’s upside-inside-down-outside way to make what is small into what is enormous.
May you see the Kingdom busting through in your day and may you have the courage to do the seemingly insignificant thing in order to take part in it.
