Introduction
Some months ago Debbie decided to introduce our daughter
Rebekah to the joys of planting seeds. Off she went to Woolworths and bought
two packets of seeds. One contained sunflower seeds, the other tomato seeds.
In due course the sunflowers grew to a great height and then
faded. The tomatoes took much longer. But right now so many are ripening that
every day Rebekah can pick so many that it would easily be enough if we all wanted
a portion daily. She is so excited about this that yesterday when Debbie
brought her back from the dance class here she rushed to pick the latest crop,
and when she brought them in she then wiped her messy hands down her new lilac
leotard!
And so we arrive at Harvest Festival this year, supporting
the work of the Methodist Relief and
Development Fund, and these parables from Matthew’s Gospel as a suggested
text, with a theme of ‘Small
Miracles’. Both the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the
Yeast seem to make one simple point:
‘The kingdom will eventually attain to
significant proportions despite its entirely inauspicious outset.’
[Craig Blomberg, Interpreting
The Parables, p284]
We have seen in the
presentation earlier how small changes are making big differences in the
lives of people around the world. It’s at the heart of what MRDF is as an organisation: it doesn’t have
the resources to work on the same scale as Christian Aid, TEAR Fund or other agencies. But its smaller
scale work still makes major changes for the better in many communities. We can
participate in that by our giving, prayer and interest. But it would also be
good today to consider a range of ways in which we may plant something small
for the sake of all sorts of harvest in the kingdom of God.
It means we need to be clear at the beginning what we mean
by the kingdom of
God. For this is Jesus’
theme in the parables. Both begin with the words, ‘The kingdom of heaven is
like …’ It’s not a geographical realm like the ‘United Kingdom’; it’s more about
God’s rule or reign. It’s about God acting in kingly power. The focus is on the
king rather than the territory – although it does set up a group of people,
something Howard Snyder
called ‘The
Community Of The King’.
Certainly the kingdom
of God, inaugurated by
Jesus, began inauspiciously. The Son of God is born in a borrowed manger, the citizen
of a small, weak occupied State, growing up in the north of that State, far
from the capital city. When he begins his public ministry he gathers a motley
crew of just twelve. Others join, but while some of them stay with him, many
fall away. He is executed as a common criminal. If you want inauspicious,
you’ve got it. This is where the kingdom begins.
But from this small ‘mustard seed’ beginning the kingdom of God grows. The seed of the kingdom is
the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And in this seed is the reign
of God. So where might we see this ‘mustard seed’ grow?
1. Creation
According to Ephesians 1:10, God’s plan is ‘to gather up all
things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth’. And creation does
need healing. Paul puts it vividly in Romans 8:19-23, where he says that the
whole creation is longing for the revealing of the children of God, because up
until now it is suffering ‘futility’ and ‘labour pains’. Jesus demonstrates the
healing of creation in incidents such as calming the storm on the lake.
The stories we heard from MRDF were ones about the healing
of creation, and the small changes that bring about greater transformation. So
the help given to Radika in Nepal
to grow fresh fruit and vegetables that give greater nutrition than the staple
dried food is part of this. So are the tools, seeds and gardening lessons that
James receives in Cameroon.
And the training in tree planting that Dinknesh has received in Ethiopia also
falls into this category.
Our donations and prayer support all contribute to this. But
alongside it comes our own commitment to small but growing changes to heal
creation. The recycling does matter. Turning off lights in rooms we’re not
using also matters. Being economical with our cars is important. For Christians
we’re not dealing with the ‘environment’, we’re dealing with ‘creation’ – God’s
creation. We are God’s stewards of it. God’s will is the healing of creation.
It is our calling to care for it.
2. Poverty
Clearly, Radika in Nepal,
James in Cameroon and
Dinknesh in Ethiopia
are facing poverty. Jesus’ message was ‘Good news for the poor’ (Luke 4:18).
Throughout the Gospels – and it’s most apparent in Luke – Jesus sides with the
poor rather than the rich and powerful. And while Jesus never seems to have
taken anything we could interpret as overtly political action, it’s clear that
under the reign of God justice is for the poor as much as the rich.
And therefore it’s our calling to help and campaign for the
poor. It may feel like our efforts are small mustard seeds, but we keep sowing
and watering and who knows what might happen? 25th March next year
is the bicentenary of the Act of
Parliament to abolish the slave trade in British colonies. It took Wilberforce,
his colleagues and the leaders of the slaves themselves decades to get to that
point. For us, the donation to the individual or the campaigning organisation
matters. The letter we write to the MP or Government official matters. God
works with these mustard seeds to bring kingdom transformation.
3. Healing
One of the clearest signs Jesus gives in the Gospels that
the kingdom of God is among people is when he heals
them. God is righting broken creation and suffering people.
Of course just to mention healing is to touch on a delicate
subject. ‘What about those who are not healed?’ we ask. In our midst as a
congregation are people who have not been physically healed, despite much
prayer. I know the dilemma myself. I can recall praying for one friend who
suffered from cystitis and she never had another recurrence. But then there was
a dear friend who died of breast cancer, while her children were still of
primary school age.
There is so much that needs addressing: I once preached a
series of sermons about different kinds of healing and even then didn’t cover
everything I wanted to say. But let me just say here that framing the subject
of healing in the kingdom
of God is helpful. The kingdom of God is both here, but it has not come in
all its fulness. So some are healed but others are not. We do not know why. But
in the fulness of the kingdom they will be healed. And in the meantime we
continue our prayers for healing. They are the mustard seeds which God waters
into the blessings of the kingdom, even if those blessings are not always apparent.
4. Evil
Well, if healing is a difficult subject that can’t be done
justice in a couple of minutes, how much more Jesus’ confrontation with evil.
But his casting out of demons was a sign of the kingdom. He told the Pharisees,
‘If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God
has come to you’ (Matthew 12:28).
We are caught between two extremes: on the one hand, those
who cannot believe in the existence of demons and attribute all biblical references
to an uninformed view that wrongly diagnosed what was actually mental illness.
At the other extreme we find those who attribute everything that goes wrong to
the devil.
Yet somewhere in between them we find Jesus, the one we call
Lord, acknowledging the existence of demons and giving them short shrift. Every
individual he delivered from the evil one (and that’s almost certainly the
meaning of ‘deliver us from evil’ in the Lord’s Prayer) was a mustard seed that
pushed back the boundaries of darkness.
We may or may not be called to confront the demonic. But
every resistance of evil, every act of repentance, every opposition to
individual or corporate sin in the world is an advance for the kingdom of God, which is founded on love and
holiness, not on greed and violence.
5. Evangelism
Jesus’ fundamental call to individuals comes in language
such as, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent
and believe in the good news’ (Mark 1:14). It is the language that says to
fishermen and tax collectors, ‘Follow me’. Paul puts it in kingdom terms, too:
‘He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the
kingdom of his beloved Son’ (Colossians 1:13).
Our conversions may not all have been dramatic – they may
have been gradual with no certain date. But each one is a mustard seed in the
kingdom. For as each of us has heard the call of Jesus to repent, believe and
follow him so we by the Spirit of God have the potential to pass on that call
to others. It doesn’t have to be by preaching or by door-knocking. Not all of
us can give clever answers to questions posed by those who do not believe.
But all of us have the story of Christ’s work in our lives.
And when we hear our friends talk about certain problems we may well be able to
relate how Christ can help them with their difficulties, and we can offer to
pray for them. These mustard seed actions lead to the growth of the kingdom.
Conclusion
On a Harvest Festival such as today it’s right to give
thanks for the ways in which God provides for our daily bread. It’s right too
to remember people in need, whether by giving financially to MRDF or food to CHESS. Our little efforts are
worth it, because the kingdom is about mustard seed growth.
But let us also see the harvest of the kingdom in its broad
terms – the healing of creation, helping people out of poverty, the healing of
individuals, confrontation with evil and being the midwives as the Holy Spirit
brings people to new birth. May Christ find each of us willing to be agents of
his Father’s kingdom.
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