Homily: What is the Kingdom of God like?

 Luke 13: 18-21

 

¹⁸ [Jesus] said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? ¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” ²⁰ And again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹ It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

 

Jesus speaks in parables, sometimes mysteriously, sometimes clearly. Here surely he is clear. The kingdom of God is like a tiny mustard seed, which becomes a huge tree - just by doing what it does. The kingdom of God is like a little lump of yeast, which makes wheat rise to become bread - just by doing what it does. The message is clear. We get it.

 

What we may perhaps miss is that it seems Jesus is exaggerating. The tiny mustard seed in question doesn’t really grow into a tree; it’s a shrub. A little lump of yeast cannot really make the… 40 or so loaves of bread, that seem to be implied in the original Greek. So, Jesus is clear, and exaggerates to make his point clearer. We can get it.

 

There’s something else some commentators stress. They think these parables are subversive. They think Jesus intends to shock. They say the mustard shrub in question was more of a weed than a delicate garden plant. It’s not normally something you’d want. And a lump of yeast… well,  remember there are no sachets of grains involved here… a lump of yeast is well… at least it’s not pleasant. It is… slimy. I don’t know if Jesus is setting out to shock here. It is perhaps worth pondering.  

 

In any event, taking these parables as a whole, we can surely take heart from them. Take heart! If I/you/we, here, feel as small and overlooked as the tiniest seed… If I/you/we, here, feel as unsung and unvalued as a lump of something slimy… no matter! Jesus is reassuring us that it does not matter. Jesus is reassuring us that we can still do what is necessary to have the Kingdom of God grow among us. Remember: the seed and the yeast rise to great things… just by doing what they do.

 

So far, this may sound like optimism; it isn’t. So far, this may sound like naivety; it isn’t. This isn’t saying our plans are bound to work out eventually; Jesus has promised it. No. What then?

 

There is something else we must attend to. Jesus says the Kingdom of God grows when it is first hidden. To plant a seed is (by and large) to hide it. And as for the yeast, well the Greek explicitly says that the woman hides the yeast in the wheat [enekrupsen]. So, before we can ask how we are to show forth the Kingdom of God, we have to ask how we are hiding the Kingdom of God.

 

Don’t misunderstand me. Hiding the Kingdom doesn’t mean being reluctant to speak of God or Jesus. Hiding the Kingdom means making sure we are taking it as deeply into ourselves as can be, making it our own... making it our own, so that in the end no one can tell when we end, and the Kingdom begins. That’s quite a challenge. It is meant to be.

 

How to begin? We can begin by asking this question: How might I take something of the Kingdom of God, be at as small as a mustard seed, into my very self, today?

 

But I must warn you: it is one of those questions which, if you ask it, may give rise to an answer.

 

Amen.