Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it? It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.”
As far is recorded in Scripture, Jesus only used the phrase "born again" one time; He only used the term "ecclesia/church" three times. But Jesus used the term "Kingdom of God/Kingdom of Heaven," over 100 times. It is interesting that modern evangelicals (which includes me) have developed a full, well-thought-out and fully articulated theology of the universal need for people to be born again and attend church -yet we still have such little understanding of the Kingdom.
Obviously, Jesus was passionate about the Kingdom. It is the subject He spoke of most often. Even after His resurrection, according to Acts chapter one -during the time between when He arose from the dead and whne He ascended to heaven, He was teaching them about the Kingdom of God. There is something meaningful -even critical -that we need to grasp if we want to be on the same page as Jesus.
This is a complicated subject and trying to define exactly what Jesus is talking about is a little like trying to nail jello to the wall. Perhaps this is why so often Jesus used parables to describe it. Maybe it is not really important that we have an orthodox theology of the Kingdom that we can put in a little box and file away so we can pull it out when asked and say, "Yes, I know all about the Kingdom of God, Let me give you some Scripture references." Maybe it is more important that we have an internal, intuitive, profound, visceral understanding of the Kingdom. Not something we can easily define and debate; rather, something real and natural to God's people -something almost instinctual -something we know and live. So, Jesus doesn't ever really define the Kingdom, but He often describes the Kingdom.
Here in Matthew 13, Jesus has a series of short parables that say, "The Kingdom of God is like...." I think our job is to not over analyze, but to simply ask, "In what way is the Kingdom like that?"
How is the Kingdom of God like a mustard seed? In what way is the Kingdom like a little tiny seed that gets planted and grows to be a large shrub capable of housing birds and small animals? I'm sure it means more than this, but I think it means at least this: In God's Kingdom, the insignificant are valued and the marginalized find dignity. God takes our meaningless lives and gives us meaning. We matter.
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