Jesus and the mustard seed

Jesus told them another 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 seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.

Matthew 13:31-32

Imagine catching up with old friends or family members you haven’t seen for some time. They have young children, and you hear yourself stating that most obvious of comments, “Gosh, haven’t they grown!” Your friends could respond, rolling their eyes, “Well, what do you expect? Isn’t that exactly what healthy children do? Why the surprise?” But of course they don’t: no, they smile sweetly and take it as a compliment.

Growth is a wonderful thing. It happens both in us and around us every minute of very day. But we take it so much for granted that we barely notice it until our attention is drawn to it; we certainly don’t notice it actually happening.

Jesus came to his people Israel announcing the coming of the kingdom of God. God, he said, was fulfilling the promises made in bygone centuries to his people – promises declaring a new start, a whole new way of being God’s people, and a new king, the Messiah, who he would claim to be. And he provided vivid, down-to-earth illustrations to make this real for his hearers.

One truth about the new kingdom is that it would grow. I personally haven’t the remotest idea what a mustard seed looks like, but Jesus obviously assumed his hearers would, and that it was extremely tiny. So, he says, see how it grows! – big enough to become a tree, and a big enough tree to provide a home for the birds! What a transformation!

As Christians we hear a lot about “church growth”, by which we usually mean an increase in the numbers of people who identify with some branch of the world-wide church. And that is certainly a part of the picture Jesus is drawing. I don’t know what the latest statistics say, but certainly the first followers of Jesus – that not particularly impressive bunch of twelve Galileans – would have been staggered to fore-see what we see today, in 2026. But the story of growth is by no means simple, and parables like the mustard seed encourage us to use our imaginations to draw out various implications…

One very obvious implication is the matter of time.

Mustard seeds don’t mature into full-grown plants in five minutes. I don’t know how long it takes, but this is one of the miracles of growth: it’s happening all the time, yet much of it we simply don’t see. There are trees in Sherwood Forest which go back literally centuries.

The implication for the kingdom of God? That God’s time-scale is very different from ours; and that therefore we must learn the gift of patience. “Why doesn’t God do something?” we ask in frustration, especially over an issue that is especially acute. That’s understandable. But what only the eye of faith can see is that he is doing something; he is, if I might put it so, “on the case”, and things, hidden things, are happening we know nothing about.

One particular application of this - not explicitly spelled out in the Bible, but surely correct – is the practice of persevering prayer. Jesus encourages his people not just to pray, but to go on praying. The classic text for this is Matthew 7:7-8: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you…” where (so the scholars tell us) the Greek tense implies a continuous asking, seeking and knocking, not just a one-off request.

I have adopted the habit of praying from lists – not only, of course, but lists that have built up over many years form a large bulk of my daily prayers. You may prefer to pray more spontaneously, and that’s fine, but for me it helps to maintain a discipline which enables me to keep focussed.

Does it sometimes become rather mechanical, even routine? Yes, it does – especially when, having prayed for some situation or some person for what seems like the thousandth time (what may in fact be the thousandth time!) and aware that no tangible sign of change has happened, one can feel discouraged. But just as that mustard seed is changing in the depths of the soil, may not my renewed prayer be slowly germinating in the purposes of God?

Yes, there are times to cull such a list, for whatever reason – and God will make that time clear. But patient perseverance, pursued in faith – why would God neglect such a practice? Christian, see every prayer not only as a strengthening of your relationship with God, but as a seed sown!

Your church is not flourishing as you long to see? Don’t give up, but join with your fellow members in determined prayer. That person in need of healing seems to get no better? Don’t give up, but pray even harder. And as we look around us at our troubled world, things just seem to get worse? Remember, Jesus taught us to pray as a matter of course that God’s will would be done “on earth as in heaven”, so let’s take him up on that. If we don’t model ourselves on “the Lord’s prayer” (Matthew 6: 9-13), how can we claim to be his disciples? God forgive us when we limit our prayers to our own little local bubble. Yes, every time we pray , in however repetitive a manner, something happens, even though we may never see it in this earthly life. Remember, every prayer is a seed…

Father, thank you that there is never a moment when you are not at work in this world that you made and that you love. And thank you that my feeble prayers, even when they seem dull and repetitive, play their part in your work. Give me grace to persevere and faith to believe that I will one day see the completion of your purposes. Amen.

Things God hates

 There are six things the Lord hates,

 seven that are detestable to him:

¹⁷         haughty eyes,
        a lying tongue,
        hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸         a heart that devises wicked schemes,
        feet that are quick to rush into evil,
¹⁹         a false witness who pours out lies
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Proverbs 6:16-19

The writer – a teacher of wisdom – boils down into a  concise list a number of things which are “detestable” in the sight of God.

At first he doesn’t seem sure if there are six or seven. But we don’t need to take his numbers too literally, for surely a perfect, holy God could stretch this list almost to infinity as he surveys the corruption which human sin has wrought upon the beautiful world he created. One commentator suggests that “six things… seven things” is “a way of showing that the list, though specific, is not exhaustive”.

In a group of young men learning to be wise as they sit at  the feet of older men, and seeking to model themselves on King Solomon, putting such principles in an easily memorable, even catchy, form would make good sense.

Whatever… the seven things in verses 16-19 serve as a challenge to anyone who takes holiness seriously, which hopefully includes you and me.

First in the list are “haughty eyes”.

We might say “Eyes…? But what harm does a bad look do? Looks can be deceptive, after all, and may just reflect the natural set of someone’s features. Isn’t it possible that somebody who appears to have ‘ideas above their station’ (as a friend of mine used to say) is in reality a perfectly humble and friendly person?” Yes, of course. But presumably what the writer has in mind is an attitude of arrogance and entitlement that may in fact lie behind that snooty-seeming appearance. People who have met a top sports star or a member of the royal family or a top politician are always delighted when they can report “But he/she was so ordinary, so warm and  down to earth!” Yes! – and why shouldn’t they be? At bottom we are all equal in the eyes of God. Paul in Romans 12:3 tells his readers “not to think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather... with sober judgment”.

Is this a word to some of us who imagine we’re pretty important? We couldn’t imagine a better example than Jesus himself, after all.

Second comes “a lying tongue”.

We might feel that that is stating the obvious, and so it should be. But, sadly, experience suggests that in fact our world is awash with lies. In a survey some years ago a majority of people admitted that if a lie or half-truth was convenient to get them out of an embarrassing situation, well, why not? Everybody does it, after all, don’t they? But Jesus tells us that it is the devil, no less, who is “a liar and the father of lies” – and who claimed, himself, to be “the way, the truth and the life”. Truth matters.

I have known people who don’t just tell lies, but who live a lie: their very lives are an attempt to appear something they aren’t. Quite apart from the massive strain that introduces into their day-to-day existence they would be wise to recognise the old saying that “truth will out”. (Oh… No sooner have I written that than I realise that I have spoken very easily of “they” and “them”… But I need to be careful! Have I never, in some form or other, been guilty of deception?)

The next three things that God “hates” seem to form a natural little trio: “hands that shed innocent blood”, “a heart that devises wicked schemes” and “feet that are quick to rush into evil”.

The writer here seems to be talking about overt, blatant wickedness, the sort of thing most ordinary, “decent” people instinctively shrink from. But that isn’t because we’re naturally good, but because we have been “well brought up”, in some cases because we’re good actors. We are all sinners, and sin is something that lurks in the depths of our hearts. We remember how Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-30), taught that mere anger or hatred (if “mere” is the right word here) are tantamount to murder, and lustful thoughts to adultery.

Number six in the list goes back to the theme of honesty: “a false witness who pours out lies”. If everyday, casual lies are hateful to God, how much more those told in a court of law? Putting it in a positive light, happy is that society or nation that has a scrupulously honest system of law. In a country like Britain Christian people may well be called to serve in the judiciary. It strikes me that we routinely pray for Christian nurses and doctors, perhaps also teachers; well, how about Christian lawyers too?

And so to the last in the list: “a person who stirs up trouble in the community”.

Such a person goes by many names. There’s the gossip, who just doesn’t know how to keep their mouth shut. There’s the busybody, who loves to know what’s going on in other people’s lives. There’s the hint-dropper, who wouldn’t dream of plainly stating those juicy bits of information, but has a talent for saying just enough to leave you feeling uncomfortable, uneasy and faintly defiled.

What about the “whistleblower”, who draws attention to some deep-rooted corruption in the hierarchy of which he or she is a part? They could of course be people of great integrity and indeed courage, risking their very employment in the interests of truth and justice. Or - do they just like to be in the limelight? Well, God alone knows the inner workings and true motives of every heart, so we need to tread carefully. The old adage about always thinking the best rather than the worst of the other person if you possibly can comes into play here…

There’s much more that could said about people who “stir up conflict in the community”. But if nothing else it reminds us that communities matter, relationships matter, so woe to us if we in any way poison them.

Perhaps the place to end is to recommend a re-read of the no-nonsense words of James the brother of Jesus: yes, take a few minutes to ponder James 3:3-12…

Father, please help me to hate what you hate, and to love what you love, that my thoughts, my words and my actions will reflect the beauty of Jesus. Amen.

Search me, O God...

Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. Matthew 5:21-22

Here’s a question that calls for a brutally honest answer: Christian, do you ever doubt your salvation?

If we know our Bibles well we immediately reply: No! Salvation is a gift of God’s free grace which I have received by faith. My eternal destiny is secure, thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Doesn’t Paul tell us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)? And doesn’t that include me?

Quite right, of course.

But wait a minute. Let’s take a few moments to read our way through Matthew 5:21-47. I’ve put just the first two verses of the passage at the top, but the whole section taken together has the effect of puncturing our confidence somewhat – all this talk of “judgment”, of “the fire of hell”, of being “thrown into prison” and not getting out until you’ve “paid the last penny”, of “gouging out an eye” or “chopping off a hand”. However robust our faith may be, it’s only human to start feeling slightly uncomfortable.

We need to keep in mind that when God chose to come to earth as a man he did so as a member of the Jewish people: the “King of kings and Lord of lords” was first “the King of the Jews”. He spoke as a Jew and thought as a Jew; his mind was soaked in Jewish culture and history, which was vividly colourful and often provocative.

This is part of why we find these strange threats hard to understand. “Raca”, for example, is often described by Bible-commentators as a general term of contempt (though “blockhead!” doesn’t quite do it in modern English!) and such an attitude might land you up in front of the local synagogue court because it reflects such an ugly, destructive attitude. But Jesus goes even further and says that saying “you fool!” (have you ever caught yourself sneering at someone you think is somehow beneath you? – that’s the sort of thing implied here) is even worse and puts you in danger of the fires of Gehenna, that is, hell. Gehenna? This originally referred to the Valley of Hinnom in Jerusalem, where the city’s waste was burnt by fires which were never allowed to go out. Jesus is, as it were, laying it on thick in order to make his point: that a holy God is eternally opposed to any kind of evil.

And the point of the whole thing? Very simply, to get us to see that what goes on in your heart matters far more than anything you actually say or do. Unjustified anger, for example (there is, of course, a kind of anger that is justified, even necessary), is tantamount to murder, and lustful thoughts are tantamount  to adultery.

These are sobering thoughts, calculated to get us stop and think about who we really are.

Anyone can put on a show. Oh yes, we can all learn how to be outwardly correct and respectable, how to be polite. But what is going on in the depths of our hearts? Contempt?… anger?… pride?… uncleanness of various types?... spite?... animosity?… However assured we may be of our eternal destiny, we have, as they say, some serious thinking to do.

My wife and I were reading recently the story of “the woman taken in adultery” (John 8:2-11). The religious leaders publicly display this woman for condemnation by stoning, quoting the law of Moses in justification, and asking Jesus’ opinion on the matter. They think they have “got” him, for how can he defend her without condoning sin? But, marvellously, that’s exactly what he does. He starts by ignoring them, as if hoping they will just go away, but “when they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them ‘Let any of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’.” And what happens? Her accusers melt away, one by one. What a scene!

Yes, he didn’t ignore the fact that she had done wrong: “Neither do I condemn you” he tells her. But then he plainly tells her to “leave your life of sin”. How wonderfully he succeeds in blending no condemnation with no condoning.

I’ve just had a brain scan. It’s extraordinary what the experts can do these days, isn’t it, probing inside our very skulls? But… suppose there were a device which could scan not my brain but the true state of my soul, the real me inside? I’m not sure I would want anybody, especially God himself, to have a look at that! But God is in fact the only one who knows me to the very core of my being. The Psalmist prays “Search me, O God, and know my heart” (Psalm 139:23), a humble prayer, but not strictly necessary in the case of any of us. And it’s that serious truth that Jesus is wanting to press home in Matthew 5.

I started by asking the question: Christian, do you ever doubt your salvation? That wasn’t in order to raise questions about our assurance given as a gracious gift of God. Perhaps the main value of the question is to remind us that life is a deeply serious business as we live out our Christian faith in a tragically shallow and trivial environment. Yes, our salvation is assured; thanks be to God for that. But that doesn’t alter the fact that we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Timothy 4:1). The question is not designed to raise doubts or to put the frighteners on us, as we might say. But just to remind us that we are called in Christ to be nothing but the best. If nothing else, it offers a sobering safeguard against any danger of complacency or arrogant entitlement.

Father, thank you for the high calling to which you have called me. Help me daily to match your great grace with a serious intention to be perfect, as you are perfect. Amen.