Great Expectations – Matthew 13:31-35

A friend recently attended a celebration of his Texas church’s 150th anniversary. The day was filled with recounting what God had done through this congregation. In his own lifetime, my friend’s adoption of two Chinese girls as his daughters and the way he had led the church in loving the nation of China from which his daughters came and where he and his wife had been missionaries, led to the church adopting a Chinese church that is still meeting in their facilities. The small faithfulness led to a larger ministry.

Jesus is telling parables about the kingdom in its current phase and he describes how the kingdom starts small and grows larger beyond expectations.

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 13:31-35 ESV)

The disciples’ perceptions of the kingdom included a mighty marauding army destroying all Israel’s enemies, but in this phase of the kingdom that Jesus is describing, that period when the kingdom is not fully come to earth but is represented by the believing community, he made it clear that its influence will start small but become pervasive.  It’s growth is accomplished person by person and eventually will include a whole new humanity.  We might see this kind of working in our own efforts to reach those around us and around the world.  What starts small ends up having greater results than we could have imagined.

Jesus does not interpret these parables for us and Matthew makes it clear that Jesus has turned now to the crowds again to speak and sees it as a fulfillment of Psalm 78 where the author asks his readers to hear him as he makes known parables about Israel that will enable the next generation to understand why Israel is where it is.  Psalm 78 chronicles Israel’s deliverances by God only to become hardened to God’s kingdom and enter into divine judgment.  Jesus also is making known the parables to help this new Israel, his disciples, to know the truths that will help them break this cycle of disobedience and submit to their King.  We may expect much opposition to our kingdom efforts.