Waiting for the Kingdom

For Meditation

This second Sunday of Advent, we continue our three week theme of waiting for the Messiah King with a study of two more of Jesus’ “kingdom” parables from Matthew 13.  Jesus is a master teacher using these simple, brief stories to convey deep truths about the way the kingdom of God works.  They speak of the unique nature of God’s way of restoring the broken world using the metaphor of seed and leaven.

Both seed and leaven are described as small and hidden, yet they result in having large and apparent results.  That which seems almost unnoticeable produces change that brings good things to life that have widespread benefits.  The seed grows into a large tree that gives shade, protection and security.  The leaven so affects the dough that it provides food that many, many people can enjoy and be nourished by.

Jesus is giving us help to adjust our expectations about His kingdom and how it works.  We are so prone to desire and require immediate results.  We want to see the whole picture from the start.  Often we don’t consider something to be real unless it is fully shown all at once.  We have trouble waiting for the development of things.  We are impatient with process and want the result we desire to happen quickly.  It is hard to believe the gospel when, in this life, we never see the full picture of the reality we have put our trust in.  We have a crisis of belief.  There is always something missing that we long for.

These parables are clear.  The smallness of the gospel, the hiddeness of the process of growth, and the incompletness of the results do not remove the reality that is yet to come.  The result is certain.  The seed will grow into a beautiful tree.  The leaven will affect the dough and create wonderful bread.  Many will enjoy the effects that started so imperceptibly.  The power and force of the potential that is in the seed and leaven is irresistible. 

Looking at the life of Jesus and His ministry can help cement the message these parables describe.  He brings in the kingdom but comes to do it as a baby, helpless and weak.  His ministry is powerful and we see results in healing and restoration but they are a drop in the bucket for a needy world.  Jesus method of building a movement leaves much to be desired.  He chooses ordinary men, and only a small number to lead His kingdom.  Often, Jesus drives away people with His message.  At the end, Jesus ministry leaves Him all alone, weak and unjustly put to death.  For the disciples it ends in utter disappointment with seeming no good result.

Yet, Jesus leads a kingdom that is irresistible and inevitable.  Through suffering and death come resurrection and life.  The small band of nobodies becomes an irresistible force spreading the gospel throughout the world that has and continues to grow unchecked.  Following Jesus example and His message here in the parables urges us to change our mind.  We are to glory in small things, insignificant beginnings, and in weak suffering steps.  These are seeds of the kingdom, the leaven of the world.  We are urged to trust in God’s way of using the small, the hidden, and the incomplete to bring about the great, lasting results of the restoration of all things by God’s action and power.

For further meditation:

Page through the Gospels or the Acts of the Apostles and note as you go how each step of the ministry of Jesus, the ministry of the Jesus’ followers illustrate the message of these parables.  Pray that you might grow to think this way about the kingdom of God and all that you long for God to do.

Matthew 13:31-33

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 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.”

33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”