It Made a Difference to that One!

July 22, 2015

It Made a Difference to that One!

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed . . .” “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread” (Matthew 13:31, 33).

Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast - Matthew 13: 31-33

Like any good story teller, Jesus uses humor and hyperbole to make his point. These parables follow Jesus encountering some significant opposition, so he is trying to lighten the mood of the disciples, as well as provide assurances that God will prevail over the forces of evil. The stories about the mustard seed and yeast provide some comic relief, as well as give an insight about the Kingdom of God.

The mustard seed isn’t the smallest seed nor does it grow into a huge tree with branches sufficient to house flocks of birds. This reference to such a tree comes from the Book of Daniel where a majestic tree is pictured as standing at the center of the earth with its branches reaching to heaven. I am sure the disciples were snickering at the image of a mustard bush being compared to Daniel’s mighty tree. (Daniel 4)

Jesus is saying that there might be just a few of them, but God is going to do a mighty work through them, using the most unlikely of means. Jesus’ point here reminds me of another parable: the parable of the starfish. As a man was walking along a beach he noticed that it was littered with thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked on the beach he came upon a young boy who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one. Puzzled, the man looked at the boy and asked what he was doing. Without looking up from his task, the boy simply replied, "I'm saving these starfish, Sir". The old man chuckled aloud, "Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?" The boy picked up a starfish, gently tossed it into the water and turning to the man, said, "It made a difference to that one!"

In his next parable, the disciples really get wide-eyed when Jesus talks about three measures of flour. That’s fifty pounds of flour! The woman was mixing enough flour to bake bread for a small town! In the Bible, yeast is often used in a negative connation, so does Jesus’ parable say something like one bad apple spoils the whole bunch? What is Jesus getting at? The key is in what the woman does with yeast. In the original Greek, she ‘hides’ the yeast in the flour.

Jesus is saying that just one person who does not laugh at a racist joke can make a positive difference for the Kingdom of God. Jesus is saying that just one person who exercises Christian integrity at the point of decision can make a positive difference for the Kingdom of God. Jesus is saying that his little band of followers, armed with the Good News, living for God in a fallen world, can change the course of history.

They did.

We can.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.