Friday, November 4, 2011

Kingdom of God grows and takes over

Mark 4:30-32 (ESV) And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? [31] It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, [32] yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." I think it goes without saying that Jesus uses a bit of hyperbole here in describing the Mustard seed as the smallest of all seeds on the earth. Anybody the plants anything realizes this just isn’t true. Jesus knew that too. Of course, this doesn’t stop some people from dismissing the Bible for this reason, and positing that it is not inerrant. No one I know of dismisses Shakespear as a dolt because he is given to hyperbole now and then. It’s a function of speech, meant to drive home a point. Here he is just drawing a distinction between how small the seed, and how big the plant. That is the way of the kingdom of God. It starts out small, it grows to take over, at least it has that potential, and it is a glorious thing when it happens. Faith grows, becomes stronger more encompassing. Of course, it needs water for this to happen, the water that comes from constantly drowning your old adam in your baptism through daily repentance. It has a tendency to make one grow.

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