I love Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed (Mark chapter 4).
It’s the seed that starts the smallest of all – what we would call in Aussie parlance ‘the underdog’ – but finishes the largest in the garden. It takes over. And lots of birds can come and perch in its branches!
Everything that grows starts off small. A seed is planted. The unlikely becomes likely. The impossible becomes possible. The Scripture tells us, “do not despise the day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10).
An idea is a seed. It may be a niggling thought, or a whisper in the mind. It begins to germinate and grow. Different branches begin to sprout, with one thought building upon another. Every significant initiative of humans, whether in the world or in the church, begins in this way. Have you had any good ideas lately? Water them!
The church is like God’s mustard seed. It is sometimes very small. It seems like it will never amount to much, or be overwhelmed by all the other plants in the garden. It’s the underdog. There are more impressive and powerful trees around – big organisations or events or movements. The mustard seed seems inconsequential, even irrelevant.
Persecuted in many parts of the world, often ridiculed in our own, yet still quietly bringing life and hope and growth. A person here, another there, hears the Word or is touched by the Spirit, and suddenly light dawns, a seed germinates.
Ironically, it is this underdog seed that ultimately produces the most fruit. It is a tree that provides life. It is a tree that will stand when all other trees are dropping their branches. That’s the way God works. In the earlier parable of the sower, Jesus says the good soil multiplies its productive capacity – 30, 60 or 100 fold. That’s remarkably fruitful.
Our church represents only a very small number of the people in our city. Even combined with other churches the numbers are a small minority. Yet there is the capacity to slowly but surely touch one life here and another there. We can get beside someone here and someone there, and begin to see fruit and growth and life.
God is only just beginning His work through us here at St Luke’s. There is so much more He will do. May we have faith in the mustard seed kingdom, our God of the underdog!