Today’s Scripture: Mark 4:26-32
“He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." (Mark 4:30-32)
O, to be like one of the disciples, to whom Jesus explained everything in private as the Gospel lesson in Mark tells us. What did he tell them about the Kingdom of God that he did not tell the crowds of ordinary people to whom he spoke through parables? Did he make God's message clearer to them? I don't know the answer to that. But what can be much clearer than the image of a tiny mustard seed growing to become a large plant or a kernel of corn growing to a plant that yields a thousand fold in the harvest? Even a child can understand these images of the Kingdom of God as a reality that expands miraculously as our faith grows. - by Barbara Dilly
To Jesus’ listeners in Palestine they would have easily recognized the comparison that Jesus is describing in the mustard seed. To a first century Jew, a grain of mustard seed stood proverbially for the smallest possible thing. In Palestine this mustard seed did grow into something very much like a tree. A traveler frequently may have seen a mustard plant which, in its height, overtopped a horse and its rider. The birds were very fond of the little black seeds of the tree and many of Jesus’ listeners would have witnessed a great gathering of birds all over a mustard plant.
Jesus in this parable is telling us to never be discouraged by small beginnings. Faith which begins as small as a grain of mustard seed is sufficient, even the smallest conceivable amount of faith is a beginning despite its size. We may suffer moments when we believe our efforts are producing little results; but if that small effort is repeated and repeated with faith and reliance on what God can do through us that the small effort will become very great indeed.
We often feel that for all that we can do, it is hardly worthwhile starting a thing at all. Jesus reminds us that the Kingdom must start somewhere with someone with even the smallest of faith, everything must have a beginning. Nothing emerges full grown. As a disciple of Christ our duty is to start where we are with what we have available even if small and the cumulative effect of all the small efforts can in the end produce amazing results.
Elizabeth Fairchild writes about her first Christmas without her mother and the small beginnings she was seeking, “It was the first Sunday in Advent and my husband ... rather gingerly, brought up the subject of Christmas, knowing that I was immersed in the full bloom of grief. Mom had died on Labor Day and this was the first Christmas to be marked without her. I did not "feel" like Christmas.
I remembered the reading from Romans that morning, "The night is far gone, the day is near .... let us put on the armor of light .... put on the Lord Jesus Christ." The season celebrating His birth and looking for His coming again was upon me and I was being called to participate. But it was beyond me to rejoice. As I said these things to my husband, he reminded me that God IS able even if I was not. He mentioned the parable of the mustard seed to me. God could take that little mustard seed and make of it something worthy. God could take that tiny seed of faith and grow it into a kingdom of hope.
I felt as if I had been touched. I got up and went to the kitchen and rifled through my spices. Yes! There it was. My bottle of mustard seeds. I got one out and grabbed a piece of paper from the pad by our phone and taped that mustard seed to the center. I returned to the dining room, waving the paper triumphantly. "I've got it! I've got it! I CAN celebrate this year." My husband said, "Here, let's put it up on the mantel. It'll be our first Christmas decoration." Up it went. Every time I looked at it, I was reminded of the hope it symbolized and the faith it embodied. I couldn't do it on my own. But God could. And God did! - Charlene Elizabeth Fairchild, "A Mustard Seed Christmas," www.rockies.net
The Kingdom starts from the smallest of beginnings and we do not know where it might end. This was a very personal parable for Jesus’ small band of disciples. They might have imagined themselves so small and the world so big and wide, how could they ever hope to make a difference and not despair at the task set before them. How could they ever change the world as Jesus was telling they were capable of doing? They would need to begin with the smallest of faith, the smallest effort and discover what God could do through them.
In this parable, Jesus is saying to his disciples and to us today that there must be no discouragement. We each one of us are called to serve and witness in the place God has placed us, that each one of us must be the small beginning from which the Kingdom of God will develop.
Today’s Lectionary Readings
Morning: Psalms 5; 147:1–11
Evening: Psalms 27; 51
Jonah 3:1–4:11
Heb. 12:1–14
Luke 18:9–14
NOTE: Each daily devotion has a list of the Lectionary Readings for the day, but these scripture readings are not directly related to the subject of the daily devotional text.
Scripture quotes used in this year’s 2015 Daily Lenten Devotionals are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, unless otherwise stated. "New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
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