The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field

 Another parable He put forth to them, saying:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."  Another parable He spoke to them:  "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."

All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

"I will open My mouth in parables;
I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world."

- Matthew 13:31-35

We are in chapter 13 of Matthew's Gospel, in which Jesus introduces the telling of parables into His ministry, beginning with the parable of the Sower.  Yesterday we read that Jesus put forth another parable to them, saying:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.  But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.  So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?  How then does it have tares?'  He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.'  The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?'  But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

  Another parable He put forth to them, saying:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."  Another parable He spoke to them:  "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."  My study bible tells us that the mustard seed and the leaven represent the disciples who, according to Theophylact, began as just a few men, but "soon encompassed the whole earth."   It adds that these also stand for faith entering a person's soul, which causes an inward growth of virtue.  This soul will become godlike and can receive even angels (in the image of the birds of the air).   Both parables speak of the explosive and mysterious growth of the Kingdom, both within us and among us.  (See Luke 17:21; in Greek, both meanings are suggested in Jesus' statement).

All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world."  Matthew quotes from Psalm 78:2.  We're given another meaning to the use of parables.  Tremendous mysteries are included in them, truths of which Jesus has told the disciples that "many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it" (Wednesday's reading).

What do we read in the parables?  What do we hear?  Can we relate to these stories that tell us about the kingdom of God?  We have seen how others have understood them:  the powerful growth of the Kingdom from a small seed (Jesus' word) expanding to all the known world in a remarkably short time via the Apostles.  The leaven (yeast) measured into the meal (or flour) changes the entire chemistry of the flour itself, its enzymes doing their work in secret and hidden ways we can't easily observe -- but we see their effects.  In fact, the Greek word for leaven is ζύμῃ/zyme, from which we get the word "enzyme" (which means literally "in leaven").   In fact, this mysterious process is also found in other images given by Jesus, particularly wine, which requires enzymes for fermentation.  The image of the leaven in the meal and the "new wine" that needs "new wineskins" given earlier in Matthew's gospel (see this reading) really mirror one another in this aspect of transformational energy that mysteriously changes the complex of the whole.  The "wine" suggests to us that it is this new covenant with Christ that enables the mysterious work to take place.  Our faith in the word (the "seed") connects us to this force that produces growth, expanding within us and among us, "in our midst."  We have endless examples of how this process works, in the community of the Church and all of its history, in the stories of Scripture.  St. Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus is one example.  The transition we see in the disciples from their beginning with Jesus and throughout His ministry, perhaps most clearly given to us in the stories of St. Peter, teach us what changes and transformations of character occur.  The expansion of the Church itself tells us about the far-reaching effects from one small seed, growing even today in nations where one would not expect such growth.  But perhaps for the purposes of this blog, we may consider the growth in us over the long haul, the entire period of our lives, as we grow more deeply enmeshed in our faith, coming to share a dependency upon God where once we depended on other externals in our lives.  To experience God's hope and love helps us in ways that other things we rely on cannot, and the growth of a person in this light produces a creative fruition that can't be estimated -- revealing fruits that are hidden until this "enzymatic" work in us manifests the secrets of potential in the true self created in Christ.   The Kingdom grows as the field that grounds our life and being, connecting us in the present time to its eternal reality, intersecting present life with the life of the age to come (Galatians 1:1-4).  These are deep mysteries in which we are allowed to participate through the saving ministry of Christ, His death and Resurrection.   The gifts of the Spirit are an example of how that Kingdom grows in people, the field and ground of our being working in us, giving us glimmers of our participation in it, and it in us.   Let us consider a golden mustard seed, and the tremendous shelter it may give for even the birds of the air, or the leaven that enlivens the whole of the flour.