October 3, 2007 - From a single seed, a shining tree - Hayward Fong

Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18, 19

We heard three accounts of the parable of the mustard seed. Matthew and Mark’s accounts are essentially the same. Luke’s account is different in a major aspect and we will look at that in a few moments.

In the Middle East, the mustard seed was proverbially the smallest of all things, though in fact it was not. However, it was used as a point of reference in this part of the world for anything infinitesimally small.

In Matthew and Mark, the clear point of the parable is the fact that in time the smallest seed grows into the largest of herbs. Mustard in Palestine is not a garden herb, but a field crop. It grows easily to a height of eight feet with branches of a tree. And birds come and nest in its branches; they love the little black seeds they pick from the pods. So the first lesson the parable is that though a thing may start from the smallest beginnings it may end up being something great.

When Jesus was telling this parable, he was conveying a special message to his disciples. They were bewildered and discouraged. They had hoped for so much and so little had happened. Even the little that had happened was in danger of being engulfed by the growing opposition to Jesus. The mission of John the Baptist has been extremely impressive, crowds flocked out to listen to him and to accept his baptism. And John himself had clearly preached that greater days were ahead and greater things were to happen. He told them that his mission would decline and the one who came after him would do greater things.

With these accounts by John, the disciples could not help but be expecting impressive and sensational happenings. At first when the crowds flocked after Jesus it must have appeared that this was coming true. But as opposition increased, the crowds began to abandon Jesus and it became apparent that His mission that had started with such promise was likely to end in failure and disaster. And so it was that Jesus told this parable to help them see that the beginnings might seem small but no man knew to what they would grow. If His message took hold, they could not help but conclude that they were the small beginning and that everything depended on them.

Apart from the truth that the parable sent to the disciples, it is a truth that is universal. The greatest things start with the smallest beginnings. Our music starts with the eight notes forming the octave. Our literature starts with the twenty-six letters comprising our alphabet. We live in an age that seeks size and numbers. Yet history shows us that it is not the big things but the small beginnings that are of great importance.

Our nation had its genesis on December 11, 1620 aboard a ship called the Mayflower with 101 people seeking religious liberty. History has shown what that little ship with that little group has done to change the world, more than all the Titanics in the centuries to come.

Think of the few people who have heard or seen Jesus. The total number of His followers after His resurrection and ascension was one hundred and twenty (Acts 1:15), less than the number of members on Immanuel’s official church rolls or about the number of our attendance at the All Together Worship on a good Sunday. Today in our world of television, a person with an important message can reach millions. Out of that small beginning came the Christian Church as we know it today. We must never be discouraged by small beginnings and by the apparently infinitesimal effect that we can have. If a thing is right it has God behind it and in the end it will make its mark.

Measured from hour to hour, and day to day, we cannot see the mustard seed growing. But when we compare the beginning with the end, the growth is plain to see. We live in an age where we want to see instant results…lose 40 pounds in 30 days, double our investment returns every year. Great things seldom happen that way.

If you recall your physics class and one of Lord Kelvin’s experiments, you can see the cumulative effects of small efforts. He made a bunch of paper pellets about the size of a pea. He hung a large paper weight and began to pelt the mass of iron with the paper pellets. At first nothing happened but after a time it began to vibrate, then it began to sway until eventually it was swinging freely. We may think that all we can do is so little as to be ineffective. But the cumulative effect of the small efforts of every person can be used mightily by God in bringing in His kingdom.

What is the relevancy of this parable to the church today in bringing in the His kingdom? We live in a society where things are manufactured and sold as “one size fits all.” The church down through the years has adopted a somewhat similar approach to the matter of conversion. They have taken one type of experience and insist that it alone is the pattern to which all other experience must fit.

How many of us have experienced the blinding flash that Saul encountered on the road to Damascus? Stop and think…what was Saul doing at the time on the road…he was en-route to a mission of persecuting Christians and destroying the infant Christian community. His conversion was one which literally turned is life upside down. Many of the early converts were heathens with a set of creeds and ethical system that did not involve a higher power. Their conversions were also sudden and an abrupt change from their former beliefs.

These conversions may still be the case among society today. But what about the children who are brought up in a Christian home, prayed as their parents taught them, attended Sunday School, never took the Lord’s name in vain, never sought to destroy Christ or the Christian church…what about these individuals? Thoreau, when asked, “Have you made your peace with God?” replied, “I never knew that He was my enemy.”

These represent two different ways in building up the church of Jesus Christ. In the first instance, man comes from a position of hostility to Christ to a position of love for Christ. In the second example, the children grow in the nurture of a Christian environment in which their roots sink deeper and deeper into Christianity as they learn more and more about Jesus Christ until that day when they make their personal decision in a natural manner to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

There is more than one way to open the door into a room. We can make a violent entrance by jerking it open or kicking it down or we can open it gradually, little by little, until the room is open to our view. Not everyone needs an experience as Saul in his conversion to Paul. Persons who have known about Christ can blossom like a flower, petal by petal, until they know Christ.

I mentioned at the beginning that Luke’s version of this parable was different in a major aspect. He made no reference to the smallness of the seed. His point was that some day the birds of the air came and lodged in the branches. In eastern thought one of the commonest pictures was to depict a great tree with many branches; the birds on the branches signify the people who are part of a great empire and who find peace and safety within it. Luke’s idea is that the parable means the Kingdom is like a great tree with many branches in which people shall find peace and rest.

This is a great thought. By implication it means that it does not matter how many branches there are in the Church so long as they are all stemmed in Christ. This also serves as a warning against exclusiveness. So often people insist that their way is the only way and their Church is the only true one. John Wesley said, “You can be saved in any Church and you can be damned in any Church. What matters is, how is your heart with Christ.”

The fact that we have so many branches should be looked upon as a great virtue and blessing. Not all people worship alike. The important thing is that the person finds God. The diversity is the glory of our Church when stemmed in Christ.

In World War II, regimental traditions were a source of pride. And it was good to identify with the history of the unit. But we never lost sight of the fact that the regiment was a part of a larger unit…the division, and the division was a part of larger units, the corps, the Army, the Army Group, the Theater Army, and the Theater.

Always remember that it is Christ who unites us, the tree in whom all the branches are stemmed and from whom all draw their life.

Amen.