Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’”He spoke to them another parable.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened.”All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.
— Matthew 13:31-35
The parable of the mustard seed presents a striking and very truthful image of the way that the Kingdom of God comes into the world — and into each individual soul.
The mustard seed is a particularly small seed. Pressed into the dark soil it’s almost invisible to the eye, seemingly insignificant. And yet, beneath the surface, it grows, with a stubborn persistence and a seemingly unstoppable will.
This is exactly how grace works in us. It usually enters quietly, through a word spoken at the right moment, a prayer whispered in exhaustion, a movement of the heartstrings when beholding great beauty, or a grace received at the altar. Even though to an outside observer it might seem like nothing has changed, in the soil of the soul, the Kingdom has taken root.
The yeast parable further strenghtens that image: the woman hides the yeast within the dough. And once hidden, it cannot be contained. It moves through the whole batch and transforms everything it touches.
And if you think about it, this is the logic of the Incarnation as well: God doesn’t arrive as a conquering emperor. He comes as a baby, hidden in a manger, in a forgotten town, to a young mother in an occupied land. The world largely missed it. And yet that small, hidden Presence has been leavening human history ever since.
May we all allow grace to grow in us like a mustard seed, and may we open our eyes to the fullness of the Truth by directing our eyes towards all that’s good and pure.
In Christ,
Juan — Simple Man
Thank you for reading, and God bless you!
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