The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. — Matthew 13:31
God’s Kingdom, while being entirely transcendent and different than the human kingdoms of this broken, corrupt, and decaying world, manifests itself in subtle, but powerful ways.
Jesus preached more about the Kingdom of God than any other topic. When teaching about the Kingdom of God he often used agriculture as an object lesson. The object lesson that strikes me the most is the parable of the mustard seed (Matt 13:31–32). Jesus said that the Kingdom is like a mustard seed—it is among the smallest of seeds that grows into one of the largest trees. It’s growth is subtle, sometimes hardly noticeable, but powerful and pervasive overtime.
This kind of teaching of the Kingdom of God was not what first century Jews were expecting out of the Jewish Messiah. First century Jews were expecting God’s Kingdom to come in dramatic fashion. Because the Kingdom was to come in power, they expected it to be quite the show, much God’s redeeming acts in the Exodus. They were expecting powerful plagues, Red Sea division, show and awe deliverance.
When Moses showed up in Egypt God’s deliverer he made a mockery of Pharaoh and the Egyptian pantheon. Because the Messiah was supposed to be like Moses (Deut 18:15), they were expecting something like the drama of the ten plagues when Jesus arrived. This isn’t what happened.
What did happen, however, was the Cross and Resurrection. God’s great redemptive act through the Cross absolutely dismantled the human concept of power. He turned the paradigm on its head. Through the cross Jesus demonstrates the true and holy nature of power: submission and obedience. This is power. This is how stuff changes in this world. Not by force, not by might, not by aggression, but by simple obedience.
This is how God brings about change both in and through his people. We understand from the Bible that the Kingdom is a bit mysterious in the sense that it manifests both in and through the Church. Yes, the Kingdom of God is in you (not in the Tolstoy sense, for the more acute reader), but you are also in the Kingdom. If the Kingdom is both God’s reign and realm, then he reigns in you and among you.
With this in mind, we must remember that it is subtle. Listen to the subtle, gentle tugs and pulls on your heart. Trust in the Holy Spirit to grow God’s Kingdom, in you (in the form of the character of Christ) and through you by means of self-giving service to the world.
Suggested Reading: Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church (Ada: Brazos, 2014)
