The kingdom of God is the central theme in Jesus’ preaching.[1] Mark declares the start of Jesus ministry by this summary statement; ‘Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”’ (Mark 1:15).[2] The people were amazed because Jesus was teaching with authority and power (Luke 4:32, 36). He reigned, but not as an earthly king. The Jews were waiting for the Messiah, the coming King, who would establish the rule of God in the land of Israel. As the Messiah, Jesus brought healing, deliverance and redemption to his people, ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt 11:4-6, 6:10). Although spiritual, his kingdom is not just ‘in heaven’, or ‘in our spirit’, it has truly earthly dimensions, and eventually it will subvert all the kingdoms of this world.
Jesus openly demonstrated the kingdom by healing and deliverance, but the ethics and principles of the kingdom he taught partly in parables, using metaphors to plant the truth in people’s hearts, hiding the whole truth about his kingdom until it was time for it to be revealed. I will now explore the parable of the kingdom of God as the mustard seed and see if there is a hidden truth in the small mustard seed that grows up to become a tree, even though the natural mustard plant is only a big shrub. I want to examine if it is just a story about ‘extensive growth’ as C.F. Carson describes it, or if it has more to say.[4]
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[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth (London: Bloomsbury, 2007), 47.
[2] James D.G. Dunn, Jesus remembered; Christianity in the Making, Vol 1 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eernans Publishing Company, 2003), 383.
[4] C.F. Carson cited in Craig L. Blomberg, Interpreting the Parables (Downers Grave, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1990), 287.
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