Luke 13:18–21 (ESV)
He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
This all seems obvious enough to us. But the audience here doesn’t know the Christmas story. They’re expecting the kingdom of God to start with a bang. God is all-powerful. Why wouldn’t He do things in a spectacular way?
So, this is a surprising message. The kingdom of God is going to start small but grow over time. A mustard seed is tiny; you can hold hundreds of them in one hand. Yet it grows into a plant over ten feet high.
Three measures of flour is about 20 quarts. That will make 20 large loaves of bread—enough to feed a hundred people. Yet, the tiniest amount of leavening spreads through the whole batch.
This teaching is important because the early Christians will face many discouraging trials, which will be tough enough without the added burden of wondering why the whole thing doesn’t look like what God’s plan “should” look like.
By laying out a rough timetable for the expansion of the kingdom of God, Jesus prevents a lot of pain.
God’s sense of timing is different from ours.
God’s priorities don’t look much like ours either. Jesus’ slow march to the cross feels crazy, both in terms of timing and in terms of, “What is He doing that for?”
We’re not going to understand God’s priorities or His timing, but at least we can recognize that they are light-years different from ours. That’s the point of the lesson Jesus is teaching here.
We have a tendency to get depressed when things aren’t going our way—and impatient even when they are. That’s understandable, given our human perspective and our lack of knowledge about God’s eternal plans.
So, Jesus gives warnings like this one to remind us to be patient.
The Christians of Jesus’ day will have to wait about 300 years, enduring terrible persecution the entire time, as they watch the mustard seed of the kingdom of God slowly grow, until it finally takes over the Roman Empire.
That’s a lot of patience.
