Genesis 22:15-18 (NRSV) 15 Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Mark 4:30-32 (NIV) 30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
What strikes me in the promise to Abraham is the power of the seed. This is a unique picture of power to conquer and to bless at the same time. The seed conquers the barren land and blesses it with life. This is our hope, whether we are a teenager entangled in the process of growing up, or a young adult who has discovered there are some thorns in the rose garden of life, or a middle aged adult who is too wise to believe any significant change can come to them, or an older adult who believes they are past producing anything. The seed conquers the barren land and brings it to life.
And that is exactly what we see and experience in the person of Jesus. The picture of the Messiah as a seed, small but growing, almost imperceptively slowly, yet conquering, taking over more and more barren land and giving it life is one that offers us hope. The seed is growing and producing the life of Christ in us, opening us to an awareness of God, conforming us to His plan and pattern, enabling us to fulfill His purpose. And Paul says that the life of this seed is our hope when we face the final barrenness of death. The seed has the unique power to survive death, even to bring life out of dying.
Jesus pictured His work as being like a mustard seed. Every person who was healed, every resistant heart broken to belief, every person laden with sin who was forgiven and cleansed was evidence of a new power that had broken into the world and would grow. The mustard seed depicts the exciting reality that the insignificant and unexpected can silently change the world. Small acts of kindness, small projects of hope, small struggles for peace and justice are seeds that will grow because God has given them the power to grow.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope December 2, 1984
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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