Mustard Faith

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God?  What story should I use to illustrate it?  It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.”  Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand.  In fact, in his public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.  Mark 4:30-34

As a tourist or resident, walking the busy streets of New York isn’t a complete experience unless you get a hot dog from a street vendor.  And, of course, you must have mustard!  (If you eat it plain the STREET-EATS POLICE will get ya’).  

As a former New Yorker who has eaten many of those “tube-steaks” I can attest to the oft-mused answer to the question about what gives those doggies their special flavor.  The answer is threefold simple…ambiance of the great city, a fair amount of soot, and taxicab tailpipe exhaust in the air[1]. 

Now, It's something of a leap from street-vendors selling New York hot dogs, to Jesus talking about mustard in Jerusalem; but there is a connection.  You do know there isn’t a person in the entirety of humanity who hasn’t tasted a hot dog.  In the same way everyone in the crowd to which Jesus spoke in that agrarian community knew mustard seeds as a “must” for the garden.  The image of the tiny seed, growing into a huge, tree-like bush, and how mustard’s pungent taste can enhance many foods, is common in any culture you care to name.  When you bite into anything coated with mustard, you know it’s there.  And that may be a hint of why Jesus used such a common image to help people understand God’s Kingdom. 

The rapid growth of a tiny seed, coupled with its unmistakeable presence when matured, is an appropriate characterization of what God is able to do with us.  Consider the magnificent presence of Mother Teresa…as tiny a human being (physically) as you could ever meet, and quiet enough, personally, that you’d never expect a mustard kind of effect out of that little package.  But she drew the attention of the entire world to change the way children are treated. 

Much as a mustard plant can double as a shade tree for a hot, weary bird or two, any tiny human being, whether isolated in the mountains of Cambodia, or living on the busy streets of Mubai, India, another face in the crowd of 21-million other people, God can grow some evidence of His Kingdom-presence to feed a leper, or put clothes on a street kid.  Small, common seeds…big, holy results!

For You Today 

From the antiquities of the first century church we have what Paul told the belivers at Colossae:

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  Colossians 3:23

You may not be called to work with children like Mother Teresa, or labor at a microscope to cure cancer, or gear-up with the astronauts to travel to distant stars.  But whatever God places in your hand, your heart, or your head, He has placed it, and you, there to make a difference.  Start as a mustard seed; grow to be a shade tree for some weary, wandering bird who needs to know what it’s like to come face to face with the Kingdom of God.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] With humble apologies to my New York friends and relatives…tongue in cheek; it’s really da mustard