In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus tells a story about the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom is like a tiny seed. It starts small and then grows into a tree, spreading its branches to give shelter to the birds.
I’ve been thinking about this parable a lot recently. Kingdoms typically spread by force and conquest. Jesus emphasizes instead the small gesture, and a steady unfolding process.
He could have made things easier on himself if had said “the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fig seed.” Fig seeds are unquestionably small, and fig trees clearly grow large enough for birds to make their nests.
Instead he chose mustard for his example. I imagine this choice was made in the moment – perhaps he was on the shore of a lake next to a field of mustard plants. His audience could see the sparrows flying across the field. Now and then one of the birds would perch precariously on one of the taller stalks.
There could have been more to his choice, though. Jesus’ parables were opaque on purpose, so that “they might hear but not understand.”
Some people like to argue that Jesus was wrong. The mustard is not the smallest of all seeds. Orchids hold that distinction. I myself get stuck on the part where Jesus calls mustard a tree. In California wild mustard plants rarely get larger than four or five feet. Their soft, thin stalks can’t really support the weight of anything but the smallest sparrows.
Maybe there was some kind of super-mustard in Jesus’ day. Or maybe he meant for his audience to say “hey, now, you’re stretching things a bit there, Jesus.”
I think these simple stories were meant to rattle around in your brain, giving you something to ponder. I think that Jesus intended his parables to be something like a zen koan. Not easy bite-sized truths, but something that grows inside you, and changes you as you meditate on it.
Like a seed.
