[Written by Ben Halbrooks]
A few months ago, I ran in Home Depot to grab the essential materials needed for a new, highly anticipated family project: the Halbrooks Home Vegetable Garden. (We’d taken a vote and narrowed our first crop to lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots.) It was easily my cheapest purchase of the week: 3 seed packets. It felt like buying air.
When I showed our girls, they couldn’t believe how incredibly small the seeds were; I think they thought I got conned, actually. But no, I assured them: See these tiny beads of nothingness? Despite their unimpressive appearance, they contain the mystery of life somewhere deep within – the ability to grow into something amazingly, surprisingly different. Sure, it’ll take soil, water, sunshine, and caretaking – but trust me! I promise.
I think they still thought I got conned.
Nevertheless, we slapped together some raised beds with scrap wood and got to planting. And watering. And w a i t i n g. And more watering.
Truth be told, I’m not much of a gardener – even though Genesis tells me my earliest relatives were, by divine commission. And of course Scripture is full of agricultural illustrations, many from Jesus himself. But after a rogue rabbit ate most of our sprouts, I had the sneaking suspicion I might not be able to prove my 7-year-old doubters wrong after all. The whole enterprise was shaping up to be pretty disappointing.
That put me right in line with what people had to be thinking when they heard Jesus compare the coming kingdom of God – that highly anticipated, eternally powerful and glorious fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecy – with a measly mustard seed, the smallest known seed at the time. A mustard seed – really?
“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.” (Luke 13:18-19)
You can imagine the disciples probably weren’t thrilled with the analogy. Yes, we eventually get to a tree, but what’s the deal with the tiny seed? I mean, we’re staking our lives on this Jesus as the Messiah, and he has to go and make our kingdom sound so… unimpressive. So small. We want greatness!
But this is how the kingdom of God operates – in small, unimpressive, humble, and seemingly insignificant ways. But, rest assured, it’s growing. God’s Word is working (Isa. 55:11, Phil. 1:6). Perhaps invisibly, underground, taking root. Perhaps breaking through the hard soil of our hearts.
Case in point: Think of the ragtag crew of outsiders Jesus ministered to: social outcasts, tax collectors, lepers, paralytics, fishermen, zealots, and more. What a start to a kingdom! Could anyone have guessed it would outlast the mighty Roman Empire, and every kingdom since? Think of your own life. Do you ever doubt God working his kingdom personally in you? Do you continue to struggle with the same old sins? Is it sometimes hard to feel or sense God moving in your heart? Does the movement of the Spirit seem slow at times? Trust Him. He is working. Remember the mustard seed. His kingdom may not seem as impressive as you would expect, but he’s not done. The glory of the living God has come and is making all things new (Rev. 21:5).
As for the Halbrooks Home Vegetable Garden, I’m happy to report the wild rabbit didn’t eat everything. After months of waiting and watering and doubts, we had an enthusiastic carrot harvest, and the girls absolutely couldn’t believe how much those small seeds had grown underground into something amazingly, surprisingly different. It just took us awhile to see it. Guess I didn’t get conned after all.
