David Bahn – Reflections

Mark 4:26-41

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹ It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

How are things in your world these days? Is God winning the battles in your life? Is the kingdom present and the influence of God strong? Are you seeing the presence of Christ in your family? Does he loom large or is Jesus too often simply a mustard seed afterthought?

Jesus tells us here that the kingdom of God starts small and grows big. All sorts of people find their way to it. That’s the simple message of the parable of the mustard seed. Sometimes we need that reminder so that we are not discouraged. Sometimes we need that reminder for the sake of a larger vision of what God is doing. Sometimes we need that reminder for the sake of those not yet a part of God’s kingdom. Sometimes we need that reminder because we ignore God and his kingdom.

So don’t overlook this powerful reality. Don’t underestimate this rolling tide. Don’t get discouraged when the company of believers seems so small and the odds seem so overwhelming. This little band of brothers will turn the world upside down. This small movement will loom large over time. This isn’t a matter of triumphalism: the attitude that we’ve got to win and show the world who’s really in control. It’s a matter of reality. In the end every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.

Hebrews 12:22

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,

Revelation 7:9-10

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Mark 4:26-41

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

³⁰ And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹ It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”⁴¹ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”