He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
Matthew 13:31-32 (ESV)
It happened when Elisha told the widow to keep pouring the oil into the jars that she had collected from her neighbors. It happened when Shiphrah and Puah ignored Pharaoh’s genocidal executive order. It happened when the little boy gave up his lunch. All of these people did small things that had big results, demonstrating that little things really do matter. These people were planting mustard seeds.
As Jesus reminds us in the parable, while a mustard seed is small, it becomes large enough to make a home for birds. Little things can have big impact. African American enslaved bodies did little things every day to survive their Maafa/African Holocaust experience. Three women founded a simple hashtag to launch a #blacklivesmatter movement. George Floyd spoke a simple phrase in his last breaths that reminded us all of the importance of fighting for the everyone’s right to breathe. Little things really do matter.
Believers, now it is our turn. Have you planted your mustard seed? As citizens of the United States of America, we have a responsibility this week. It’s our turn to be like the children of Israel. We must cry out to God that something is not right in our land. We must cry out and let God know that we are in desperate need of some attention in this country. We must cry out that being believers and justice warriors are not antithetical to one another. We must plant our mustard seed if we want God’s kin-dom to come here on earth as it is in heaven.
I won’t belabor the point. Please plant your mustard seed and go vote. Be faithful over this little thing that can make a big difference.
If you need some inspiration, please watch the linked video, which a local church that I follow created to remind us of the importance of this historic vote.
LINK: https://youtu.be/qgqCe7T6p-U