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Leaves are falling. Earth’s life goes into hibernation as it waits for new beginnings next spring. There is sadness watching the old disappear, and yet that is a necessary step in the rhythm of life.
Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God in terms of things growing. The people knew that the glories of a former kingdom had disappeared and they were in the middle of a season of death—hibernation. They awaited the day when God would restore the kingdom of David. Jesus’ proclamation was that this new day—a new springtime—had come.
How would all of this work out? It was believed, of course, that God would tear down the kingdom of Rome and rebuild the kingdom of Israel under the leadership of the Messiah-king. Jesus gave reason for them to believe that he was this new king. What would this kingdom look like?
When Jesus talked about the kingdom, he did so not in terms of organizational structures—a king, his assistants, an army, and so on—but in terms of the mystery of life. Rather than talk in terms of big things, he talked in terms of small, almost invisible ones (Luke 13:18-21).
“What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden…It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour…”
Seeds, leaven—things almost imperceptible. Yet when a seed penetrates the ground, something powerful happens. And when leaven is mixed with dough, it grows. God’s kingdom on earth began with small seeds and small scoops of leaven. And, the end product would look, not like a new superpower, but as a large bush or a loaf of bread. This certainly didn’t look like a Davidic kingdom. And, a Messiah who was no more than a seed planter or a bread baker, wasn’t appealing.
In other places Jesus called this new action of God the Kingdom of Heaven. It was the act by which God was injecting the very life of heaven into the earth. Heavenly seeds and leaven were the secret gift that Jesus was bringing onto this earth—supernatural life. Jesus would first break the grip of Satan, the prince of this world. Then he would engage in a new beginning—planting and releasing “kingdom life.”
We know that this began when Jesus injected the Holy Spirit into the hearts of the disciples gathered in the Upper Room. When the Holy Spirit came, heaven began to penetrate the earth. We are amazed how quickly this seed grew—how quickly a large bush developed. We are amazed how quickly the presence of the Holy Spirit in the early Church began to leaven the world of that time.
God is still generating new beginnings. He continues to inject the Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers, and through them create new bushes and provide loaves of new bread.
St. Paul spoke of the kingdom as the Body of Christ. It is a new entity that consists not only of believers on earth but also those in heaven. It is a communion of saints. The more we repent and invite the Holy Spirit into our lives, the more we become part of God’s great project and allow the Body of Christ to thrive on this earth.
“Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom” (Matthew 11:25).
