Reflection on Luke 13:18-21

Rev. Marcel Okwara, CSsR

Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020

Jesus began his earthly ministry with the big-bang message,“The Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk. 1:15). When he spoke of the kingdom of God, he was referring to the Old Testament image of God reigning as king (Ps. 97:1; Is. 52:7); he was saying that God is establishing his kingly rule over everyone and everything. That means his listeners had an idea of what he was talking about. However, the phrase, “the kingdom of God” never appears in the Hebrew Scriptures (i.e. the Torah, the Prophets, and Writings) and it is rarely found in the New Testament except on Jesus lips. The coming of the kingdom of God means the coming of God’s final victory over evil; it means the coming of God’s direct reign over everyone and everything. The kingdom of God was seen as the fulfillment of hopes generated by Old Testament prophecies and by non-biblical writings of the two centuries before Jesus. Now, due to the richness and diversity of these prophecies and writings, Jesus’ audience had no single design in mind of what the reign of God would be like. Some expected God to free them from Roman rule; others expected God to do something great, something much more. With the use of parables, Jesus conveys what the reign of God was like. 

After setting a woman free from a crippling affliction, Jesus turns his attention to the significance of what he did. He asks, What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and ‘the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.’ As previously said, the Lord’s listeners had a general idea of what the kingdom of God is, that it meant God ruling over his people and over the whole world, but they also had different views about how this would happen. In the Gospel, Jesus does not attempt to define the kingdom of God, rather he talks about what it is like and to what it can be compared to. He says it is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. Although it is a tiny seed, but after it grows, it becomes a huge bush that provides shelter for the birds. Jesus’ listeners would most certainly be shocked that he compared the kingdom of God to something so small. They may have expected him to compare it to the heavens being torn apart or the mountains shaking as God comes out in power to destroy evil and establish his reign. But Jesus’ comparison is not just to a mustard seed but also to what became of it after a person took it and planted it in the garden. When it is fully grown, it became a large bush. Jesus has just healed a woman who was crippled, setting her free from the bondage of Satan. Although the deliverance made a great difference in her life, it is still little compared to the many evil and suffering there is in the world. However, by setting this woman free, Jesus was bringing about the reign of God. And if the woman out of gratitude to God lived the rest of her life being a wounded healer herself, the divine favor done for her can bring about and culminate into something more like a large bush that becomes a dwelling place for many birds. Your singular act of charity and kindness to someone, although small, can result in something much bigger and also makes the kingdom of God present. Here in this world and among us, God is already establishing his reign, and vanquishing evil and suffering through the kindness and generosity of many.