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MINIATURE AND MIGHTY (MATTHEW 13:31-33)

REFLECTION

“Miniature and mighty” is the theme for our reflection today. Miniature refers to a thing that is smaller than normal and mighty means possessing great and impressive power or strength, especially because of size. Jesus adopted the teaching technique of using the known to describe or lead his audience to understand the unknown. The whole idea is that the Kingdom of God is expansive and it is a continuous process and should be imagined as something which already existed like a seed or a leaven. A seed represents a miniature substance to the eye and may look very insignificant *“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) In the same manner, a leaven or yeast is a substance that is used in dough to make it rise, “the kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”(Matthew 13:31-32)

It is important to note that we the disciples of Christ are the miniature seed and yeast inserted into the world which is likened to a garden and three measures of flour to make a mighty impact by the power of the Holy Spirit so that God’s kingdom will keep growing like the mustard seed and expanding like the leavened dough or flour. All the people God called in the Old Testament and twelve disciples who were called by Jesus and later commissioned as Apostles were like miniature seeds and leaven respectively planted and inserted into the world, today Christianity and the kingdom of God have seen a mighty and appreciable growth and expansion.

It is now our turn to continue the process of growing and expanding the Kingdom of God. That is why Jesus commissioned all disciples then and now when He said in Matthew 28:18-20 that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” You and I are part of the growth and expansion process, we must therefore be good seeds and leaven worthy of God’s call. The Kingdom of God has already bypassed the miniature stage through the power of the Holy Spirit and the evangelistic efforts of the Saints and missionaries of old. The Kingdom of God is mighty and still growing and expanding. Like Timothy, Christians of our generation are also encouraged and admonished as citizens of the Kingdom of God by Paul in 2 Timothy 4:2-5 to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.” We have no excuse, the process continues endlessly until the second coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus. Become the useful mighty mustard tree that birds of the air which signify lost souls will come and make a nest in its branches for their salvation and become the leavened bread that will satisfy the hungry souls with the life-giving Word of God. I invite you to join the winning and mighty team, the Kingdom of God so that you will have a prosperous and happy eternal life. Shalom.

PRAYER

ALMIGHTY GOD STRENGTHEN US TO KEEP WORKING TOWARDS THE GROWTH AND EXPANSION OF YOUR KINGDOM THROUGH OUR SMALL WAYS AND LIKE THE MUSTARD SEED AND THE LEAVEN MAY YOU BLESS OUR MINIATURE EFFORTS TO BECOME A MIGHTY SUCCESS IN BRINGING THE LOST TO THE SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD AND MASTER JESUS CHRIST. AMEN.