THE SMALLEST OF ALL SEEDS BECOMES THE GREATEST OF ALL SHRUBS

THE SMALLEST OF ALL SEEDS BECOMES THE GREATEST OF ALL SHRUBS

By Fr. Felix (African Times Guest Writer)

One way of coming to a better understanding of

the parables is to seek out the circumstances in

which Jesus might have told them, and so his

purpose in telling them.

These two parables of the mustard seed and

the wheat are both stories of growth. The

mustard seed is especially astonishing, for the

seed is little more than a grain of dust, which I

have known to grow in a single year into a six-

foot shrub in a Palestinian wadi.

The idea of the birds sheltering in its branches

is perhaps a slightly cheerful exaggeration,

drawn from Daniel 4.11! The shrub I mentioned

could hardly provide shade to the smallest

birds. The astonishing effect of a pinch of yeast

or leaven is obvious to anyone who has entered

a kitchen.

When could Jesus have meant to express by

these images? Perhaps when the disciples were

depressed and murmuring. ‘How could a bunch

of a dozen nondescript fishers and tax-

collectors like ourselves be classed as the

Kingdom of Heaven?’ ‘Just wait! Things grow’

One third of the world’s population is said to be

Christian.