Wednesday, May 12, 2021

“Then Jesus said, ‘What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.’” (Luke 13: 18 19, New Living Translation)

                Our backyard is perfect for a lazy bird-watcher like myself.

                I can sit comfortably in my cushioned Muskoka chair (plastic), enjoy a cup of coffee and a good cigar and wait for all the birds to come to me, without me having to move a muscle other than to raise my binoculars every now and then.

                It has been a great Spring for our backyard birds. I have seen cardinals, robins, blue jays, mourning doves, hairy woodpeckers, gold finch, grackles, chickadees, song sparrows, nuthatches, crows, a soaring hawk, so far. To top it all off, a white-crowned sparrow landed not ten feet from me, last week. I don’t recall ever seeing one before.

                Part of the attraction to our backyard is a twenty-foot-high cedar hedge all along the back of the property. I think there may be two or three nests in the hedge. It provides a great deal of safety from predators and the weather. There are two very tall pine trees in which the birds like to sit or eat the seeds from the pine cones. The yard is never going to appear in Better Homes and Gardens but the hedge, especially, provides shelter and a habitat for a wide variety of birds, even if it is only a brief visit for some.

                Jesus tells us that the world he wants to create for us is like a tree or perhaps a hedge, which begins small but grows until it becomes so expansive that it provides the environment for a whole, healthy and abundant life.

Expansive, inclusive, spacious, generous, all-encompassing – Jesus’ new world (i.e. the Kingdom of God) is the perfect place for us to make our nests or homes. It provides us safety, shelter, rest, provisions, comfort as we settle into the enfolding shelter of God’s Creation.

To repeat myself from a few weeks ago: “Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” (Matthew 6:26, NLT)

What strikes me the most from this brief parable is how large the Kingdom becomes and how many peoples and nations Jesus’ world-view can take in. For once, I didn’t use the Message Bible version because it substitutes “eagles” for “birds”. That sounds a bit too elitist for me. I think Jesus’ world has ample room for the sparrows among us, the little chickadees, the wrens and the hummingbirds. In fact, eagles are a little intimidating for the hedge; let them sleep in the pine trees.

My point is that Jesus’ take on the world which he is envisioning is so big that it will embrace any and all who seek its branches and leaves.  The book of Revelation paints a similar picture in the imagery of the “river of the water of life”: “On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.” (Revelation 22: 2, NLT)

“God sees the little sparrow fall; It meets his tender view; If God so loves the little birds; I know he loves me too.” (Maria Straub)

Dale