Khao Khát Lời Chúa

A man planted a mustard seed in his garden. A woman took yeast and mixed it into flour.

Two jobs so ordinary that hardly anyone pays attention to them. And yet Jesus used those very images to speak of the kingdom of God.

The mustard seed grows into a tree, and the birds of the sky come to nest in its branches. The yeast is mixed into the flour, and it makes the whole batch rise.

Look closely, and the mustard seed and the yeast work in two very different ways. The bigger the mustard plant grows, the more clearly people see it. From one tiny seed, it becomes a tree with branches and shade.

But the yeast works the other way around.

Once mixed into the flour, the yeast gradually blends into the whole batch, until people can no longer see it as something separate. But that is exactly when it is doing its work.

The mustard seed grows and becomes visible. The yeast blends in and changes something else from within.

The kingdom of God grows in the midst of the world. And it also quietly changes the world from within.

Jesus tells us that the woman mixed the yeast into three measures of flour. By the measures of that time, that is a very large amount of flour, enough to make bread for several dozen people.

Next to a batch that large, the little bit of yeast at the start seems almost negligible.

But the woman did not set the yeast beside the dough, nor did she keep it stored in a jar. She put the yeast into the flour, so that it would soak through and change the whole batch.

No matter how good a handful of yeast is, if it is kept to itself, it will not raise any flour at all.

Our life of faith is sometimes like that.

We may know many prayers by heart, understand many teachings, take part in devotional activities, and try to keep what the Church teaches. All of it is precious.

But does that faith really soak into the way we live?

A person may pray a great deal, and still find it hard to forgive. They may understand God's mercy very well, and still be harsh toward the weaknesses of others. They may speak beautifully about love, while the people closest to them hardly feel that love at all.

It is not that those devotional practices have no value. It is that what we believe has not yet fully soaked into how we live.

And perhaps the change God hopes for in us is not always something great that makes others admire us.

Sometimes it is just a person who used to always want to be right, and now begins to listen. A person who used to flare up easily, and now knows how to pause before saying something hurtful. A person who used to be quick to judge, and now begins to look at others with more understanding eyes.

Those changes can be very small. No one knows when they began.

But that is exactly how yeast works.

Jesus tells another detail about the mustard seed.

The seed does more than grow into a tree. The birds of the sky come to nest in its branches.

In the Old Testament, the image of a great tree with birds sheltering in it was used to describe a kingdom strong enough to shelter many peoples.

Jesus borrows that familiar image, but he begins with a tiny mustard seed in the garden of an ordinary person.

The tree does not grow for itself alone. Its growth creates a shelter for other creatures.

If we only notice the size of the tree, we may miss the birds nesting in its branches.

And if we only notice our own growth in the life of faith, we may forget that this growth must bring something good to others.

The closer a person is to God, the more the people beside them should feel peace, kindness, and love in that person.

A family with faith is more than a place where everyone prays together; it is a place where people are heard, forgiven, and unafraid to show their weaknesses.

The mustard seed becomes a tree so the birds of the sky have a place to shelter. The yeast blends into the flour so the whole batch is changed.

Neither of them keeps life for itself.

One grows so that it can welcome. The other blends in so that it can change.

Jesus does not say the kingdom of God is like a great tree standing alone in the middle of a garden, nor does he say it is like a handful of yeast carefully stored away.

He speaks of a seed sown into the ground and a handful of yeast put into flour.

Faith is more than something we keep for ourselves. Faith is a life given to us, blended into our lives to make life better.

And perhaps, after many years of living the faith, the question worth asking is about more than how much I have prayed, how much I know, or what I have done for God.

It is this:

After all these years of believing in God, what in me has truly been changed? And do the people living beside me find a place of shelter in my love?

Lord Jesus,

You used the tiny mustard seed and the handful of yeast to speak of the kingdom of heaven.

Do not let my faith stop at what I know, the words I read, or the devotional things I do.

Let your Word sink deep into my soul, and change the way I think, speak, and treat others.

Teach me to grow in love, not so that others admire me, but so that those who live beside me may find in me a little peace, understanding, and your mercy.

Amen.