30th Week OT (T)
The Kingdom of God is like a seed and a fungus. A seed sprouts and grows. A fungus multiplies and spreads. The tiny mustard seed can grow into a 9ft plant. Just a pinch of yeast can leaven a lot of flour. Both do their natural work unseen. They do their best work when nurtured and cultivated. Like the seed and the fungus, the Kingdom is unseen, powerful, and diffusive. So our preaching of the Kingdom is best done in a similar way. If we think of our preaching as a way of conforming the Word to the World, then we become agents of the World not the Word. That's not our charge. If we think of our preaching as a way of confronting the World, as a way of disputing with the spirits of the World, we end up in a bloody fight. We are not a militia or a political party. How much better would it be to think of our preaching as a kind of sowing, sowing the Word like mustard seeds and watching the plants flourish where they land. Or dosing the flat, unsalted flour of the World with the yeast of the Word and letting it all come to life. If our preaching is a kind of sowing, then we aren't all that worried about neat rows, straight lines, or orderly patches. We reach in, grab a handful, and fling! Where the seeds and yeast land may be random or perfectly patterned. What matters is the soil. And that the soil is seeded. As preachers of the Word, our job is to give every kind of soil the chance to produce good fruit, to give every bit of flour the opportunity to rise. We do this by shedding the Word as naturally as seeds grow and yeast leavens. By diligently – and maybe even wildly – flinging the Word wherever we walk.
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