Luke 13:18-21
Find a place and time free of distractions for the next 7-10 minutes. Take a moment to settle into your surroundings and then begin to recognize your breath. As you breathe in, call on the name of Jesus and become aware of his presence with you. As you breathe out, open your mind and heart to receive whatever Jesus has for you today.
We have just seen Jesus demonstrate the restorative nature of God’s Kingdom through the healing of a woman in the temple. In today’s passage, Jesus describes the nature of the Kingdom of God. Read Luke 13:18-21 envisioning the examples Jesus gives.
God did not choose to enter our world with an enormous bang. The only astonishing thing about the birth of Jesus was an angelic announcement made to a few shepherds in the middle of the night. The rest of the story of God becoming human is shockingly simple – a baby resting in a feed trough, a young, weary mother and father holding on to a couple of promises, animals settling in for the night, and a star shining a little brighter than the rest. Very few people seemed to realize that the age of God’s Kingdom had erupted into the timeline of humanity as the baby took his first breath.
God came to live among people in the smallest, most vulnerable human form, and knowing what we do about the terrifying nature of God’s holiness, it is pure grace that God chose to enter our world this way. God became small and accessible in Jesus, and Jesus went about spreading the seeds of God’s Kingdom wherever he went.
Take a moment to remember a time when you felt small or insignificant. Then read and meditate on the words of the author of the letter to the Hebrews in Hebrews 2:14-18. Share your thoughts and feelings with Jesus.
Read Luke 13:18-21 again.
From a tiny seed grows a wild tangle of branches and leaves, and just a bit of yeast transforms the entire chemistry of the dough. Small and seemingly insignificant acts of shalom done in the name of Jesus contain the potential and power of the Kingdom of God.
Take some time to meditate on the images of tiny seeds and yeast and what results from them. Then consider asking Jesus to open your eyes to Kingdom seed planting opportunities that you may have overlooked before. As thoughts come, share them with Jesus.
What is Jesus revealing to you today?
What is your plan for becoming observant and responsive to Kingdom seed-planting opportunities?
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