In elementary school, when children learn about plants they inevitably plant a small seed in a clear plastic cup and watch it grow. This helps as they learn the parts of plants: leaf, stem, roots. As we get older we get more sophisticated in our ability to explain the details of the plant and the growth we see, but on some level the growth itself remains a mystery. Why do some plants thrive and others fail? Was it the soil? Too much water? Too little? And what of those plants growing in the tiny cracks in between slabs of concrete?
The kingdom of God is a similar mystery, Jesus explains in two different parables – although explain is an exaggeration! The very design of a parable is not to over-explain things. Likewise, these particular parables seem to beg us not to over-work them… or ourselves. While nobody’s looking, the kingdom expands with growth, shelter, and healing beyond our power. Perhaps one aspect of the kingdom of God that we can learn from the Parable of the Growing Seed and the Parable of the Mustard Seed is that the kingdom is a bit out of control!