Unlocking the ‘miraculous’ within the mustard seed

These pithy parables are among those referred to as ‘Parables of the Kingdom’; but they could just as aptly be called ‘Parables of Providence’. They drive home what Paul says when he too uses the images of planting and growing, namely that “only God gives the growth”. (I Cor 3:7) Read aright, they can help us to shed one of the most deeply ingrained and unnerving illusions of our post-Christian, technologized age: namely, the insanity-inducing assumption that everything depends ultimately on us. Each of these two parables makes it plain that, though it’s certainly we who must do the metaphorical ‘sowing’, ‘weeding’ and ‘harvesting’, it’s God, and God alone, who works the miracle of growth. Our contribution is necessary, but not sufficient; or, more colloquially, we are the supporting cast, not the star of the show. 

These parables compare our situation with respectively that of the humble grain of wheat and the minuscule mustard seed: both bear within themselves miraculous potential, but that potential must be unlocked. It is the same with us. Effort, talent, and diligence are necessary but not enough. It is, in the end, the work of providence, God’s work, in other words, that unlocks and brings to fruition the gifts he has given to us. But, counterintuitively, under his providence, he sometimes works not through our talents but through our failure. 

Providence, of course, is invoked with ease when things go well. But the meaning of this core Christian conviction is that God is always at work and his modus operandi is always creative. He’s at work, in other words, in every situation, not just when everything in the garden is rosy and we are content with our lot. God, in other words, is never doing nothing. Even in our deepest darkness and disappointment, even in times of loss, whether of wealth or health or loved ones, God is creatively at work. Things, of course, do go well sometimes, which is a much-needed reminder that God’s providence is at work all the time. 

That conviction ‘cashes out’ in confidence that nothing in our lives is meaningless or without purpose or wasted. It is not always (if ever) easy at the time to discern what that meaning or purpose is, especially for our individual lives, but these parables reassure us that even in the most unpromising conditions, and often contrary to all appearances, our lives, under God’s providence, can be unimaginably fruitful in the most surprising and sometimes inspiring ways, even if we ourselves may never realise what those fruits are - not in this life, at least. 

But providence has nothing to do with fatalism. Our choices matter, and their outcomes matter. Indeed, it’s precisely through our free choices that we participate in and co-operate with God’s providential purposes. Providence doesn’t dispense us from hard decisions or tough choices: on the contrary, it’s precisely our trust in God’s providence that enables us to take risks and blaze trails, as opposed to taking cover under political correctness or slavishly fulfilling conventional expectations or, even worse, putting popularity above justice and reputation above truth. God’s providence does not guarantee us a smooth ride - far from it: storms can burst over our comfortable worlds unexpectedly at any time, turning our lives upside down and radically and permanently changing them in seconds. But, still, God is never doing nothing for, as St Paul says, “All things work to the good of those who love Him”. (Romans 8:28) 

Providence also has nothing to do with complacency. It both reassures us that all will be well and emboldens us to live confidently, courageously, generously and, above all, gratefully: grateful for what we’ve received and generously ready to share what we’ve been given.

But perhaps most important of all, even our most crippling weaknesses and worst mistakes fall under and within his providence. Like a virtuoso performer, God can creatively incorporate into his new creation even our worst blunders, betrayals and wrong turns. 

Nothing whatever, then, that can happen to us is outside God’s providence because, as again St Paul says, “nothing whatever can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:38); “if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:8)