“And again he said, To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” (Luke 13:20-21).
I spoke yesterday on Luke 13:18-35 which includes this little parable after the mustard seed parable. In my sermon I illustrated the notion of growth through the faith of the Chaplain Rev Richard Johnson who came with the First Fleet to Sydney in 1788. And here we are today – the Sydney Diocese, an Evangelical Diocese contending for the faith.
So ‘Do not despise the day of Small Things’ – a point which John Ortberg expands upon:
“When we are born, our world is very small. As we grow, it may become quite large. If we live long enough and grow old enough, it will become small again. If we do not learn to find God in our small worlds, we will never find God at all.
“Do not despise the day of small things….Do not despise the day of small things, for of such is the Kingdom of God. A small thing is like a mustard seed, which in the Kingdom will be great indeed but looks small and insignificant to human eyes. It is like yeast, which eventually will permeate and transform everything but to us appears the smallest of ingredients. Babies and mangers appear small and insignificant – but that is how God comes to us.
“Jesus mostly did small things. He talked with obscure individuals – a Samaritan woman at the well, a disgraced prostitute, a tax collector. He hung out with children so unimportant that his disciples tried to shoo them away. His final miracle before his trial and crucifixion was to replace a sliced-off ear.
“We have no idea what is big or small in God’s eyes. But for sure, I will never go through a ‘big’ door if I do not humble myself to the task of discerning and entering all the small ones.
“Do not despise the day of small things. For that, too, is the day the Lord has made. And that is where we find him.” (Ortberg, All the places to go…how will you know?)