Stephen preached this morning from Matthew 13, looking at the parable of the mustard seed and the parable about yeast. Both these parables show us the difference that an apparently small, insignificant thing can make. A mustard seed, Jesus says, is the smallest of seeds and yet when it grows, it’s the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, providing refuge for the birds which perch in its branches. Similarly, yeast doesn’t seem the most elaborate ingredient in bread-making, but it’s that tiny amount which makes the loaf rise. Small things aren’t necessarily insignificant!
It’s easy for us to think big and to feel overwhelmed by that. 2011 is the year of the census – we’ll soon be overwhelmed by statistics about the British population and a whole plethora of other information which makes us feel reduced to a bunch of numbers. But Jesus reminds us in these parables that God works through people, one at a time, and that nothing we do for Him is so small that it goes unnoticed. We can make a difference – to our families, to our friends, to our neighbours, to our locality, to our world. Everybody matters. We can all make a difference.
This sermon made me think also about other foods. Some of the foods I cook look plentiful at the start of cooking and seem to reduce to nothing by the end of it – spinach and rhubarb being good examples of this! We don’t want to be all mouth and no action (as they say in Yorkshire!) – better for us to live wholeheartedly before God, trusting Him to work through us, than to live arrogantly, promising much but fulfilling little.