Who are we?

Happy Friday,

Continuing my travels through the Book of Luke, I encountered 2 kingdom parables: The Mustard Seed and The Woman. Interestingly enough, when describing the church to folks, I often use these specific parables; because of their graphic impact. A typical mustard seed grows up to be a bush, yet this particular and peculiar seed grows up to be a very large tree; a distinctive irregularity compared to the others of its kind. So very large in fact, that the fowls of the air live in its branches. Birds do not traditionally make nests in bushes, because bushes are too low to the ground, making them vulnerable to walking or crawling predators. This is a very special bush indeed, being vulnerable only to airborne attacks. And who is the Prince of the power of the air?

The woman is preparing “The Fellowship Offering”, that should be an unleavened (yeast free) bread offering to the Lord God of Israel, and two accompanying angels. Yet, she is “hiding” yeast, or leaven, inside of the dough. The yeast represents sin.

So, our Savior indicates that the church started from a simple beginning, yet grew into something very large and distinctively different from the other systems of faiths; so very large and accessible to all … the Devil dwells the offshoots, or branches, of this tree. We are cautioned in scripture to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing; not shepherd’s clothing. This parable makes that warning a bit more clear. The Woman intentionally hides sin in what she offers to the Lord; on purpose.

These 2 parables paint a very telling picture of who we are that compose the church. The simple agreement to accept Jesus’ death as our own, in order to satisfy the law that we broke, will allow multitudes to comprise the “mystery of God”, better known as The Church. Yet, we are not all perfectly altered when we take on this new title because while we accept the privilege of receiving favour from God, we offer Him what we are: a soul that is practiced in habitually deviating from the commandments of loving kindness, and the instructions of our Messiah to be merciful.

As we more habitually confess our sin to God, which sin He will forgive, so then can we better understand the forgiveness that it takes to be merciful with a world lost in darkness, seeing that we were once rescued from the executioner, by mercy that we did not deserve, and love that we could never earn. That’s the love of God at work.