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When I was a child, hearing the words “Once upon a time...” invited me into a land of wonder and possibility. The words called me to listen, to be ready to receive. Jesus – the gifted storyteller – uses the words “The kingdom of God is like...” to accomplish the same purpose. A wise and keen observer of the world around him, Jesus uses ordinary things – seeds and growing seeds, harvesting and nesting birds, to draw us into the wonder and awe of what the kingdom of God is like. And then he goes further, inviting you and me to build that kingdom.
So, what is the kingdom of God like? It is a place where we all have a part to play in the great work of God. It’s a place where each worker knows that we are cooperating in a great and awesome dream – God’s dream. God dreams of growth and possibility, of feeding the hungry, and of providing shelter for creatures big and small. Nothing in this parable is scanty or scarce! God’s dream is of bountiful harvest, of small seeds becoming something massive, of huge numbers of creatures finding shelter.
Through this parable, God calls you and me to share God’s mindset of abundance and possibility, and to act on it by co-creating a kingdom where no one goes hungry and where all are welcome.