E213 How to Prepare the Heart-Soil for A Mustard Seed

This is Faith to Witness 99 Motivating us to leave the 99 and go find the one. 

I keep thinking about the mustard seed. And the parable Jesus shared with us. I am not sure why. But I know it comes from understanding that we all have soil to till. We all have conversations running through our days, and some that may feel like they went wrong, are going wrong now, but are actually the soil that will root a mustard seed, planted by the Son of Man. I want to have more clarity about what role my witness has in planting a mustard seed. 

What happens for a mustard seed to be planted in a person’s conscience? In a person’s heart? Stay with us for the conversation. 

Matthew 17:20

 

20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

e213 How to Prepare the Heart-Soil for A Mustard Seed

My primary motivation during the three-part series we just published called The Knowing was that I can’t just tell someone that if they dig deeper they will just “know” the truth about their Creator. I came to this: When I witness I am sharing my conviction from God. 

I keep thinking about the mustard seed. And the parable Jesus shared with us. I am not sure why. But I know it comes from understanding that we all have soil to till. We all have conversations running through our days, and some that may feel like they went wrong, are going wrong now, but are actually the soil that will root a mustard seed, planted by the Son of Man. I want to have more clarity about what role my witness has in planting a mustard seed. 

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host. 

What happens to a person when a mustard seed is planted in their conscience? Planted in their heart? Let’s consider what Jesus said about the mustard seed. He told this parable to the large crowds gathering around him at the lake. 

The Mustard Seed Spreads Unstoppably

Matthew 13:31-32

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

Jesus is using the mustard seed metaphorically, on the premise of something that starts small, but grows wildly beyond expectation. 

The mustard plant (Sinapis nigra or Black Mustard) was viewed in first-century Galilee as an aggressive, opportunistic weed. It has to be carefully managed to not behave like a weed capable of taking over fields, depleting soil and crowding out prized crops like wheat and barley. 

Also interesting, was the agricultural law violation that strictly forbade mixing different types of seeds in a single field. Planting a chaotic, invasive plant like mustard directly in a cultivated field—as the man in the parable does—was highly unconventional. It implied a willingness to disrupt the traditional, orderly layout of a farm for something that spreads unstoppably. 

Let’s not forget that phrase: “spreads unstoppably”

In the Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern literature, great empires were routinely symbolized by the majestic Cedar of Lebanon (Ezekiel 17:22–23). But Jesus draws on the smallest scale, the tiniest seed, a seed with a fierce will to survive and overtake fields, ie., earthly kingdoms. The Old Testament gave us God’s warriors, with horses and chariots and earthly kingdoms not unlike the Roman Empire Jesus grew up in. But this mustard seed Jesus spoke of was persistent and easily jumped from field to field, if not managed. 

The world with Jesus walking around wasn’t looking for a King in a field. Or a mustard seed. In fact, Jewish agricultural law in the Mishnah (Kilayim 3:2) strictly prohibited planting mustard in ordinary enclosed vegetable gardens to prevent it from choking out neighboring food crops. 

So this parable brings us to this: By describing a man intentionally sowing this explosive, boundary-crossing plant directly into his field, Jesus highlights that the Kingdom of God is a disruptive force. It cannot be neatly contained, controlled, or easily eradicated once it takes root in the world.

I think Jesus is the man (the Son of Man) planting the seed. Jesus is the Planter. 

Your Witness Comes from the Divine Planter

As with everything, what Jesus tells us is personal. It has personal application to our human nature. According to Matthew, consider what happens during Jesus’s ministry. Later, after his address to the large crowds, Jesus heals a demon-possessed boy that had been brought to the disciples, but they could not heal. When Jesus healed the boy the disciples asked him why they couldn’t heal him. 

Matthew 17:20

 

20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

He is saying what you see as the smallest amount, the tiniest seed by human calculation, contains the wisdom and power of God, it is everything “Kingdom.” Jesus highlights the profound contrast between unnoticed beginnings and an undeniable outcome. How could a small band of followers traveling dusty road upon dusty road step by step, conquer the world? How could the town by town, hillside by hillside “plantings” turn into a Kingdom with a Savior and Lord? 

Your witness comes from the Divine Planter. It is a mustard seed.

The Kingdom of Heaven is Like The Mustard Seed

Luke 13:18-19

“Then Jesus asked, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.'”

In my reading God took me to Allen Browne, an Australian pastor, who wrote a blog entry in 2022 that hit upon something so powerful. Check out his full article at the link in show notes:  Mountains and mustard seeds (Matthew 17:14-21) https://allenbrowne.blog/2022/04/18/mountains-and-mustard-seeds/

In speaking about how heaven reforms the earth, (keep in mind that the mustard seed can take over fields of crops)

Browne says, “Heaven’s reign changes everything, even the mountains. Wild spaces and deserts are no longer considered as of little value. When God reigns, the poor are raised up and given the kingdom. The high places are brought low. Terraforming the earth is the glory of heaven’s reign:

Isaiah 40:4–5 

4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low;

the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

He says, “What counts is not the size of our faith but the declaration of our God. Natural thinking asks whether our faith is up to the task, but Jesus says we don’t need a mountain-sized faith to move a mountain.

Browne is talking about how connected we are to “what God decrees, on what “the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Thank you Pastor Browne.

I believe this is what Jesus meant when he told the disciples their faith was too small, that they were not testifying and healing from the decree of God, and all the kingdom power that comes with it. And before I bring this to a resting place today, the familiar interpretation of how a faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain, is not relative to growing a faith that is larger than a mustard seed. Or moving a bigger mountain.  It is a proclamation of the sovereign power of God and the faith given to us. Any amount of God’s faithfulness is all of who he is.

It is not our faith. And they are not our mountains to move. It’s all God. 

Prepare the Soil for the Divine Planter and the Mustard Seed 

As we have learned to harvest a mustard seed into a herbal plant, Jesus tells us to prepare the soil in someone’s heart for the mustard seed. This will require meticulously managing it, and understanding that it cannot be contained, in the largest sense, by human nature. It is ruled by God. So we are to prepare the soil for God’s kingdom depending entirely upon his sovereign decree. 

We approach a person’s heart-soil to:

Nurture spiritual nutrition that is life-giving. The soil we are working with is someone’s life depleted of spiritual nutrition. We must nourish.

Drain the bad water from someone’s life. So that person begins to turn away from that which causes root rot. Pray for opportunities to provide the delicate balance of moisture, but not too much. Just enough to capture the thirst-quenching touch of Jesus, the living water.

Cultivate a fine tilth. A what? Mustard seeds require a very fine, crumbly soil surface which in farming terms is called “Tilth.” You want a delicate seed-to-soil contact, which requires raking the bed until the top inch of soil is free of hard dirt clods and small stones to ensure the tiny seeds don’t fall into deep gaps and suffocate, allowing direct contact with too-moist earth. Root rot. To me this means to return to someone, continue to rake the surface, to breakdown the disbelief, the misconceptions, the barriers to letting love in.

Give someone adequate space, autonomy, independence to grow in the Spirit. Much like the space needed for a mustard seed bush. Teach someone accountability to salvation, to a Lord by preparing soil that has the space to grow, work through issues, play out the patterns of human nature that hold them from Jesus.

Prepare the soil for the Divine Planter. Prepare the person to receive a mustard seed, and become part of the Kingdom. Use your witness, get a strong grip on that rake and cultivate a fine tilth to help spread the Kingdom from field to field. 

God’s faith to your witness. Go find the one.

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