Comparing the Kingdom to a mustard seed and to leaven, Jesus draws attention to some of its features that at first glance can appear paradoxical, although, if one thinks about it, the matter concerns an antinomy characteristic of spiritual life in general. Indeed...
Comparing the Kingdom to a mustard seed and to leaven, Jesus draws attention to some of its features that at first glance can appear paradoxical, although, if one thinks about it, the matter concerns an antinomy characteristic of spiritual life in general. Indeed, if the Kingdom, at some stage of its formation, can be completely unnoticed, like a mustard seed or leaven in dough, if it fits within the human heart, then the matter would seem to concern a purely subjective reality, an inner spiritual state of a person. On the other hand, at the end of the path the Kingdom turns out not to be subjective at all; on the contrary, it is hard to imagine anything more manifest and objective, anything that so fully determines not only the eternal destiny of individual people, but the fate of all God's creation as a whole. So what is the Kingdom: an inner experience, or an objective reality revealing itself more and more in the world?
Judging by Jesus' words, it is both at once. And if one thinks about what the Kingdom is, it turns out that it cannot be otherwise. Indeed, when speaking of the Kingdom, both Jesus Himself and all the apostles have in mind above all relationships: the relationships of Christians with one another, their relationships with Jesus, and finally the relationship of Jesus Himself with the Father. But relationships are born, to use biblical language, in the depths of the human heart; they are manifestations of that spiritual "I" which determines the whole quality of a person's life, his intentions, his system of values and priorities. That is why the path into the Kingdom begins in the heart of the seeker - as, indeed, does the path of righteousness. But when relationships between a person and God are established and strengthened, they acquire their own dynamic, their own spiritual space, existing as objectively as God and the person who seeks Him. And when the matter concerns Christ and the Kingdom, He Himself enters into this dynamic, He who brought the Kingdom into the world and is ready to open the way there to every seeker.
That is why the Kingdom is born first of all in the heart: a person's relationship with Christ is established in the same way as any other relationship - from the same spiritual depth. And if sprouts of new life, the life of the Kingdom, can appear somewhere in the untransformed world, it is precisely there, in the depth of the human heart. There is no other place for the Kingdom in a fallen world. And then these sprouts, having broken through, will reach toward what is kindred to them. And the Kingdom will be revealed in the world in all its transforming fullness.
13 In the type of a linen girdle God prefigures their destruction, Jer 13:1-11.
Under the parable of bottles filled with wine, is foretold their drunkenness with misery, Jer 13:12-14.
He exhorts to prevent these judgments by repentance, Jer 13:15-27.
13:5 So - Most think Jeremiah did this in a vision, for it was a very long journey from Anathoth to Euphrates.
13:12 Do we not know - This is no strange thing.
13:13 Behold - There is a wine of astonishment and confusion, Psa 60:3. With that wine, saith God, I will fill all ordersof persons, kings, priests, prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.