See John Dominic Crossan's book...
Illustration
See John Dominic Crossan's book, The Historical Jesus, page 276, for some interesting facts about the wild and domestic mustard plants of first century Palestine. Even the domestic plant is invasive and can threaten to take over a garden. It does not grow to any magnificent size. Crossan sees the mustard tree as a metaphor posed against the triumphalist cedar tree metaphor in the 17th chapter of Ezekiel. Even without this suggestive information, one can see that the kingdom can be a messy enterprise. Imagine the mess created by all those birds. In a former church we opened our doors to a day care project to help working mothers. Grimy hand prints started showing up on the walls and that triggered a few complaints. Think of the church as an aviary. What a diversity of colors and cacaphony of sounds. When the swallows and others come into roost, be prepared for some commentary from the established residents of the ecclesiastical bird house. -- Kolsti
