Taking Shelter in the Kingdom of Heaven

Matthew 13:31-32

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.”

If we are to refer to the common tongue of the time of the New Testament as it was written, in Kione Greek, we find a beautifully extended translation of the final clause of the sentence.

‘The birds come and make nests in its branches’ becomes ‘the flying creatures of the heavens and skies take rest in its branches’. Jesus refers to the kingdom of heaven flourishing into a divine shelter for birds of every wing to find refuge in its branches. 

A winged bird in flight is often used symbolically in relationship to a person who has found God, it is via a bird in flight that Noah finds land after the great flood, God is metaphorically compared to an eagle carrying it’s young on it’s wings to safety in Deuteronomy, and at Jesus’ baptism, the holy spirit descends upon him like a dove. The Old and New Testament offer us a multitude of references to work with, in the book of Matthew, it is written how Jesus describes the provision that God offers to the birds of the sky as an example of his extended love to us:

Matthew 6:26 

“Look at the birds of the sky, they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they?” 

If then the birds are to take shelter in the mustard tree, to be fed and provided for by God, so are we invited to take shelter in the kingdom of heaven, to be fed by the Holy Spirit. 

It becomes evident, even back in the times of the Jewish laws, before Jesus shares the gospel, that the birds that shelter in the tree of heaven are not birds of single species, but in fact birds of every kind, just as the kingdom of heaven is not offered to the humans of the earth via a gateway in which only a person from one region or another may enter, but in fact, all humans may enter. 

Ezekiel 17:23 

“In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.”

This narrative is weaved throughout the Old and New Testaments alike, the shade of the branches where the animals are able to seek shelter, a powerful metaphor that illustrates the protection of God as well as the inclusion of all the nations across the world. Again, this time through Ezekiel, we learn that God welcomes not only a specific bird into the shelter of the branches, but rather, all fowl, of every wing. This imagery that is given to us from Ezekiel shares its inner core with the illustrative description of the parable of the mustard seed that Jesus gives us where birds come into the branches of the tree to make their homes. This is the expansion of God's provision, the universal reach of the word of God that becomes the foundation upon which we, the family of God, build our homes, as brothers and sisters of Christ. 

John 15:5

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

As we seek refuge in Christ, we also join Christ. We are welcomed into the family of God. We are not separate in this metaphoric description, we are to become the branches of the vine, through us the gospel continues to spread, through us the tree continues to grow, and just as we sought shelter in Christ, we too become an extension of Christ's provision so more are able to find shelter. 

Jonah 4:6

“And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.”