Saturday before the Nativity of Christ; The Holy Great-Martyr Anastasia (305)
Nativity Fast.
Read
Galatians 3:8-12; Luke 13:18-29
What does it mean for Jesus to compare the kingdom of God to a mustard seed or to the leaven in bread? A mustard seed is small, especially when compared to a fully-grown bush; and only a small pinch of yeast is necessary to leaven a loaf of bread. Yet both the seed and the leaven, in a way that we cannot see, cause great growth.
God’s reign on earth, like the mustard seed and the leaven, begins with small steps. The way that Christmas is celebrated both in our culture and in our liturgy, with such fanfare and expectation, can obscure the fact that Jesus’ birth did not appear to be anything important at the time. Anyone in Bethlehem who noticed the small family in that manger would not have given them a second thought: only the shepherds have any inkling of the potential that lies in this obscure infant. Yet God wills to be incarnate in such obscure circumstances, and to live most of his human life unknown to the world. It’s precisely in obscurity, in hiddenness, that he chooses to reveal himself. In his incarnation, Jesus is like the mustard seed –sown in dishonor, he is raised in glory by the Father. Like the yeast, he is baked in the bread (a kind of death), in order to give the bread life. Christ takes on our fallen nature – including the misery and despair of living in obscurity, unknown to others – and rising from the dead, he raises us up with him.