Invitation To Hiddenness

“‘The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’ He told them another parable, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.’” – Matthew 13:31-33

“Even when I don't see it, You're working

Even when I can't feel it, You're working

You never stop, You never stop working

You never stop, You never stop working”

- ‘Waymaker,’ Sinach

The kingdom of God is told here by story, a kingdom radically unlike how Jesus’ followers conceived of kingdom. Rather than an external, manifest, militaristic, materialistic reign, Jesus’ kingdom arrives small, and hidden.

A single mustard seed is 1-2 millimeters in diameter; a yeast cell even less. Entirely unremarkable. The seed is sown, the yeast is mixed, and essentially, at that point, they both disappear. But given time, enough time, change happens. One day there is an enormous tree that provides shelter; risen dough that provides nourishment. 

The invitation to allow God to govern more of our hearts and minds is not a clarion call to raise the standard and storm the castle. There are spiritual battles, of course, but at heart the invitation to God’s kingdom is an invitation to hiddenness. It is not so much an outward striving as an inward posturing, placing ourselves in the hands of the gardener and bread-maker, allowing ourselves to receive. It is not about controlling the process in ourselves or others as much as an exercise in faith, in trust that transformation will occur in due time. That growth is happening even when we cannot see or measure it. It takes time for seeds to break open as life emerges, for trees to grow up, slow and strong, for the yeast to spread cell by cell through the dough. 

Henri Nouwen writes in his book The Inner Voice of Love: “As you come to realize that God is beckoning you to a greater hiddenness, do not be afraid of that invitation. Over the years you have allowed the voices that call you to action and great visibility to dominate your life. You still think, even against your own best intuitions, that you need to do things and be seen in order to follow your vocation. But you are now discovering that God’s voice is saying, ‘Stay home, and trust that your life will be fruitful even when hidden.’”