Memorable Images
Some things are easier to understand if we have a meaningful visual.
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs 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 yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.” - Matthew 13:31-35
We may be really good at explaining something, but if the person we are talking to cannot picture it, the message may fall flat.
The secret to understanding, then involves pictures, but the pictures need to have meaning for the person seeing them to make the connections you want them to make.
The parables Jesus told are really well structured. We remember them, even if we only heard them once or twice, but do the pictures they place in our minds have meaning to us?
If we don't know how large a measure of flour is, or we have never added yeast to flour and water and let it rise, we may miss the meaning in the message.
Same is true for a mustard seed.
These are things that everyone listening to Jesus would have understood.
So, what would have greater meaning to us today?
You could say the kingdom of heaven is like a virus that someone made in a lab and released into the world.
We would understand that, because of our recent and current experience with COVID-19.
Of course, the image of death and illness doesn't fit our image of heaven, but the way the virus spread quickly from one to many is the point of the message.
God's kingdom is universal, encompassing all, and it can spread to all it touches.
Maybe you can come up with a better image, and then we will have a new parable to remember.
More to come...