“Heaven on Earth – Can it be?”

Matthew 13: 31 “Jesus put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like…”

Jesus used parables, or stories with sometimes layered meanings, to tell the people who he was, why he had come to the world, and what God’s vision of the world would be. He used the term kingdom of heaven, which we often assume only to mean what happens to us after we die but was also meant to describe life in the here and now.

In his parables about the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said it was like a tiny mustard seed that grows into a giant tree or a little bit of yeast that makes many loaves of bread. The kingdom of heaven, here on earth has the potential to be a place where the tiniest thing makes the greatest difference. Whether it’s a kind word, a prayer, a gift for someone in need, or even a smile (though they are hard to see these days with our masks on!), we can live out God’s kingdom of heaven today, here on earth.