Wither the Mustard Shrub/Tree?

 This Sunday's reading from Mark 4:26-34 contains two of Jesus' parables about the kingdom of God,

He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’

He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

When travelling through India, I was amazed to drive past mile after mile of mustard fields in bloom. The local markets had plentiful mustard oil for sale which is harder to find here in the U.S. 

I can see that Christianity started as a tiny but powerful seed, but is Christendom or the Church the kingdom of God? 

If we think of them as separate entities,  then "Christendom" was not, and looking at the history and current states of the Church, I think the answer is "no" on that too. 

There are and have been too many diseased limbs upon which the birds have tried to nest. 

Branching of the mustard shrub is a natural part of its growth.

Pruning of dead limbs, and of limbs that are growing in the wrong direction or rubbing another is something that the farmer must do in order to have a healthy and fruitful, flowering plant.

God's kingdom is hard to explain in human words. It is even harder to imagine, and that is why Jesus spoke in parables and why we still puzzle over them.