Tawa Baptist

The Mustard Tree

Scripture: Matthew 13:31-33

Video Link: https://youtu.be/kEpEo0T-vtg

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Transformation
  • Abundance
  • Usefulness
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

In our fridge at home, we usually have three different kinds of mustard: mild mustard, which we use on hot dogs and sausages, whole grain mustard, which has a bit more of a kick to it, and Dijon mustard which is useful for making salad dressings.  

Mustard is used all over the world as a condiment or a spice in cooking, from India to Europe, to the Middle East and the Americas, as well as Tawa.

Mustard requires just four ingredients to make: seeds from the mustard plant, vinegar, salt and water.

Today we continue our Testimony of Trees series by focusing on the mustard tree. Three of the four gospels record Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed. Our message today draws on Matthew’s version, which also includes Jesus’ parable of the yeast. From Matthew 13, verses 31-33 we read…   

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” 33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty poundsof flour until it worked all through the dough.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

If you google images of heaven you tend to get pictures of blue sky and rays of light shining through the clouds. But this is not the image Jesus gives of heaven. The images Jesus uses for the kingdom of heaven are very down to earth. A common mustard seed and yeast for baking bread. 

The kingdom of heaven is not so much a geographical location. It’s more a state of being in which God’s will is done perfectly. The kingdom of heaven (also known as the kingdom of God), is characterised by justice and mercy, truth and grace. It is a community of lasting peace, joy and love.

The parables of the mustard seed and the yeast are both telling us something about the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven (come to earth) is about transformation, abundance and usefulness. We begin with transformation…

Transformation:

Most of you will have heard of the story of the Ugly Duckling. A mother duck is sitting on her eggs and one of the eggs is larger than the rest and takes longer to hatch. Then, when it finally does hatch, out crawls a drab grey looking creature, not a beautiful yellow chick.  

The ugly duckling looks and feels different to everyone else and because of this he is teased and taunted by the other ducks until finally he leaves home.

But the ugly duckling doesn’t fare much better out in the wide world, because all the other birds he meets also point out his flaws.  

The ugly duckling manages to survive one catastrophe after another until eventually makes it through the winter. Then one spring day, when the lake has melted, some children start throwing bread for him to eat.

And as they do they say to each other, ‘look at that beautiful swan’. The ugly duckling thinks the children are talking about someone else and so he looks down. But as he does, he sees his reflection in the water. He can’t believe his eyes. He was never a duckling in the first place. He had always been a swan.

Now he is able to find his own kind and is welcomed by them

The story of the Ugly Duckling is a parable of transformation, from humble beginnings to a beautiful end. The kingdom of heaven (or the way of God) is like the ugly duckling: different, misunderstood, abused and rejected at first. But in the end God’s will proves perfect and pleasing.

How often do we resist or even despise the will of God, finding it too distasteful, too difficult, too embarrassing, too small or too inconvenient, only to learn in the fullness of time that God’s will was the best thing to have happened to us, better than we expected or imagined.

Although the kingdom of heaven starts out small (like a mustard seed) it finishes up the largest of all garden shrubs. Likewise, although only a small amount of yeast is used in baking, it permeates through a large amount of flour, transforming it into delicious, nourishing bread. 

We note that the yeast permeates the flour from the inside. The kingdom of heaven is not a violent take over from the outside. The kingdom of heaven (like yeast) transforms the world, quietly, from the inside out.

Implied in these parables is an encouragement to persevere. It’s like Jesus is saying, I know the kingdom of heaven doesn’t look like much to start with, but don’t despise small beginnings. You will be surprised to see what comes of it. God’s kingdom (in its fullness) is worth remaining faithful for.  

Jesus was the original ugly duckling.

Jesus was born of a virgin and people questioned his parentage.  

Jesus came as a carpenter, when people were expecting a warrior king.

Jesus spoke the truth, and people threw him out of the synagogue.

Jesus cast out demons, and people accused him of being the devil.

Jesus ate with sinners, and people called him a glutton and a drunkard.

Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead, and people crucified him.

But that is not the end of the story, for Jesus embodies the kingdom of God in himself. Jesus is like the mustard seed and the yeast. Jesus’ coming has a transformational effect on the world.

After Jesus died, they laid him in a tomb and on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead, the first of many. If you confess with their mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

The parables of the mustard seed and the yeast show us that the kingdom of heaven, coming to earth, involves a process of transformation. Heaven’s humble beginnings on earth are a complete contrast to its glorious end.

So hang in there – persevere – for God’s kingdom is worth it in the end.           

The parables of the mustard seed and the yeast show us the kingdom of heaven is about transformation and abundance.

Abundance:

In verse 32 of Matthew 13 Jesus says that though the mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree…

Now in reading this we need to remember, Jesus is not giving a scientific lecture on seeds and plants. This is not a botany lesson. This is a kingdom of heaven lesson. It would be a mistake to test the truth of Jesus’ words using a scientific method. A parable is like poetry, it uses a certain amount of creative license to get the point across.

Jesus’ point is not that mustard seeds are the smallest seeds in all of creation. Mustard seeds are about 2-3 mm’s in diameter. Obviously there some seeds (or spores) which are smaller.

Nor is Jesus saying that mustard trees are the tallest of all trees. A mustard tree might grow between one and two metres tall, maybe more if conditions are right, but we are not talking the height of a kauri tree or an oak.  

Nevertheless, in the context of a herb garden, mustard seeds are tiny in comparison to the size of a mustard tree. And that is the point. From one tiny seed comes an unbelievable transformation and abundance.

You don’t see a lot of mustard trees growing in New Zealand, but you do see quite a bit of gorse. Gorse is not like mustard in every way, but it is similar in some ways.

Gorse and mustard plants are around the same size and both come out in a bright yellow flower. What’s more they are both abundant. Gorse and mustard plants are so quick to self-seed and spread they are considered an invasive weed by some people.  

As many of you will already know, gorse is not native to New Zealand.

Gorse was introduced to New Zealand a couple of hundred years ago from Scotland, I believe, where it is used as an ornamental hedge.

The settlers who introduced the gorse plant to New Zealand did not expect it to become so pervasive. The climate in New Zealand is warmer and so gorse plants grow more rapidly here and are harder to control.

Despite the millions spent on herbicides, slashing and burning, gorse is still found everywhere in New Zealand. In fact, gorse is so resilient that burning just makes it spread further

I imagine it must have come as quite a shock to Jesus’ first century listeners when he compared the kingdom of heaven to a mustard plant. They would have been expecting Jesus to say the kingdom of heaven is like a tall cedar of Lebanon, just as we might expect him say the kingdom of heaven is like a mighty Totara of Aotearoa.

Instead, Jesus uses a far more ordinary image, the image of a common shrub that was actually unwanted by many. It would have seemed strange to Jesus’ original audience when he said, a man took a mustard seed and planted it in his field. Why would anyone intentionally plant mustard seed in their field. That would be like a farmer intentionally sowing gorse seed.

But despite being unwanted at first, the kingdom of heaven is resilient.

Not only do we get such an abundance of it from a small seed, once the kingdom of heaven is sown it is practically impossible to get rid of.

The kingdom of heaven spreads everywhere like mustard plants in Palestine or like gorse in New Zealand.

The parable of the yeast also speaks to the abundance of the kingdom of heaven. In verse 33 of Matthew 13 Jesus says: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty poundsof flour until it worked all through the dough.”

60 pounds is an enormous amount of flour, more than you would normally bake for a family. It would make enough bread to feed a small village.

But that’s the point. Jesus is drawing a comparison between the small beginnings of the kingdom of heaven and the abundance it produces.

This idea of God’s abundance is often lost on us. We live in a society and culture which is more focused on scarcity and missing out. Our economy is driven by demand and supply which assumes there isn’t enough to go around, because sometimes (due to greed) there isn’t enough.

Not so in God’s country. The underlying assumption of the kingdom of heaven is abundance (due to generosity) with more than enough for everyone. Just imagine how different life will be when heaven is realised on earth in its fullness.   

The parables of the mustard seed and the yeast show us the kingdom of heaven is about transformation, abundance and usefulness.

Usefulness:

When I was a teenager living at home, we used to grow mustard plants in the vege garden. Once the mustard plant got to a certain height (and before it went to seed) I would dig the foliage back into the soil. The green leaves acted as a fertiliser replenishing the soil’s nitrogen levels.

The mustard plant is useful for more than just fertiliser though. Indeed, the whole of the mustard plant is edible. The roots can be mashed up into a paste to be eaten. The leaves of a young mustard plant can be used in a salad and the seeds from the flowers are used to make the mustard you put on your ham.

In this way, the mustard plant is different from gorse. I wouldn’t advise trying to eat gorse, although goats have been known to feed on it.

Jesus finishes the parable of the mustard tree by saying: it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.

Birds do in fact find sanctuary in the branches of the mature mustard tree, but this is a parable and so the word, birds, has a double meaning. The prophets Daniel and Ezekiel used the image of birds perching in a tree as a metaphor for the gentile nations. 

Many of Jesus’ Jewish audience, therefore, would have understood the birds of the air to be a poetic reference to non-Jews. Once again, Jesus’ parable probably grated with some of his listeners. The nation of Israel, at that time, was under the thumb of the Romans. Some of Jesus’ Jewish listeners would have preferred God to destroy the people of other nations, not create a sanctuary for them.

There is one other way in which the mustard plant is similar to the gorse bush. Just as a mustard plant provides sanctuary for birds, so too the gorse bush is useful in providing a nursery for New Zealand native trees. If you leave gorse undisturbed, native seedlings will grow up through it, protected by the gorse.

In much the same way that gorse is useful for regenerating native bush, so too the kingdom of heaven is useful for regenerating the souls of people of all nations.

We are talking about the usefulness of the kingdom of heaven. In thinking about Jesus’ parable of the yeast, the question of usefulness should be obvious. Bread feeds people.

More than that, fresh bread baked with yeast is usually more pleasant to eat than unleavened flat bread. The yeast of God’s kingdom makes all that it comes in contact with more palatable, more delightful.

Now in case you are thinking, ‘this is just poetry and clever story telling with little or no application to real life’, let me give you some examples of how the mustard seed and the yeast of the kingdom of heaven has made a significant impact on human history (as if the impact of Jesus himself is not obvious enough).

The first hospital was set up by a Christian woman called Fabiola of Rome. Fabiola lived during the fourth century, about 350 years after Jesus. Fabiola came from a wealthy noble family and was married off at a young age to a husband who proved to be abusive and probably unfaithful.

Fabiola found the courage to divorce her brute of a husband and start again. She had to really, for her own survival.

After the death of her second husband, Fabiola had a conversion experience. She used her wealth to build a hospital in Rome where she gave herself to caring for the poor and the sick, those rejected by society because of their illnesses.

You have to understand that there were no hospitals in ancient Rome. The poor would often die in the street. 

Fabiola’s idea of a hospital caught on and spread around the world. Where would we be today without hospitals? Hospitals are like mustard trees in which the sick and injured find sanctuary. There are other examples too of the mustard seed of God’s heavenly kingdom taking root and having a positive effect in the world.

In his sermon last month, Murray Lucas highlighted Christians like Robert Boyle, John Dalton and Michael Faraday who rescued science from the blind superstition of the dark ages, giving us a more reliable scientific method which has enabled the advances in medicine we have today.

Closer to home, many of you will be familiar with the story of Ngakuku and his daughter Tarore. A mustard seed of heaven found its way into Ngakuku’s heart and mind, transforming his way of thinking and living.

Jesus taught us to pray: …forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us…

Ngakuku took Jesus’ words to heart. When Tarore was murdered, Ngakuku was determined to forgive those who killed his daughter. Ngakuku discouraged his people from seeking revenge and God honoured Ngakuku’s faith and obedience to Christ.       

Tarore’s killer found a Māori translation of the gospel of Luke in Tarore’s pocket. When someone read the gospel to him, a mustard seed of heaven found its way into his heart and he sought forgiveness from Tarore’s father.

That is the kingdom of heaven at work in people’s lives and relationships.

Small seeds of love and truth growing and spreading to make a positive difference where it matters. What other mustard trees of heaven do you see in the world today?

Conclusion:

The mustard seed and the yeast of the kingdom of heaven are at work all around us, silently and right under our noses. The question is not, what can we do to make the world a better place? The question is: how might we join God in what he is doing in the world?

Let us pray…

Gracious God, open our eyes to the mustard trees and the bread of the kingdom of heaven all around us. Help us to sow the seeds of your love and truth wherever we are. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. Do you have mustard at home (in the kitchen or in the garden)? What do you use it for?
  3. What are some of the characteristics of the mustard tree?
  4. What is the kingdom of heaven?
  5. In what ways is the mustard seed similar to the kingdom of heaven? In what ways is yeast similar to the kingdom of heaven?
  6. What mustard trees of God’s kingdom do you see growing in the world today? How might we join God in what he is doing in the world?
Tawa Baptist

Small Things

Scripture: Proverbs 30:24-31

Video Link: https://youtu.be/Jdd3YfZQhJ8

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Small things
  • Proud things
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Some would say that humility is the mother of all virtues. It is from humility that other virtues like patience, faithfulness, compassion and so on are born.

Rick Warren says, ‘Humility is not denying your strengths, humility is being honest about your weaknesses’. Charles Spurgeon said something similar, ‘Humility is the proper estimation of oneself’.

Humility then is closely related to honesty and truth. It is also the companion of wisdom. ‘True humility is staying teachable, regardless of how much you already know’.

Today we continue our series in the book of Proverbs, by focusing on chapter 30. Proverbs 30 contains the sayings of Agur. The main theme running through Proverbs 30 is the importance of humility and the danger of hubris or pride. 

Agur begins by saying he is the most ignorant of men. This is interesting, coming as it does near the end of the book. It is a little reminder to us that no matter how much we think we know, there is always more to learn.  

Agur also reinforces the point, made throughout Proverbs, that wisdom comes from knowledge of the holy one, from God.

We are not going to cover all of Proverbs 30 this morning. Just verses 24-31, which read…

24 “Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise: 25 Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer; 26 hyraxes are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags; 27 locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks; 28 a lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

29 “There are three things that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing: 30 a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing; 31 a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king secure against revolt.  

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

A riddle for you. What can you put in a bucket to make it weigh less? [Wait]

A hole. Our reading this morning has the sound and feel of a series of riddles.

In these verses we are presented with two sets of four things. The first set describes creatures that are humble and small but, despite their size, they thrive by wisdom.

The second set of four describes creatures that are proud and fearless in the way they walk. Sort of the opposite of the small wise creatures. Agur is inviting us to consider the contrast. Let’s begin with the small things. 

Small things:

The first of the four small but wise creatures is the ant. We came across the ant two months ago, in Proverbs 6.  

In Proverbs 30, the emphasis is on the ants’ foresight in gathering provisions in season. Relative to their body weight, ants are strong. But relative to a human being, a single ant is a creature of little strength and can be easily crushed.

Physical strength is less important, though, than wisdom. God has made this world so that it is not always survival of the strongest but rather survival of the wisest.

One wise thing about ants is that they work together. Working on your own (especially doing heavy physical labour) can be quite tough. But when you work as part of a team, there is a certain buoyancy or energy that carries you. Somehow the work doesn’t seem so overwhelming.

Ants survive and thrive by using whatever is at hand. Ants gather from the environment around them. They don’t sow crops, but they do harvest. Ants make do with what they can find.

One point of application is to open our eyes and notice what is in front of us. Sometimes, when we are facing a problem, we may look elsewhere for a solution, when God has already provided what we need in our own backyard.

The second of our humble but wise creatures is the hyrax, also known as the coney or the marmot or the rock badger. The hyrax is a small mammal, about the size of a rabbit.  

Its feet are made for climbing, which is handy for finding a home in rocky crags, where no one can touch them. Like ants, hyraxes use what is at hand in their local environment.

The hyrax has good eyesight and can spot a predator from around 900 metres away. For protection they live in colonies of up to 50 and tend to stay close together. There is wisdom in sticking together.

Hyraxes are not the same as ants in every way though. Ants are always busy, always on the move, always working. Whereas hyraxes don’t move much. Hyraxes have the ability to remain still and keep watch. Keeping still conserves energy and it avoids unwanted attention from predators.

There is wisdom in being still. To paraphrase Blaise Pascal: All human evil stems from a single cause, man’s inability to sit still in a room. We human beings have an unfortunate tendency to react out of fear or get involved in things that we should stay out of. The hyrax knows how to be still and mind its own business.

When was the last time you sat still in silence for half an hour and simply allowed yourself to be? It’s a lot harder than you might think.

The third of our small creatures is the locust. Locusts are like ants in that they have no king or commander and yet they are organized. They cooperate and work together as one. The focus here is on leadership.

For centuries the people of Israel managed without a king. They didn’t need an earthly king because God was their King. But then, in First Samuel, we read how the people asked for a king like the nations around them.

The prophet Samuel warned the people that a king would tax their income, take their sons off to war and place burdens on them. An earthly king is not unlike a swarm of locusts in what he devours.

But the people did not listen and so God gave them what they asked for. Suffice to say, it did not go well. Power is corrosive to humility. Power feeds the ego and distorts a person’s perception of themselves and those around them.       

The leaderless locusts pose the question: ‘What kind of people do you want to be – strong and led by a king? Actually, you don’t need that as much as you need wisdom.’ [1]

Time for another riddle. What month of the year has 28 days? [Wait]

All of them. Every month has 28 days.

In verse 28 we read of the fourth small creature that is wise: a lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

This verse is a bit of a riddle. I’m not sure what it means? Agur contrasts the lizard which is not powerful with the king who is powerful. Yet both share the same palace?

Is Agur saying that fortification and armed guards are no match for wisdom? Wisdom can breach the palace defenses in a way that military force cannot.

Or is he saying that wisdom is at home in the palace and that it is easily caught, like a lizard? The king needs to find wisdom in order to rule well.  

Or is Agur suggesting that kings are in some way similar to lizards? Is he saying that power attracts creepy crawly, reptile like people? Maybe. But not everyone in power is lizard like.

We do notice that lizards are different from ants, hyraxes and locusts in that lizards are not social creatures. The ant, the hyrax and the locust thrive in community together. Whereas the lizard is more territorial, more solitary.

Kings tend to be territorial as well. And the mantle of leadership is often lonely.  

Verse 28 remains a mystery to me. Perhaps that is the purpose of this riddle, to humble us. To show us how little we really know and therefore how important it is that we remain teachable.

Proud Things:

Okay, so we have touched on the small but wise things in verses 24-28. What about the proud and fearless creatures in verses 29-31. Let’s remind ourselves of what is written…

29 “There are three things that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing: 30 a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing; 31 a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king secure against revolt. 

The ant, the hyrax, the locust and the lizard were noted for being extremely wise, even though they are small compared to other creatures.

In contrast, the lion, the rooster, the he-goat and the king are noted for how they move. That is, the manner in which they carry themselves. How one moves has nothing to do with wisdom. How one moves is window dressing. It’s just advertising to create a desired perception. 

The smaller humble creatures get high praise, while the more powerful, stately looking creatures get a downgrade. What good is it to move with stately bearing? It’s almost like saying, the lion, the rooster, the goat and the king look impressive, but they are not that bright.    

Being brave and self-assured comes a poor second to being wise.

Perhaps we are meant to see some irony here. The he-goat and rooster are not like the lion. They are more like big fish in a small pond. Each would run from a lion. Which begs the question, is the king more like a lion or a farm animal? [2]

The goat and the rooster remind us there is folly in the small pretending to be great. The ant, the hyrax, the locust and the lizard are small but they do not pretend to be great. They embrace their smallness and use it to their advantage. 

Agur seems to be warning against illusions of grandeur. The message is, know yourself and your limitations. More than that, accept yourself and use what you’ve got to your advantage.

‘Humility is not denying your strengths, humility is being honest about your weaknesses’.

The hyrax has the humility and wisdom to accept its own strengths and weaknesses. The hyrax is good at climbing, but it is not a strong fighter. So, it makes a home in the rocky crags where predators cannot reach and therefore where it won’t need to fight.

The rooster seems to live in denial of its weaknesses and ends up on your dinner plate.

Parallel with this, Agur may be inviting us to discern what is a legitimate threat and what is not, so we make better choices for our own wellbeing.

The lion is an apex predator. Although lions do not normally hunt people, you wouldn’t want to get too close to one. Lions are wild creatures and do not follow any sort of moral code. They are driven by hunger, not mercy or justice. You are wise to stay well clear of lions.

Roosters and goats, on the other hand, may strut around like they own the place, but we don’t need to fear them. Roosters and goats look to us to care for them.

It’s similar with people. Some people are like lions. They are strong and powerful, a genuine threat. You cannot reason with them and so you are best to give them a wide berth. Other people though are more like roosters. They make a lot of noise and appear confident, but you don’t need to fear them.

The trick is being able to tell the difference. You don’t want to mistake a lion for a rooster.

The fourth thing that moves with stately bearing is, a king secure against revolt. This line can also be translated, a king with his army around him. Either way, there is an implied criticism here. If the king’s confidence is in his army or in the numbers supporting him, then he is not truly wise.

In Psalm 33 we read, ‘No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength… But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love…’

Real power comes from wisdom that fears God and acts uprightly. [3]

To ignore God is as arrogant and ridiculous as a strutting rooster or billy goat.

In short, when we put the small but wise creatures alongside the strong and proud, we see the power of the weak and the weakness of those in power.  

Conclusion:

What is as small as a mouse but guards a house like a lion? [Wait]

A lock.

Jesus liked riddles. Many of his parables contained riddles.

Jesus also liked to champion the small things of God’s creation.

In Matthew 13, the Lord says… 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

God’s kingdom may start small, but it grows and provides shelter for those who (like birds) are small but wise. Jesus followed this parable with a similar one…

33 “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty poundsof flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Yeast makes the dough rise. The yeast of God’s kingdom, which is small, has the wisdom to raise and transform whole households and communities. Indeed, the whole world.

Small things done with great love are the mustard seeds and yeast of God’s kingdom. The mustard seeds and yeast of God’s kingdom are in your heart and hands.

What small thing can you do with great love this week?

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? How can you make the most of both your strengths and weaknesses?
  • Discuss / reflect on what we can learn from ants, hyraxes, locusts and lizards. What do they share in common? How are they different? What do these creatures reveal about God?   
  • When was the last time you sat still in silence? What happened in the silence?
  • Discuss / reflect on what we can learn from the lion, the rooster, the he-goat and the king. How are they different from the small but wise creatures of verses 24-28?
  • Can you think of a time when someone did something small for you, with great love? What did they do and what affect did it have? What small thing can you do with great love this week?

[1] Paul Koptak, NIVAC Proverbs.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.