Parables Of The Kingdom – The Third - The Mustard Seed - Part 1 Of 4 Series

PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM – THE THIRD - THE MUSTARD SEED - PART 1 of 4

[1]. INTRODUCTION

So far we have considered the Sower, and the Tares and the Wheat, but now we come to a new one. This might be a challenge for you if you only know the accepted meaning. It is most revealing.

We now come to the Parable of the Mustard Seed.

The mustard seed is the third Parable of the Kingdom. The parable has a cousin about a mustard seed but it totally unrelated – {{Matthew 17:20 and He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith, for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed you shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it shall move and nothing shall be impossible to you.”}}

When you read this you may find things you have not heard of before. That will be because for more than 500 years the wrong teaching has been applied to this parable, just as it is to the next one, the leaven. (I don’t mean to be pompous in any way). We should examine scripture in full context, not just accept something someone came up with a long time ago and it remains unchallenged.

We saw in the first two parables that each has its own meaning, then a double application to one of the Churches of Asia Minor to whom John wrote in Revelation 2 and 3; and there is also the application to Church History. Pergamon or Pergamum does the same. I will use the second spelling.

The parable is brief – {{Matthew 13:31-32 He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field, and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown it is larger than the garden plants, and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”}}

[2]. WHAT IS A MUSTARD SEED?

The parable Jesus gave does mention a tree but that is not botanically correct. Jesus mentioned a tree for a deliberate reason and we will see why He did that.

A condiment is made from the pungent seeds of the mustard plant. The mustard seed belongs to two main herbs of the family Brassicaceae. The principal seed types are white, or yellow, (Sinapis alba); a plant of Mediterranean origin, is probable the one Jesus refers to. Other varieties have brown seeds. Mustard seed was used medicinally by Hippocrates, among other ancient physicians. The seeds are nearly globular in shape, finely pitted, odourless when whole, and pungent-tasting.

[3]. AN OVERVIEW OF THE PARABLE

(a). A man sowed a mustard seed. He would hardly do that just for one seed but it is ONE SEED the Lord focuses on. This (these) seed/s were sown in a field. We may well ask, “What is the field and what does it represent?” Here is the first mention of “field” in Chapter 13 – {{Matthew 13:24 He presented another parable to them saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared with a man who sowed good seed IN HIS FIELD.”}}

The Sower was connected with the field; the tares grew up in a field; a treasure was in a field. What does this field represent? From the parable of the Sower we can deduce that as the Lord is the Sower, then the field is the world. The good seed of the gospel went into the world (Matthew 28:19), where figuratively the field represented the world.

Therefore all that pertains to this mustard parable must be related to the world, the whole world.

(b). The contrast. We have that contrast made between the mustard seed and the outcome which Jesus called a tree. The mustard seed is not tiny – many seeds are much smaller, but what the Lord is doing is making a contrast. That is, the size of the seed compared with what the seed became.

Typically, the mustard plant grows between 3 to 6 feet in height. Some are recorded a bit higher to around 10 feet but that is uncommon, and certainly not the mustard of the Middle East; it is from Asia, darker seeds. However you look at it, the seed grows to a plant, NOT to a tree. The big question is why did Jesus call it a tree.

(c). What did the tree become? This specimen Jesus was referring to became what the garden plants did not become. It became a tree. {{“but when it is FULL GROWN it is larger than the garden plants, and becomes a tree so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST in its branches.”}}. In other words this plant became what was not intended. It became a monstrosity of great size.