LESSON 5
THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED
The Parable of the Mustard seed is the third parables that Jesus delivered in a boat on The Sea of Galilee to the crowd that gathered on the shore. Jesus referred these parables as the mysteries and secrets of the kingdom of heaven. It is one of the shorter parables, and in this parable, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a tiny mustard seed, one of the smallest seeds found anywhere in nature. Here Jesus is apparently stressing the ineffectiveness of the gospel. It doesn’t sound like much. You declare, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. For many people, it sounds good, but it isn’t very impressive. It’s so simple that even children can understand it. The world doesn’t seem to be overly excited about it. You do not find many universities dedicated to the gospel. But, when someone actually believes it, watch what happens. Let them start to trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, invite him into their lives, and the transformation will be amazing. It is the beginning of a radical change in their lives.
Jesus declares, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in the field. It is the smallest of all seeds, yet when full grown, it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and makes nests in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32).
This is the third of the seven parables. Note in the first two parables, the Lord gave us answers and explanations as to the sower, the seeds, the fields etc. This is the first parable that our Lord does not give us the interpretation, so because of what we learned from prior parables, he expects us to use the same principles he gave us in the first two to understand the others by utilizing the symbols our Lord used there, as well as other symbols that he employs in the scriptures. One of the basic laws of reading and understanding the Bible is that the Bible never uses a symbol in two contradictory ways. They remain consistent throughout the scripture.
One of the things Jesus teaches us throughout the Bible is to be aware of “false interpretations”. In studying this parable, I believe there are sites that have conflicting meanings as to this parable and have misinterpreted what our Lord is saying. It is therefore important that we look at each parable by using the guide given us by our Lord to interpret these parables. I will explain these conflicting meanings a little later in this study.
There are five symbols used in this parable. There is the sower, the field in which he sowed, the seed that is sown (the mustard seed), the tree which grows from the seed, and the birds that make their nests in its branches.
The first two symbols are easy to interpret. The sower is our Lord, “the Son of Man”. The field in which he sowed is the world. The seed that Jesus planted, in this case, is the mustard seed, the fourth is the tree and last is the birds.
Why did Jesus choose the mustard seed for this parable? Mustard has a pungent quality. It is biting, irritating, harsh, disturbing, hot & fiery, and this is what our Lord wants to convey. When I was a young boy, I heard my mom talk about a “mustard plaster”. She would tell me when she was young, if people had a bad cold or congestion in the chest, people would place it on their chest as a remedy. She explained that after about 5 minutes, it would become very unpleasant and begin to burn and cause much irritation. Thank goodness that I never had to go through that experience. Jesus used the mustard seed as symbol that he knew the people of that day would understand. This indicates that the message our Lord is portraying is that the kingdom of God is intended to stir up the people, be arousing, irritating, exciting either positively or negatively, to get people to engage in conversation. Jesus also states that the mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds. Jesus knew that there are seeds smaller than a mustard seed, so why did he say that the mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds? Again, we must put ourselves back into those times. Today we might say something is “as small as a flea”, or he’s “thinner than a pencil.” It was common in our Lord’s Day to say, “it’s as small as a mustard seed”. So, it is the smallest of all seeds is a proverbial expression common to the time.
Now, let’s move on to the “tree”. Our Lord said, … yet when full grown, it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and makes nests in its branches.” Here is the main point of the parable. Have you ever seen a mustard tree? No! Mustard is not a tree, and it is impossible for it to grow into a tree. Then, we must ask, why did Jesus say it did? The key is that Our Lord teaches us that this is not normal, it is abnormal as to what you would expect from a mustard seed. It is extremely unusual & abnormal growth for it to grow into a tree, and instead of the normal expected growth of this plant, the mustard seed, which is to be meek, modest and humble, there would be a large and abnormal growth into a tree.
What does this mean? Well, what are the characteristics of a true believer in the gospel? The gospel tells us that we are to be meek and have lowliness of heart, to get rid of pride, self-centeredness, and to be gentle toward others. This would be the normal result of the mustard seed’s growth.
Jesus said, “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” “He called a little child to him and placed the child among them”. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”. (Mark 18:1-4) Also, Jesus sitting down said to his apostles, “Jesus said, “He that is greatest in the kingdom of heaven must become the least all. If any would become great among you, let him become the servant of all”. (Mark 9:35).
So, if this is the normal result, what would be the abnormal or unnatural growth of the mustard seed? Some would be pride, arrogance, self-centeredness, domination of others etc. Please note that a tree in Scripture symbolically stands for power and authority. It seems Jesus is referring to the characteristics of the church. The early Christian church was a close-knit community of believers who devoted themselves to prayer, worship and sharing the Gospel of Jesus. They would meet and break bread together in each other’s homes. In the Book of Acts you never see a word about the church, as the concentration is on the Lord and the gospel. The Lord intended the church to be humble, meek and gentle, not to talk about itself, but what’s happened since then and into the 21st century. The church today has the bite of the true mustard seed, the great ability of a small speck of faith to grow and produce remarkable outcomes, as well as the unnatural growth into a great tree of authority and power. We have built great church buildings. The church has concerned itself with prestige status and power in the community and advertised and publicized itself to the world looking for admiration. The church has gotten involved in politics and in many cases seems more concerned with how many new church members they have obtained instead of just preaching the good word and helping its members.
We now come to the importance of the birds of the air that come and make nests in its branches. Remember, I mentioned earlier that we must be aware of possible false interpretations of the bible. There is an interpretation of this parable that says the birds of the air are songbirds, robins and bluebirds and are symbols of beautiful things which happen in the church. Well, all we must do is look at the first two parables because the Lord tells us what the birds mean. In his interpretation, the birds represented the evil one, the enemy. These birds are not songbirds, they are birds of prey, vultures, symbols of evil that reside and dwell in the church. The socialistic philosophies came along, the Bible was overthrown, and another gospel was substituted, and supernatural faith was denied. In many cases, the birds of prey moved right into the pulpits and men of true faith were driven out.
I have looked at many sites regarding the branches, and some say the branches represent the many divisions and denominations of Christendom, and others represent that the branches are symbols of how the Kingdom of God will spread and grow. In taking this parable in context, I lean to the former.
Despite persecution and repeated attempts to stamp it out, the church has flourished. And it’s only a small picture of the ultimate manifestation of the kingdom of God, when Jesus returns to earth to rule and reign. And it is important that we remember its characteristic of being pungent, biting and burning and emphasizing the Gospel of our Lord, but also do it in a way to keep a low profile, being gentle and careful not to elevate ourselves. The Parable of the Mustard Seed illustrates that faith, no matter how small it may appear, can grow and lead to great things, that essentially great things can come from small beginnings.
The Scripture says, one of these days our Lord is going to say to this ungainly tree of unnatural growth, “Be thou rooted up and cast into the midst of the sea” (Matthew 21:21), and it shall be done.
Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you”. (Matthew 17:20)
As I mentioned in Lesson #1, we all have our own ministry, and we are to work together to spread the word. If you’re not sure how to present some of what you’ve learned, just tell them to visit our free website. It can be done by just sharing this website with others.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about Scripture,
Until next time, peace, love and joy be with you.