Matthew 13 provides eight parables (that is, stories) dealing with the kingdom of heaven. Though often over-complicated, the kingdom of heaven served as Jesus’ main analogy for God’s rule and reign in a person’s life. With the clarity of a prophet of old, Jesus knew that while the God of Israel was sovereign over all the earth, individuals must allow him to be sovereign in their lives. Matthew 13 demonstrates Jesus’ greatest attempt to make the worth of this kingship comprehensible.
The third parable in this robust chapter comprises the famous Parable of the Mustard Seed, following on the heels of the Parable of the Sower (or, the Parable of the Hearers) and the Parable of the Wheat and Tares (or, a Parable of Rewards). Like the previous two, this mini story frames the kingdom of heaven in agricultural terms, but his analogy grows substantially (pun intended) if we know something about a mustard seed and a mustard plant.
Jesus says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is similar to a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, such that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
The remarkable growth of the mustard plant provides the momentum for Jesus’ insight, while the smallness of the seed serves as secondary. As the greatest force on earth for what is right, true, and good, God’s reign in the lives of men ever expands and grows! Once working through a single man, Abraham, God’s kingship in the lives of mankind now extends around the globe! Jesus’ teachings and understandings of God serve to enhance that kingship.
Perhaps another aspect of this analogy latent in the understanding of a mustard plant is its survivability and hardiness. Those familiar with the mustard plant praise it for an exceptional ability to thrive in rugged heat and in soil with high salt content or low water availability. An extraordinary plant, mustard will find a way to survive where other plants wilt and die.
Along with its hardiness and astonishingly quick growth—from seed to a 20-foot plant in a few years—the mustard plant provides a safe gathering place in arid climates for birds, insects, and small animals with its dense foliage. This Jesus notes as a positive feature as well.
The mustard plant, almost tree-like in size, comes coded into a relatively small seed. Even though smaller seeds exist elsewhere in the world, Jesus’ parable emphasizes the resilient nature of God’s kingdom and its remarkable growth potential. Finally, like a mustard plant, God’s kingdom offers a safe refuge from the negative and wearying effects of evil in the world.
Packed into a small parable, like the mustard seed, this teaching of Jesus carries immense potential for demonstrating the traits and effects of God’s rule in our lives. May those of us in God’s kingdom live our lives like this noteworthy plant and its humble seed!
Kyle A. Kettering graduated from Xenia Christian HS in 1998, Cedarville University in 2004, and Nyack’s Alliance Theological Seminary in 2017 with a degree in Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins. He serves as a teaching elder at Church of the Messiah in Xenia.