Matthew 13:31

Mat_13:31-32

The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed,

The mustard seed

I.

The kingdom of heaven in the world is like a mustard seed sown in the ground, both in the smallness of its beginning and the greatness of its increase. The first promise given at the gate of Eden contained the gospel as a seed contains the tree. Never to human eye did the seed seem smaller than at the coming of Christ; the infant in a manger.

II. The kingdom of heaven Is A human heart is like a mustard seed, both in the smallness of its beginning and the greatness of its increase. In the design of God moral qualities hold the first place, physical magnitude is subordinate and instrumental. Origin imperceptible, result great, small on earth, it will be great in heaven. From the diminutive life of grace, the life of glory will grow. The kingdom of darkness also grows gradually from small to great; the first sin a small seed. (W. Arnot.)

A great growth from a small seed

The operation of the same law may be observed in later ages. In the Popish convent at Erfurt a studious young monk sits alone in his cell, earnestly examining an ancient record. The student is Luther, and the book the Bible. He has read many books before, but his reading has never made him wretched till now. In other books he saw other people; but in this book for the first time he saw himself. His own sin, when conscience was quickened and enlightened to discern it, became a burden heavier than he could bear. For a time he was in a horror of rent darkness; but when at last he found the righteousness which is of God by faith, he grew hopeful, happy, and strong. Here is a living seed, but it is very small: an awakened, exercised, conscientious, believing monk, is an imperceptible atom which superstitious multitudes, and despotic princes, and a persecuting priesthood will overlay and smother, as the heavy furrow covers the microscopic mustard-seed. But the living seed burst, and sprang, and pierced through all these coverings. How great it grew and how far it spread history tells to-day. We have cause to thank God for the greatness of the Reformation, and to rebuke ourselves for its smallness. (W. Arnot.)

The grain of mustard seed

I. We are taught by nature that small beginnings are, under God, productive of great ends.

II. We are taught it in the kingdom of providence.

III. We are taught it in the kingdom of grace. In the change produced upon the human heart. In the progress of the gospel (Psa_72:16). (J. Campbell.)

The mustard seed

The kingdom of heaven.

I. Its present apparent insignificance.

II. Its vitality.

III. Its future grandeur. It might seem less likely to prevail and to become a universal benefit, than some other contemporary systems or influences. Christ, as a Jew belonged to the exclusive people. He was rejected by His own people. The few who were attached to Him misunderstood His teaching. After the resurrection His kingdom became slightly more visible. But our Lord was confident even under adverse conditions; His truth was of the nature of a seed. What is the vital element in Christianity but the wisdom and beauty of His teaching. Not the holiness of His life, or the love He showed, but the revelation of God in Him which draws men to Him; in His death our Lord points to the eventual greatness of His kingdom. It has indeed become a tree. To all disheartened in work; we must not measure work by size but by vitality. Have we joined the Church because it is large or because it is living. (M. Dods, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 13:31-32. Another parable put he forth — The two former parables relate chiefly to unfruitful hearers: the two that follow, to those who bear good fruit. The kingdom of heaven — Both the gospel dispensation in the world, and the kingdom of grace in the souls of true believers, especially the former; is like to a grain of mustard-seed — Small and contemptible in its beginning. Which is indeed the least of all seeds — “That is, of all those seeds with which the people of Judea were then acquainted. Our Lord’s words are to be interpreted by popular use. And we learn from this gospel, Mat 17:20, that like a grain of mustard-seed was become proverbial for expressing a small quantity.” But when it is grown, it becometh a tree — The term tree is applied by botanists to plants of the larger kind, which grow to the magnitude of shrubs, and for that reason are termed plantæ arborescentes: and “that there was a species of the sinapi, [mustard seed,] or, at least, what the Orientals comprehended under that name, which rose to the size of a tree, appears from some quotations brought by Lightfoot and Buxtorf from the writings of the rabbles, men who will not be suspected of partiality when their testimony happens to favour the writers of the New Testament.” “The Talmud mentions a mustard-tree so large that a man might with ease sit in it; and another, one of whose branches covered a tent. And it is certain we shall be much mistaken if we judge of vegetables or animals, in the eastern and southern countries, merely by what those of the same species are among us.” — Doddridge. Thus, from small beginnings, will the Christian doctrine spread in the world, and the life of Christ, or true religion, in the soul.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THIRD PARABLE — The Mustard Seed, Mat_13:31-32.

31. Another parable — The parable of the mustard seed is a sort of supplement to the parable of the tares and wheat. It supplies what that had omitted, namely, the fact that while the wicked would not be destroyed, yet the kingdom of God should be progressive and triumphant on the earth. Though there should be no millennium by the destruction of the wicked, yet there may be one by the growth of the cause of righteousness. The kingdom of heaven is in this parable, as in the last, the divine administration, and the field is again the world. The Church is here not the wheat, but the mustard seed, sown by the same divine hand as the wheat. If it was discouraging to the disciples to learn that the wicked would not be destroyed, yet it was cheering to know that righteousness, however small its beginning, would triumph on the earth.

Like to a grain of mustard seed — The plant here spoken of was probably the “Khardal” or Turkish mustard, (botanically the Salvadora Persica,) which from a very small seed grows to a tree with a wooden fibre, and to such a size that it can be climbed by a man; and so it truly becometh a tree. It produces numerous branches and leaves, among which birds may and do take shelter, and build their nests. Such is the statement of Dr. Royle, Art. Sinapi, Kitto’s Encyc. Prof. Hackett, after long and doubtful search, found on the plains of Akka, on the way to Carmel, a little forest of mustard trees which he thus interestingly describes: “It was then in blossom, full grown, in some cases six, seven, and nine feet high, with a stem or trunk an inch or more in thickness, throwing out branches on every side. I was now satisfied in part. I felt that such a plant might well be called a tree, and, in comparison with the seed producing it, a great tree. But still the branches, or stems of the branches, were not very large, or, apparently, very strong. Can the birds, I said to myself, rest upon them? Are they not too slight and flexible? Will they not bend or break beneath the superadded weight? At that very instant, as I stood and revolved the thought, lo! one of the fowls of heaven stopped in its flight through the air, alighted down on one of the branches, which hardly moved beneath the shock, and then began, perched there before my eyes, to warble forth a strain of the richest music. All my doubts were now charmed away. I was delighted at the incident. It seemed to me at the moment as if I enjoyed enough to repay me for all the trouble of the whole journey.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat_13:31. Mustard seed.—It is disputed whether the allusion is to the Sinapis or common mustard plant, or to the Salvadora Persica of European botanists. Dean Plumptre suggests that the name was probably used widely for any plant that had the pungent flavour of mustard. Dr. W. M. Thomson remarks that the mustard seed was the smallest of the seeds which the husbandman was accustomed to sow, while the plant, when full grown, was larger than any other herb in his garden (see R.V., “greater than the herbs”). Of the Salvadora Persica Dr. Royle says: “The nature of the plant is to become arboreous, and thus it will form a large shrub, or a tree, twenty-five feet high, under which a horseman may stand, when the soil and climate are favourable. It produces numerous branches and leaves, under which birds may and do take shelter, as well as build their nests; and its seeds are used for the same purposes as mustard.” Proverbial sayings of the Rabbins which take the mustard seed as the representative of smallest objects are collected by Wetstein.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_13:31-33

The growth of truth.—These two parables are regarded by some persons as a kind of counteractive to the preceding two. In the parable of the sower we are warned not to expect fruit from every description of soil. In the parable of the tares we are taught that there may be evil fruit even where good fruit is produced. What we seem now taught is that, even so, there is another side to the case. Truth will grow and the gospel prevail, notwithstanding these drawbacks. This will be the case, first, in the world. This will be the case, next, in men’s hearts. So (with many) we understand the two parables now before us.

I. In the world.—On this point the parable of the “mustard seed” is thought to instruct us the most. The truth of the gospel has already been compared to a seed. In that comparison there are more than one “seeds of hope,” as it were. There is one such, e.g., in what we see of the nature of seed, specially of such a seed as that specified now. Proverbially small as the “mustard seed” was, we yet see in it, as we see in all other seed, a thing meant to increase. We see in this seed, indeed, a thing meant to increase in a proverbially remarkable way. So much so, that, in few cases is there a greater difference in magnitude between beginning and end. Witness what was true about it in connection with the “birds of the air.” Not improbably only such eyes as theirs could see it at first. Afterwards even whole flocks of them could find shelter in its branches. That was an exact picture of what was to be true of gospel truth in the world. Utterly insignificant as it might appear at first amongst other influences in the world, it would so grow in time that many of those other influences would be glad of its protection at last. This is to be true, also—here is another ground of hope—from the very nature of growth. How does the mustard seed grow in the ground? Only, as it were—apart from Divine influence—through that which belongs to itself. Certainly it owes nothing, in this way, to the wisdom, or skill, or might of the hand which “casts it” into the ground. All the materials, on the contrary, necessary for its increase, it collects for itself. All the energies, also, necessary for assimilating and transmuting that which it collects, it contains in itself. Given only the soil, in fact, and the requisite heat and proper humidity, and that tiny seed will ultimately build itself up into its farthest subsequent “growth.” And even so is it, again, with that truth of God of which that seed is a figure. God’s creative hand has given it such intrinsic force that it is able to “grow of itself” (cf. Mar_4:28). And nothing is wanting, therefore, on man’s part, except to give it the opportunity for so doing. A great encouragement, indeed, when we remember the magnitude of the task which it has to accomplish; and a sure ground of confidence among all the difficulties and hindrances of the case.

II. In men’s hearts.—Here the other parable, that of the leaven, is considered to teach us the most. And a new figure is supposed to be used because both a new locality and new exigencies are here referred to. A previous parable (Mat_13:18-23) showed us what were the chief obstacles to the growth of truth in men’s hearts, viz. want of attention, want of consideration, want of thorough sincerity. In this parable we seem taught how that truth itself is calculated to overcome them. For what does “leaven” do, when “hid” as here, in a collection of meal of the ordinary amount of “three measures”? It begins at once to turn the portion next it into that which is identical with itself. And, having so begun, it goes on, naturally, to do the same in the rest of the “lump,” working through all, and by all, everywhere, till the whole is leavened. The word of God is calculated to do just the same with regard to man’s heart. Once “hid” there, there is a power about it which tends to assimilate all it finds there to itself; and to do this, also, in an increasing degree, till it has assimilated all to itself. And that, also, whatever the nature of the “hand” which “hid” it therein. This is thought to be the reason why we are told here, finally, that the “leaven” was employed by a “woman”—the usual agent to be employed in all cases of this kind. The thing, in a word, for our thoughts to fix on is the “leaven” itself. “The entrance of Thy Word giveth light” (Psa_119:130).

If these interpretations of these two parables are accepted, one cannot but admire the wonderful way in which experience has fulfilled them.

1. In the world.—Every record of sustained missionary effort has illustrated the parable of the mustard seed. Most of all has the history of the church at large. What was the gospel when this parable was spoken? In the eyes of the world a thing too small to be seen. What is it now? With all drawbacks, with all rivalries, with all corruptions and treacheries, the mightiest force upon earth.

2. In the heart.—The story of the “leaven” has been the story of every converted soul from the first. “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth” (Joh_17:17). That has been the assimilating energy which has wholly “leavened” the “lump” (cf. Psa_119:11; Psa_37:31).

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat_13:31-33. Parables of the mustard seed and the leaven.—We are now to see Christianity from the inside, as a hidden life which must put forth its own indwelling strength, and make its own way in the world. A little attention to the two emblems before us will show that this is the central idea common to both. Yet each presents that truth on a different side.

1. The parable of the mustard seed.—When our Lord first spoke of seed He meant by it the word of God. Next, He used it for those men themselves in whom God’s word quickens a religious life. Now you have, instead of numerous and separate corn-seeds in the field, one single seed only, which bears the many branches of God’s great kingdom upon a single stem, to be nurtured from one root. By this last modification of the emblem, are we not carried down to the ultimate fact that, though Christians are many, they are but one after all in the secret source of their life? That the kingdom of the church is a unity springing from the solitary Seed-corn who flung Himself into this world’s soil, and died that He might bear upon Himself the entire spiritual fruitage of humanity as a vine bears shoots and grapes? Here we have, at least, one beautiful and suggestive lesson in the first parable, which is absent or less obtrusive in the other. For the lump of dough, even when leavened, though it may be made into one loaf, possesses no such living unity as belongs to a plant. We measure roughly with the eye the power of growth which resides in a plant by the disproportion we discover betwixt the smallness of the seed and the largeness of the perfect plant. Now of this the mustard formed an excellent, familiar instance. On this point of comparison rests the stress of the parable. Christianity is not only a creation of the Saviour’s own life, it is the work and monument of the most extraordinary spiritual force we know.

II. The parable of the leaven.—Both parables represent progress; but in the mustard seed progress means growth, in the leaven it means change. Again, we have a small beginning and a large result. The real point of consequence is the alteration of the mass into a new character through a foreign substance introduced into the heart of it. What our attention is now to be fixed upon is, that the gospel works upon human society, not merely grows up within it. It grows by altering and assimilating what it finds. It is a regenerating principle, transforming into its own character the nature and the lives of men. One can readily see how a system so many-sided as the kingdom of God should be incapable of exhaustive treatment under any single emblem. Yet the use of this particular emblem must strike us as strange. For it was very closely associated in a Jew’s mind, not with grace but with sin. How came our Lord to employ the same figure which had for ages set forth the permeating power of sin, to set forth the permeating power of grace? Was it for this reason that simply to cast out the old leaven, were that possible, would be inadequate? The gospel is not a merely negative process. There is a new leaven as well as an old. There is need for the new to undo and reverse the action of the old.

Lessons—

1. The source of Christian life is not in me, it is not in my fellow Christian; it is in the Root that beareth both of us.

2. The life of Christ, if it is to do its work upon us, must do it in the way of change and overcoming.

3. It is by individual effort and personal influence that the blessing spreads.—J. O. Dykes, D.D.

Mat_13:31-32. Rise and progress of the church.—

I. Compare the insignificance of Christianity at first.—

1. Unostentatious worship.

2. Simple teaching.

3. Social position of Apostles.

4. Small number of disciples.

II. Careful planting of Christianity.—

1. A single seed taken.

2. Designedly sown.

3. In a chosen place.

III. Rapid growth of Christianity.—See history of church in first three or four centuries.

IV. Phenomena consequent thereupon.—Birds come.

1. Men who first opposed come for their own ends.

2. Men for their salvation.

3. Christians lodge there, and draw others, as singing birds attract by their song.—J. C. Gray.

Mat_13:33.Leaven.—

I. The working of evil.—As our Lord’s eye travelled over the field of common life it rested on one phenomenon, which, habitual and ordinary as it was, nevertheless had a look in it of something abnormal and sinister—the working of leaven. This did not seem at first sight to belong to the more regular processes of nature. Man’s imagination had been long struck here by a likeness to something dark and ominous and evil—this strange disturbance into which the natural substances are thrown by the arrival of this alien matter. What did it express? Was it healthy? Was it not typical, rather, of disease and corruption? It looked so uncanny, so uncomfortable. This mysterious tumult—surely, men said, here is the very picture of what we mean by the nature of sin. They might use it, indeed, for the homeliest affairs, but still it had become to them a type of evil; its working seemed to embody the dreadful character of the mystery of evil, so proverbially it had a sinister significance, and the Bible always, with this one exception, uses it with this meaning. “Know ye not,” saith St. Paul, “that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” So he spoke as if he detected in the Corinthian church the germ of some hateful growth—that sin which they had moving in their midst as a focus of fermentation, a spot of disease spreading and festering till its restless irritation, its feverish energy would be felt everywhere. “Do ye not know well how a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” Or, again, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” So our Lord Himself used the metaphor. Leaven would obviously image that working of the spirit of the Pharisees, that spirit which so insidiously crept in unseen within the very heart of goodness, within the very core of the moral will, and thence it sent its noxious, turbid, infected motions, till, like an evil possession, it permeated the entire man. Beware of that leaven. And then how deeply was this impression intensified by the sacred memory of the Jews’ great feast of deliverance, the Feast of the Passover. There, at that hour of high thanksgiving, in grateful remembrance of the redemption that once for all brought them up out of the darkness of Egypt, the Jew was summoned year after year, to cast out of his house every fragment of the evil leaven that recalled the black days of sin and servitude. Such was the Jew’s natural memory of leaven, and we can well understand what force it would lend to St. Paul’s appeal to this ancient feeling as he bade those Corinthians “Purge out the old leaven that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened,” etc. (1Co_5:7-8). Leaven was popularly, was instinctively, a metaphor that suggested the mystery of iniquity, the working of evil.

II. The beginning of good.—But our Lord, as His eyes rested on its familiar use, as He caught sight of this or that woman inserting the little piece of sour dough into two or three large measures of meal, saw a symbol, a type which He might use for the portrait of His own kingdom. This, you say, is the well-known way in which evil creeps. Well, it is a strangely effectual way, it is typically complete; why not turn it to good use?

III. The leaven in the church.—If we turn our eyes to what claims to embody and represent the kingdom of heaven, we need again and again to recur to this parable. For here, too, there is such a huge mass of matter involved that has suffered no change to pass over it; it lies there within the church, sluggish and heavy. How little the surface of this church speaks of the spiritual thrill that is alive within it; how much of it is blindly unconscious of the secret it enshrines! God can be patient as the woman that watches the three measures of meal. A little leaven will at last, if you give it time, leaven the whole lump. Christ is our leaven. That is our sole security, and that security is alsolute.—Canon H. Scott-Holland.

Leaven as a symbol of Christianity.—

I. Christianity is really alive.—“Careful investigation has shown that the process of fermentation entirely depends upon the presence and growth of certain living organisms forming the ferment” (Roscoe). Christianity is itself a living, breathing presence, not a mere dull, dead thing; a life not a book; a Person, and that Person our Friend and Saviour, our Reconciliation and our Rest, our Hope and our Victory. The rule of God is not like a set of parchment laws stored in the archives of a government library; not like a telephone dependent upon the skill and activity of the worker; not like an empire directed by an absentee ruler; no it is like leaven, it is alive.

II. Christianity is at work as well as alive. It is characteristic of leaven to show an almost insatiable greed of activity. It is a type of stupendous increase. “The globular or oval corpuscles which float so thickly in the yeast as to make it muddy, though the largest are not more than one two-thousandth of an inch in diameter, and the smallest may measure less than one seven-thousandth of an inch, are living organisms. They multiply with great rapidity by giving off minute buds, which soon attain the size of their parent, and then either become detached or remain united, forming compound globules. Yeast will increase indefinitely when grown in the dark” (Huxley). In no point is the Teacher’s simile better sustained by facts than in the unspeakable and irrepressible activity of the gospel. It is a living force.

III. Christianity, like leaven, works in a congenial and much assisting sphere.—It is hid in meal, the material which has an affinity for it and upon which it is specially fitted to act. The leaven is placed where it is wanted, where it can work, and where it can work with success. Leaven is not better suited to work in meal than Christ in men’s hearts for their salvation.

IV. The most distinguishing feature of leaven is that it leavens the meal in the midst of which it is placed.—So the most characteristic effect of Christianity is that it christianises men; it assimilates them to Christ by filling them with the life of Christ. He puts His life into each part of a man.

1. The life of His thoughts into his thinking.

2. The life of His love into his heart.

3. The life of His righteousness into his conscience.

4. The life of His obedience into his will.

V. The leaven moreover is hidden in the meal, and all the work it does, it does secretly.—Christ’s best, most real, and most powerful work is always unseen.

VI. But it advances victoriously and totally.—“Till the whole is leavened.” It is so in:

1. The individual.

2. Nations. Christ speaks of a woman as putting the leaven into the meal. Does He thereby indicate that Christianity is to be propagated by the winning forces of tenderness, and sympathy, and fulness of grace, so characteristic of woman, rather than by the rougher forces of this world, the sharpness of swords and the strength of States?—John Clifford, D.D.

Similitudes used in opposite senses.—The appropriation by Christ to His kingdom of a similitude which had previously been applied in an opposite sense, may be illustrated by many parallel examples in the Scriptures. Of these, as far as I know, the different and opposite figurative significations of the serpent are the most striking and appropriate. A similar example occurs in the parable of the unjust steward; it teaches that the skill of the wicked in doing evil should be imitated by Christians in doing good (W. Arnot, D.D.). In different passages the lion is used as a figure of Satan, but also of Christ; the serpent as a figure of the enemy, but also of the wisdom needful to the Apostles; birds as a figure of believing trustfulness, but also of the devil catching away the Word.—J. P. Lange, D.D.

Reformation from within.—There are two ways in which you may revolutionise any country or society. You may either pull down all the old forms of government, or you may fill them with men of a different spirit. A watch stops, and somebody tells you it needs new works, but the watchmaker tells you it only needs cleaning. A machine refuses to work, and people think the construction is wrong, but the skilled mechanic pushes aside the ignorant crowd, and puts all to rights with a few drops of oil. “Your bread is unwholesome,” says the public to the baker, and he says, “Well, I’ll send you loaves of a new shape;” but the woman of the parable follows the wiser course of altering the quality of the bread.—M. Dods, D.D.

Inwardness.—The soul of all improvement is the improvement of the soul.—H. Bushnell, D.D.

Christianity as leaven.—Sir Bartle Frere speaking of the gradual change wrought by Christianity in India, says in regard to religious innovations in general, “They are always subtle in operation, and generally little noticeable at the outset in comparison with the power of their ultimate operation.”

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED

Mat 13:31-32, & Mar 4:30-32. “And He said, To what must we liken the kingdom of God? or in what parable may we expound it? It is like a grain of mustard, which, when it may be sown upon the earth, is the smallest of seeds which are upon the earth, and when it may be sown and becomes greater than all the herbs, and produces great branches, so that the fowls of the air are able to lodge under its shadow.” Mark says, “And when it may grow up, it is the greatest of herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the fowls of the air come and lodge in its branches.” Our Savior was speaking on the bank of the Galilean Sea, near Capernaum, where the mustard plant grows spontaneously, very numerous, and quite large, high as a man’s head, with spreading branches, so as to shade the birds, as Mark says, or even bear some of them on its branches. As it is designated an herb, it is highly probable that was the mustard to which our Savior made the allusion. The dragomen who escorted us in that country gave it as their opinion that the herb was really the mustard here used to symbolize the kingdom. It is also a matter of fact that there is a tree in Palestine called “mustard,” from the pungency of the seed, imparting a burning sensation when taken into the mouth, and thus resembling the mustard plant. This tree grows up about thirty feet high, spreading out its branches very copiously, and thus fulfilling the description with reference to the lodgment of the aerial tribes. You will find specimens of this tree at the Fountain Engedi, at the southern terminus of the Dead Sea. (Eze 47:12.) In the Parable of the Sower, which is a part of this same sermon, you see the fowls gathering up the seed sown by the wayside emblematized devils. We see no reason why we should change the application in this parable. While the kingdom of grace, originating in a community from the smallest beginning, will gradually spread throughout the whole country. Fifteen hundred years ago, St. Patrick was carried by kidnapers into Ireland, and sold into slavery, quite in his boyhood. This godly youth preached the gospel, which spread over the entire island. You know how corrupt, superstitious, and priest-ridden Romanism has blighted that country a thousand years. Can you not see how the filthy, destructive fowls of the air-i.e., the demons from the bottomless pit--came and took possession of the gospel-tree, lodging in its branches and devouring the fruit? The gospel is rapidly spreading throughout the whole earth. Yet if you will follow in its track, you will see the air darkened by the black wing of the ravens, devouring the fruit, and polluting the tree by their contaminating touch. The great Churches of the Old World, which numerically throw Protestant America into eclipse, have long ceased to show up a trace of spirituality, having apparently degenerated to the level of mere politico-ecclesiastical institutions.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:31-33 Jesus used surprising, evocative imagery in these parables, either to emphasize the inevitable growth of the Kingdom through proclamation of the gospel or, more probably, to emphasize the contrast between insignificant beginnings and glorious consummation, and to exhort the disciples to patience (see also 16:24–17:13).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 13:31. Ἄνθρωπος, a man) The similitude is here taken from a man, as in Mat 13:33, from a woman; cf. Luk 15:4; Luk 15:8.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_13:31. Σίναπι] a herbaceous plant that, in the East, sometimes attains to the height of a small tree; Celsii Hierob. II. p. 250 ff. In Attic Greek it is called νᾶπυ, Phrynichus, ed. Lobeck, p. 228. Inasmuch as the plant belongs (Mat_13:32) to the order of the λαχάνα, it is unnecessary to suppose, with Ewald (Jahrb. II. p. 32 f.), that it is the mustard-tree (Salvadora Persica, Linnaeus) that is intended; comp. in preference the expression δενδρολάχανα (Theophrastus, h. pl. i. 3. 4).

λαβών] an instance of the usual circumstantiality (comp. Mat_13:33), but not intended to convey the idea of the care with which so tiny a seed is taken into the hand (Lange).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 13:31-35 . The Mustard Seed and the Leaven (Luk 13:18-21 (both); Mar 4:30-32 (Mustard Seed)). A couplet of brief parables of brighter tone than the two already considered, predicting great extensive and intensive development of the Kingdom of God; from Luke’s narrative (Mat 13:10 ), apparently part of a synagogue discourse. It is intrinsically probable that Jesus in all His addresses in the synagogue and to the people used more or less the parabolic method. To this extent it may be literally true that “without a parable spake He not unto them” (Mat 13:34 ).

Mat 13:31 . σινάπεως : from σίναπι , late for νάπν in Attic, which Phryn. recommends to be used instead (Lobeck, 288).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God beginneth his kingdom with very small beginnings, to the end that by the growing on of it, beside the expectation and hope of all men, his mighty power and working may be the more set forth.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field;

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 31. The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed] This parable is a representation of the progress of the Gospel in the world; and of the growth of grace in the soul. That grace which leads the soul to the fulness of glory may begin, and often does, in a single good desire - a wish to escape hell, or a desire to enjoy God in heaven.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(31) The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed.—The two parables that follow are left without an explanation, as though to train the disciples in the art of interpreting for themselves. And, so far as we can judge, they seem to have been equal to the task. They ask for the meaning of the Tares, but we read of no question about these.

It is scarcely necessary to discuss at any length the botany of the parable. What we call mustard (Sinapis nigra) does not grow in the East, any more than with us, into anything that can be called a tree. Probably, however, the name was used widely for any plant that had the pungent flavour of mustard, and botanists have suggested the Salvadora persica as answering to the description. (See Bible Educator, I. 119.)

The interpretation of the parable lies almost on the surface. Here again the sower is the Son of Man; but the seed in this case is not so much the “word,” as the Christian society, the Church, which forms, so to speak, the firstfruits of the word. As it then was, even as it was on the day of Pentecost, it was smaller than any sect or party in Palestine or Greece or Italy. It was sown in God’s field of the world, but it was to grow till it became greater than any sect or school, a tree among the trees of the forest, a kingdom among other kingdoms (comp. the imagery of Eze_31:3; Dan_4:10), a great organised society; and the “birds of the air” (no longer, as before, the emblems of evil)—i.e., the systems of thought, institutions, and the like, of other races—were to find refuge under its protection. History has witnessed many fulfilments of the prophecy implied in the parable, and those who believe that the life of Christendom is an abiding life will look for yet more.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31. which a man took, and sowed] “Which when it is sown,” St Mark, who thus does not name an agent, the planter of the seed.

in his field] “into his (own) garden,” St Luke, with special reference to the land of Israel.

31–33. (1) The Parable of the Mustard Seed. (2) The Parable of the Leaven which leavened the Meal.

(1) Mar_4:30-32. (1) and (2) Luk_13:18-21

The “mystery” or secret of the future contained in these two parables has reference to the growth of the Church; the first regards the growth in its external aspect, the second in its inner working.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Another parable spake he unto them,.... To the disciples and the multitude, and which was of the same kind, to the same purpose, and relating to the same subject as the former; the spread of the Gospel, and the increase of it in the world,

The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven. The word "leaven" is every where else used in a bad sense; and either designs immorality, as malice and wickedness, or false doctrine, such as that of the Pharisees and Sadducees: but here it seems to be taken in a good sense, and the Gospel to be compared unto it; nor for its disagreeable qualities, but on account of its small quantity; it is a little leaven that leavens the whole lump, and may express, as the grain of mustard seed does, the small beginnings of the Gospel, and its meanness in the eyes of men; and on account of its piercing, penetrating, and spreading nature: so the Gospel reaches the conscience, pierces the heart, enlightens the understanding, informs the judgment, raises and sets the affections on right objects, subdues the will, and brings down all towering thoughts, to the obedience of Christ, in particular persons; and has penetrated and made its way, under divine influence, through towns, cities, kingdoms, and nations: also on account of its heating, swelling, and assimilating nature; so the Gospel, where it takes place, warms the affections, causes the heart to burn within, inspires with zeal for God, and Christ, and the Gospel; it swells and fills churches with such as shall be saved, and assimilates the several persons it operates in, makes them like one another, one bread, one body, having like precious faith, knowledge, and experience, though in a different degree,

Which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal. By the "three measures of meal", are meant the elect of God; who, because of their nature and quality, are compared to meal, or fine flour; and that because of that of which it is made, wheat, to a corn of which Christ is compared, Joh 12:24 and by whose grace the saints are what they are, justified, regenerated, and sanctified; and on account of the manner it becomes so, as by grinding the wheat, sifting it when ground, and separating it from the bran; all which may express the first convictions in the conscience of awakened sinners, the grace of God in conversion, and the separation of them from the rest of the world, in the effectual calling; as also by reason of its choiceness, purity, and goodness, the saints being chosen of God and precious, and being pure and spotless, through the grace and righteousness of Christ, and being highly valued, and had in great esteem by him; and because of their quantity, are compared to three measures of meal. The measure here designed, is the Hebrew seah, which held a gallon and an half, and three of these made an ephah; and which is often rendered by the (a) Targumists, , "three seahs", or "measures", the very phrase here used; and the reason why three are particularly mentioned is, because such a quantity used to be fermented and kneaded by women at one time; see Gen 18:6 and for the further illustration of this, take the following passage out of the Talmud (b),

"The wise men say, that three women may be employed in one lump of dough; one may knead it, another may make it into loaves, and another may bake it--and it is a tradition,

"that in wheat they use three kabs", or "measures", and in barley four "kabs".

These measures, as here used parabolically, may design the small number of God's elect; and, as some have thought, may have respect to the three then known parts of the world, where they were, or should be: by the woman that took and hid the leaven in these measures, is meant, either the church, sometimes compared to a woman in Scripture, Rev 12:1 or the ministers of the Gospel, wisdom's maidens; or rather, Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God; see Pro 9:1 and the reason why a woman is mentioned is, because it was, with the Jews, the work of women to ferment the flour, knead the dough, and make the bread: and this action of taking and covering the leaven in the meal, may denote the power of Christ, in opening the heart, and putting in the Gospel, which unless he takes in hand, and uses, is ineffectual; as also the passiveness of men, under the first workings of the Spirit of Christ upon their souls, by the Gospel; and likewise, the secret and invisible power of divine grace, operating by the ministry of the word, upon the heart,

Until the whole was leavened: to be "leavened" by the Gospel, is to be evangelized by it, to be brought into the life and liberty of it, to a Gospel way of living by faith on Christ; to derive all peace, joy, and comfort from him, and not from any works of righteousness; and to have a man's obedience influenced by the love of God, so as to do it cheerfully, and without dependence on it. Now the Gospel, where it has entrance and takes place, powerfully and effectually, continues to operate more or less, as the leaven in the meal, until the whole man, soul and body, all the faculties of the soul, and members of the body, are influenced by it; and will continue with power and efficacy in the world, and church, until all the elect of God are wrought upon by it, and are brought in. There is a late ingenious interpretation (c) of this parable, which, since the word "leaven" is elsewhere always used in a bad sense, deserves consideration; according to which, this parable expresses not the spread of truth, but of error; by "the woman" is thought to be meant, the Apocalyptic woman, the woman spoken of in the Revelations, the whore of Rome, the mother of harlots; and the "leaven" which she took, the leaven of false doctrine and discipline; by her "hiding" it, the private, secret, artful methods, false doctrines, and bad discipline were introduced, and the gradual progress thereof; and by the "three measures of meal", the bishops and doctors of the church, among whom this leaven was spread, and who were fermented with it; particularly those three bishops of Rome at first, Sosymus, John the faster, and Boniface the third; which by degrees spread itself, until the whole Christian world was affected with it; and for a long time lay hid and undiscovered, till the Lord raised up Wyclif, John Huss, Jerom of Prague, Luther, and other reformers. The reader may choose which interpretation he likes best,

(a) Targum Onketos & Jarchi, in Exod. xvi. 36. & Targum Jon. in Ruth ii. 17. (b) T. Hieros. Pesachim, fol. 30. 2. (c) Vid. Teelman. Specimen Explic. Parabolarum, p. 64, 65, 66, 67, 68.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:

Ver. 31. Is like to a grain of mustard seed] "Which soon pierceth the nostrils and brain," as Pliny noteth, {a} and "hurteth the eyes," as the very name in Greek importeth. {b} But that which our Saviour here observeth, and applieth in it, is the smallness of the seed, the greatness of the stalk or tree that comes of it, and the use of the branches, for birds to build in. This grain of mustard seed sowed, in the word preached: which though it seem small and contemptible, proves quick and powerful. Hitherto fly the birds of the air, God’s elect, for shade in prosperity, for shelter in adversity. Yea, as the trees of America, but especially of Brazil, are so huge, that several families are reported to have lived in several arms of one tree, to such a number as are in some petty village or parish here: so is the growth of the gospel, it runs and is glorified, 2Th 3:1, as the Jerusalem artichoke overruns the ground, wheresoever it is planted. It was a just wonder how it was carried, as on angels’ wings, {c} over all the world by the preaching of the apostles at first, and now again, in the late Reformation, by Luther and some few other men of mean rank, but of rare success. These were those angels that came flying with the everlasting gospel (no new doctrine, as the adversaries slander it) in the midst of heaven, or between heaven and earth, Rev 14:6-7; because their doctrine at first was not so clearly confirmed to others, not so fully understood by themselves Melancthon confesseth, Quod fugiamus habe mus, sc. Pontificios: quos sequamur, non intelligimus. And Cardinal Wolsey (saith the same Melancthon), reading the Augsburg Confession, saith, "that our cause concerning the righteousness of faith was stronger in the confirmation than in the confutation of the contrary opinion." Quod verum est, as he there yieldeth quia facilius construere in sophisticis quam de struere: In physicis contra. But our John Wycliffe, long before Luther, wrote more than 200 volumes against the Pope. {d} The Lady Ann, wife to King Richard II, sister to Wenceslaus, King of Bohemia, by living here was made acquainted with the gospel. Whence also many Bohemians coming here, conveyed Wycliffe’s books into Bohemia; whereby a good foundation was laid for a future reformation. After this, were stirred up there by God, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague; who so propagated the truth in that kingdom, that in the year of Christ 1451 the Church of God at Constantinople congratulated to the University of Prague their happy beginnings, and exhorted them to perseverance. For before, the Hussites, by the mediation of Queen Sophia, who favoured them, had obtained of the king the free exercise of their religion throughout Bohemia. Howbeit, soon after this, they suffered great persecution by the Popish party, who yet could say no worse of them than this: In their lives they are modest, in their speeches true, in their love one towards another fervent; but their religion is incorrigible, and stark naught, saith Jacobus Leilenstenius the Dominican. And why stark naught? Reinerius, another of their persecutors, shall tell you. Their doctrine, saith he, "is most pestilent, 1. Because of so long standing. 2. Because so far spread. 3. For their show of purity, &c." {e} This paved a way for the great work which Luther began in Germany, the last of October, 1517. And it was strangely carried on: 1. By diligent preaching. 2. Printing good books. 3. Translating the Holy Scriptures into common languages. 4. Catechising of youth. 5. Offering public disputation. 6. Martyrologies. Here in England was a great door opened at the same time, but many adversaries. The establishing of that Reformation, how imperfect soever; to be done by so weak and simple means, yea, by casual and cross means (saith one), {f} against the force of so puissant and political an enemy, is that miracle, which we are in these times to look for. It is such a thing (saith another) as the former age had even despaired of, the present age admireth, and the future shall stand amazed at. {g} King Henry VIII, whom God used as an instrument in the work, had first written against Luther, and afterwards established those six sacrilegious articles. And sitting in parliament, he thus complained of the stirs that were made about religion. "There are many," saith he, "that are too busy with their new sumpsimus, {h} and others that dote too much upon their old mumpsimus." {i} The new religion, though true, he and they all, for the most part, envied: the old, though their own, they despised. John Frith withstood the violence of three of the most obstinate among them, Rochester, More, and Rastal: whereof the one by the help of the doctors, the other by wresting the Scriptures, and the third by the help of natural philosophy, had conspired against him. "But he, as another Hercules," saith Mr Fox, "fighting with all three at once, did so overthrow and confound them, that he converted Rastal to his part: Rochester and More were afterwards both beheaded for denying the king’s supremacy." Reformation hath ever met with opposition, and never more than now, men fighting for their lusts, which they love as their lives, and are loth to part with. But Christ shall reign when all is done: and those golden times are now at hand, that the new Jerusalem, which signifies the state of the Church in this world, when it hath passed the furnace of affliction, presently upon it shall be all of fine gold. Let us contribute thereunto our earnest prayers and utmost pains, not abiding among the sheepfolds with Reuben, nor remaining in ships with Dan, &c., Jdg 5:16-17; not standing off, and casting perils, as the priests and Levites in Hezekiah’s days, 2Ch 29:11; but beginning the reformation, as Gideon did, at our own hearts and houses, lest, with Uzziah, instead of making up the breach, we prove makers of breaches. Were our dangers greater, thy single reformation may do much to prevent them, Jer 5:1. As, were our hopes greater, thy sin and security may unravel them, and undo all, Ecc 9:18. One sin destroyeth much good: be moving therefore in thine own orb, and bestir thee as Nehemiah did, trading every talent wherewith Divine Providence hath intrusted thee for Jerusalem’s welfare; giving no rest either to thyself or to God, as his remembrancer, until he have established, and made her a praise in the whole earth, Isa 62:6-7.

{a} Sublimis fertur, quando non aliud magis in nares et cerebrum penetrat. Pliny, xx. 22.

{b} Σινηπι παρα το σινεσθαι τους ωπας, Heb. iv.

{c} Evangelium tam celeri volatu ferebatur, et quidem spatio menstruo per universam Germaniam, et aliquot regiones exteras, ut ipsi Angeli cursores, et huius doctrinae praecones ess viderentur. Melch. Adam.

{d} Scripsit plus quam 200 volum. contra Papam. Pareus in rev 146.

{e} In moribus et vita sunt boni, veraces in sermone, in caritate fraterna unanimes: sed fides eorum est incorrigibilis et pessima. Eorum doctrina maxime est noxia. 1. Quia diuturnior. 2. Generalior. 3. Ob speciem puritatis.

{f} Sir Edw. Sands’ Relat. of West. Relig.

{g} Eccles. Angl. reformationem desperasset aetas praeterita, admiratur praesens, obstupescet futura. Scultet. Annul. dec. 2. ep. dedicat.

{h} A correct expression taking the place of an incorrect but popular one (mumpsimus). ŒD

{i} One who obstinately adheres to old ways, in spite of the clearest evidence that they are wrong; an ignorant and bigoted opponent of reform. ŒD

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See also Mar 4:30-32. The kingdom of heavens See the notes at Mat 3:2. It means here either piety in a renewed heart or the church. In either case the commencement is small. In the heart it is at first feeble, easily injured, and much exposed. In the church there were few at first, ignorant, unknown, and unhonored; yet soon it was to spread through the world.

Grain of mustard-seed - The plant here described was very different from that which is known among us. It was several years before it bore fruit and became properly a tree. Mustard, with us, is an annual plant: it is always small, and is properly an herb. The Hebrew writers speak of the mustard-tree as one on which they could “climb,” as on a fig-tree. Its size was much owing to the climate. All plants of that nature grow much larger in a warm climate, like that of Palestine, than in colder regions. The seeds of this tree were remarkably small, so that they, with the great size of the plant, were an apt illustration of the progress of the church and of the nature of faith, Mat 17:20.

“I have seen,” says Dr. Thomson,this plant on the rich plain of Akkar as tall as the horse and his rider. It has occurred to me on former visits that the mustard-tree of the parable probably grew at this spot, or possibly at Tabiga, near Capernaum, for the water in both is somewhat similar, and so are the vegetable productions. To furnish an adequate basis for the proverb, it is necessary to suppose that a variety of it was cultivated in the time of our Saviour, which grew to an enormous size, and shot forth large branches, so that the fowls of the air could lodge in the branches of it. It may have been perennial, and have grown to a considerable tree; and there are traditions in the country of such so large that a man could climb into them; and after having seen “red pepper” bushes grow on year after year, into tall shrubs, and the “castor-bean” line the brooks about Damascus like the willows and the poplars, I can readily credit the existence of mustard-trees large enough to meet all the demands of our Lord’s parable. - “The Land and the Book,” vol. ii. p. 101.

Young converts often suppose they have much religion. It is not so. They are, indeed, in a new world. Their hearts glow with new affections. They have an elevation, an ecstasy of emotion, which they may not have afterward like a blind man suddenly restored to sight. The sensation is new and especially vivid, yet little is seen distinctly. His impressions are indeed more vivid and cheering than those of him who has long seen and to whom objects are familiar. In a little time, too, the young convert will see more distinctly, will judge more intelligently, will love more strongly, though not with so much “new emotion,” and will be prepared to make more sacrifices for the cause of Christ.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 31, 32. The parable of the mustard seed. Parallel passages: Mar_4:30-32 Luk_13:18, Luk_13:19. The central thought of the parable is the growth of the kingdom of heaven considered externally. Although it has small beginnings, it is to have a marvellous expansion, so that even those who naturally are outside it are glad to avail themselves of its protection. Observe that we have no right to limit its growth either to the reputation of its principles alone or to the power of its organization; both are included.

Regarded as a prophecy, the parable is partially fulfilled every time that a heathen nation places itself under the protection of a Christian nation, and more truly fulfilled whenever a nation accepts Christianity as its own religion. It is parodied when a nation or a collection of nations submits its political freedom to the dictates of claimants to spiritual superiority, whether these claim to have received such superiority as an inheritance from the past, or to have acquired it in the present.

Another parable put he forth unto them (ver. 24, note), saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto (ver. 24, note; also Mat_11:16, note) a grain of mustard seed. "The Common Mustard of Palestine is Sinapis nigra, of the order Cruciferae, the Black Mustard, which is found abundantly in a wild state, and is also cultivated in the gardens for its seed. It is the same as our own Mustard, but grows especially in the richer soils of the Jordan valley to a much greater size than in this country. We noticed its great height on the banks of the Jordan, as have several other travellers; and Dr. Thomson remarks that in the Plain of Acre he has seen it as tall as a horse and its rider" (Tristram, "Nat. Hist. of Bible," p. 472, edit. 1889). Which a man took. The insertion of labwn is probably to exclude the idea of a chance sowing. True that the seed might, under certain circumstances, then grow as well, but the reality which is being described was the result of long and deliberate purpose. (Tit_1:3 1Pe_1:20) And sowed in his field. "His garden" (Luke) suggests a piece of ground that was at once smaller and more cared for.

Vers. 31-33. The mustard seed and the leaven.

These parables illustrate the worldwide growth and influence of the kingdom of heaven. It might not be wonderful that a peasant living in remote Syrian highlands should have dared to predict such a vast future for his work if he were only speaking in the enthusiasm of hope; but it is the wonder of the ages that the Galilaean predictions have been verified by history, which has proved that the Speaker uttered true words and was able to realize what he foretold. Let us consider the prophecy in the light of its fulfilment. The two parables set forth two different phases of the extension of the kingdom.

I THE VISIBLE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM ITSELF.

1. It appears in a small beginning. Christ gathered about him a little group of fishermen; there was the kingdom, but as yet a minute seed. How many of the best movements spring from small beginnings the river from the brook, the man from the child, the city from the hamlet, the empire from the city! History forbids us to despise the day of small things. It is better to begin obscurely and grow, than to commence with a flourish of trumpets, raising expectations which we may not be able to fulfil.

2. It contains a centre of life. The pebble will not grow. Multitudes of small ventures are destined to remain small or to fade away altogether. It is only the vital seed that grows. There is a life-principle in Christianity. Christ himself is in it.

3. It has a great development. The mustard seed becomes a tree. The little group of disciples becomes a world wide Church. Christ has large aims, and he accomplishes them. He has not yet seen the full growth of the seed he sowed. Christianity is still spreading spreading in heathen lands as in no previous age; it has in it vitality enough to fill the whole world.

4. Its growth is beneficial to the world. The kingdom of heaven is not a deadly Upas tree; it does not destroy all other Jives in fostering its own life. The mustard tree furnishes night shelter for the birds; the kingdom of heaven is a great refuge for helpless, benighted souls.

II THE INVISIBLE INFLUENCE OF THE KINGDOM. It works like leaven in a mass of meal.

1. It spreads through the world. The gospel has a marvellous penetrating influence. Early Christianity extended itself without any organized method of propagation, reaching all classes of society and touching remotest regions. There is a happy infection in Christian truth. A saintly example is healthily contagious.

2. It influences the world. The whole mass of meal is leavened. Christ gives us a leaven of society, not merely a new life to be in society and to spread itself, growing and multiplying, but a transforming and uplifting influence. Left to itself the world is dead. The gospel comes as a ferment, breaking up the old lethargy and rousing fresh activity. It affects every part of life, and whatever it affects it assimilates to itself. We are not to think of the kingdom of heaven standing aloof from the world, which is to be let lie in its own deadness. It is sent into the world that it may benefit the world. Plunged into the midst of society, it works for the benefit of society. Commerce, science, literature, art, politics, social order, and domestic life are all sought out by the Christian spirit, and as they come under its influence they are purified and quickened. Seeing that the influences of the gospel are destined to be so widespread and manifold, it becomes us not to cramp them by any narrowness of our own, but rather to further them with courageous hopefulness. W.F.A.

Vers. 31, 32. (see also Mar_4:30-32 Luk_13:18, Luk_13:19) The herb that is a tree.

Note, in introduction, how much of most relevant suggestion is comprised in this very brief parable, not nevertheless of the essence of its direct meaning or direct object. E.g. is it not almost a parable within a parable to be able to observe on the appropriateness of the use of the illustration of the small mustard seed, and the seed instanced being such kind of seed as the mustard seed, to characterize Jesus Christ himself (the Sower of the seed of the kingdom) as well as that kingdom which he sowed? Another very relevant suggestion, as just intimated, springs out of the character of the mustard seed, its own intrinsic quality for fragrance, pungency, power to bring out flavour, either adding to that with which it is used, or counteracting it, or so combining with it as to make a new tertium quid. And so once more a most relevant suggestion springs out of the descriptive touch respecting the birds that fly to its shadow by day and its hospitable lodging by night. The subject, however, of this parable is of course still illustration of the kingdom of heaven, in some one certain respect or more. As the first parable was an illustration of it, ever applicable and on the broadest foundation; and the second, one still ever applicable, but intensely important as it might be, and that especially in its far reachingness, yet somewhat more limited in its scope; so we shall be sure to find the specialty of this third parable stamped unmistakably upon it. Notice that it is distinctly foretold that

I THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS TO HAVE ITS OWN DEVELOPMENT; IT IS TO GROW OF ITSELF AND FROM ITSELF. Wherever it is, whatever it works upon, whatever it may attract to itself, it shall receive into itself; leave some of it, take some of it, incorporate this, have one body and one spirit, and own to no rival.

II THAT DEVELOPMENT WILL IN NO SENSE BE SIMPLY COMMENSURABLE WITH ITS BEGINNING, EVEN WHEN EVERY ALLOWANCE SHALL BE MADE FOR THE ORDINARY MEASURE OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BEGINNING AND THAT TO WHICH IT MAY GROW. It will contradict and gloriously disappoint untaught expectation. No mere proverbial oak from acorn will suffice to set forth the development this growth will attain. The only analogy that wilt suit will be the example of something that is indeed perfectly natural, but looks something other than natural. Wide nature, the work of God, will indeed find the analogue, however humble the scale of it. This is a very small seed, and its proper growth a herb; but the herb refuses to answer very strictly to its own sort, and waxes into a tree; and shows the features and properties of the tree, "shooting out great branches." So is the kingdom of heaven. And whether the seed be called that which was once found in the manger, or that which was once found in the tomb, it seemed small indeed neither at the former time nor at the latter was it counted for anything but a thing to be disregarded and despised yet to what was it to grow!

III THAT GROWTH FROM SMALLEST SEED, THAT KINGDOM FOUNDED FROM HOST UNPROMISING MATERIAL, SHALL PROVE ITSELF NOT A GROWTH OF MERE GRANDEUR TO BEHOLD, NOT A MONUMENT OF HUMAN PRIDE OF POWER AND CONQUEST; BUT A RESORT OF HEAVENLY SHADE, HEAVENLY SAFETY, HEAVENLY REST A HEAVENLY HOME FOR ALL THAT WILL, SEEK IT, FOR ALL THAT WILL WING THEIR FLIGHT, WEARY OR GLAD, TO IT. This tree is in a new sense the tree of life, offered to all, and as free to all as air, and. spreading branches, and whispering winds, the breath of morning, or the sweet sighings of evening, with their invitations, could make it, for all birds and "fowl of every wing" that fly under heaven. B.

Vers. 31-35. Parable and prophecy.

The spirit of prophecy in ancient times enshrined itself in parables. The prophecy of Balaam, accordingly, is called "his parable". (Num_23:18) Under the parable of two eagles and a vine Ezekiel shows forth the judgments of God upon Jerusalem for revolting from Babylon to Egypt (Ezekiel 18; see also 24:3; Mic_2:4-6; Hab_2:6). So are the parables of Christ prophetic. Observe

I THAT JESUS TAUGHT IN PARABLES IN PURSUANCE OF PROPHECY.

1. The end of that teaching was predicted.

(1) The end was to hide the saving truth from those who proved themselves unworthy of it. Our Lord did not assume the parable until his plainer teaching, with its miraculous demonstrations, had been wickedly rejected.

(2) This judgment upon the proud, obstinate, and sensual people was foretold (cf. Isa_6:9-12; see homily on vers. 10-17).

(3) The parable, at once, so wisely enshrined the saving truth as richly to reward the diligence of the prayerful. To these the parables of Christ are the utterance of "things hidden from the foundation of the world". (cf. Rom_16:25 1Co_2:7 Eph_3:9 Col_1:26)

2. So was the means to the end.

(1) Asaph, to whom the authorship of the psalm cited by Matthew in the text is ascribed, was a "seer," or prophet. (see 2Ch_29:30) Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he predicted that Messiah should speak to the people in parables. For the psalm itself contains no parable.

(2) In uttering these "dark sayings," Messiah was to "establish a testimony in Jacob," and to appoint "a law in Israel". (Psa_78:5) These are distinct from the testimony and Law from Sinai, which were given long before the days of Asaph or David. What, then, can they be but the law destined to emanate from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem? (cf. Isa_2:3)

(3) The psalmist, moreover, speaks of these as to be "given to the generation to come;" literally, "the latter generation," or the generation of the latter days.

(4) In this mysterious teaching, therefore, Jesus exhibited another mark of his Messiahship. The unbelieving Jews seek in vain for any mark of Messiahship which is not verified in him.

II THAT THE PARABLES BEFORE US MAY BE VIEWED AS PROPHECIES.

1. They describe the gospel in its feeble beginning.

(1) How apparently insignificant is the grain of mustard seed! So apparently insignificant was Jesus in his feeble infancy; in the meanness of his circumstances; in the social grade of his few followers. Fishermen of Galilee! "Hath any of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees?

(2) How apparently insignificant is the lump of leaven as compared with the lump of meal! How are these words of Jesus uttered in the air of Galilee so to multiply as to reverberate in every human ear the world over? How is this company of fishermen to preach the gospel to every creature?

2. They describe the gospel in its secret power.

(1) The grain of mustard seed is small; but it is a seed. It has in it an unlimited power of growth and multiplication. So Jesus has in himself illimitable resources. See his power flashing from him in miracles. Physical. Moral.

(2) The "little leaven," also, possesses wonderful potency. The word of Christ differs from every other word in that it carries in it the energy of omnipotence. During the first year of the ministry of Jesus we read of seventy disciples." Note: They were not seventy units, but seventy preachers. In three years "the number of the names was one hundred and twenty." After the outpouring of the Spirit the disciples multiplied by thousands . (Act_2:41 Act_4:4)

(3) The gospel has not only won its converts by millions, but it has demolished the idolatrous systems of the classic nations. It is now undermining the colossal systems of the East. It is in the van of all true science and civilization.

3. They describe the gospel in its ultimate triumph.

(1) These parables do not predict that the visible Church by the gospel is to convert the whole world before Christ comes again. For this would oppose his own teaching, as when he advises us that at his coming the moral state of the world will sadly resemble that of the antediluvians in the days of Noah. (see Luk_17:24-30) Paul also declares that "in the last days perilous times shall come;" that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived". (2Ti_3:1, 2Ti_3:13)

(2) The interval of the seed lying in the soil is that portion of the parable of the mustard seed to which may be compared the period through which we are passing, extending from the first to the second advent of Christ. So with the leaven. Leaven works secretly in the meal for a long time before its power is visible in a universal commotion. As yet the kingdom of God is without observation. It comes secretly in the heart without ostentation or display.

(3) The parables carry us beyond the time of the coming of Christ. They carry us forward to the millennium, in which season the grain of mustard seed will have become a great tree, in which the birds of the air all nations and peoples will find rest and shelter. (cf. Psa_80:9, 11 Isa_60:1, 2 Amo_9:15) Then will the work of the leaven be visible in the whole lump. "We cannot consider these words, the whole, less than a prophecy that the leaven shall yet pervade all nations and purify all life" (Trench). Note: The gospel, like leaven, works silently and insensibly in the heart. (see Psa_119:11) The Word, like fermenting leaven, is quick and powerful. (Heb_4:12) It works "until the whole is leavened," or brought into similitude to itself. Leaven does not work in corn unground. So neither does the gospel work on the unbroken heart. The similes in these parables are encouraging to those who work for Christ and souls. The same gospel which now converts the individual believer will convert the race in the coming age. J.A.M.

-The hope that may be in little things.

Dr. Royle thinks the mustard is the plant called in Syria khardal, and known to botanists as the Salvadora persica. From a small seed it grows into a considerable tree, and its fruit has a pleasant aromatic taste; birds like it much, and frequent the branches. It is said that it grew abundantly on the shores of the Lake of Galilee, and so came under Christ"s direct notice. But Dr. Thomson thinks the khardal was very rare in Palestine, and that our Lord referred to the common wild mustard, Sinapis nigra, which grows to a considerable height as tall, indeed, as a horse and his rider. To call the mustard the least of seeds was a proverbial expression of the time. It was the least that the husbandman would sow, and is fittingly taken as a type of little things that have great possibilities in them.

I CHRIST"S KINGDOM ADVANCES BY GROWTH. That is, by unfoldings out of rather than by additions to. It is as a tree rather than as a house. Compare the mechanical extension of a religion, as in the case of Mohammedanism; and the miraculous extension of a religion, which would tend to destroy its moral character. If Christ"s kingdom spreads by growth, we should not expect forced leaps, though we may look for periods of fuller flowing life, such as is the spring time of nature. Christ"s kingdom comes by the "out-populating of the Christian stock," and by the outreaching of the Christian example and influence.

II THE GROWTH OFTEN STARTS FROM VERY MINUTE BEGINNINGS. Illustrate:

1. By the mustard seed, the acorn, or the cedar cone.

2. By the Christian Church in Europe, which began with the woman Lydia at Philippi.

3. By the unfoldings of missionary enterprise.

4. By the Sunday schools, which started in an effort to save a few children from the street.

5. By instances of persona! Christian labour. A youth"s prayer unfolded into the Young Men"s Christian Association. Never "despise the day of small things," or miss the opportunity of doing a little.

III THE GROWTH MAY AT LAST REACH GLORIOUS RESULTS. A little seed, scarcely covering a spot, may grow to spread its branches in the sky. Illustrate from the Christian Church of today, which is represented in well nigh every land. Do you say, "The results are not yet"? That is only the result of your mode of reckoning. If the kingdom be a life, if it be righteousness and mercy, then the kingdom is nearer its full triumph than we have imagined. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He proposed to them another parable - The former parables relate chiefly to unfruitful hearers; these that follow, to those who bear good fruit. The kingdom of heaven - Both the Gospel dispensation, and the inward kingdom. Mark iv, 30; Luke xiii, 18.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

kingdom

2 Another parable

The parable of the Mustard Seed prefigures the rapid but unsubstantial growth of the mystery form of the kingdom from an insignificant beginning Act 1:15; Act 2:41; 1Co 1:26 to a great place in the earth. The figure of the fowls finding shelter in the branches is drawn from Dan 4:20-22. How insecure was such a refuge the context in Daniel shows.

kingdom (See Scofield "Mat 3:2").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Parable of the mustard seed:

v. 31. Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;

v. 32. which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

He set before them choice spiritual food for their instruction and edification. The kingdom of Christ in its growth is like a grain of mustard seed, whose size and appearance give no intimation of the force of its sprouting nor of the size of the herb at its full maturity, whether one restricts the word to the garden herb or includes the mustard tree of the Orient, whose great size is often referred to by Jewish writers. So large does it become that the birds may make their roosts in its branches. It seems almost incredible that such a tiny seed can produce such a large, treelike plant. But even so, as Christ here predicts, the kingdom of Christ grows from small beginnings until it extends over the whole earth, and becomes a place of rest and of peace for all people. The few despised disciples whom Christ gathered about Him were the nucleus of the great Christian Church, which came into existence and is maintained through the power of the Gospel.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our Saviour’s design in this parable is, to shew how the gospel, from small and little, from unlikely and contemptible beginnings, shall spread and increase, fructify and grow up; like a mustard seed, one of the smallest grains, grows up to a considerable tallness; and as a little leaven turns a great heap of meal into its own nature; so the gospel shall spread and increase, nations and countries becoming Christians.

Learn, That how small beginning soever the gospel had in its first plantation, yet, by the fructifying blessing of God, it has had and shall have a wonderful increase.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LIV. E. Parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven].

LIV. THE FIRST GREAT GROUP OF PARABLES. (Beside the Sea of Galilee.) Subdivision E. PARABLES OF THE MUSTARD SEED AND LEAVEN. aMATT. XIII. 31-35; bMARK IV. 30-34.

a31 Another parable set he before them, saying, b30 And he said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God? or in what parable shall we set it forth? [These questions are intended to emphasize the superior excellence of the kingdom.] 31 It aThe kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: ba grain of mustard seed, which, [337] when it is sown upon the earth, though aindeed bit be ais bless than all the seeds that are upon the earth [that is, the smallest of all the seeds that are sown in a garden], abut b32 yet when it is sown, groweth up, and awhen it is grown, it is bbecometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches; aand becometh a tree [in Palestine it attains the height of ten feet], so that the birds of the heaven come and bcan lodge under the shadow thereof. ain the branches thereof. [This parable sets forth the smallness of the beginning of the kingdom, and the magnitude of its growth.] 33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened. [In Oriental housekeeping, yeast is not preserved in a separate form. A piece of leavened dough saved over from the last baking is added to the new dough to ferment it. Three measures contained the quantity usually taken for one baking. Leaven represents the quickness, quietness, thoroughness, and sureness with which gospel truth diffuses itself through human society. A woman is named because baking was part of her household duty.] 34 All these things spake Jesus in parables unto the multitudes; b33 And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it [that is, as they had leisure or opportunity to listen]; 34 and without a parable spake he not { anothing unto them [that is, he used nothing but parables on that occasion, for both before and after this he taught without parables]: 35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet [at Psa_78:2 which is usually attributed to Asaph, who is called a seer ( 2Ch_29:30). His teaching typified that of Christ], saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world. [Jesus fulfilled this prophecy in a notable manner, being the only teacher in history distinguished in any marked degree by the use of parables.] bbut privately to his own disciples he expounded all things. [338]

[FFG 337-338]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

31. Like a grain of mustard seed. Compare Luke 13:18–21. The Jews grew mustard in their gardens. Its round seed was previously spoken of as the smallest thing, as it was the smallest seed planted.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven by telling a parable about a very small seed that grows into a very big plant. (See: Parables)

The kingdom of heaven is like

Here "kingdom of heaven" refers to God's rule as king. The phrase "kingdom of heaven" is used only in Matthew. If possible, use "heaven" in your translation. See how you translated this in Matthew 13:24. AT: "When our God in heaven shows himself to be king, it will be like" (See: Metonymy)

mustard seed

a very small seed that grows into a large plant (See: Translate Unknowns)

This seed is indeed the smallest of all seeds

Mustard seeds were the smallest seeds known to the original hearers. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

But when it has grown

"But when the plant has grown"

it is greater than

"it is larger than"

becomes a tree

A mustard plant can grow about 2 to 4 meters tall.

birds of the air

"birds"

translationWords

Jesus

parable

kingdom of God

seed

plant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

31–33. (1) THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED. (2) THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN WHICH LEAVENED THE MEAL

(1) Mar 4:30-32. (1) and (2) Luk 13:18-21

The ‘mystery’ or secret of the future contained in these two parables has reference to the growth of the Church; the first regards the growth in its external aspect, the second in its inner working.

The power that plants possess of absorbing within themselves, and assimilating the various elements of the soil in which they are planted, and the surrounding gases—not by one channel but by many—the conditions too under which this is done—the need of water, of the breath of heaven and of sunlight—find a close parallel in the history and influence of the Church of Christ. It is an instance where the thought of the illustration is deepened by fresh knowledge.

31. ὃ λαβὼν ἄνθρωπος ἔσπειρεν. ὅταν σπαρῇ, St Mark, who thus does not name an agent, the planter of the seed.

ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ αὐτοῦ. εἰς κῆπον ἑαυτοῦ (Luke), ‘his own garden,’ with special reference to the land of Israel.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31.] ἐν τ. ἀγρῷ = εἰς τ. κήπ. Luke.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31. Mt. here omits Mk.’s added sayings, 4:21-25. He has already inserted a parallel to 4:21 in 5:15, and to 4:22 in 10:26. A parallel to 4:23 has already been given twice in 13:9= Mar 4:9, and in 11:15. A parallel to Mar 4:24 has been given in 7:2b, and to 4:25 in v. 12. This, therefore, brings the editor to 4:26-29.But it is probable that in the Logia he had before him a group of parables containing the Tares, the Mustard Seed, the Leaven, the explanation of the Tares, the Hid Treasure, the Goodly Pearl, the Drag-net, and a conclusion. He turns now to this source, and borrows from it, thus omitting Mar 4:26-29, and substituting for 4:30-32 the similar parable of the Logia. After the third Logian parable, the Leaven, he turns back to Mk. and borrows Mk.’s conclusion, 4:33-34, before continuing with the explanation of the Tares from the Logia. Thus:

Mat_13.Mar_4.

Seed growing secretly, omitted 26-29.

Tares, 24-30 —

Mustard Seed, 31-32 substituted for 30-32.

Leaven, 33 —

Conclusion, 34-35 33-34.

It may seem strange that, having once abandoned Mk at 13:24, he should take the trouble to borrow from him 4:33-34, and that he should place this not after the Mustard Seed as in Mk., but after the Logian parable of the Leaven. By so doing he seems to introduce into his chapter two conclusions, 13:34-35 from Mk., and 51-52 from the Logia.

But let us suppose that the Logia contained two groups of three parables, separated by the explanation of the Tares, and ended with the conclusion, vv. 51-52. Thus:

13:24-30 Tares First group.

31-32 Mustard Seed First group.

33 Leaven First group.

36-43 Explanation of Tares.

44 Hid Treasure Second group.

45-46 Goodly Pearl Second group.

47-50 Draw Net Second group.

Of course, the difficulty here is in the position of the explanation of the Tares. Why does it not stand immediately after the parable? Moreover, the reference to the house, v. 36, is improbable as a feature of the Logia. In any case this is probably due to the editor. It does not help us to attribute the whole of vv. 36-43 to the editor, because the position of the section remains a difficulty, and because the section is characterised throughout by phrases which are probably due to the Logia.

It is easiest, therefore, to suppose that the Logian parables were arranged as above in two groups of three, separated by the explanation of the Tares. The editor having once deserted Mk., inserts the first group of three, and then adds Mk.’s conclusion. He did not place it immediately after the mustard seed, where Mk. has it, because he did not care to break up the grouping into three. For his liking for this arrangement, see Introduction, p. lxv.

31, 32. Cf. Mar 4:30-32, Luk 13:18, Luk 13:19.

(LM) 31. Another parable He put forth to them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field.] Mk. has: “And He said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God, or in what parable shall we set it forth? As a grain of mustard seed?”

ὁμοία ἐστίν] see on v. 24. Mt. avoids Mk.’s redundancy; cf. Introduction, p. xxiv. For Mk.’s ὡς, cf. 25:14, and see on v. 24.

31, 32. Mt. and Lk. agree against Mk. in the following:

ὁμοία ἐστίν—ὃν λαβὼν ἄνθρωπος—αὐτοῦ, Mt 31, Luk 18:19.

αὐξηθῇ, Mt 32 = ηὔξησεν, Luk_19. Mk. has σπαρῇ.

δένδρον, Mt 32 = εἰς δένδρον, Luk_19. Mk. has μεῖζον πάντων τῶν λαχάνων.

ἐν τοῖς κλάδοις αὐτοῦ, Mt 32, Luk_19. Mk. has ὑπὸ τὴν σκιὰν αὐτοῦ.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.