Matthew 13:31-32

C. THE PROBLEM OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS IN GOD'S KINGDOM: THE TRIUMPH OF TRUTH

1. THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED
TEXT: 13:31, 32

(Parallel: Mark 4:30-32; cf. Luke 13:18-19)

31 Another parable set he before them, saying, The Kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 which indeed is less than all seeds; but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the heaven come and lodge in the branches thereof.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a.

Why do you suppose that it was so very important for Jesus to reveal to His disciples, even in this veiled way, that His Messianic Kingdom would have a small, insignificant beginning? What was there in their background that would have made this special information necessary?

b.

To what extent, if at all, may we regard these parables as prophecies about the features to be expected in Christ's (then) coming Kingdom? If they are to be considered as prophecies, then what does this make Jesus? If they are not so to be considered, in which case Jesus is just telling it like it is, then what does that make Jesus?

c.

How does this story about the mustard seed contribute to the general impression of the government of God revealed elsewhere in the near context of the great sermon in parables, and in the larger framework of Scripture? In other words, how does this parable's message harmonize with, or incorporate, ideas expressed in other parables and elsewhere in the New Testament?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

Jesus set before them another story: To what is God's rule comparable? What story would describe it? God's Kingdom is similar to a grain of mustard seed which a farmer took and sowed in his field. The mustard seed is, relatively speaking, the smallest of all the tree seeds on earth. Nevertheless, when it is sown and has grown up, it becomes the largest of all shrubs. It puts forth large branches and becomes a tree, so that birds can come and make nests in the shade of its branches.

SUMMARY

The concrete, visible beginnings of God's Kingdom on earth will be small, but His rule will show extensive growth until its impact in the world is significantly felt.

NOTES

Matthew 13:31-32 A grain of mustard seed. becometh a tree. ISBE (2101, article Mustard) notes

Several varieties of mustard (Arab. khardal) have notably small seed, and under favorable conditions grow in a few months into very tall herbs10 to 12 ft, The rapid growth of an annual herb to such a height must always be a striking fact. Sinapis nigra, the black mustard, which is cultivated, Sinapis alba, or white mustard, and Sinapis arvensis, or the charlock (All of N.O. Cruciferae), would any one of them, suit the requirements of the parable; birds readily alight upon their branches to eat the seed (Matthew 13:32, etc.), not, be it noted, to build their nests, which is nowhere implied.

However, the expression, the birds of the heaven come and lodge in the branches thereof may rightly be rendered make nests, since kataskenoûn means to live in or settle in a place; of birds, to nest in the branches. (Cf. Rocci, 1004; Arndt-Gingrich, 419) Plummer (Matthew, 194) reminds that -tree-' (déndron) does not necessarily mean a timber-tree. We speak of a rose-tree and a gooseberry-tree.

Had Jesus furnished an interpreter's key to this parable, it might have sounded something like this: The field is the world, the man who sowed the seed is the Son of man, the grain of mustard seed is the rule of God in men's hearts. Even with an unpretentious debut, it will expand throughout the world until many nations, peoples and tongues will find peace in its realm.
If, then, the mustard plant actually becomes a tree, the Lord does not have to extend the literal qualities of the mustard bush beyond its botanical limits in order to make a tremendous impression upon His Jewish audience. The description of something insignificant when planted, but begins bringing forth boughs and becoming a noble tree under the shade of which will dwell all kinds of beasts and in whose shade birds of every sort will nest, is familiar prophetic language to those Jewish hearers. (Cf. Ezekiel 17:22-24 in its context; Ezekiel 31:6; Ezekiel 31:12 in the parable of the cedar; Daniel 4:10-27) Is it possible that this choice of language is deliberately and appropriately utilized by the Lord to call direct attention to something for minds alert to such apocalyptic jargon? What would these words have communicated to readers familiar with Ezekiel and Daniel? In those prophets such language describes the grandeur of empires magnificent enough to provide people with refuge, defense and the satisfaction of their needs. The alert listener to Jesus could not but recognize a prediction that His Kingdom, despite its inauspicious beginning, would progress by gradual growth to become an empire so vast and so powerful that it could protect all its subjects and satisfy the desires of their souls.

How desperately needed was this information at that historical moment! The thought that the Kingdom could begin small and arrive at greatness only through gradual growth is always a view totally unacceptable to people itching to get where the action is. Had a sounding of public opinion been taken to determine popular sentiment regarding the Kingdom and Jesus, the results would have probably left many a serious disciple shaking his head. At this stage of the game the powerblock of Jerusalem and especially the Pharisees were beginning to line up a stiff, growing opposition. The important backers began to raise eyebrows at the trends becoming more and more visible in Jesus-' proclamation of the Kingdom. Realistic observers could sense that Jesus had no intention of setting up a military kingdom with a fully developed power structure which would usher in a paradise of prosperity for all. And it was this very reluctance of His that would deeply trouble those who had high hopes of making a fortune in that Kingdom. A statistical review of Jesus-' hard, countable successes would confirm the unspoken suspicion that He was making no progress at all. Worse still, His message menaced judgment for all that was held dear by the various representatives of standard Judaism: the rabbinical traditions, the temple graft, nationalism, material prosperity, ostentation and class and race superiority. Rather than organize the elite and court the heads of organized labor and government, rather than rally the masses in anti-Establishment crusades, His major efforts were directed at regenerating the folks on the fringe, the ordinary, the down-and-outers, the renegades,in short, the nobodies. Humanly speakings, this was no way to organize a mighty messianic machine for bringing in the Kingdom with its flurry of trumpets, its flash of heraldry and the stirring roll of drums. (Cf. Luke 17:20-21 in context) The absurdity of Jesus-' being able to accomplish very much with the temperamental, ordinary, problematic people in His immediate coterie of associates, must have been staggering to the Jewish public!

The disciples themselves too, throughout their associations with Jesus, had unceasing trouble with this kind of thinking. (Study Matthew 19:24-28; Matthew 20:20-28; see notes on Matthew 11:2-6; Acts 1:6.) Other disciples, after the feeding of the 5000, tried to take the Lord by force to make Him their kind of king, but He refused. (John 6:15) The next day, when He bared the spiritual character of His mission, people abandoned Him en masse. (John 6:22-66)

Nevertheless, as indicated elsewhere in His teaching, Jesus had been intimating His intentions to found just this sort of Kingdom, i.e., one that constitutionally strikes at the heart of material ambitions, nationalistic conquest, pampered pride and superficial religiousness. (Cf. the Sermon on the Mount as a vigorous polemic against these views.) Further, if the fundamental message of the Parable of the Sower is that God intends to use only the influence of His Word to transform men who remain absolutely free to accept or reject it, then does it require any particular astuteness to foresee that any Kingdom of God that follows such policies MUST BEGIN SMALL, IF AT ALL? And yet Jesus-' divine foresight is evident in His unshaken confidence that His Kingdom, however discouragingly insignificant its beginnings, would grow to become a powerful, worldwide empire.
We do not esteem Jesus-' words at their proper worth unless we see just how far from being hyperbolic they were. If it seemed an exaggeration that He should speak of the mustard seed as the smallest of all seeds on earth, when compared with the realities they symbolized they are almost an understatement!

1.

Christ's Kingdom began in a very obscure way without any reasonable prospect of success, without any hope of greatness. Its King did not appear in public until His thirtieth year and then taught only two or three years occasionally in the capital, but more often in the provincial villages.

2.

The Kingdom began among the Jews, a subject people chafing under the yoke of foreign lords. It began as the smallest sect among this people in a despised province of the Roman Empire. Its leader contradicted the cherished notions of His own people and, consequently, was rejected by them. He made only a few real followers among the poor and ignorant. He had no political power in His own homeland and no hope from abroad. The founder of this Kingdom was shamefully executed by His own people. Even after the day of Pentecost, the Kingdom seemed to its enemies a struggling movement crying for elimination through persecution and death. THIS is the beginning of the universal Reign of God on earth? (Cf. 1 Corinthians 1:27-29)

And yet it grew and became a force to be dealt with in the world. (Cf. Romans 16:25-26; Colossians 1:6; Colossians 1:23) Do YOU believe Paul, or is his rhetoric a bit hyperbolic for you? (1 Thessalonians 1:6-10; Acts 28:22; Acts 17:6) And it is still growing!

For further notes on the impact and significance of this revelation, see after the Parable of the Leaven, its companion.

FACT QUESTIONS

1.

How does one harmonize the fact that many seeds are actually smaller than the mustard seed, with Jesus-' declaration that it is the smallest of all seeds?

2.

What illustrative stories in the Old Testament furnish the imagery for Jesus-' parable here? What was the major point of those stories? Did Jesus say that these are His source? If so, how? If not, what factor connects the story of Jesus with those OT pictures?

3.

Describe the Palestinean mustard plant showing how it fits Jesus-' use of it as a fitting symbol of His Kingdom.

4.

Had Jesus presented this truth before? If so, how or where?

C. THE PROBLEM OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS IN GOD'S KINGDOM: THE TRIUMPH OF TRUTH

2. THE PARABLE OF THE YEAST

TEXT: 13:33 (cf. Luke 13:20-21)

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.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a.

Some people believe that yeast in the Bible is always a symbol of the far-reaching, pervasive influence of evil. Do you agree? If so, on what basis? If not, why not? In what way, then, is the Kingdom of God itself like yeast?

b.

If the Kingdom of God is to progress by the most vigorous public evangelization that gives the Gospel the widest hearing possible, how can Jesus say that the Kingdom expands secretly and quietly and by intensive growth like yeast works in dough?

c.

What is there in this parable that had already been suggested in Jesus-' other messages, like, for example, the Sermon on the Mount?

PARAPHRASE

He told them another story: God's Kingdom is like yeast that a woman worked into three measures of flour, till the dough was entirely leavened.

SUMMARY

The Rule of God in the world will grow quietly, without great fanfare, but its progress will not be hindered until its intensive, transforming power influences all of life.

NOTES

Had Jesus furnished an interpretative key to this parable it might have perhaps run as follows: The three measures of meal represents humanity, The woman that kneaded the dough stands for the Son of man. The yeast is the dynamic, transforming influence of the Word of God by which the Kingdom of God penetrates and transforms mankind. The three measures of flour should not be thought especially mysterious, because that may have been merely the right amount for the usual recipe for homemade bread. (See Genesis 18:6; Judges 6:19 where 3 seahs = 1 ephah.) The idea that a woman should be used to represent Jesus is no problem, since in Luke 15 He used a man seeking a lost sheep and a woman sweeping the house for her lost coin to symbolize God's search and rejoicing over repentant sinners, without concerning Himself whether people would be confused about whether God be male or female. So, if bread-making in the home is usually the work of a woman, and if Jesus wants to use yeast as His main symbol, it would have been more surprising to His audience were He to have inserted man, instead of a woman. What is really startling is to hear the Lord compare the glorious Messianic Kingdom to YEAST, of all things! After all, as Edersheim comments in another connection (Life, II, 70, note 2),

The figurative meaning of leaven, as that which morally corrupts, was familiar to the Jews. Thus the word. (Seor) is used in the sense of -moral leaven-' hindering the good in Ber. 17a while the verb. (charnets) -to become leavened,-' is used to indicate moral deterioration in Rosh ha Sh. 3b, 4a.

This same negative feeling about yeast as a figure of speech for something corrupt and corrupting is back of the proverbial saying twice quoted by Paul (1 Corinthians 5:6-8 and Galatians 5:9) as well as that reflected in Matthew 16:6; Matthew 16:12. However, yeast in this parable has nothing whatsoever to do with an evil, corrupting influence, however often it be so employed elsewhere.

SYMBOLS ARE JUST NOT UNIVERSAL.

Readers need to beware of supposing yeast to be a universal symbol of corruption, because Bible writers can change the standard symbology if they want to! The fact that Jesus Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5) does not mean Peter is mistaken to call Satan a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Although Jesus is the Lamb of God (Revelation 5:6-12), this does not hinder His charging Peter with the care to feed my lambs (John 21:15). Birds can be (1) nations at rest within an empire, Ezekiel 31:6; Ezekiel 31:17; or (2) Satan, Matthew 13:19; Mark 4:15. Serpent can represent (1) Satan, 2 Corinthians 11:3; Revelation 20:2; or (2) the only means of salvation and symbolic of Christ, John 3:14; or (3) a symbol of Christian wisdom, Matthew 10:16. Vine can represent (1) Jesus Himself, John 15:1 ff; or (2) Israel, Mark 12:1; Isaiah 5:1-7; Ezekiel 19:10-14. Mountain can suggest (1) great world empires, Daniel 2:35; Daniel 2:45, or (2) any apparently insurmountable obstacle, Matthew 17:20. Shadow can be (1) a symbol of blessing, Isaiah 32:2; or (2) protection, Isaiah 49:2; Psalms 91:1; or (3) a short-lived existence, Psalms 102:11; or (4) a lack of spiritual enlightenment, Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 4:16; Luke 1:79. The point is, of course, to let a given Bible writer or speaker use a symbol in any way that suits his subject, regardless of whether anyone else, or even he himself, ever used it that way before, Let Jesus tell His own story without anyone's dictating to Him what symbols He may utilize!

While everyone else sees in yeast a symbol of corrupting influence, Jesus, with the eye of a keen observer, can also see in that live ferment a picture of transforming power for good and for God. What a contrast! That drowzing Jewish audience, quite naturally expecting leaven to be used as a symbol of defilement and corruption, must have been brought wide-awake and to the edge of their seats to hear Jesus compare something so vibrantly glorious as the Kingdom of God with something so sinister, dark, ominous and evil as yeast! But literal yeast itself is innocent. Its permeating, transforming, ever growing character had just always furnished a handy cliché for the influence of evil among men. But Jesus turns that metaphor to His advantage by pointing out that what had served so well to illustrate the way evil increases in humanity, serves just as well to depict the growth of His own Kingdom! By so doing, He not merely rescued yeast from the stereotyped role usually assigned to it as a symbol. He flashed before His audience a picture of a Kingdom that is vibrantly alive, effectively at work, vitally influencing everything around it, and gloriously conquering until every area of human life feels its effect, even though its entire work is not readily discernible.

Hidden in the mass. Trench (Notes, 44) remembers that

In the early history of Christianity the leaven was effectually hidden. This is shown by the entire ignorance which heathen writers betray of all that was going forward a little below the surface of society, even up to the very moment (with slight exceptions) when the triumph of Christianity was at hand.

Hidden in the mass till it was all leavened suggests two applications:

1.

The influence of God's will in human affairs through the Kingdom of Christ is the first reference. Jesus could foresee the Church's vitality and energy, her enthusiasm in evangelizing humanity and her zeal for edifying. What a transforming power He intended to unleash to disturb and unsettle the basis of despotic government, and to right the standards of ethics in human relations! (Cf. John 11:45-53; Acts 4:16-17; Acts 5:24; Acts 5:28; Acts 17:6; Acts 28:22) He could see the wide-sweeping social revolutions fermenting at the grass-roots level in men made over in the image of God's Son. (Cf. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6) All. leavened: what a goal: all of human lifeits work and play, its philosophy and religion, its politics and commerce, its science and artsall is to feel the pervasive, persuasive pressure of a robust, convincing Christianity that neither compromises its influence by closing itself in monastic seclusion to avoid contamination nor leaves its Christian morality behind when it enters society. Till it was all leavened is the prophetic past tense that speaks of as past a future event so sure to take place that even before it happens, it is declared to be a fact! Jesus guarantees us here nothing short of the final triumph of God's Kingdom and of His people. (Cf. 2 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 16:19; Romans 16:26; Colossians 1:6; Colossians 1:23; Revelation 11:15; Daniel 7:14; Daniel 7:27)

2.

The influence of God's will in the life of each individual Christian who accepts that rule. If the Kingdom of Christ is to do all that is predicated of it, then it follows that every single Christian must be a person in whom the Kingdom is a reality. The rule of God expressed through His Word when buried in a man's heart is living and powerful and persistent in bringing that entire man to obey it, transforming him completely until he becomes at last a totally new man in Christ Jesus. (Cf. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; what a change!)

THE RELATION OF THESE TWO PARABLES TO THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and of the Yeast reveal little that is absolutely news to any disciples steadily tuned-in to Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount He had pictured the ethics of the Kingdom of God as motivated by selfless love and grounded in a single-minded devotion to God as a gracious Heavenly Father, an ethic which expresses itself in a generous helpfulness to even the ungrateful (Matthew 5:39-48), in a forgiving spirit (Matthew 6:12; Matthew 6:14-15), in a clemency in judgment (Matthew 7:1-5) despite a proper reserve towards people with no appreciation for the holy or the priceless. That kind of Kingdom, launched in a world of dedicated egotists, cannot but progress slowly, granted, of course, that its chief Proponent could succeed in convincing even a few people that ideals of this sort will really function, convinced enough, that is, to give them a try and help Him launch the idea. For, unless Jesus is willing to abandon His ideals long enough to get His program underway, such a spiritual Reign could never even get off the ground. And, if it should turn out that He really inaugurate such a movement, without some artificial priming, it must necessarily have not only an embarrassingly small debut, but also undergo a painfully slow progress in the world. Any shrewd humanist who seriously weighed Jesus-' words could have expected these two parables sooner or later. What he could not have expected was Jesus-' bringing these dreams to reality in exactly the way He planned.

Nor had Jesus been silent about the eventual greatness and success of His Kingdom. While His emphasis in the Sermon on the Mount is decidedly on the personal implications of God's Rule, still He does not ignore the world-wide impact Christians are to make as salt of the EARTH. light of the WORLD. (Matthew 5:13-16) The Kingdom is the subject of prayers that it come and that God's will be done on EARTH with the same joyful seriousness it is being done in heaven. And who could be satisfied with partial success or half-way obedience to God? Those who share Jesus-' views and His love must pray that the Kingdom of God cover the entire globe and affect every creature.

So these stories about yeast and mustard seed are stupendous illustrations of a spiritual kingdom that comes not with observation, but is within you. (Cf. Luke 17:20-21; Romans 14:17)

THE APOLOGETIC FORCE OF THESE PARABLES

There is embedded in these stories a persuasive apologetic power to convince skeptics, that Jesus cannot be explained in terms of the popular messianism of His people, since it would be difficult to imagine a concept of the Kingdom of the Messiah less nationalistically Jewish than that presented here. Conspicuous for its absence is any allusion to a privileged place for national Israel in the Kingdom. These seemingly harmless little tales are on a collision course with the aims of people who desired to rush on past the judgment to introduce the Messianic Paradise. (Cf. Sib. Orac. lines 285-294; 652-808; Enoch 62:11) The meaning of these unexplained stories remained unintelligible enigmas to these Jewish hearers. Therefore, Jesus did not weave them out of theological materials lying around Him. His revelations are made out of divine stuff.

Here again we are confronted with one of the motifs of the Gospel: the Messianic reserve, in the sense that the Kingdom will not be proclaimed in any triumphalistic sense by tyrannic force of arms, but with absolute respect for human freedom, without all of the apocalyptic artillery that many of Jesus-' nationalistic contemporaries dreamed would be absolutely essential. (Cf. Sib. Orac. 652ff) Further, the scandalous, continued presence of sin in the world and Jesus-' failure to call down heavenly fire to destroy the more obvious sinners could not help but raise many eyebrows. However, since God's judgment is not to be anticipated, men must not even conclude that the Kingdom's regenerating power be somehow not functioning to transform society as it changes the men who compose it. Rather, they must even now submit themselves to the will of the King and recognize the evidences of the invisible activity of the Kingdom which is not man's work alone, but God'S, and dedicate themselves to its vigorous proclamation. They must take the long view.

These parables still shock and remain unbelieved by modern churchmen who promote great political schemes, even to the point of smuggling machine-guns to bring peace through peoples-' movements for liberation. They would install air-conditioners and piped-in music in hell, while hoping to make it possible for more people to enjoy the questionable benefits of a conscienceless materialistic kingdom of God here on earth. (Cf. Sib. Orac. 657!) They just cannot conceive of a Kingdom that can operate effectively on the basis of a message patiently taught to wobbly, often undependable people, tenderly and lovingly cultivated but whose foibles and mistakes, more often than not, embarrass, rather than glorify, their Lord. Such ecclesiastical organizational procedure has little time for bruised reeds and smoldering wicks (see notes on Matthew 12:20) nor stoops to preach good tidings to the poor from any truly Biblical perspective. (See notes on Matthew 11:5) But do we ourselves believe with Jesus that the Kingdom of God will progress only to the extent that we care about the lambs (John 21:15-19), the little child. who believes in me (Matthew 18:1-14), the babes (Matthew 11:25)? If so, we may well wish to table our grandiose schemes to bring in the Kingdom, and join Jesus in the slow, often disappointing, but ultimately fruitful, business of evangelization of the unbelievers and edification of the saints. (Cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:10)

Jesus is to be believed precisely because He is NOT the revolutionary wanted by the doctrinaire apostles of modern social change who would use Him as their banner for political or social subversion of the status quo. On the contrary, these parables picture a Christ who can settle for gradualism, a not unimportant heresy to those who demolish and burn in the name of instant change. While He preached a gospel capable of producing gradually the personal and social changes necessary to deal with every iniquity weighing upon the shoulders of a suffering humanity, He deliberately did NOT mount a protest against the current regime nor harangue the crowds about the living conditions of the underprivileged. The revolution, rather, to which He dedicated Himself and to which He calls us, challenges every Christian to preach this Gospel of the Kingdom and live in conformity with it, as if that alone would bring in the Kingdom.
These parables reveal the future, inevitable triumph of the Kingdom! They speak not only of a God who triumphs over the wicked in the end. They describe also a Church that, during the progress of its history, will enjoy a glorious growth and a penetrating force throughout the world. Therefore, any hasty, superficial judgments about any given stage of the Kingdom's progress are out of place, on the part of both believers and unbelievers alike. We must not be discouraged by the temporary retreats, the heartbreaks, the battles lost, nor must we be impatient if it seems that the Gospel is not bringing immediate results. Even if it seems that God's people are not yet holy enough or numerous enough or the Kingdom not powerful enough, we may not make snap judgments about it, because we have not yet come to the end of the present age, and God's Kingdom has some more growing to do.

These parables reveal the spirit behind the Kingdom of God as a missionary spirit. Yeast cannot function unless it is living in vital contact with that which it must influence. Therefore, the monastic spirit is essentially antichristian. No true Christian can avoid human society for fear that he might be contaminated by it, because his mission, as was His Lord'S, is to touch human life at every point so that every facet might come under the influence and penetrating gaze of Christian morality and ideals. Rather than take up a defensive position within which to protect what remains of our pretended humanity, our final orders are to attack! (Matthew 28:18-20)

FACT QUESTIONS

1.

What is the one basic point shared commonly by the Parable of the Mustard Seed and that of the Yeast?

2.

In what way are these two parables different in emphasis?

3.

State in one clear sentence the literal message Jesus was communicating in this story.

4.

What is learned about Jesus from the fact that He taught THESE truths instead of their more popular opposite concepts?

5.

Is there anything significant about the fact that it was a woman who put the yeast in the dough? Or that it was precisely three (and no more) measures of flour in which she put the yeast? If so, what is the hidden meaning? If not, what does one do with this information?

6.

Had Jesus taught this same truth before? If so, where or how?