The Kingdom Of Heaven Is Like ...

In the English Standard version and the Amplified Bible we read that the woman took “three measures of flour”. That’s about 22 Litres, 13 kilograms or nearly 30 pounds of flour. That’s the same amount that Sarah prepared when God visited Abraham in Genesis 18. It is the most bread dough that could be kneaded at a time.

Mustard Seed

Mustard Seed joke

A company sent out advertising with a mustard seed attached to a card which read “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed in our products you are guaranteed to get excellent results and be totally satisfied.” A few months later they received a letter “Dear Sir, You will be interested to know that I planted the mustard seed you sent on your advertising card and it has grown into a very healthy bush producing wonderful tomatoes”

The mustard seed is less straight forward, and brings with it some intriguing questions. The parable is told slightly differently in Mark and Luke.

Mark 4:30-32.

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”

Luke 13:18-19

Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? i What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.”

Summary of message

A simple seed – in Jewish thought at the time proverbially the smallest thing – planted in the garden – becomes one of the tallest crops. The seed is not actually that small at 2 to 3 millimetres (tenth of an inch) in diameter, but bit holds that image. The Kingdom of heaven planted in a world, or perhaps in a person grows to become the greatest thing in the world, or the person. It seemingly came from nowhere and yet Christianity is the largest religion on the planet, so it seems to work.

Surprising Elements

The mustard plant is both a crop and a weed. It was grown in gardens for mustard, but could also easily be found in the wild. There are birds that build their nest amongst mustard plants because of the shade that they provide. Apart from the dove, birds were considered dirty pests, and it would have been surprising for them to get a mention. Jesus seems to be saying that the Kingdom of heaven, when it is grown, provides shelter for the world.

In Matthews parable the plant is described as a tree. So, if Jesus was trying to find an image of something small that grows into something big, and provides shelter, then why not the Cedars of Lebanon. That was certainly common imagery – for strength and protection. Our own saying “From little acorns grow mighty oaks” sums up that part of the message perfectly. A tree though comes from a clearly defined seed, and here the imagery would fail. To make his point Jesus must use the smallest of small things – the mustard seed. The mustard seed image is also used in Luke 17:4-6