Knowing The Word in Matthew 13:31-33

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven [second and third growth parables]

31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds [an insignificant beginning], but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree [and a glorious ending], so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

[The three parables of growth focus on the paradox of insignificant or hidden beginnings that come to a triumphant climax. There was a natural impatience among Jesus’ disciples (and among us today) to see God’s kingdom in all of its glory and the eradication of those opposed to it. Jesus tells us that full growth is assured from the beginning, however unpromising or however opposed its development may be. The way of God is not ostentatious but humble and deliberate. When God is at work, nothing will thwart his glorious purposes.]