Wisdom in a Seed

As with many of the parables and other sayings of Jesus, the Parable of the Mustard Seed is a well-known and often-used reference both inside and outside the church. The expression of the "tiny acorn which becomes the mighty oak," is a direct parallel to Jesus' story of the small mustard seed which grows to become the largest of trees. Not far from my home, there is a Mustard Seed Restaurant, owned, one assumes, by Christians intent of putting out at least a subtle message.

According to the Bible, The Parable of the Mustard Seed -- found in Mark 4:30-33; Matthew 13:31-32; Luke 13:18-19; and the non-cannonical Gospel of Thomas, saying 20 -- is a story told by Jesus when he was asked, at least in some of the versions, what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

This article will examine the parable using several critical methods: by examining the literary elements of the parable; its location within the greater text; the historical elements of the text; by looking at similar uses of the concept of the mustard seed; and my own exposition on the meaning of the parable.

For convenience, the various versions of the parable have been attached in Appendix A.

Literary Elements

In all three cases in the synoptic Gospels, the Parable of the Mustard Seed is placed following parables that also deal with seeds and/or growing things. In Matthew, it is preceded by the Parable of the Sower, and the Wheat and the Tares. In Mark, it is preceded by the Parable of the Sower and of the Seed Growing Secretly. In Luke, it is preceded by the Parable of the Fig Tree. Some Biblical scholars refer to the Parables of the Sower, the Wheat and Tares, the Seed Growing Secretly and the Mustard Seed as the "Seed Parables," for obvious reasons. When the Parable of the Yeast is included, sometimes these parables are known collectively as the "Parables of Growth." The Mustard Seed is also generally categorized as a "Kingdom Parable," a designation also made for obvious reasons in this case: Jesus himself compares the mustard seed to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Both the Parable of the Sower and the Wheat and the Tares have some elements in them that could be interpreted as depressing or bad news. In the Parable of the Sower, three of the four groups of seed meet an unfortunate end and do not grow to produce a bountiful crop. In the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, the wheat comes under attack and the tares are gathered together at harvest time and cast into the fire. In many ways, these stories are difficult for the compassionate Christian in that we are taught to care for all God's creatures, including the wayward seeds and the tares.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed follows these up with a short story that seems to convey nothing but positive news and hope for the future. The tiny seed grows to become a mighty thing and provides benefit for all around it.

The Mustard Seed parable contains several elements, principally, the mustard seed itself, the ground or the garden, the bush or plant the seed becomes, and the birds of the air. Two versions of the parable also include a man.

A mustard seed is indeed one of the smallest seeds in the plant kingdom, though it is not the smallest. It may, however, have been the smallest seed generally known to the populace of 1^st Century Palestine. According to the King James Study Bible, the mustard seed "was the smallest seed used by farmers and gardeners in the Holy Land."

The typical mustard seed is about 1 millimeter in diameter and range in color from yellowish white to black. There are a wide variety of mustard plants, some of which are considered weeds. In his encyclopedia "Natural History," Pliny the Elder, who lived between 23 and 79 C.E., making him roughly a contemporary of Jesus, included this entry about mustard seeds:

With its pungent taste and fiery effect, mustard is extremely beneficial for the health. It grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand, when it has once been sown, it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once.

The mustard seed can produce a bush that can grow as tall as 10 feet and can be more than that large in diameter (King James Study Bible). Mustard plants aren't generally what we would think of as trees, though the larger ones do have branches of substantial size.

The mustard plant can quickly overwhelm the garden if it is not continually pruned back.

The concept of the tree also has special meaning in the Bible. Perhaps the most famous of all trees is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil, from which Adam and Eve eat a piece of forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Also in the Garden is another tree, known as the Tree of Life. The cross upon which Jesus was crucified is also known informally as "the tree." Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, also died by hanging himself from a tree. Two other Biblical trees more closely resemble the tree to which Jesus alludes here in this parable.

In Ezekiel 31, Jesus compares the majesty of the rule of Pharaoh to a giant cedar of Lebanon tree, a tree in which the birds of the air nest and under which, in the shade, all the nations of the world find shelter.

Even more to the point, in the fourth chapter of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a great tree that grows up so large that all the birds of the air can take shelter in it. Seeking to understand this dream, Nebuchadnezzar calls in Daniel to interpret it for him. Daniel interprets that king's power and rule is just like that tree. Daniel also interprets that the true power comes from the power of heaven, not a worldly king. This interpretation is proven correct immediately thereafter when Nebuchadnezzar was deposed.

In the case of the three Synoptic Gospels, Jesus tells the parable to a group of followers which includes his 12 Disciples. In Thomas, no audience is identified. The Mark version tells us that Jesus later explained these parables to the disciples when they were alone. An explanation of what the parable means is not included in Scripture for this parable, as is the case with some others. We can only speculate on why this is. Did the Gospel writers assume that the meaning of this particular parable was so obvious it needed not be included? Was it so subversive it would be dangerous even in the Gospel, which already was a clear challenge to authority? Or was it simply the fact that the Gospel's source of information was not at the meeting of the disciples where this parable was explained? Or an editing decision made to prevent the book from growing by 1,000 pages or more? While there are many opinions, there are no clear answers to these questions.

In each case in which the parable is presented, Jesus sets it up as a response to a question. It is one of the few cases in which Jesus himself tells the listener that he is speaking in parable form, though it is otherwise obvious in many other instances. Psalm 78 informs us that God will come and speak to the people in parable form. (Psalm 78:2: I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old.)

Textual Location

In Mark, the Gospel that records the fewest of Jesus' parables, this parable is included last in a series of three parables. It is told to the crowd, with the disciples present. After telling this story about birds of the air taking shelter in the tree, Jesus provides emergency shelter to the disciples by calming the storm as they were crossing a lake in a boat.

In Matthew, the parable is placed third in a series of seven parables that Jesus was telling the crowds. This portion of Matthew is sometimes referred to as the "Parable Discourse," and includes most of the 13^th chapter of Matthew. All of these parables are told to the crowds, with the disciples also present.

In Luke, the parable comes during a 10-chapter stretch that is known as the Travel Narrative. In Luke, it appears that the parable is told to a crowd, in a synagogue, versus out in the countryside in Mark and Matthew. It also appears in Luke that those who opposed Jesus were also in the crowd when he told this parable, although it did not lead to a direct confrontation.

Historical Source

The story of the mustard seed is found in the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, as well as in the apocryphal Thomas. References to mustard seeds are also found in the Qu'ran, in writings attributed to Buddha and in other sacred texts. References to seeds and the idea of things growing abound throughout the Bible. In both Matthew and Luke, Jesus refers a second time to a mustard seed to illustrate a point about faith. In Paul's second epistle to Timothy, the apostle refers to Christ himself as a seed.

The scholars of the Jesus Seminar have declared the Parable of the Mustard to be one of the sayings of Jesus that they are most confident to be indeed an accurate representation of the words spoken by the historical Jesus. According to the published report of the seminar, 76 percent of the scholars believed the Thomas version of the parable to be the true words of Christ; 74 percent the Mark version; 69 percent for Luke; and 67 percent for Matthew, an aggregate of just over 71 percent. Given that the scholars could agree that only 15 Biblical sayings were actually uttered by Jesus, it is worth noting that the Parable of the Mustard Seed made the cut.

According to Arland Hultgren's "The Parables of Jesus," it is generally thought that a Q version of the parable exists as well. "Q" is a term applied by Biblical scholars to a written version of the Gospel story, now lost, that existed prior to Mark, which is generally believed to be the oldest of the four canonical Gospels. Hultgren opines that in addition to the written version of Mark, the authors of Matthew and Luke had the Q version available as well as they wrote their Gospels, because similar elements appear in both Matthew and Luke that are not in Mark.

In regard to the version in the Thomas Gospel, the scholars are split on if the Thomas edition derived from another source altogether or was taken from the Mark version and simply edited by the Thomas author.

In the Mark version, the mustard seed is planted "in the ground" theoretically by the listener of the story. Note that the seed is planted in the ground, versus a garden or field as recorded by Matthew and Luke, respectively. Both a garden and a field give an indication of land that was specifically prepared for growing things. "The ground" does not reference any place in particular. The idea that ground must be specifically prepared for a seed is clearly found in the Parable of the Sower, where seed that is not sown in good ground is essentially wasted and lost. Is Mark telling us here that a mustard seed can flourish in any kind of ground, that the kingdom of heaven can flourish where-ever planted? If that is the case, the Mark version of the parable seems to give us an even greater hope for the flourishing of the kingdom of heaven than do the other versions.

The Thomas version says that the seed "falls on prepared soil." In this case, the ground was made ready, but perhaps the seed landed there merely by chance: it fell rather than was planted or sown. We see here Mark and Thomas on one side and Matthew and Luke on another, divided over the need to prepare both the seed and the soil - Matthew and Luke -- or to leave one to divine intervention - Mark and Thomas.

Mark describes the mustard plant as the "largest of all garden plants," clearly something different than a large tree. Thomas also describes it as a "large plant." Matthew says the garden plant becomes a tree. Luke says merely that the seed became a tree. There is a significant difference between a plant and a tree. According to the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, a tree is defined as "a plant having a permanently woody main stem or trunk, ordinarily growing to a considerable height, and usually developing branches at some distance from the ground." By contrast, a plant is "an herb or other small vegetable growth, in contrast with a tree or a shrub." If the mustard seed becomes truly a "plant" with branches so large it attracts birds, it is even more miraculous perhaps than that which becomes a "tree."

Finally, the "birds of the air (sky)" either perch in or take shelter via the tree/plant. The creation story in Genesis uses the exact same term, "birds of the air" (Gen 1:26), to describe part of what God created.

The early church father Chrysostom (approximately 349-407 C.E.), suggested that both the parable of the Mustard Seed and of the Yeast were told by Jesus to encourage His disciples in reference to the kingdom in that it is destined for remarkable growth

Similar Uses

Jesus used the mustard seed to illustrate a point in another instance, in a story recorded in both Matthew and Luke. The idea of small seeds becoming something of significance is found not only through the Bible, but in the Sacred Texts of other world religions as well.

In both Matthew 17 and in Luke 17, Jesus tells his disciples that even if they have faith as small as a mustard seed - remember, just 1mm across! - a mulberry tree or even a mountain will obey their commands.

There are numerous Biblical references to people being "seeds." God makes particular promises to both Noah (Gen. 9:8-10) and Abraham (Gen 12:6-8) and promises to share the promise with their seed (King James Version.) In the 2 Timothy 2:8, Christ himself is referred to as the seed of King David: "Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel…"

Both the Muslim Qu'ran and the stories attributed to Buddha make use of the mustard seed. In the Buddha story, a grieving mother who has lost a young child is told to go and borrow a cup of mustard seeds from the family that has not, at some time, been visited by grief. She learns that there is no such family and takes comfort in that she is not alone in her grief. The Qu'ran says (Book of the Prophets 21.47): "And We will set up a just balance on the day of resurrection, so no soul shall be dealt with unjustly in the least; and though there be the weight of a grain of mustard seed, (yet) will We bring it, and sufficient are We to take account."

Exposition

In 1773, a group of rabble-rousers got together and decided to take part in an act of civil insurrection. Wearing disguises, they rushed onto a ship in the nearby harbor and threw several dozens crates of tea over the side of the ship. That night, an event now known as the Boston Tea Party, seemed an insignificant blip in the life of the mighty British Empire. That small event however led in part to a major change in world history. In many ways it marked the beginning of the rise of the American empire and American dominance in the world, along with the decline of the British Empire.

As with most things, the Boston Tea Party can be viewed from many angles. Today, we Americans see it as a treasured story of our history, as the appropriate actions of the Sons of Liberty yearning to breathe free of unjust taxes. The British might view it as the renegade act of hooligans, common criminals or tax scofflaws. In Iran and other spots, it can be viewed as justification for times when a "terror act" is needed.

The Mustard Seed Parable likewise tells of something small that becomes something large. It, too, can be viewed and interpreted from many different points of view.

The parable offers not only insight into what the Kingdom of Heaven will be like, but also hope and confidence on how it comes into being.

As in the Parable of the Seed Growing Secretly, once the tiny mustard seed is in the ground, man is no longer a part of the story. The seed now grows on its own, despite any future failings on the part of man. According to the Mark version, we do not have to do anything to prepare the soil. In the Thomas version, we do not have to do anything to prepare the seed - merely let it fall. In these instances once the mustard seed begins to work, the person who planted it is almost powerless compared to the working of the seeds. Again, this parable is a symbol of hope that once the kingdom starts to grow, though man may work to prune it back, the kingdom will be relentless and continue to grow. Eventually it will overwhelm all other plants and provide shelter for all God's creatures.

The birds of the air that take shelter in the tree can also refer to nations/tribe/kingdoms. In the case of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, the birds of the air who took shelter in the tree clearly seems to refer to other kingdoms that existed around Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, perhaps as vassal kings. In the case of Jesus' Parable of the Mustard Seed, we hear the message - certainly not for the first or last time in Jesus' teachings -- that all worldly kingdoms and nations will eventually come into God's kingdom. While indirect here, Jesus' teachings are replete with lessons that we must all live together, learn to get along and care for one another, indeed even love one another, not only as individuals but as nations, no matter what our differences are. We must learn to do this because not only because God commands it, because we must be ready to live together in his big tree, in his kingdom, when the time comes. We must be particularly ready for this because as Jesus taught in several other parables, no one knows the hour or the day in which his kingdom will spring forth and become the giant tree.

I live a few miles from the house in which I lived during my elementary school years. Periodically, I'll drive the few blocks out of my way to drive past it for nostalgic reasons. I can't see it well from the street, but in the backyard of that house is a tree I planted with my family when I was five years old. My grandfather said we would plant that tree and 100 years later, we could come back and it would still be there and would still be growing. We moved from that house when I was about 12. Even then, seven years after we planted the tree, it was still relatively small. Now, some 35 years after we planted the tree it has become quite large, though still not as big as some of the other trees in the surrounding neighborhood. Watched every day, it appears the tree is not growing. Looked at with the gift of time, one can see the miraculous growth of this tree, which I once held as a little seedling. After my grandfather and I planted that tree, our part was done. It has grown on its own ever since.

So it will be, Jesus tells us in this parable, with the kingdom of heaven. It grows at its once pace, on its own time. Suddenly, one day, we will look and its time will have arrived. The tiny mustard seed will have become the might plant.

APPENDIX A

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

Mark 4:30-32

30Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32Yet 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."

33With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Matthew 13:31-32

31He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

Luke 13:18-19

18Then Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19It 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."

Thomas 20

20. The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what Heaven's kingdom is like."

He said to them, "It's like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky."

Other Biblical uses of "Mustard Seed"

Luke 17:5-6

5The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

6He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

Matthew 17:18-20

18Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.

19Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"

20He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Other Biblical use "Birds of the Air"

Genesis 1:26

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Other Biblical use "Seeds"

2 Timothy 2:8 (King James Version)

8Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:

From the Holy Qu'ran

Book of the Prophets 21.47

[21.47] And We will set up a just balance on the day of resurrection, so no soul shall be dealt with unjustly in the least; and though there be the weight of a grain of mustard seed, (yet) will We bring it, and sufficient are We to take account.

Buddha, The Gospel (By Paul Carus, Chicago, The Open Court Publishing Company, 1894) Reprinted from Sacredtexts.com

Kisa Gotami repaired to the Buddha and cried: "Lord and Master, give me the medicine that will cure my boy." The Buddha answered: "I want a handful of mustard-seed." And when the girl in her joy promised to procure it, the Buddha added: "The mustard-seed must be taken from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent, or friend." Poor Kisa Gotami now went from house to house, and the people pitied her and said: "Here is mustard-seed; take it!" But when she asked "Did a son or daughter, a father or mother, die in your family?" They answered her: "Alas the living are few, but the dead are many. Do not remind us of our deepest grief." And there was no house but some beloved one had died in it.

Other Texts

Daniel 4:10-12, 20-22

10 These are the visions I saw while lying in my bed: I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. 11 The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, and the birds of the air lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed.

20 The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth, 21 with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the beasts of the field, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds of the air- 22 you, O king, are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth.

Ezekiel 17:22-23

22 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches.

Ezekiel 31

1 In the eleventh year, in the third month on the first day, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes:
" 'Who can be compared with you in majesty?

3 Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon,
with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest;
it towered on high,
its top above the thick foliage.

4 The waters nourished it,
deep springs made it grow tall;
their streams flowed
all around its base
and sent their channels
to all the trees of the field.

5 So it towered higher
than all the trees of the field;
its boughs increased
and its branches grew long,
spreading because of abundant waters.

6 All the birds of the air
nested in its boughs,
all the beasts of the field
gave birth under its branches;
all the great nations
lived in its shade.

7 It was majestic in beauty,
with its spreading boughs,
for its roots went down
to abundant waters.

8 The cedars in the garden of God
could not rival it,
nor could the pine trees
equal its boughs,
nor could the plane trees
compare with its branches-
no tree in the garden of God
could match its beauty.

9 I made it beautiful
with abundant branches,
the envy of all the trees of Eden
in the garden of God.

Barker, Kenneth, general editor. King James Study Bible. (2002) Zondervan. Grand Rapids, Mich.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. (1910) Robert Appleton Company. New York.

Crossan, John Dominic. The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. (1984) Harper. San Francisco.

Funk, Robert W. and Smith, Mahlan H., editors. The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus. (1993) Polebridge Press (MacMillan) Santa Rose, Calif.

Hultgren, Arland J. The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary. (2000) William B. Erdmans. Grand Rapids, Mich.

The Interpreter's Bible. (1951) Abingdon Press. Nashville.

The New Book of Knowledge (encyclopedia) (2003) Grolier, Inc. Danbury, Conn.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History (eds. Bostock, John and Riley, H.T.) (2004). Reprinted via Tufts University at: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+toc

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. (1997) A. Merriam Webster. Springfield, Mass.

Yancy, Phillip and Stafford, Tim. NIV Study Bible. (2002) Zondervan. Grand Rapids,Mich.