The Parables And Teaching Of JesusMuestra

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

The presence of a mustard tree in the middle of a field was certainly a strange image to Jesus’ listeners. Who would want birds perching where one was trying to grow food? Jesus was comparing the kingdom to a giant shrub or weed that starts tiny but grows and takes over the garden. The image of yeast was equally strange to Jesus’ listeners. Yeast was a symbol for sin and had to be completely removed from the house before the Festival of the Passover.

The comparison of the kingdom with something that was symbolically negative would have been shocking. Rather than pretty images, these were disturbing metaphors for the completely unlikely and subversive way God’s kingdom actually works.

When have you seen God work in an unexpected way?