I have one last thought about the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13. As I said in a previous post, I get stuck on the part of the parable where Jesus says that the tiny mustard seed grows so large that it becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.
I’m now starting to think that Jesus wanted us to get stuck at this point. Yes, this is a story about something small that grows very large. The kingdom of Heaven is indeed like that.
But there’s more. In Psalm 104 the psalmist mentions the trees of the Lord drink their fill, the cedars of Lebanon which He planted, where the birds build their nests.
Was Jesus making a reference to this Psalm when he said that the mustard plant “becomes a tree?”
When you read the parable this way it suddenly takes on an entirely new dimension. Not only does the kingdom of Heaven start small and grow large, it does so with the express purpose of glorifying God.
And yet that’s still not the end of the story. Psalm 80 also talks about the mighty cedars, noting that they rest in the shade of a glorious vine that God brought out from Egypt, and which “sent out its branches to the sea.” This seems a clear reference to the nation of Israel.
This image of the vine brings to mind Jacob’s blessing of his son Judah in Genesis 49. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; he washes his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes.
So now we have a reading of the parable in which the kingdom of God starts small, grows large with the express purpose of bringing glory to God, and will do so by fulfilling the Messianic prophecy in Genesis.
But wait, there’s more.
Mustard, to the people in Jesus’ day, might have been a controversial choice for a teaching about the kingdom of Heaven. The plant is highly invasive, so much that rabbinical teachings of the day gave the plant an unclean status. The Jews had strict laws against mixing fabrics or planting two kinds of crop in the same field. Mustard, by its nature, would violate boundaries and start taking over any field nearby. It could only be planted outside the boundaries of the city, away from other crops.
Was Jesus talking about Gentiles here? Possibly. Or perhaps he was talking about common people who didn’t always follow the law strictly. It might simply be a way to challenge us to think more deeply about the way God operates.
More than anything, I think this simple little teaching gives us plenty of food for thought. And that, I’m beginning to think, is the main point.
For a more discussion on the mustard seed and the mustard plant see the hermeneutics section on Stackexchage.
