The kingdom starts off small and grows slowly. Then it grows in your life and in millions of lives around the globe, individually. Through changed lives after the salvation of each person, the kingdom can influence society for the better.
First, you individually must enter the kingdom by being born again (John 3:3, 5). Then God changes your life and takes you on an adventure as he leads, inside his kingdom which is spreading around the world.
Before we begin the exegesis …..
Quick definition of a parable:
Literally, the word parable (parabolē in Greek) combines para– (pronounced pah-rah) and means “alongside” and bolē (pronounced boh-lay) which means “put” or even “throw”). Therefore, a parable puts two or more images or ideas alongside each other to produce a new truth. […] The Shorter Lexicon says that the Greek word parabolē can sometimes be translated as “symbol,” “type,” “figure,” and “illustration,” the latter term being virtually synonymous with parable.
For more information on what a parable is and its purposes, click on this link:
The translation is mine. If you would like to see other translations, click here:
If you don’t read Greek, ignore the left column.
I often quote scholars in print because I learn many things from them. They form a community of teachers I respect (1 Cor. 12:28), though I don’t agree with everything they write. But they do ensure I do not go astray. There is safety in numbers (for me at least).
Now let’s begin.
|
Parable of the Mustard Seed (Mark 4:30-32) |
|
| 30 Καὶ ἔλεγεν· πῶς ὁμοιώσωμεν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἢ ἐν τίνι αὐτὴν παραβολῇ θῶμεν; 31 ὡς κόκκῳ σινάπεως, ὃς ὅταν σπαρῇ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, μικρότερον ὂν πάντων τῶν σπερμάτων τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, 32 καὶ ὅταν σπαρῇ, ἀναβαίνει καὶ γίνεται μεῖζον πάντων τῶν λαχάνων καὶ ποιεῖ κλάδους μεγάλους, ὥστε δύνασθαι ὑπὸ τὴν σκιὰν αὐτοῦ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνοῦν. | 30 He said: “How will we compare the kingdom of God or put it in a parable? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when it sown on the ground, is smaller than all the other seeds on the ground. 32 When it is sown, it grows up and become bigger than all the garden vegetables and produces big branches, so that birds of the sky can settle under its shade.” |
I chose Mark’s version because it is slightly more complete–only barely.
Here is Matthew’s version:
Matthew 13 (scroll down to vv. 31-32)
Luke’s:
Luke 13 (scroll down to vv. 18-19)
Now let’s take the parable verse by verse.
30:
“kingdom of God”: Let’s go for a general consideration of the kingdom of God.
As noted in other verses that mention the kingdom in this commentary, the kingdom is God’s power, authority, rule, reign and sovereignty. He exerts all those things over all the universe but more specifically over the lives of people. It is his invisible realm, and throughout the Gospels Jesus is explaining and demonstrating what it looks like before their very eyes and ears. It is gradually being manifested from the realm of faith to the visible realm, but it is not political in the human sense. It is a secret kingdom because it does not enter humanity with trumpets blaring and full power and glory. This grand display will happen when Jesus comes back. In his first coming, it woos people to surrender to it. We can enter God’s kingdom by being born again (John 3:3, 5), by repenting (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:5), by having the faith of children (Matt. 18:4; Mark 10:14-15), by being transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son whom God loves (Col. 1:13), and by seeing their own poverty and need for the kingdom (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20; Jas. 2:5). The kingdom has already come in part at his First Coming, but not yet with full manifestation and glory and power until his Second Coming.
Here are some of my posts about the kingdom of God:
1 Introducing the Kingdom of God (begin a ten-part series)
Bible Basics about the Kingdom of God
Questions and Answers about Kingdom of God
Basic Definition of Kingdom of God
This short parable is a simile, which means “like” or “similar.” This is like that. He is about to compare the kingdom to an ordinary item in everyday life in first-century Israel.
31:
The kingdom is compared to a mustard seed, which in his culture, was the smallest seed. Then a person takes it and sows it in his garden. It grows into a tree-like plant. It is not a literal tree, so here it is rhetoric, but the mustard plant could grow to a height of 10-25 ft (3-7.5m). So what is the point of the short parable? It is that the kingdom has a small beginning and is seemingly insignificant to the undiscerning. The mustard seed is a symbol for what is tiny; it was the smallest seed.
Some critics choke on the smallest of all seeds in Jesus’s culture because it is not the smallest seed in the world (evidently, orchid seeds are smaller). Yet Jesus uses the superlative “smallest.” He was wrong! (So say the critics.) No, we have to accommodate the biblical authors and persons inside the story to their culture. Let’s not impose demands on them to know things they did not have access to (e.g. the speed of light or airplanes or cars). Reasonable readers read the text reasonably and charitably.
Two commentators of the parallel passage in Matthew’s Gospel weigh in. “Although not literally the smallest of seeds and yielding a shrub rather than a ‘tree’ in the technical botanical sense, the mustard plant hyperbolically conveyed Jesus’ point (the inconspicuous becomes mighty) better than any other” (Keener, p. 388). Hyperbole means a rhetorical exaggeration for effective speaking. “This is not an error on Jesus’ part, though some have claimed it as such. Jesus is using rabbinic hyperbole to stress the great difference between miniscule size (it can barely be seen in the palm of a hand) and a great tree it produces (nine to ten feet high) [3m], and at the same time this was the smallest seed known to his Palestinian audience” (Osborne, comment on 13:32).
Keener, Craig. A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (Eerdmans 1999).
Osborne, Grant R. Matthew: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. (Zondervan, 2010).
The Greek noun “earth” (gē) can also be translated as “soil” or “ground” in agricultural settings, as here, which BDAG recommends for Mark 4:31 and similar verses (p. 196). So Jesus is not saying that it is the smallest seed that ever existed on the whole globe, including Australia and North America. It is the smallest seed in Galilean agriculture, at that time.
Now let’s move on.
32:
This is the mystery of the kingdom, for it will have a large ending. Jesus is one God-man, so the beginning of the kingdom at first seems small and even lonely, despite the large number of disciples following him. Now, thankfully, it is going around the globe. But this does not mean the parable teaches the kingdom’s political dominance, as Dan. 2:44 teaches, which wipes out all other kingdoms. Instead, the kingdom that Jesus taught enters quietly into the world, but more specifically into a person’s heart.
So does this power and influence mean that Christians should take over governments? Not necessarily. The kingdom does not so permeate the world’s political systems that outward righteousness is achieved. Rather, it is better, in my view, to preach the gospel, train the new converts to live righteously and lovingly in Christ, and together, in unity, their righteous lives and deeds will transform society. Take it slowly. Salvation of souls first. Society second, one saved soul at a time.
Some Bible interpreters see an OT background here. The birds finding shade refers to Gentiles admitted into the kingdom of God, like a cedar tree (Ezek. 17:23; 31:6) and the growth of a great empire in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Dan. 4:10-12, 14, 21). All great nations seek refuge under the shade of the Assyrian empire (Ezek. 31:6) (Wessel and Strauss, p. 762). That OT background seems reasonable to me. It is judicial decision, built on facts of a nation’s heart.
“birds of the sky” mean “wild birds,” not tame ones. God’s kingdom specializes in providing relief for wild, untamed people. It quiets them down and tames them. They can settle down in the kingdom of God and find relief from the burning sun (= trials and troubles brought on by wild behavior).
GrowApp for Mark 4:30-32
A. The kingdom of God begins small and then grows in your life. How have you seen the kingdom expand in you and in your outreach to others?
B. How have you seen the kingdom of God become powerful and influential in society or your corner of society? Hint: Look for the salvation of souls and the spread of righteousness.
SOURCES
At this link you can find the bibliography at the very bottom of the post:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 