Bible Study series: Mark 4:30-32. Don’t despise small beginnings. Be patient for God to work.
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Scripture: Mark 4:30-32
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.” (Mark 4:30-32)
Comments
See v. 3 for further comment on the definition of parable.
See vv. 10-12 for a definition of the kingdom of God.
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Basic Definition of Kingdom of God
30-32:
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.
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 rhetorical, 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.
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.
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.
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
1. 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?
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1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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