Matthew 13:31 - 35:
31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[b] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”
- What is the significance of the parable of the mustard seed?
ReplyDelete- Does the parable of the yeast have the same meaning, or does it have additional meaning?
(why Jesus spoke in parables was covered a couple articles ago).
http://www.gotquestions.org/parable-mustard-seed.html says:
ReplyDeleteLike with all parables, the purpose of the Parable of the Mustard Seed is to teach a concept or “big idea” using elements or details, like birds, weeds, and growth, that are common, easily recognized, and usually representational of something else. While the elements themselves do have importance, an overemphasis on the details or literal focus on an element usually leads to interpretive errors and missing the main point of the parable. One of the possible practical reasons that Jesus used parables is that parables teach a concept or idea by using word pictures. By depicting concepts, the message is not as readily lost to changes in word usage, technology, cultural context, or the passage of time as easily as it might be with a literal detailed narrative. Two thousand years later, we can still understand concepts like sameness, growth, the presence of evil influence, etc. This approach also promotes practicing principles rather than inflexible adherence to laws. Further emphasis on a singular point is given when multiple parables are given consecutively on the same subject, as is the case with the Parable of the Mustard Seed.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed is contained in all three of the synoptic gospels. However, the Gospel of Matthew provides us with the most peripheral information, as it includes one parable before and after the mustard seed parable, each teaching on the same subject. Each of the three parables: the weeds among the wheat, the mustard seed, and the yeast have six common elements in them, providing structure which helps us to interpret the individual parables. The common elements are (1) a similitude about "the kingdom of heaven," the earthly sphere of profession both true and false; (2) “a man,” Christ; (3) “a field,” the world; (4) “seed,” the Word of God or its effect; (5) ”growth” or “spreading,” church growth; and (6) the presence of evil, symbolized by weeds, birds of the air, and yeast.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed was taught in rhetorical hyperbole. Here, Jesus uses a shrub/tree coming from a seed (John 12:24) to represent kingdom growth, consistent with other tree/kingdom references (Ezekiel 17:23 and Daniel 4:11-21). The seed’s growth attracts the presence of evil—depicted as birds (Matthew 13:4,19; Revelation 18:2)—to dilute the church while taking advantage of its benefits.
So, the picture painted in the Parable of the Mustard Seed by Jesus is of the humble beginnings of the church experiencing an explosive rate of growth. It grows large and becomes a source of food, rest, and shelter, for both believers and false professing individuals that seek to consume or take advantage of its benefits while residing or mixing among what was produced by the seed (1 Corinthians 5:1; 6:7; 2 Corinthians 11:13; Galatians 1:7). In other words, Jesus predicts that, while the church will grow extremely large from just a small start, it will not remain pure. While this is not a condemnation of the "bigness" of modern Christianity, it does show us the greatest burden that comes with it. The Parable of the Mustard Seed is both a prediction and a warning. May we listen to its message.
https://bible.org/seriespage/8-mustard-seed-matthew-1331-35-mark-430-34-luke-1318-21 says:
ReplyDeleteIn the big picture, this parable explains the kingdom of God worldwide. And on a more personal level, this story explains the kingdom of God within each believer.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, a handful of disciples were left to spread the truth of God’s kingdom. They were like that tiny seed. In the huge population of the entire world, they were like a little speck. But just like that mustard seed, they were full of hidden power. They had God’s Holy Spirit in them. As the disciples traveled and taught, more and more people believed. The worldwide kingdom grew and grew. Just like the mustard plant produces more seeds for planting, the disciples made more disciples. The disciples’ disciples made disciples.
The parable of the mustard seed also describes how God’s kingdom grows in the life of each believer. When a person puts his trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of him (2 Corinthians 5:5). This is similar to the mustard seed being planted in the ground. No one can see it from the outside, but it is definitely there.
At first, the believer may not even feel very different, but the Spirit is powerful. It has the power to transform a person, just like the seed has the power to produce a huge plant.
Likewise, the Holy Spirit produces good things in each believer. The spiritual fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. But that’s not all! The Spirit also brings forgiveness, healing, righteousness, glory, grace, compassion, knowledge and truth.
Like the plant, the growth is sometimes slow. You might not see changes overnight, but in a year’s time, the influence of the Holy Spirit in the person’s life has grown greatly. In a few years’ time, the results might amaze you. The person will be very different from the way he was. His beliefs, attitudes, and actions will no longer be ruled by his own thoughts and feelings. He will be ruled by the Holy Spirit.
http://www.biblicaljesus.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Audio.details/ID/419/Parables-Matthew-13-Part-1-Mustard-Seed.htm says:
ReplyDeleteTwo dangers are to be avoided in seeking to interpret parables in scripture; 1) that of ignoring the important features, and 2) that of trying to make all the details mean something.
To understand spiritual things you must have the Spirit of God in your mind—the mind of Christ—that in turn opens up what is in the Bible. Of course the other major key is the book itself, because the interpretation of the parables is within the Bible. It's not necessarily just the context around the parable; rather the entire Bible opens up the parable.
We can rely on what He says, because He doesn't change. If He did, could we ever trust the Bible for anything? Now let's apply this to symbols in prophecy, or in parables. If we saw, for example, the word "star" in Genesis, and we felt it meant, let's say, "a rocket ship" (just to bring something out), then by this same principle "star" should mean a "rocket ship" right through to the end of the Bible. And you know what? It does. I don't mean that it does mean "a rocket ship." What I'm saying is that a symbol in the early part of the Bible retains the same meaning throughout the entire Bible. And if it didn't, how could we be ever sure of what it meant?
Now this doesn't mean that a symbol in one place can't have a different shade of meaning, or that the context may give you the exact narrow meaning; but in general, a symbol that is in Genesis will be the same, in its wider application, right on through to Revelation.
Let's just take one symbol—lion. Do you know that in I Peter 5 it stands for Satan? And do you know that in Revelation 5 it stands for Christ? Is that a contradiction? Does the symbol stand for two different things? No. We've interpreted it correctly, but its meaning is consistent. A lion does not stand for Satan. A lion does not stand for Christ. A lion is a ruler. It is a very powerful ruler. It is, very often, a fierce and almost wild ruler.
Do you see what I'm getting at here? The symbol means a specific thing, and the context tells us, or the description tells us, to whom it applies. We could do the same thing with "stars." That one's kind of interesting, because in Genesis 37, stars stood for "the sons of Jacob." In Revelation 12, just four verses apart, it means both "the sons of Jacob" in one verse and "the angels" in another. But do you know what "stars" really symbolizes? Sons. The angels are "sons of God," the twelve stars are "Jacob's sons"; still the symbol refers to sons.
The context provides a fuller picture of what the symbol means and narrows it in as well. This is important when going through the parables of Matthew 13, because we can't pull symbols out of the air and attach meanings to them. We've got to look at the rest of the Bible to see how they're used throughout.
The first section (the first 4 parables) is titled "Satan's Plan To Destroy The Church." The second section (next 3 parables, parables 5, 6, and 7—Hidden Treasure, Pearl of Great Price, and the Dragnet) is titled "God's Work In Behalf Of The Church." It is what God does to make sure that Satan doesn't destroy the church, and much of that has already done by Him. The third section (the last parable) is titled "The Ministry's Duty To Protect The Church," or "The Ministry's Duty To The Church."
What was kept secret from the foundation of the world? Satan's plan to destroy the church.
(to be continued)
http://www.biblicaljesus.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Audio.details/ID/419/Parables-Matthew-13-Part-1-Mustard-Seed.htm (continued):
ReplyDeleteYou've got to remember, the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, is not just a future thing. It is a present reality.
When we yield to God, and when we are accepted as His sons and daughters, we become citizens of the Kingdom of God. Now in a sense, we all are in the Kingdom of God now. . . .the sovereignty of God . .
Guess what the "birds of the air" are? Demons! They come and try to get you when you're young in the church.
number 1 was to attack God's people early. Number 2 is to send secret agents to infiltrate the church.
Now you probably know what the common interpretation of the mustard seed parable is.
It goes like this, just in case you aren't aware: The mustard seed represents the Kingdom of God, which begins tiny, and then, over a process of time, expands or grows into a worldwide system and becomes the home for many nations or many people and they dwell there in peace and safety and harmony.
Well, this looks good and true on the surface, but after analyzing the symbols, I think you're going to see that this is wrong.
The field again is the world. That's very true too. But, the "mustard seed" is a little bit more controversial.
The mustard seed is not the Kingdom of God. It's another agent of the Kingdom of God, at work to make the Kingdom of God grow and expand.
Normally the mustard plant grows to be about four to six feet tall. And it has spindly branches. But, it's not a mustard tree; it's a mustard plant. But understand that a mustard plant, if it's in a perfect spot with perfect nutrients, perfect light, perfect everything, has been found to grow up to about fifteen feet (5 meters) tall. That's pretty good. That's taller than most ceilings, by quite a bit. But now tell me something. If it grows to fifteen feet, does the mustard plant become a tree? No. The mustard plant is always a shrub.
This is one thing that people always pull out of this parable of the mustard seed—that it is among the smallest of cultivated seeds. Well that's good, and it's smallness then is really our only clue as to what this parable is teaching us at this point.
What, then, is the mustard seed? Simple. His church. The few, the small, the weak, and the base. Hopefully we're not the proud or the Marines. He's talking about those who voluntarily submitted to God's dominion, and they are absolutely few indeed at this point in time
A mustard plant stays a mustard plant throughout its entire life! It can never become a tree. That's the point! Something went wrong! The mustard plant did something unnatural. The mustard plant went beyond its God-designed limit. Get that! That's important. The mustard seed—the church—went beyond its God-designed limit.
The point is something's gone wrong. God designed His plant—the vine, the church (whatever you want to call it) to grow into an average sized shrub, to be the salt of the earth, the spice of the earth. But something happened to make it burst through the limit that He set on it.
Because the next clause tells me that I'm right. Guess who shows up? The birds of the air come and nest in its branches. Who did we say the birds of the air were? The demons. In this unnatural, gross tree, the demons are at home!
this tree is God's church, but it has ceased to be God's church because it has grown outside its God-designed natural bound.
My 2 cents:
ReplyDeleteThe last article had some interesting things to say, but it's final conclusion was one I don't necessarily agree with. (It said that this parable is a warning that churches shouldn't grow bigger than God intends).
It does make sense to me that the birds are the minions of Satan (following the pattern of other parables).
I think that Jesus may be just teaching us that when a church or ministry grows large and/or powerful, it will naturally attract those things that love power. We should be aware of this phenomenon. However, we shouldn't be afraid of something growing large and powerful. We just need to be aware.
http://www.biblicaljesus.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/BS/k/1133/Parable-of-Leaven.htm says:
ReplyDeleteIn Matthew 13, we see how Jesus Christ used parables to foretell certain situations that would affect God's church down through the centuries until His second coming. In the Parable of the Mustard Seed, He forecasts that the church would begin small and that evil, outside adversaries would try to subvert it from within. In the Parable of the Leaven (Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20-21), He forewarns of internal doctrinal distortions.
In the Parable of the Sower, God's Word is rejected. In the Wheat and Tares, God's work is opposed. In the Mustard Seed, attempts are made to thwart God's plan. In the Parable of the Leaven, God's doctrines are corrupted. This parable has three specific but interlocking parts; the leaven, the woman, and the meal.
A natural reason for leaven's negative symbolism is the idea that fermentation implies a process of corruption. In the Old Testament, it is generally symbolic of sin and evil. In every instance that leaven appears in the Bible, it represents evil; the only exception, some say, is Jesus' use of leaven in this parable. Knowing its Old Testament significance, however, He would have used the symbol in the same way.
Whenever we find the symbol of a woman in the Bible, she represents a system of beliefs and practices that influence other people. Nations or political groups and religions or churches have specific unique beliefs. All human-based belief systems go contrary to God because "the carnal mind is enmity against God" (Romans 8:7). What the woman does and how she acts determines what belief system she is representing.
The woman in the parable takes leaven and hides it in the meal (Matthew 13:33). Hid is translated from the Greek word enkrupto, from which comes the English word "encrypt." The root word, krupto, means "to conceal" or "to keep secret." Hence, this woman is surreptitiously placing the leaven of false doctrine in the church. She is an opponent of Christ and infuses His church with corrupting ideas. Elsewhere she is called "Wickedness" (Zechariah 5:7-8), "Jezebel" (Revelation 2:20), and the "great harlot" (Revelation 17:1).
More importantly, most of the Jews listening to Jesus would have recognized the three measures of meal (an ephah) as the meal or grain offering (Leviticus 2). This offering was never allowed to contain leaven (Leviticus 2:5).
Jesus warns in this parable that false doctrines would be infused by stealth into the church, and these evil beliefs would corrupt, erode, and destroy relationships. If the false doctrines are allowed to grow, affection and loving concern in service to one another are thwarted. The phrase "till all was leavened" is a sobering indication that the church would be plagued by insensitive, uncaring, self-absorbed, self-centered attitudes that would spread through the church just as leaven spreads through bread dough. The apostle Paul tells us "through love serve one another" (Galatians 5:13), which is an antidote to the woman's devious subterfuge.
http://www.gotquestions.org/parable-leaven.html says:
ReplyDeleteFirst, it’s important to define “kingdom of heaven.” By this, Jesus is referring to His domain as the Messiah. In the current age, the kingdom of heaven is spiritual, existing within the hearts of believers (Luke 17:21). Later, the kingdom will be manifest physically, when the Lord Jesus establishes His throne on this earth (Revelation 11:15).
First, the kingdom of God may have small beginnings, but it will increase. Yeast is microscopic in size, and only a little is kneaded into the dough. Yet, given time, the yeast will spread through all the dough. In the same way, Jesus’ domain started with twelve men in an obscure corner of Galilee, but it has spread throughout the world. The gospel makes progress.
Second, the kingdom of God exerts its influence from within, not from without. Yeast makes dough rise from within. God first changes the heart of a person, and that internal change has external manifestations. The gospel influence in a culture works the same way: Christians within a culture act as agents of change, slowly transforming that culture from within.
Third, the effect of the kingdom of God will be comprehensive. Just as yeast works until the dough has completely risen, the ultimate benefit of the kingdom of God will be worldwide (Psalm 72:19; Daniel 2:35). “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
Fourth, although the kingdom of God works invisibly, its effect is evident to all. Yeast does its job slowly, secretly and silently, but no one can deny its effect on bread. The same is true of the work of grace in our hearts.
The nature of yeast is to grow and to change whatever it contacts. When we accept Christ, His grace grows in our hearts and changes us from the inside out. As the gospel transforms lives, it exerts a pervasive influence in the world at large. As we “reflect the Lord's glory, [we] are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
My 2 cents on the parable of the yeast:
ReplyDeleteThe last two articles on this had completely different interpretations. The first calls the yeast false teaching and the woman an agent of evil that mixes it into the church.
The second calls the yeast good and describes how it is like God's kingdom growing on earth and in our hearts.
I think that when Jesus uses yeast as an object to the Jewish people, it can't be a good thing. Their law prohibits the use of yeast during their holy festivals. Other uses of the concept in the Bible are negative. I think that the yeast must mean something negative - such as false teaching or bad people.
I won't go so far as agree with everything that the first interpretation said, but I do agree that the parable is a warning to Christians.
I think that the parable may be just a description of what happens generally when we let a little corruption into our lives or churches. For example, small corrupting thoughts can work it's way all through our lives if we don't go back to Jesus to be cleansed.