Luke 13:18-21--The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

Luke 13:18-21
English Standard Version

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven
18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

​20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

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We've now transitioned topics from the last days to the faith that Jesus expects His disciples to have.  This is another main topic that He covers in his last weeks and days before His crucifixion.  Jesus is going to teach them by parable what the kingdom of God (the gospel) is like.  He says that it is like a grain of a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden.

Let's stop here for a second even though there is more to that sentence in the text and come right back to it.  This seed that Jesus is talking about is probably different than any mustard seed that you or I are familiar with here.  This is the smallest of herb-bearing seeds, but it produces that largest of herb-bearing plants to the point that the plant it produces is often called a "tree" in other texts.  I want to post a couple of pictures here for you as reference to see how small the seed is that Jesus is talking about, and how large the plant is that grows from it.

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That should give you some idea what Jesus is talking about here.  The kingdom of God (the gospel) seems to be small and insignificant, but when it takes root and grows it produces something so large that no one can believe that it is the same thing as the seed that was planted.  It will radically transform the life of the one who believes and it has the potential to change the world one person at a time from the inside-out.  The book of Acts tells us that it was said of the early apostles, their faith and the gospel that their message was going to "turn the world upside down."  That sounds about right as you can't believe the gospel and remain unchanged by it.

Jesus emphasizes that this small seed becomes a tree large enough for the birds to nest in.  What's that all about?  Well, Jesus is specifically talking about the Gentile nations of the world finding refuge, peace, and security in the gospel.  I'm not sure their reason for coming and wanting to find rest there.  Some may be coming to believe, others may be coming because they recognize that it leads to a more peaceful life, still others may be coming looking for God to materially bless them if they are living in obedience.  We saw all these responses to the Law in the Old Testament and shows us the ways in which the world may react to the gospel and the New Covenant or New Testament.  There were some people from around the world that came to the Temple to learn about God for intellectual reasons, others sought God's favor or answers to questions that the could not get answered any other way, still others were looking for military success, but few came looking for atonement.  Those who did come to the LORD by way of His altar though found a peace which surpasses all understanding as they came by the one and only way by faith and through the blood of substitutionary atonement that pointed forward to the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Jesus then adds and additional example, this also is in all the cross-references, that the kingdom of God (that is the gospel) is like a woman that puts a little bit of leaven into a large amount of dough and the leaven works its way through all of the dough to leaven it.  This is a strange teaching for the Jews to hear as this idea of leaven working its way into unleavened dough and changing it so that all the dough becomes leavened is typically used as a picture of sin and how we are totally corrupted by even a little sin.  Those who take this interpretation of the passage focus on the fact that the woman "hid" the leaven in the flour, meaning the flour was meant to be unleavened, but this woman put a little leaven in the flour that no one would see or detect, but it was enough to ruin all of it.

Both interpretations have their strong points, but I am more in favor of the first interpretation that God is the one who hid the totality of the gospel from us in the Old Testament, but it has been working its transformative work and this small seed of the gospel is enough to change the whole world.  That is not to say that everyone will believe the gospel, for there are some that imagine that in the end all people will be saved, and I only see a remnant of people saved, but everyone that God intends to save is affected by the gospel and is radically transformed from the inside out and made into something new and you can never go back to the old way, just like once the flour is leavened, you never go back to make it unleavened again.  This makes the most sense to me in parallel with the parable of the mustard seed as we have to take what we do know and understand to help us understand that which is unclear.  The other argument doesn't sound right to me and I hope that's the Holy Spirit helping to lead me in all truth as Jesus promised He would.