William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Luke 13:18-19
13:18-19 So Jesus said to them, "To what is the kingdom of God like, and to what will I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his garden; and it grew until it became a tree, and the birds of the air found a lodging in its branches." This is an illustration which Jesus used more than once, and for different purposes. In the east mustard is not a garden herb but a field plant. It does literally grow to be a tree. A height of seven or eight feet is... read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Luke 13:18-22
Here is, I. The gospel's progress foretold in two parables, which we had before, Matt. 13:31-33. The kingdom of the Messiah is the kingdom of God, for it advances his glory; this kingdom was yet a mystery, and people were generally in the dark, and under mistakes, about it. Now, when we would describe a thing to those that are strangers to it, we choose to do it by similitudes. ?Such a person you know not, but I will tell you whom he is like;? so Christ undertakes here to show what the kingdom... read more