Luke 13:18

He said therefore, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I liken it? It is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his own garden; and it grew, and became a tree; and the birds of the heaven lodged in the branches thereof.

THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED

ANALOGIES IN THE PARABLE

The small seed = the small beginning of the church

The large tree = the size of the historic Christendom

The birds = evil, extraneous elements associated with the kingdom

The garden = the world

The one who sowed the seed = Christ, or God

The seed sown = the word of God

The mustard tree = the visible church of all ages

This parable and that of the leaven immediately following are not exactly like those in Matthew 13, "garden" instead of "field" being used by the Lord here. As Childers noted, Luke's account of these two parables does not come from the discourse reported in Matthew and Mark. "There, the parables are reported as part of Jesus' Galilean ministry; on the other hand, Luke is reporting another and later ministry,"[18] the Perean. Barclay also stated that "This is an illustration which Jesus used more than once, and which he used for different purposes."[19]

An amazing characteristic of interpreters of this parable is the near unanimous agreement that "usually each parable was spoken to make only one point,"[20] followed at once by their presentation of several points. Thus, it is agreed by all that the garden is the world where the kingdom has been planted by the Father, that the growth represents the spread of the kingdom, and that the great size of the mustard tree shows the future might and power of Christianity. Also, it is invariably pointed out that just as a mustard seed is small, so were the beginnings of the Lord's kingdom. If all this is "one point," then a porcupine is one quill! For further exegesis on this parable, see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 13:31-32.

[18] Charles L. Childers, op. cit., p. 540.

[19] William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1956), p. 183.

[20] Everett F. Harrison, Wycliffe Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press), p. 238.