MATTHEW 13.31-32
THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED

In our previous lesson, we were studying the parable of the tares, a parable describing the kingdom of heaven. We saw that the kingdom’s present state here on earth is imperfect. It is a kingdom in which wheat and tares are mixed. The good is mixed with the bad. Such description of the kingdom makes us wonder about its future. We might become somewhat discouraged. What future does the kingdom of God have if it is a mixture of good and evil? Here is Jesus’ answer to this concern. Right after the parable of the tares, He tells us the parable of the mustard seed. Let’s read this parable in Matthew 13.31-32.

Matthew 13.31. Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,
32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”