Readings
- Proverbs 23:19–21, 29 – 24:2
- 1 Timothy 5:17–22 (23–25)
- Matthew 13:31–35
- Psalms: 31; 35
Matthew 13:31–35
He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."
Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:
"I will open my mouth to speak in parables;
I will proclaim what has been hidden since the foundation."
Notes
Two short parables of the kingdom. Both are doing the same work: insisting the kingdom shows up in small, subversive, hidden ways.
A word on the title. Matthew alternates between kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God across the gospel, while Mark and Luke use kingdom of God almost exclusively. The difference is not theological. Kingdom of heaven is a standard first-century Jewish circumlocution that avoids saying God out loud. Matthew's gospel is the most Jewish in tone of the synoptics, and the substitution reflects that.
Verses 31–32. The mustard seed. A few things worth knowing. Smallest of all seeds is hyperbole; mustard is not literally the smallest seed in nature. And the mustard plant is technically a shrub that does not actually grow into a tree. Jesus is exaggerating on purpose. The image is hyperbolic and almost comic.
Worth knowing also: mustard in Palestine was something close to a weed. Invasive, hard to control, prone to taking over a field. The kingdom of heaven is not a stately cedar of Lebanon. It is closer to crabgrass.
The image is also a quiet shot at imperial pretension. The Hebrew Bible repeatedly used the great tree with birds in the branches image for empires (Daniel 4, Ezekiel 17 and 31). Jesus is taking that imperial imagery and reassigning it to something that began as a weed seed.
Verse 33. The yeast. And another inversion. Yeast (zymē) is usually a negative symbol in Jewish thought, associated with corruption: the unleavened bread of Passover, the yeast of the Pharisees Jesus warns against elsewhere. Here he uses it positively. The kingdom is like leaven hidden in dough.
Notice the details. A woman does the work, domestic and quiet. Three measures of flour is a huge quantity, enough to feed over a hundred people. The image is small, hidden, domestic, and ends up feeding everyone. Subversive, not spectacular.
Verses 34–35. Why parables. Matthew points back to Psalm 78:2 to explain why Jesus teaches this way: I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden from the foundation of the world. Parables are not Jesus' way of being clever. They are how hidden things get spoken.
Questions for reflection
The kingdom Jesus describes here is not impressive. It looks like a weed, like leaven, like a small thing that takes over slowly. Where are you waiting for the kingdom to look more impressive than it actually does?
A woman quietly mixing yeast into dough is the picture of the kingdom in verse 33. Where in your life is the hidden, domestic, unglamorous work the actual place the kingdom is rising?
