Mustard Seed And The Kingdom Of God

We can notice that Jesus says started the parable by saying, “which a man took and planted in his field“. It’s maybe obvious that the seed needs to be planted but nevertheless, Jesus needed to emphasize that this one mustard seed must be planted in the field, that it needs to be rooted. Reading verses 18- 23 in the same chapter of Matthew 13 about the Sower parable, Jesus makes it clear to His disciples that there are different ground soils, the ones that are on the hard path, rocky places, thorns, and lastly the good soil. For that mustard seed to be fully grown, and become the largest of the garden plants, it needs to be rooted in that good soil-to be rooted in the Word of God that changes us through the Holy Spirit.        

We can also learn that when it becomes fully grown, the mustered plant will have many other little seeds inside, then each year, during the summer when it dries, all these mustered seeds fall into the ground so that each mustard seed will become on its own a large plant.  

The kingdom of God starts with sowing seeds, this is by sharing the Gospel (Evangelism), and while this mustard seed is in the ground, it starts to grow roots (Discipleship), so when its the spring, we only can trust God for its growth as paul says also in Corinthians 3:6-7 “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” If the seed is in good soil, it will have strong roots to grow and be the largest plant in the garden (Christian maturity).

The process of building God’s kingdom is very simple but needs faith, obedience, prayer, and patience. Though God is the king of Kings, His kingdom is not about power and control but love and grace. At first, the impact is almost invisible, for it is in our human nature not to notice something small and not powerful. But like the mustard seed, it needs to be planted and, in its season, it will grow and multiplies to be large and solid like a tree.

Jesus ends the parable by saying that the birds will come to nest in its branches. We can find a similar description in Ezekiel 31:6 where Ezekiel’s prophecies against Egypt that it will have the same fate as the Assyrians. Ezekiel explains how the nations put their trust and hope in the Assyrian kingdom and its king as it looked beautiful, tall, and strong but because its heart was proud and wicked it was fallen and destroyed. But we can rejoice for our king is Jesus, the lamb who is “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12)  

While the world is busy destroying itself, while there is no place for the nations to find a place to rest, and while many are searching for peace, love, and comfort, and while the harvest is plentiful, we need to continue building the kingdom of God by Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ by evangelizing, disciple-making, and training others to do the same. For “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Every one of us who follows Christ has one or more people in our life to whom we try to minister-it can be a family member, a friend, a co-worker, or someone we recently met. Some whom we are still praying for their salvation, and some others, we are already seeing the manifestation of the kingdom of God in their lives. Nevertheless, it requires us to have the faith of a mustard seed and enormous patience in reaching out to build God’s kingdom.