Knowing The Word in Luke 13:18-21

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

13:19 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

Comments

“Therefore,” means this teaching arises out of the proceeding. The point of the first parable is the plant grows so big that birds will nest in it. Roosting birds are a symbol for the nations of the earth. The kingdom of God will be universal.

The second parable has a woman take a lot of flour and leaven it. While the first parable is concerned with the kingdom’s extension throughout the world; this one explains its transformative power. A small amount of leaven can change a large mass of flour. Leaven works quietly from the inside out and remains unseen, just as Christ’s influence works quietly in the hearts of believers to transform them first and then the world around them.

Application

Without growth and transformation, the kingdom of God seems useless. However, growth and transformation are not so much human activities but divine. When properly taken care of, a seed is going to grow because of how it was created. Similarly, leaven is going to work its way through a flour mixture because of its chemistry. People did not design these things. God did.

Prayer

Father, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.