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The Mustard Seed and the Yeast (Matthew 13:31-35)
Ruth, 4 October 2015
Part of the The Parables of Jesus series, Sunday Morning service
Matthew wrote his gospel at a time when followers of Jesus were viewed with contempt and thrown out of the synagogues. Being a Christian meant you were regarded with contempt and seen as irrelevant by the religious, political and cultural mainstream. How encouraging for those Christians to hear these parables about the Kingdom of heaven. The mustard seed - so insignificant, proverbially the “smallest seed” – yet it becomes the largest plant in the garden and the yeast, so hidden, yet it works invisibly to transform the whole dough. What do these parables have to say to us today?
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
|---|---|---|
| « The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds | Psalm 124 - Power is relative | The parables of the Buried Treasure and the Precious Pearl » |
Matthew 13:31–35 (Listen)
31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
34 All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”
(ESV)