Matthew 13: Parable of the Mustard Seed

This is the second in a series of posts to examine three parables from Matthew 13. Much of the material in these posts is based on the International Bible Series lesson I used to teach Sunday school at Annual Conference.

Matthew 13: 31-32

³¹ He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; ³² 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.”

Question: What does this parable say to you?

Think about a tiny tiny seed that grows into a 20 foot plant. It is a parable about dynamic growth. Do we understand how that happens? Could this be a call to us to recognize that God is at work in ways we cannot understand? Does it speak to us about letting go of control in God’s kingdom?

God begins the kingdom of heaven in what seems like a tiny manner, but it ends with something extraordinary.

Question: Have you seen something in your life or in the life of your church that began with something small and grew into something unexpected, extraordinary, God-at-work?

Another way to look at this parable is stated in the student book:

...it may appear that the presence of God's kingdom is almost microscopic, and the world's injustice and cruelty may appear to overwhelm, it only takes a small start for God's kingdom to begin to grow and to produce wildly more than expected. It's not the size, it is the creation and the will of God that brings such things into being....Do we ...look carefully at what is before us that is of God? 

How will you bring hope to your congregations. Sometimes this is difficult, but in the light of this parable, how do you encourage hope and faith in a world where it is hard to do that?