The Parable of the Mustard Seed

I can remember when I first began preaching, my pastor would take me out to meetings where I would have the opportunity to sit and have meals with pastors much older than I. And as I would sit there and listen to their conversations, I would sit and think, “Do I have anything worth saying or should I just sit here and be quiet?”

You know, we may not actually say that to ourselves, but I think that’s a question we probably have more than we realize in our Christian lives. We know the gospel, most of us have heard it our whole lives. Yet as we go to school and sit at lunch with friends who don’t know Christ, we might sit and think to ourselves, “Hearing of all that’s going on in their lives, is the gospel relevant? Do I have a message worth giving?”

In 1876, Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and that earned him the title of, “Father of Modern Communication. After inventing the phone, Bell approached a American communications company Western Union and offered them rights to his patent for $100,000, but company bigwigs laughed at the proposal citing the ‘obvious limitations of his device, which is hardly more than a toy.’ Undeterred, Bell established the Bell Telephone Company in 1877 and less than a decade later over 150,000 people were the proud owners of telephones in the USA. Today, there is rarely a person who we don’t see with a phone in their hands. In the eyes of Western Union it seemed like some little thing, but today it is an absolutely massive market.

And that’s what I want to talk to you about today. Not the rise of the telephone, but the significance of something that seemed to have humble beginnings, but is truly the greatest thing to ever happen. As we look in Mark 4:30-32 we read,

Mark 4:30–32 NKJV

30 Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? 31 It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; 32 but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

Now, at this time the disciples of Jesus weren’t really sure what His reign was really going to look like. As we read through the Gospels, we find that the Jews were expecting Jesus to come to overthrow the Romans and lead the nation of Israel to victory. But that simply wasn’t the case. What Jesus came to do may have seemed smaller than they imagined, but it proved to be greater than they could’ve ever planned. As we hear this story of the Lord we find two main ideas for us today. First we see:

The First Impression

You’ve always heard that first impressions are important, haven’t you? Mom always wanted us to dress well, have our hair combed and our teeth brush so people didn’t think she was raising hooligans. And Dad always taught me to look a man in the eye when you shake his hand and to shake with a firm grip. He also taught me to never as a man for steak sauce when he cooked one for me for free because that would be an insult. Like I said, first impressions matter because it sets the tone of what a person thinks of you. But they’re not always right are they?

Caron grew up in a rough city. He was a drug dealer at the age of 11, had been arrested 15 times before his 15th birthday. As a matter of fact, in one video, he takes you back to his home where he points out neighboring houses where the people were murdered or where the police would raid them. Caron didn’t seem to have anything going for him. That is until he discovered the game of basketball. He didn’t discover his love for the game until he was forced to embrace it while serving time in a detention center. He turned his life around, of course, and ended up becoming a the Big East Player of the Year at Connecticut, a lottery pick in the 2002 Draft, a two-time All-Star and NBA champion with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. If you met him today, you’d see a giant of a man, driving an extremely stylish Rolls-Royce and wearing stylish clothes, but at one point that wouldn’t have been the impression he’d give off at all.

And as we look at what Jesus is saying, he tells the story of a mustard seed being planted in the ground. Now, a mustard seed is a really tiny seed guys, and back then people would use it as a figure of speech to talk about something being extremely small. It would be considered insignificant and no one would notice it’s presence, especially once it was planted in the ground.

Can you imagine how disappointing this must’ve been for the disciples to hear? They’ve sacrificed everything to follow Christ only for Him to pull them aside and essentially say that He isn’t coming in flaming fury like they thought but that His kingdom would start out like a mustard seed - seemingly insignificant. Surely these guys would’ve wanted to hear something like, “My kingdom is like a redwood tree, strong and mighty” but that isn’t what Christ says. And this isn’t the only time. He reveals to them time and time again that what they have previously thought was going to happen, isn’t going to happen. Instead there would be a cross before the crown. And this can be disappointing for us as well today. We pray for big things, things we think would be glorious or things we think would be God-honoring and it seems that nothing is to come out of it. We pray for our nation to be saved meanwhile we turn on the news and we see just how wicked our leaders are and we think, “Uh, this isn’t going the way I thought it was going to go, Lord!” We’re tempted to go to the very top to bring in the kingdom of God, but that’s not what we see here. It starts at the bottom.

And that’s what happened at Calvary. The Lord of Heaven and Earth is born to a young, virgin girl and grows up to be crucified. And surely Caesar would’ve thought, “What’s so significant about the death of some Jewish Rabbi from Nazareth?”

But it truly is the biggest thing to ever happen, because it is through His blood that He has purchased a people of every tribe and tongue. Which brings us to our second point.

Impressive Expansion

In the ancient pagan cultures there were stories about something called the Cosmic Tree who’s roots dug down into the underworld and who’s branches reached into the heavens. Anyway, in the Old Testament we see the prophets take this story from the world and use it to prove points.

Ezekiel 31:3–9 (NKJV)

3 Indeed Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, With fine branches that shaded the forest, And of high stature; And its top was among the thick boughs. 4 The waters made it grow; Underground waters gave it height, With their rivers running around the place where it was planted, And sent out rivulets to all the trees of the field. 5 ‘Therefore its height was exalted above all the trees of the field; Its boughs were multiplied, And its branches became long because of the abundance of water, As it sent them out. 6 All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs; Under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young; And in its shadow all great nations made their home. 7 ‘Thus it was beautiful in greatness and in the length of its branches, Because its roots reached to abundant waters. 8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; The fir trees were not like its boughs, And the chestnut trees were not like its branches; No tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty. 9 I made it beautiful with a multitude of branches, So that all the trees of Eden envied it, That were in the garden of God.’

Ezekiel 17:22–24 (NKJV)

22 Thus says the Lord God: “I will take also one of the highest branches of the high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and will plant it on a high and prominent mountain. 23 On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it.”

Daniel 4:10–12 (NKJV)

10 These were the visions of my head while on my bed: I was looking, and behold, A tree in the midst of the earth, And its height was great. 11 The tree grew and became strong; Its height reached to the heavens, And it could be seen to the ends of all the earth. 12 Its leaves were lovely, Its fruit abundant, And in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, The birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, And all flesh was fed from it.

So, as we look at these passages, we see this kind of imagery used of this tree that has great influence and reach over the whole world where those who sit beneath it are greatly benefited and how all the others can’t even compare to it. And this is what Christ picks up on here in Mark 4:32

Mark 4:32 NKJV

32 but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

Christ is showing us, that it may look small at the time of His death, and the actions of preaching the gospel may seem small, but the kingdom of God will arise from look insignificant into something that the whole world marvels at. Schlatter said, “What appears to be the smallest is nevertheless the greatest. In that which is hidden, the foundation of the world is laid that will encompass the whole world.”

But not only will it grow, but this also hints at grace to us. Notice where it says, “The birds of the air may nest under its shade.”? This is often used to elude to the gentiles so when Mark’s audience read this, they would’ve know that their inclusion in the kingdom was planned out by God. I like how one writer put it, “Out of the most insignificant beginnings, invisible to human eyes, God creates his mighty Kingdom, which embraces all the peoples of the world.”

Conclusion

The Gospel according to Saint Mark 8 Two Parables about the Kingdom (4:26–32)

The early Christian communities may well have taken comfort from the belief that, though response to the gospel was often indiscernible, God was in fact in control: though they did not understand what was taking place, they could be confident that the harvest would eventually appear.

Helmut Thielicke was a pastor in Germany during the height of World War II. He illustrates the smallness of the kingdom of God for us well:

“When I became a Pastor and conducted my first Bible-Study hour I went into it with the determination to trust in Jesus saying: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” I said these words to myself in order to assure myself that even Hitler, who was then in the saddle, and his dreadful power machine were merely puppets hanging by strings in the hands of this mighty Lord. And in the Bible study hour I was faced by two very old ladies and a still older organist. He was a very worthy man, but his fingers were palsied and this was embarrassingly apparent in his playing. So this was the extent of the accomplishment of this Lord, to whom all power in heaven and earth had been given, supposedly given. And outside marched the battalions of youth who were subject to altogether different lords. This was all he had to set before me on that evening. What did he have to offer anyway? And if it really were nothing more than this—then isn’t he refuted by this utterly miserable response?”

As Helmut is trying to serve the all-powerful God, he looks at his flock and sees just a few, meanwhile someone as wicked as Hitler has the entire nation eating out of his hand and Helmut think to himself, “Lord, doesn’t this make you look bad? How does this not disprove your claim to be almighty and greater than everything?” But what Helmut didn’t understand is that that’s not how the kingdom works. We rest in God to give the increase.

So what does this mean for us? Where do I put this in my life? Why should I? And How?

This text is calling us to be faithful in telling our friends about Jesus, even when we’re nervous about what they might say, because we know that God gives the results.

As we read this passage we should rejoice because we are apart of the expansion and that should motivate us to telling others about the Lord.

But how? Three ways: Remember His goodness to you, Rest knowing that He gives the increase, and React loving those around you with the gospel.