Matthew 13:31-35
Matthew 13:31-35
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of
heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and
sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It
becomes a large bush, and the birds of the sky come
and dwell in its branches.”
He spoke to them another parable. “The Kingdom of heaven
is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three
measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was
leavened.”
All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had
been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce
what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.
“I will open my mouth in parables…”
The scribes and the Pharisees often challenge Jesus to
speak plainly, not to speak in parables, as He was so
often want to do. But Jesus knew what was in the hearts
of the scribes and the Pharisees. And His mission was
not to speak of the Kingdom in terms of facts or rules
or laws or regulations; rather, Jesus wanted the people
to learn that the Kingdom is of the Spirit and its
manifestations are justice, joy, peace, charity, wisdom,
temperance, fortitude, generosity and many, many more
realities that expand our soul and make it more akin
to Christ. In the gospel above, Jesus again tells us
what the Kingdom of God is like through two parables:
that of the mustard seed and that of the yeast. As is
His mission to spread and proclaim the Good News, the
growth of the mustard seed into a big tree and the
yeast that made the whole batch of yeast and wheat
flour leavened - so is the Kingdom of God expanded
until “many birds of the sky…dwell in its branches”.
As the mustard seed of God’s Word is implanted in each
of us, God’s Kingdom grows and many believe and seek
refuge and shelter in it.
