Mark 4:30-34 30And he was saying, “With what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or with what parable for it? 31It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the dirt, is the smallest of all the seeds on dirt, 32and when it is sown, it grows up and becomes biggest of all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” 33And with many such parables he spoke to them the word as they were able to hear. 34But he did not speak to them without a parable, though privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
This parable is another that compares the kingdom of God to growing seeds. This is the last agricultural parable reported by Mark in this chapter. Each parable reveals something more about Jesus, the message he brought, and the kingdom he inaugurated. The parable of the mustard seed begins with a rhetorical question that keeps the listeners engaged and curious, and then Jesus answers the question with a short story about mustard seeds, which are as small as grains of sand and would have been the smallest garden seeds in that context. Like other stories in this chapter, the seeds are planted in good soil. It is assumed once again that the soil is good and represents those who are receptive to the preached word of the gospel. The focus of this parable is on what happens to the planted seed, the word once it is received in a person’s heart.
Many of Jesus’ parables have surprises. For this story, the surprise is how the smallest seed grows into the largest garden plant. Mustard plants can grow to 10-12 feet and become a small shade tree. The emphasis is on the big contrast between the small beginning compared to the large outcome. The contrast is further highlighted with the mention of birds finding places to make their nests in the shades of the mustard plant. Small beginnings produce large results.
Since this is a kingdom parable, we are drawn to how the kingdom of God began small with the few disciples gathered around Jesus. They may have wondered what difference they could make. We also may wonder about the size of God’s kingdom when we are in a small or difficult situation or when culture or governments turn hostile towards Christians. This parable should give us encouragement to realize that we are part of something bigger. May Jews of that time believed God’s kingdom would come in greatness, but no one was looking for the Messiah in Bethlehem, Nazareth, or on a poor fisherman’s boat, or that Jesus would spend time with poor sinners, women, or tax collectors. This “scandal of the kingdom” led the religious authorities the unbelievers to become confused by Jesus’ parables and harden their hearts against the message of the coming kingdom of God (verses 10-12).
Mark the narrator adds a summary thought in verse 33 that suggests that the parables he chose to record in this chapter have a clear purpose and message focused on hearing. The idea of hearing is repeated ten times in this chapter. Hearing assumes faith which brings understanding. The disciples would be able to understand the parables because they put their faith in Jesus. At this point in Mark’s Gospel, they are still uncertain and confused about Jesus and his message. Over time, especially after Jesus’ resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, their eyes would be opened and they would understand what Jesus told them in the parables.
The parables Jesus told were a form of testing. The listeners who wanted more could find the answers in the person of Jesus, not in their own thinking and imagination. The unbelievers, skeptics, and rejectors of Jesus would only be further scandalized by the stories. Those close to Jesus came to know the meaning. In the same way, people today reject the gospel because they reject Jesus. The King and the kingdom go together. You cannot have one without the other.
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