The Mustard Seed

Consider the Parable of the Mustard Seed.  (Luke 13:18-19, also found in Matthew and Mark)

Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.

Certain elements of this story are more or less universally understood in the same light by most scholars, to wit, Jesus is the sower who planted the seed.  The garden may be representative of the planting of the Christian faith in Israel, that is in God's land.  The seed though exceeding small grows into a great tree.  This suggests that from the beginning of tiny faith something vast and different develops.

In retrospect it is easy to see that from a handful of rag-tag followers has grown a world-encompassing Faith, that is, Christianity. The branches are clearly the limbs which have grown from the main trunk.

And now to question the most common interpretation of the fowls that "lodge in the branches." Many commentators suggest that the birds are representative of the flocks that seek shelter in the Shadow of the Almighty.  I respectfully disagree.  Refer back to the Parable of the Sower In Matthew 13:19.  Jesus makes it clear that the birds were "the wicked ones." which endeavored to destroy the planting.  Who could this be but the minions of the evil one, doing his bidding?  They shelter in the shadows of the kingdom but are not a part of the kingdom.

Mark quotes Jesus as saying the "mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth."  It is clear that the world despises the Messenger, the message, and those who accept the message and believe on Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:27-28 says, "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are."

Jesus's parable of the Mustard Seed                 .