Mustard Seed And Leaven; Interpretation Of The Weeds
MUSTARD SEED AND LEAVEN; INTERPRETATION OF THE WEEDS
MATTHEW 13:31-43
The growth of God’s kingdom is phenomenal. The tiny start—one crucified man—was followed by the spread to every corner of the globe.
The parable of the mustard seed (13:31f.), Matthew’s third “parable of growth,” is a reminder that a great enterprise may have very small beginnings; there may be a contrast between the modest following that Jesus secured during his ministry and the wide extent of the Church when this Gospel was published. The “birds of the air” are probably the Gentiles, as in Daniel 4:12-21; where the language is similar. Any reader who is concerned about the botanical exactitude of the phrase “the greatest of shrubs” (13:32) may reflect that the literal rendering is “greater than the herbs” (RV).
The parable of the leaven (13:33) also points to the far-reaching results that may come from small beginnings; in addition, the fact that the woman “hid” the leaven in the meal may suggest the unobtrusive growth of the kingdom, as in Mark’s parable of the seed growing secretly (Mark 4:26-29). So Jesus was launching the kingdom of heaven on earth by his ministry: “now let it work!”
When he first the work begun,
Small and feeble was his day;
Now the word doth swiftly run,
Now it wins its widening way;
More and more it spreads and grows,
Ever mighty to prevail,
Sin’s strongholds it now o’erthrows,
Shakes the trembling gates of hell.
According to 13:34f. parabolic language was (henceforth) Jesus’ regular—indeed invariable—mode of addressing the “crowds,” as distinct from his disciples (see comment on 13:2); and in this the evangelist sees the fulfillment of Psalm 78:2, where “parables” is equivalent to “dark sayings” or “riddes” (see comment on 13:13); the emphasis of 13:10-15 is thus underlined.
The interpretation of the parable of the weeds (13:36-43) is (like that of the parable of the sower) given privately to the disciples. If the life-setting of the telling of the parable is the ministry of Jesus, that of its interpretation may be the Christian mission of the evangelist’s day. “The field is the world” (13:38), which in Daniel 7:14 is made subject to the Son of Man: it is his “kingdom” (13:41) in a wider sense than the kingdom of the Father (13:43), which is the kingdom of heaven consummated at “the close of the age” (13:39) with the final execution of judgment by the Son of Man (13:41). The dualism between “the sons of the kingdom” and “the sons of the evil one” (13:38) is radical so long as it lasts, but it is brought to an end when at last the Son of Man establishes his universal sovereignty, to which the latter must submit as completely as the former. With 13:43 compare Daniel 12:3.