Luke 8:11;
Matthew 13:31-33,44-46
Parables of Mustard Seed/Leaven & Treasure/Pearl

by Gary DeLashmutt

Introduction

Read Lk. 8:11. Briefly review the setting and theme of these parables. They reveal important insights into how God is at work in the world today. The gospel authors record Jesus’ interpretation of the first two parables, but we are on our own for the rest. 

REMEMBER: Since parables are not allegories, we should look for the main point of each parable and realize that some of the details are simply local color that do not have spiritual significance. We should also make sure that our main point agrees with the clear teaching of scripture.

Today we will look at four more parables that Jesus told as two pairs.  Each pair reveals a different insight into God’s work during the Church Age.

Mustard Seed & Leaven

Read Matt. 13:31-33. I want to respond to a couple of interpretive issues first.

Biblical critics have claimed Jesus demonstrated his ignorance of science by saying that the mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds. We now know, of course, that there are many microscopic seeds much smaller than the mustard seed.

This is a foolish objection. Jesus does not say the mustard seed is the smallest seed in the world—he says it is the smallest seed in the gardens of first century Palestine.  This is true.

Many Christians have interpreted these two parables to be a prediction of the church’s apostasy (DEFINE). They note that leaven is used as a symbol of evil in the Bible, and that birds are used as a symbol of evil people or spirits.

The New Testament does teach the apostasy of the church—but not in these parables. Although leaven is sometimes used as a symbol of evil in the Old Testament, there are several cases in which this is not the case.[1]  Similarly, the mention of birds nesting in the mustard tree’s branches is probably just local color. The Old Testament references to which Jesus may be alluding do not have a sinister symbolic view of the birds (see Ezek. 17:23; 31:6; Ps. 104:12; Dan. 4:12). This is uncontrolled allegorizing.

What is the main point of these two parables? In both, it is the contrast between how small and invisible they start and how big and influential they end up being. “Big outcomes often have small beginnings.”
In this age, God’s kingdom will not come in an unmistakable way that the whole world will see. This will be the case when Jesus returns (Matt. 24:26,27), but not in this phase. Rather, in this age, God’s kingdom will begin in a very small and virtually unnoticeable way.

This is certainly an accurate description of the beginning of the Church Age. I doubt that any of us would have devised God’s invasion of human history the way he did. Jesus was born as an apparently illegitimate child to an unmarried couple who were obscure members of a small nation on the outskirts of the Roman Empire. He lived in such obscurity that apart from the New Testament we know very little about him (although the Roman and Jewish historical references corroborate the New Testament). Even the New Testament skips over 80 percent of his brief life. His brief three-year public ministry ended apparently in complete failure: rejected by his people, betrayed by one of his disciples, deserted by the rest, and condemned by Rome. Even though his disciples claimed he was the Messiah who was raised from the dead, they were hardly the kind of people you would expect to start a world-wide movement. They were blue-collar workers who came from the wrong part of Israel and had no formal education, military might, or political clout.

But don’t be deceived by its humble beginnings. Like the mustard seed and leaven, God’s kingdom will become very large and far-reaching in its influence. And this is exactly what has happened.  No serious historian would deny that Jesus is the most influential figure in human history. And the movement that bears his name, far from dying out as an influence on humanity, continues to advance toward the goal he said it would accomplish before he returns—a church for every people-group in the whole world. (SEE UPDATED EXPANSION STATS from “Mission Frontiers,” November-December 1996, Volume 18, Number 11-12, pp. 18,19.)

APPLICATION:

NON-CHRISTIANS: Christianity is not a white, western social construction that is irrelevant to other cultures.  Christianity is Jesus Christ, who is the Savior of the whole world and the TRUTH for everybody, and who is being recognized as such by people all over the world in spite of their social and cultural and religious conditioning. The day is coming when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:10). But if you want to look forward to that day, you need to bow before he returns!!

CHRISTIANS: Christianity is being embraced as the truth by people of all races and cultural backgrounds at the very time when American evangelicals are giving into postmodernism’s rejection of absolute truth! At the very time when our third-world brothers and sisters are excited about taking the truth to people of other cultures, American evangelicals are becoming self-conscious about “preaching our religious views” to others. Now more than ever, we need to finish the job!!

Hidden Treasure & Pearl

Read vs 44-46. Again, I want to begin by responding to inaccurate interpretations.

Some think these parables illustrate Jesus’ attitude toward people (or Israel). He loves and values us so much that he was willing to pay the ultimate price (his death on the cross) to “purchase” us for himself. This is true, but probably not the point of these parables.  In view of the other parables which identify the kingdom as that which is small, hidden, etc., it is inconsistent to switch this to refer to lost humanity.

Some have used these parables to teach how we get into God’s kingdom (salvation)—that it is something we can/must “buy” with our money (CATHOLIC INDULGENCES), or with complete commitment (LORDSHIP THEOLOGY). Such an interpretation is wrong because it contradicts the clear teaching of scripture on how we enter into God’s kingdom. We can never earn this in any way—it is a gift that God offers freely to us and which we receive by simple faith in Christ (Eph. 2:8-9).

What’s the main point of these parables? Again, the key is the contrast.  The first two parables emphasize the contrast between the kingdom’s beginning and ultimate size. These parables emphasize the contrast between its appearance and actual value. “Precious things are often easy to overlook.” Many people thought these people were crazy to spend all they had, but this was only because they didn’t know real treasure when they saw it.

In this age, God’s kingdom is unobtrusive and easy to overlook.  It isn’t present in a way that most associate with greatness: MILITARY MIGHT, POLITICAL CLOUT, FINANCIAL WEALTH. Yet don’t let its unobtrusiveness fool you—it is God’s kingdom and it is more precious than anything else in the world.

Read 1 Cor. 1:18-24. To those who look to humanity and self for their answers, the gospel sounds weak and foolish: a crucified messiah whose execution is the solution to humanity’s problems. But to those who humble enough to look away from self, they discover it is the power and wisdom of God because it solves the most important problems of human existence:

How guilty people can be forgiven and accepted by a righteous God.

How lonely and alienated people can be reconciled to a loving God.

How selfish, spiteful people can be transformed into people who forgive and serve and love others (“I KNOW CHRIST IS THE ANSWER BECAUSE I DON’T HATE PEOPLE ANY MORE.”)

Read Phil. 3:8-9. Paul had everything the world could offer—but he threw it all away as dung without a moment’s regret once he found Christ.

APPLICATION: Jesus Christ is the most precious treasure there is. No one and nothing comes close to knowing and following him!

GOSPEL: Don’t miss your opportunity! Now, while you realize the treasure that is within your reach, come to Christ and receive his gift!!

CHRISTIANS: Like the woman who poured out her heirloom on Jesus, the world will say we have wasted our lives (Mark 14:4), but we know differently. We know it’s not possible to waste anything on Jesus, and we know that the real waste is failing to give everything to him.

Footnote