Matthew 13:31-35
Chapter 13
31
Parable of the Mustard Seed
Jesus shared another parable with them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.32
It is smaller than all other seeds, but once it is fully grown, it is bigger than any garden plant; like a tree, the birds come and rest in its branches.”
33
Parable of the Yeast
He told them another parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until the whole batch of dough began to rise.”
34
Jesus taught these things to the crowds through parables; he didn’t speak to them without using a parable.
35
This fulfilled what the Prophet said:
I will speak in parables,
and I will reveal things kept secret
since the beginning of the world.
Commentaries
Parable of the Mustard Seed.
The tiny mustard seed contains something incredibly great. God values the potential of the small, even when they are dismissed by the powerful and influential. Today, we can expand this image to represent a Church that is a welcoming home for all, where no one feels like a stranger, excluded, or second-class: not the poor because they are poor, not women because they are women, not laypeople. After all, they are laypeople, not dissenters, because they defend their own opinions; a Church where all charisms and services are appreciated.
Parable of the Yeast.
To be yeast that ferments the dough, the Church cannot live apart from the world; instead, it is immersed in social, political, economic, and cultural realities. Jesus confronts the religious mindset that expects an interventionist God who solves everything without human cooperation. Instead, he experienced God’s action silently, working with human response, at his own pace, but effectively.