Mustard Seed

THE MUSTARD SEED

16.7.2020

Have you ever seen a mustard seed? They are the smallest seeds I have ever seen! A mustard seed is so small that if you were holding one in your hand and dropped it on the ground, you might not be able to find it.

So why does Jesus use a mustard seed to describe faith?

In Jesus’ day, the mustard seed was used proverbially to represent the smallest of things. And with a diameter of 1 to 2 millimeters, it’s a fitting illustration! However, it's tiny seeds, these trees can grow up to 10 metres tall!

By using this illustration to describe faith, Jesus is directing our attention, not to the quantity or strength of our faith, but to the object of our faith. Our faith is only as strong as the object in which it’s placed. If our faith, even if it’s the size of a mustard seed, is placed in the all-powerful God, great things can happen. It is not necessary to have great faith; even a small faith is enough, as long as it is faith in the great God.

Matthew 13: 31-32

He put another parable before them, 'The kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air can come and shelter in its branches.'