From the Least to the Greatest

From the Least to the Greatest

Mustard Seed
Mustard seed is proverbially tiny (see Matthew 17:20), and yet it produces ‘the greatest of all shrubs’. This is not, of course, the puny ‘mustard-and-cress’ that we grow in little plastic boxes, but a garden herb which in Palestine commonly grew to a height of three metres. Such a spectacular result from such an unpromising beginning is the stuff of which proverbs are made (‘Great oaks from little acorns grow’), and provides Jesus with a clear and compelling illustration for what the kingdom of God is like (see the previous study for what this means). Its beginnings may be unimpressive, even virtually invisible— but just you wait and see!…