He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
Now, let’s go about applying the principles of p’shat, remez, and drash to these teachings.
P’SHAT
There appear to be some general principles lying on the surface of the first parable. Jesus seems to be teaching directly that the kingdom of heaven does not come with trumpets and crashing explosions (you may remember our “two-part vs. three-part eschatology” conversation). Instead, the kingdom starts as something small and unimpressive, yet these small kingdom investments have HUGE potential. Not only this, but the context of a mustard plant/tree helps, as well. Please note, even deep contextual study that opens up our understanding of a teaching is still dealing with the p’shat level of interpretation.
Mustard in the world of Jesus is akin to the most obnoxious weed in your neck of the woods that you just can’t get rid of. (What is it for you? I know for those of us here in the Northwest, thistle is a huge problem.) Mustard in this part of the world cannot be stopped; you can burn it, poison it, or pull it up, but this plant that spreads through the root system is nearly impossible to exterminate. A farmer who plants mustard seed in his field would be a laughingstock. Is Jesus teaching that the kingdom of heaven is counter-intuitive, foolishness to the world around it? At the very least, Jesus is teaching that the kingdom of heaven, if planted well, is unstoppable.
Not only this, but there are two different kinds of mustard in the world of Jesus. One form of mustard is a plant, like a vine which spreads along the ground. The second is a large shrub that is actually considered a “tree” in their world. Jesus starts His parable with the plant and ends it with a tree. This is problematic, because the two mustards are different entities; the one doesn’t become the other. So what is Jesus saying?
You may remember from our study in Genesis that questions or problems like these are often intentional indicators that there might be more going on. When you get questions like these as a student, begin looking there for the…
REMEZ
The true beauty of living in the information age is the incredible tools at our disposal for Bible study. Once you are aware of where you want to start looking and/or what you want to start looking for, you are simply a keyword search away from finding incredible treasures (in this regard, biblegateway.com is your best friend).
Consider what you might find if you did a search for a tree in which birds come and rest in its branches. You might find a passage from Ezekiel 17:
“ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the forest will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.
“ ‘I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’ ”
This brilliant connection would help us discuss the…
DRASH
What is Jesus’s big idea in this parable? The prophesy of Ezekiel 17 is speaking of a day when the people of God might fulfill their calling to be a blessing for all nations. In the greater context of Ezekiel, it becomes clear that the birds of the sky are the Gentiles.
It becomes a better and better assumption that Jesus is teaching the kingdom of heaven is this small, counter-intuitive movement of God that cannot be stopped. It starts small, but has incredible potential. But what exactly are we talking about? What are the seeds that need to be planted? The disciple who knows his Text might immediately deduce that Jesus is suggesting generosity and love toward the Gentiles might be what the kingdom of heaven is all about.
But we may want to look at the sister parable to see if this is reinforced. Can you think about what the p’shat, remez, and drash of the parable of the yeast might be? Will the two parables be connected as we suggested earlier?
We’ll look at that in the next post, but this will be some great homework to chew on.
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