Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 13:19

"It is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his own garden; and it grew, and became a tree; and the birds of the heaven lodged in the branches thereof." — Luke 13:19 (ASV)

Luke uses two parables to add support to the account of the miraculous healing just described. In Jesus’ teaching the “mustard seed” represents that which is tiny but effective (cf. 17:6; see ZPEB, 4:324–25), for the tree sprouting from that seed is large enough for birds to settle in its branches. The point of the parable is the power inherent in the seed. This power is implicit in the kingdom, as Jesus’ healing of the woman has just demonstrated. Likewise the point of Jesus’ simile of the yeast and the kingdom is not that yeast penetrates the dough but that it has the inherent power to do this (cf. also Mk 4:26-29).