Mustard Seed: Part 1

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This is the first of what I hope will be many blogs about the parable of the mustard seed.

This parable, even though it is so short (Just 2 verses--Matthew 13:31-32), is loaded with meaning.

Parables are meant to be simple analogies that serve to educate those who want to learn, and to confuse those who don't want to listen.

We can only take them at face value and shouldn't delve too deeply into looking for more hidden meanings.

But, in the case of this parable, Jesus simply says, ""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 your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

So, we know we can learn a lot about the kingdom of heaven through researching mustard seeds and mustard plants.

Here in Sonoma County, CA, we have the same climate as Israel. We have tons of grapes (this is a wine-grape growing region), much like Israel. Another result of our similar climate is that in the late winter/early spring (now), we have mustard growing everywhere.

In the next few blogs about the mustard seed, we'll explore the biology of the mustard plant, and I'll share some pictures I took today as I went for a nice drive with my wife for Valentine's Day.