Mustard seeds

[MrIsla]

jesus says in mark 4:31 that mustard seeds are the smallest seeds on earth. but this conflicts me. supposidly after i actually looked this up. this is not true! ? epiphytic orchids seeds are the smallest. so that means jesus lied? i would like help here alot

thanks and god bless!

Mathew Isla!

 

[Cluny]

Doubless, Jesus was referring to a plant His immediate hearers were familiar with, don’t you think?

 

[Eucharisted]

Jesus said a mustard seed is the least of all seeds, not the smallest.

Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.

– Luke 13:18–9

And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:
But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.

– Mark 4:30–2

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

– Matthew 13:31–2

In the gospel of Thomas, however, Jesus says the mustard seed is the smallest.

The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us what Heaven’s kingdom is like.” He said to them, “It’s like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.”

– Thomas 20

But we know that the gospel of Thomas is one of the many false gospels which circulated around churches during the early years of the Church.

 

[Wildgraywolf]

jesus says in mark 4:31 that mustard seeds are the smallest seeds on earth. but this conflicts me. supposidly after i actually looked this up. this is not true! ? epiphytic orchids seeds are the smallest. so that means jesus lied? i would like help here alot

thanks and god bless!

Mathew Isla!

I think you’re being a little too literal. Jesus was talking to farmers so it make sense that he’d use imagery they’d be accustomed to. When you look at that verse in this context then, the mustard seed is decidedly the smallest of seeds.

 

[Steadfast]

What was our Lord’s point here?

Was it to make a definitive botanical or herbological statement?

Nope.

He is making the point that the Kingdom of God, in it’s fullness is a paradox in comparison with it’s inception, and this is of a piece with everything the Bible teaches us about the life of grace.

When St. Paul says that the foolishness of men is wisdom to God and that Christ’s strength is made manifest in weakness, he is saying something very similar.

This is a very important Christian theological idea and one that, for example, St Therese grasped beautifully.

I wish more non-Christians would get hold of it, even if they can’t accept it.

 

[Sam_777]

so that means jesus lied?

why its easy for some Christians to say such words against the Lord!!!

Also His name is Jesus.

 

[Eucharisted]

why its easy for some Christians to say such words against the Lord!!!

Also His name is Jesus.

Hi Sam

A good prayer to pray when Jesus’ Name is abused is “Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.”

As to why Jesus says the mustard seed is the smallest seed, the answer is quite simple: He always used imagery which His listeners would recognize, so that they could understand the parables, because no one tells a parable with unfamiliar imagery.

Furthermore, we must remember that Jesus is God and Man. As God, He knows everything, but as Man, His Mind is finite - for He is like in all ways save sin - so He could not, as Man, know everything. However, His Human Mind knew only that which His Divine Mind permitted it to know, that is, what He was permitted to say and reveal (hence, Jesus says the Son dose not know the hour or day of His coming, because He was not sent to reveal it), because His Humanity was totally submitted to the Divinity. Thus, when He spoke to each group in the crowd that came to see Him on the shore of Lake Galilee, He used imagery that each group would understand when He spoke to them, so that the whole crowd would know His message - this is why He used multiple parables when speaking about the same subject (the Kingdom of God). The fact that Jesus expertly used images which each group would understand is a sign of His Divinity, for He was able to know exactly who the crowds were (farmers, fishermen, etc.) and how to speak to them.

Because Jesus’ actions and words were meant to signify His Divinity and be an example to His followers, His parables at the Sea of Galilee show the Catholicity (Universality) of the Church and of her mission, which is a share in His Mission, and they teach us to reach out to others in familiar ways: “I have become a gentile to convert gentiles and a Jew to convert Jews…There is neither man nor woman, slave nor free, Gentile or Jew, for all are one in Christ.” The Catholic Church takes up cultures and purifies them, making use of them to serve God, and therefore, though there is diversity in her, there is also unity, Divine Indisivibility, which the Jewish scholar Maimonides notes when he spoke about the core prinicpals of Judaism: “[God], the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair, nor one like a species (which encompasses many individuals), nor one as in an object that is made up of many elements, nor as a single simple object that is infinitely divisible. Rather, God is a unity unlike any other possible unity.”