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Study Guides:

 

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

 

1. Which parable directly precedes the parable of the mustard seed? What parable follows?

 

 

 

2. Read Matthew 13:31-32. How is the kingdom of heaven like a grain of mustard seed? Why do you think the terms "least" and "greatest" are used in this parable?

 

 

 

3. What might the birds in this parable represent?

 

 

 

 

4. Read Matthew 13:33. What is leaven used for? How might the kingdom of heaven be likened to leaven? How can we be like leaven in our homes? In our wards? In our communities?

 

 

 

 

5. Compare the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven with the account in Daniel 2:34-35. What common element or vision do these scriptures share? Look for the same theme in the parable of the seed growing secretly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Read Mark 4:10-11. With whom did Jesus share the parable of the seed growing secretly (Mark 4:26-29)? 

 

 

 

 

7. Read Mark 4:26-29. Mark is the only gospel writer who includes this parable. To what did the Lord compare the kingdom of God in this parable? Who might the man who casts seed into the ground represent? What might the seed represent? Why was the sower surprised to find growth?

 

Mustard Seed, Leaven, Seed Growing Secretly

Mustard Seed: Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-19

Leaven: Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20-21

Seed Growing Secretly: Mark 4:26-29

Articles and Media Relating to these Parables

 

"Parables of Jesus: Prophecy for Our Day," Carl B. Pratt, Jan. 2003 Ensign

 

"Planting Seeds of Spirituality," David B. Haight, Jan. 1973 Ensign

 

"A Sampler of Biblical Plants," D. Kelly Ogden, Aug. 1990 Ensign

 

"Balancing Truth and Tolerance," Dallin H. Oaks, Feb. 2013 Ensign

From the Institute Manual:

(10-10) Matthew 13:31. The Mustard Tree

“It should be known that the mustard plant attains in Palestine a larger growth than in more northerly climes. The lesson of the parable is easy to read. The seed is a living entity. When rightly planted it absorbs and assimilates the nutritive matters of soil and atmosphere, grows, and in time is capable of affording lodgment and food to the birds. So the seed of truth is vital, living, and capable of such development as to furnish spiritual food and shelter to all who come seeking. In both conceptions, the plant at maturity produces seed in abundance, and so from a single grain a whole field may be covered.” (Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 291.)

 

 

(10-13) Matthew 13:33. The Parable of the Three Measures of Meal

“It may be understood that the Church of the Latter-day Saints has taken its rise from a little leaven that was put into three witnesses. Behold, how much this is like the parable! It is fast leavening the lump, and will soon leaven the whole.” (Smith, Teachings, p. 100.)

 

 

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