By these parables Christ encourages his disciples not to be offended and turn back on account of the mean beginnings of the Gospel. We see how haughtily profane men despise the Gospel, and even turn it into ridicule, because the ministers by whom it is preached are men of slender reputation and of low rank; because it is not instantly received with applause by the whole world; and because the few disciples whom it does obtain are, for the most part, men of no weight or consideration, and belong to the common people. This leads weak minds to despair of its success, which they are apt to estimate from the manner of its commencement. On the contrary, the Lord opens his reign with a feeble and despicable commencement, for the express purpose, that his power may be more fully illustrated by its unexpected progress. [1] The kingdom of God is compared to a grain of mustard, which is the smallest among the seeds, but grows to such a height that it becomes a shrub, in which the birds build their nests. It is likewise compared to leaven, which, though it may be small in amount, spreads its influence in such a manner, as to impart its bitterness to a large quantity of meal. [2] If the aspect of Christ's kingdom be despicable in the eyes of the flesh, let us learn to raise our minds to the boundless and incalculable power of God, which at once created all things out of nothing, and every day raises up things that are not, (1-Corinthians 1:28,) in a manner which exceeds the capacity of the human senses. Let us leave to proud men their disdainful laugh, till the Lord, at an unexpected hour, shall strike them with amazement. Meanwhile, let us not despond, but rise by faith against the pride of the world, till the Lord give us that astonishing display of his power, [3] of which he speaks in this passage. The word leaven is sometimes taken in a bad sense, as when Christ warns them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, (Matthew 16:11;) and when Paul says, that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, (1-Corinthians 5:6.) But here the term must be understood simply as applying to the present subject. As to the meaning of the phrase, the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of heaven, we have spoken on former occasions.

Footnotes

1 - "A fin que sa puissance soit tant mieux cognue, quand on verra les avancemens qu'on n'avoit iamais attendus;" -- "in order that his power may be so much the better known, when the progress, which had not been anticipated, shall be seen."

2 - "Qu'il fait aigrir et lever une grande quantite de paste;" -- "that it embitters and causes to rise a large quantity of paste."

3 - "Iuques a ce que le Seigneur nous face sentir l'effect de cette vertu incomprehensible;" -- "till the Lord make us feel the effect of that incomprehensible power."

See these parables explained in the notes at Matthew 13:31-32.

The kingdom - is like a grain of mustard seed - See on Matthew 13:31 (note).

Then said he, unto what is the kingdom of God like?.... The same with the kingdom of heaven, in Matthew 13:31 and so the Ethiopic version reads it here, "and whereunto shall I resemble it?" of this way of speaking; see Gill on Mark 4:30.

Here is the progress of the gospel foretold in two parables, as in Matthew 13. The kingdom of the Messiah is the kingdom of God. May grace grow in our hearts; may our faith and love grow exceedingly, so as to give undoubted evidence of their reality. May the example of God's saints be blessed to those among whom they live; and may his grace flow from heart to heart, until the little one becomes a thousand.

MISCELLANEOUS TEACHINGS. (Luke 13:18-30)
mustard seed . . . leaven--(See on Mark 4:30-32). The parable of "the Leaven" sets forth, perhaps, rather the inward growth of the kingdom, while "the Mustard Seed" seems to point chiefly to the outward. It being a woman's work to knead, it seems a refinement to say that "the woman" here represents the Church, as the instrument of depositing the leaven. Nor does it yield much satisfaction to understand the "three measures of meal" of that threefold division of our nature into "spirit, soul, and body," (alluded to in 1-Thessalonians 5:23) or of the threefold partition of the world among the three sons of Noah (Genesis 10:32), as some do. It yields more real satisfaction to see in this brief parable just the all-penetrating and assimilating quality of the Gospel, by virtue of which it will yet mould all institutions and tribes of men, and exhibit over the whole earth one "Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ." (See on Revelation 11:15).

For notes on the parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven, see Matthew 13:31-33.

Matthew 13:31; Mark 4:30.