Mark 4:30–32 (ESV) — 30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

Mustard Seed

They considered the mustard seed the smallest of all the seeds they used in their gardens (31, 32). It was a sort of proverb. The mustard seed was so small, but sprouted up to become a large plant with large branches (32). And Jesus said the kingdom of God could be compared to the mustard seed and the plant it produces. Though it had a small start with a carpenter's Son in northern Israel, it would branch out into the whole world.

Don't Despise the Day of Small Things

I borrow the phrase from Zechariah. During his day, some were tempted to despise the small things as they tried to rebuild the temple in Israel (Zechariah 4:10). It seemed like a small work, but God didn't want them to despise it because it was a good work.

In a similar way, when it comes to God's kingdom, we should not despise the day of small things. Slow growth, little church plants, brand new ministries—they can all be examples of small things God is going to do a powerful work through. So, just as the ancient multitudes Jesus taught should not have despised the humble beginnings of his kingdom, so we should not despise the small things in God's kingdom today.

Warning? Birds of the Air

Jesus also mentioned the birds of the air nesting in the shade of the tree (32). What is the meaning of this part of the parable?

Some see the birds as a reference to the nations that would come into the kingdom. And there are great Old Testament passages that point to God's kingdom eventually expanding to the Gentile world (Psalm 104:12, Ezekiel 17:23, 31:6, Daniel 4:9-21). This is a solid and compelling interpretation.

Some think the birds have no significance in the parable. I doubt this line of thinking.

And others think the original parable gives us a clue about the birds' identity. Remember the first soil where the seed was sown on the path? Jesus said:

Mark 4:15 (ESV) — 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

Furthermore, when Jesus explained the first parable, he said:

Mark 4:13 (ESV) — 13 And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

Since birds were representatives of Satan in the first parable, and since Jesus said understanding the first parable would help them understand all the parables, many have concluded that the birds in this current parable are bad. For people who hold this interpretation, though the church will undergo rapid growth and expansion over the years, it will also house some pretty weird stuff. That weird stuff isn't part of the real church but pretends to be. I think the history of the church bears this out—odd things done in the name of Christ. I mean, can anyone say "Branch Davidian"? So weird. Like birds resting in the branches of something they aren't part of, they aren't part of the church.

As much as I would like this parable to only indicate the beautiful, radical, multinational growth of the kingdom, and as much as those themes are expressed elsewhere in Scripture, I tend to see the birds as something negative attached to the ultimate expansion of the kingdom. I mean, I'm not going to break from fellowship with someone who holds another view, but it's the one I lean towards.

Grow in Discernment

If this parable indicates that odd and unbiblical factors will attach themselves to the church over the years, then we must grow in discernment. Not everything that claims to be biblical or appropriate for the church is so. And not everything that sounds right is right. We do not gain discernment from Oprah or Facebook or from within. We grow in discernment as we grow in the word of God, and interact with those who have done the same.

Romans 12:2 (ESV) — 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Is there anything that can help us avoid having discernment? If we are swimming in this world — if our televisions and phones and tablets and billboards and feeds are all trying to disciple us — is there any hope? If our every conversation and classroom have an angle, how could we possibly avoid world conformation? It all seems so inevitable.

Paul writes: but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. This is our aid: mind transformation. We are not to be conformed, but to allow our minds to be transformed.

So how does this transformation of the mind occur? Basically, through interaction with the word of God, the Bible. It is only by learning, reading, studying, and applying the word of God to our lives we'll be able to "put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Colossians 3:10). Would you like to think like God? Well, you must study how God thinks. He reveals himself to us in his word.

Mark 4:33–34 (ESV) — 33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Parables

Mark only gave us four of the thirty-nine parables recorded in all the gospels. He was mostly focused on Jesus' actions, not his words, but these four parables we've looked at give a great sense of Jesus' teaching.

And the thrust has been simple. Ten times in this brief chapter, Jesus used the word hear. We must hear him. Hear his word. Hear what his kingdom is really all about. If we don't, our expectations of him will often go unmet. But if we do hear him, he will go beyond our wildest dreams.