The Alley Church Podcast

Matthew 13:31-35 - Mustard Seed and the Yeast

Dr. Scott Sutherland and Mrs. Shandel Sutherland

We are on the topic of the parables of Jesus. 

Today we will be talking about the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

Turn to Matthew 13:31-35 …Mark 4:30-32, and Luke 13:18-19,


In the first two parables Jesus gave an explanation to His disciples but He doesn’t explain the parables we are studying this morning. 


Matthew 13:31-35 ESV this morning

(31) “He put another parable before them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. (32) It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’ 

(33) He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.’ 

(34) All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. (35) This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.’” (THIS IS GOD WORD)


Biblical scholars interpret these two parables about the mustard seed and leaven (yeast), in two contrasting ways. We would like to give you both sides from experts in biblical expository research, but first let’s do some review on what we already know.