Luke 13:18-22

Context

On the Kingdom of God

13:18 Thus Jesus¹ asked,² “What is the kingdom of God³ like?⁴ To⁵ what should I compare it? 13:19 It is like a mustard seed⁶ that a man took and sowed⁷ in his garden. It⁸ grew and became a tree,⁹ and the wild birds¹⁰ nested in its branches.”¹¹

13:20 Again¹² he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God?¹³ 13:21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with¹⁴ three measures¹⁵ of flour until all the dough had risen.”¹⁶

The Narrow Door

13:22 Then¹⁷ Jesus¹⁸ traveled throughout¹⁹ towns²⁰ and villages, teaching and making his way toward²¹ Jerusalem.²²

[13:18] ¹tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:18] ²tn Grk “said,” but what follows is a question.

[13:18] ³sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[13:18] ⁴sn What is the kingdom of God like? Unlike Mark 4 or Matt 13, where the kingdom parables tend to be all in one location in the narrative, Luke scatters his examples throughout the Gospel.

[13:18] ⁵tn Grk “And to.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[13:19] ⁶sn The mustard seed was noted for its tiny size.

[13:19] ⁷tn Grk “threw.”

[13:19] ⁸tn Grk “garden, and it.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[13:19] ⁹sn Calling the mustard plant a tree is rhetorical hyperbole, since technically it is not one. This plant could be one of two types of mustard popular in Palestine and would be either 10 or 25 ft (3 or 7.5 m) tall.

[13:19] ¹⁰tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[13:19] ¹¹sn The point of the parable seems to be that while the kingdom of God may appear to have insignificant and unnoticeable beginnings (i.e., in the ministry of Jesus), it will someday (i.e., at the second advent) be great and quite expansive. The kingdom, however, is not to be equated with the church, but rather the church is an expression of the kingdom. Also, there is important OT background in the image of the mustard seed that grew and became a tree: Ezek 17:22-24 pictures the reemergence of the Davidic house where people can find calm and shelter. Like the mustard seed, it would start out small but grow to significant size.

[13:20] ¹¹tn Grk “And again.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[13:20] ¹²sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[13:21] ¹⁶tn Grk “hid in.”

[13:21] ¹⁷sn This measure was a saton, the Greek name for the Hebrew term “seah.” Three of these was a very large quantity of flour, since a saton is a little over 16 lbs (7 kg) of dry measure (or 13.13 liters). So this was over 47 lbs (21 kg) of flour total, enough to feed over a hundred people.

[13:21] ¹⁸tn Grk “it was all leavened.”

[13:22] ²¹tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[13:22] ²²tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:22] ²³tn This is a distributive use of κατά (kata); see L&N 83:12.

[13:22] ²⁴tn Or “cities.”

[13:22] ²⁵tn Grk “making his journey toward.” This is the first of several travel notes in Luke’s Jerusalem journey section of Luke 9-19; other notes appear at 17:11; 18:31; 19:28, 41.

[13:22] ²⁶map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.