<P> He said, "How will we liken the Kingdom of God? Or with what parable will we illustrate it? It's like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth, yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow ." </P> <P> In the Gospel of Luke: </P> <P> He said, "What is the Kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and put in his own garden . It grew, and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky lodged in its branches ." </P> <P> The plant referred to here is generally considered to be black mustard, a large annual plant up to 9 feet (2.7 m) tall, but growing from a proverbially small seed (this smallness is also used to refer to faith in Matthew 17: 20 and Luke 17: 6). According to rabbinical sources, Jews did not grow the plant in gardens, and this is consistent with Matthew's description of it growing in a field . Luke tells the parable with the plant in a garden instead; this is presumably recasting the story for an audience outside the Levant . </P>

Explanation of the parable of the mustard seed