<P> The Parable of the Mustard Seed is one of the shorter parables of Jesus . It appears in Matthew (13: 31--32), Mark (4: 30--32), and Luke (13: 18--19). In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, it is immediately followed by the Parable of the Leaven, which shares this parable's theme of the Kingdom of Heaven growing from small beginnings . It also appears in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas (verse 20). </P> <P> In the Gospel of Matthew the parable is as follows:...</P> <P> He set another man before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds . But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches ." </P>

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed