Luke 13:20
Again He asked, “To what can I compare the kingdom of God?
BSB
ASV
And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
KJV
And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
There are three measures: of the flesh, of the soul and of the spirit. This is truer of the spirit in which we all live.… The woman, who prefigures the church, mixes with them the virtue of spiritual doctrine, until the whole hidden inner person of the heart is leavened and the heavenly bread arises to grace. The doctrine of Christ is fittingly called leaven, because the bread is Christ. The apostle said, "For we, being many, are one bread, one body." Leavening happens when the flesh does not lust against the Spirit, nor the Spirit against the flesh.
1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
There is a peculiar interest belonging to the two parables contained in these verses. We find them twice delivered by our Lord — and at two distinct periods in His ministry. This fact alone, should make us give the more earnest attention to the lessons which the parables convey. They will be found rich both in prophetic and experimental truths. The parable of the mustard seed — is intended to show the progress of the Gospel in the world. The beginnings of the Gospel were exceedingly small.
It yields more real satisfaction to see in this brief parable just the all-penetrating and assimilating quality of the Gospel, by virtue of which it will yet mould all institutions and tribes of men, and exhibit over the whole earth one "Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ." (See on Re 11:15).
