How small is a mustard seed
There is no doubt but that the mustard seed is a small seed. All the same, even the naked eye can tell that there are smaller seeds. While the round mustard seed is smaller than wheat, millet, barley, caraway and dill, it is debatable whether it is smaller than the sesame seed (a flat seed, which is larger in one dimension but about the same volume as the mustard seed), and it is several times the size of a poppy seed. How then could Jesus in Matthew make the statement in Matthew 13:32 (which literally reads, the smallest of seeds ; the NIV has added an interpretive all your based upon Mk 4:31, It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground )? First, we notice that the purpose of the passage is not to teach about botany, but to make a natural comparison to the kingdom of God. Jesus is pointing out something as an illustration, not trying to give an absolute truth. Holding Jesus responsible for something he had no intention of teaching or implying shows th
