Saying 20: The Mustard Seed
The kingdom is like a mustard seed: the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on worked ground it puts out a great branch and shelters the birds.
Commentary
Thomas’s version insists on “tilled soil” — the ground has to be prepared. It also drops the tree, keeping the humbler “great branch” that a mustard plant actually produces.
Parallels
Mark 4:30–32; Matthew 13:31–32; Luke 13:18–19
Sayings on the same themes
- Saying 57 Saying 57: The Wheat and the Weeds A man sowed good seed; his enemy sowed weeds among it at night. He would not let his workers pull the weeds…
- Saying 40 Saying 40: The Vine Planted Apart A grapevine has been planted away from the Father; it has no strength, and it will be pulled up by the root…
- Saying 107 Saying 107: The Largest Sheep A shepherd with a hundred sheep lost the largest one. He left the ninety-nine and searched until he found it, and then…
- Saying 76 Saying 76: The Pearl and the Treasure A merchant with a load of goods found a pearl, sold the lot and bought the pearl. Look for the treasure that…
- Saying 63 Saying 63: The Rich Fool A rich man planned to invest his money, sow, reap and fill his barns so he would lack nothing — and died…
- Saying 51 Saying 51: The New World Has Already Come Asked when the rest for the dead will come and when the new world will arrive, Jesus answers that what they are…