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 75 Saying 75: Only the Solitary Enter Many are standing at the door, but it is the solitary who will enter the bridal chamber.
- 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 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 82 Saying 82: Whoever Is Near Me Is Near the Fire Whoever is close to me is close to the fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the kingdom.
- Saying 21 Saying 21: Children in a Field Not Theirs Mary asks what the disciples are like; they are like children living in a field that is not theirs, who give it…
- Saying 96 Saying 96: The Leaven The Father's kingdom is like a woman who took a little yeast, hid it in dough, and made large loaves of bread.