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From Stephen F. Wailes, Medieval Allegories of Jesus' Parables (108-113) 

The Mustard Seed 

Another parable he set before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. This indeed is the smallest of all seeds; but when it grows up it is larger than any herb and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in its branches." 

Mark's version: 

And he said, "To what shall we liken the kingdom of God; or to what parable shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the earth, is the smallest of all the seeds upon the earth; yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than any herb, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the air can dwell beneath its shade." 

Luke's version: 

He said therefore, "What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I liken it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his own garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air dwelt in its branches. 

Though very brief, this parable gave rise to many variations of terminology in the tradition of exegesis. The variations are not as a rule connected to the verbal differences of the three texts, for the more important differences (field/earth/garden; "beneath its shade" in Mark; Luke's omission of comment on the smallness of the seed) tend to be subsumed under allegories based on the ideas of planting and growth found in all gospels. A third idea, that of the mustard seed's intrinsic properties as a spice or medicine, was introduced by early authorities and expanded by later ones. Indeed, Bonaventure places it first in the group of three considerations inhering in the metaphor of the mustard seed by which we are taught to pursue Truth zealously ("the properties of the seed itself, of its sowing, and of its growth, p. 346). Differences between the gospel texts are also effaced in sources based on Mark or Luke by the adducing of other versions For example, Ambrose supplies the notion of the seed's smallness from Matthew, and the image of shade from Mark, when interpreting Luke, and Bede, writing on Mark, quotes extensively from Jerome's commentary on Matthew. 

Three important allegories are present in medieval tradition, and all are espoused by early writers. We shall refer to them as the historical, the personal, and the evangelical readings The first interprets the parable as an allegory of the Christian faith in the world, from its adumbration by the prophets to its triumph over other beliefs. The second takes the imagery of planting and growth to refer to the progress of belief within a devout soul. The third understands the parable to reflect the life of Christ in three principal events (Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection). These readings are fully compatible, and the intention of Jesus in telling the parable--to provide a similitude for the kingdom of heaven does not prejudice the tradition of commentary, since the similarity of the kingdom to the seed permits them to be equated or distinguished, according to the preference of the commentator. Many authorities combine elements of two or three allegories. We will first look at representative statements of each tradition. 

Hilary calls the seed Christ, whose body was buried (planted) by Men, and who, through the Resurrection, grew so vast as to overshadow the glory of the prophets ("larger than any herb"). Christ's branches are the apostles, to whom the heathen nations fly for shelter from the devil, Paschasius too accepts the seed as Christ: he takes the sower, however, as God the Father, the field or garden as the Church or the world, and the mustard tree as Christ resurrected, and growing into the branches of the apostles (fol. 496CD). Without analyzing details, Bruno of Segni presents the parable as an allegory of the growth of the Church ("beginning with one or a few, it grew to an infinite multitude," col 191A). Commenting on Mark, Albert the Great explains that the gospel seemed inferior to three "seeds" in the earth, which represent historical epochs--the natural law of the patriarchs, the written law of Moses, and the human laws of political bodies (p. 437), and he interprets the large branches of the mustard tree as Christendom's provincial churches and episcopates (p. 438). 

The personal reading is first suggested by Ambrose, though he devotes the bulk of his rather long discussion to historical and evangelical concepts. Ambrose adduces Matthew 17:19 ("if you have faith like a mustard seed . . .") and holds that the mustard seed and the kingdom of the parable are therefore faith (p. 75). But the seed is also Christ (p. 753, and the injunction follows to plant Christ within ourselves: "Therefore do thou sow Christ in thy garden . . . sow the Lord Jesus" (ibid). Because the commentary of Origen on this parable in Matthew is lost we cannot be sure of its influence on Jerome, yet his identification of the sower with human intelligence ("our intelligence and spirit," p. 278), which cultivates the seed within the heart ("the preaching of the gospel . . . the knowledge of the scriptures . . . in the field of the breast," pp. 276-78), has the savor of Origen. The personal reading was known to Jerome in a less subtle form also ("the man sowing in his field means in himself, in his heart," p. 278). Christian knowledge thus cultured grows into diverse teachings (branches); to these we may ascend like birds by fleeing mundane things, and make nests among them (ibid.). Peter Chrysologus offers a similar interpretation, exhorting us to plant the seed of the kingdom in our minds so that it may grow into a tree of knowledge, which will raise our understanding to heaven (col. 475AB). Maximus of Turin likens the medicinal effects of mustard seed on the body to those of faith on the soul ("what the juice of the mustard does for the body, the Christian faith does for the soul" sermon 25, p. 97), while Albert the Great also taking the seed as faith, refines the personal reading in his commentary on Matthew by defining the sower as the discerning of truth and the field as an optimally chastened heart (p. 567). 

The evangelical allegory is most often associated with the text in Luke, because of the term "garden" (hortus). In the gospel of John, it is a garden where Jesus is taken prisoner, where he is buried, and where he is resurrected. as Ambrose points out when identifying the mustard seed with the Lord: "he is a grain when taken, a tree when he revives . . . a grain when buried in the earth, a tree when he rises up to heaven" (p. 75; cf. Maximus of Turin, sermon 25, p. 98). Gregory the Great, using the Luke text when discussing Job, follows this tradition ("a grain by the humility of the flesh, a tree by the power of majesty," etc., quoted by Paterius and Alulfus), which also appears in Bede's commentary on Luke (p. 270), in Rabanus, the Gloss on Matthew, Zacharias and the Catena on Luke. The word hortus acquires a different sense from that of Peter Chrysologus, who connects it to the Incarnation and sees the Cross figured in the arbor magnus of Luke: "Christ . . . like a mustard seed, placed in the garden of the Virgin's body, grew over all the world in the tree of the cross (col. 475C; paraphrased by Paschasius, col. 498A; cf. Albert the Great on the Cross and the Virgin's womb, On Matthew, p. 568). 

As noted, these three allegories are frequently blended in the sources. The most common identifications of the mustard seed are Hilary's (Christ), Ambrose's (faith) and Jerome's ('the preaching of the gospel, the knowledge of the scriptures"). The sower, for the majority of authorities, is Christ or Everyman: the tree, Christian knowledge or faith; its branches. either the various doctrines or the holy preachers: the birds are the faithful, broadly or narrowly defined (e.g., "the souls of the believers," Jerome et al.; "contemplatives," Albert the Great on Matthew and Mark). Against the background of this consensus one appreciates the originality of Nichelas of Lyra. who presented the parable in Matthew as a prediction of the Church's battle with the first heresies: God called forth the holy teachers to confute heretics "by reason and scripture." These saints were at first humble and abject, but later exalted by the greatest princes; princely power was used to crush heresy where reason and scripture failed; hence the birds are secular rulers resting in the counsel and advice of the Church's teachers. Nicholas presents this reading without dwelling on details of the text, stating in summary "This status is given figuratively by the parable of the mustard seed." Rudolph of Saxony repeats it, together with a variety of details from historical and personal traditions. Nicholas offers two moral allegories: the seed is humility, the branches are the twelve steps of humility expressed in the Benedictine rule, and the birds are angels descending to console the humble (on Matthew): or, the seed signifies St Francis, who in his humility wished his fellows to be called minores, brothers minor (on Luke). 

Jerome provides an explanation of the phrase "the smallest of all the seeds" that is widely repeated in full or in part. The Christian message seemed "smallest" because God was said to have become man, and to have died, and this in a shameful way ("the scandal of the cross," p. 278); furthermore, comparing the gospel to the works of the philosophers one sees that the former is indeed "smallest" in the splendor of eloquence and style (ibid.). As Paschasius phrases the latter point, "how much less the seed of the gospel than the seeds of the liberal arts" (col. 497A), and Hugh of Saint-Cher admits the seeming commonness of theology compared to other sciences (on Mark). Of course the vigor and size of the sacred tree overwhelm secular plants. His scientific knowledge forces Albert the Great to explain that Christ's words about the mustard seed being "the smallest of all the seeds' cannot be taken literally, but only as a statement on the size of the seed when compared to the size of the resulting growth, since other, smaller seeds are indeed known (On Matthew, p. 567: cf. On Mark, p. 437, mentioned above). 

Hilary calls mustard the most pungent of all seeds, one whose strength and power must first be released by chafing and pressure (p. 298). In varying formulations, this lore is repeated and allegorized throughout the Middle Ages. Ambrose likens certain martyrs to the mustard seed, for tribulation brought forth the odor of their faith (p. 75: cf. Maximus of Turin, sermon 24: "On Mustard Seed and Saint Laurence the Martyr"). Peter Chrysologus states that Christ's body was ground so that his power could be diffused, while Peter Damian says that all holy men need the chafing of persecution in order to release their "fervor of power" (col. 582B). 

The basic meaning of fervor plays a role in this metaphor, since ground mustard seed was thought to release heat ("when it is ground . . . such fervor of heat is kindled that one is amazed at so much fire being contained within such trifling seeds," Maximus of Turin, sermon 24. p. 93). The heat of the seed may ignite the fervent soul (Peter Chrysologus, col. 475B), and this heat is often connected to faith ('Mustard seed because of the fervor of faith," Augustine) or to love ("it heats in love," Ludolph, p 281). Augustine also taught that mustard seed was an antidote ("it is said to expel poisons"), a widely known comment taken to reflect the expulsion of error by Truth. The Scholastics have more detailed information on the medicinal properties of mustard seed and their spiritual analogs in the Faith. Hugh of Saint Cher writing on Mark lists nine such ( e.g., "it dissolves hardness of heart by compassion"), but Albert the Great. author of a notable treatise on plants, offers the most sophisticated discussion (On Matthew. p 566; in greater detail, On Mark, pp. 436-37. and On Luke, pp. 305-06). 

Some authorities extend the discussion of properties from the mustard seed to the resulting tree. Bede describes the gospel growing like a tree in terms of longevity and fertility (On Luke, p 270), or longevity, height, and amplitude (On Mark, p. 487; cf. the Gloss on Mark: Zacharias, col. 227D; Hugh of Saint-Cher on Matthew; Bonaventure. p. 347; Albert the Great, On Mark, p 437). Richard of Saint-Victor calls hope the trunk of the tree of faith, whose branches reach up in love of God and out in love of neighbor. Aquinas shows that the Christian tree excels in solidity, generality, and utility (p. 438). Not surprisingly, the thirteenth-century Scholastics in this group all refer to Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the great tree in the Book of Daniel (4:7-9), all but Hugh in the sense of a positive prefiguration of the Church or of faith. Hugh, incorporating the following vision (Daniel 4:10-14), explains the great tree as heresy and the Watcher who orders its destruction as Christ. 

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