"The teachers love it," she said. The restaurant caters to all ages, from Buhler high school students on up. "I love the relationship with the people who come in," Knecktel said.

That’s the heart of the parable in today’s Gospel reading from Mark, comparing the kingdom of God to a tiny mustard seed. It’s a testament to small beginnings.

When his followers asked Jesus to increase their faith, he told them the parable of the mustard seed. Though it was the smallest of seeds, once sown the mustard plant sprang up and spread rapidly.

Today’s selection from Matthew 13 continues Jesus’ Parables Discourse. It contains two short parables—about a mustard seed and yeast—and a long parable with an allegorical interpretation ...

Hear Then the Parable, a 1989 book by Bernard Brandon Scott, ... On the surface the parable of the mustard seed is an image of great growth coming from something small.