Emphasis Preaching Journal

See John Dominic Crossan's book, The Historical Jesus, page 276, for some interesting facts about the wild and domestic mustard plants of first century Palestine. Even the domestic plant is invasive and can threaten to take over a garden. It does not grow to any magnificent size. Crossan sees the mustard tree as a metaphor posed against the triumphalist cedar tree metaphor in the 17th chapter of Ezekiel.