Faith Like a Mustard Seed

One of the most quoted lines in the Gospels comes from Jesus’ teaching on faith and the mustard seed.

Though often used to encourage those who feel their faith is small, this just shows that the passage is frequently misunderstood.

A closer look at the original language and cultural imagery reveals that Jesus’ words point not to the size of faith, but to its substance — a faith that grows, spreads, and transforms everything around it.

“If you have faith as a mustard seed.”

— Matthew 17:20 / Luke 17:6

Most people read this verse as an encouragement that even the tiniest bit of faith can move mountains. It sounds beautiful — but it’s not quite what Jesus meant.

Let’s look closely at the context, the language, and the symbolism to see what Jesus was really saying.

The Setting When Jesus Said It:

In Matthew 17, the disciples had just failed to cast out a demon.

When they asked Jesus why, He told them:

“Because of your little faith.”

Then He added:

“For truly I tell you, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

And in Luke 17, the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith.

He replied:

“If you have faith as a mustard seed,

you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’

and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:6)

At first glance, it seems like Jesus was teaching that a tiny bit of belief is enough for God to do great things.

But that’s not exactly what He said.

The Language: “As Small As” or “Like”?

In the original Greek, Jesus says:

“ἐὰν ἔχητε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως” (ean echete pistin hōs kokkon sinapeōs)

That translates literally to:

“If you have faith like a mustard seed.”

There’s no Greek word here meaning “small.”

Words like mikros (little) or oligos (small) do appear elsewhere in Scripture,

but they are not in this verse.

So Jesus wasn’t saying “faith as small as a mustard seed” — He said “faith like a mustard seed.”

That’s a MAJOR difference.

The “small as” phrasing found in some English Bibles is an interpretive addition,

inserted by translators who assumed Jesus was referring to the mustard seed’s size.

But in both Matthew 17 and Luke 17, His focus wasn’t the size of the seed — it was its nature.

What is The Nature of the Mustard Seed?

To His audience, the mustard seed wasn’t just small — it was powerful, fast-growing, and nearly impossible to contain.

In ancient Palestine:

• A mustard plant could grow over 10 feet tall.

• Once planted, it spread rapidly and could take over a field.

• Rabbis even warned people not to plant it in gardens because it would invade everything nearby.

So when Jesus compared faith to a mustard seed, He wasn’t celebrating its smallness —

He was describing its living, multiplying, unstoppable nature!

“Faith like a mustard seed” doesn’t mean tiny faith is enough — it means living faith never stays small.

When Jesus spoke these words, He was actually correcting His disciples, not congratulating them.

They didn’t need more faith — they needed real faith, faith that takes root, grows, and acts.

He was telling them:

“Don’t measure your faith by how much of it you think you have. Measure it by what it does when you plant it.”

A mustard seed may start small, but it transforms everything around it once it’s in the soil.

Faith should do the same — it should grow until it changes everything it touches.

In Matthew 17:20, Jesus said faith like a mustard seed could move mountains.

In Luke 17:6, He said it could uproot trees.

Both are metaphors for doing what seems impossible. Mountains represent obstacles;

trees represent things deeply rooted — habits, fears, or strongholds that seem immovable.

Jesus was saying that even a small seed of genuine, rooted, living faith

— faith that believes and acts —

can move what human effort never could.

Size vs. Substance:

Faith isn’t powerful because it’s big —

it’s powerful because it’s alive.

A seed’s strength isn’t in its size, but in the life inside it.

“Faith like a mustard seed” means faith that contains divine life — faith that grows, spreads, and cannot be stopped once it’s planted.

It’s not “tiny faith” that moves mountains,

but real faith — the kind that keeps growing because it’s rooted in a powerful God.

Jesus also compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed in Matthew 13:31–32:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it becomes the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

The Kingdom, like faith, starts small —

but it carries unstoppable life inside it.

Both begin quietly but grow into something uncontainable. That’s the kind of faith Jesus was describing — not decorative, fragile belief,

but invasive faith that spreads, overtakes, and transforms everything it touches.

So when Jesus said,

“If you have faith like a mustard seed…”

He wasn’t telling His followers to be content with a sliver of belief or tiny faith.

He was inviting them into living, expanding faith — faith that acts, obeys, grows, and keeps growing.

A mustard seed doesn’t remain in your hand; it’s meant to be planted. Faith works the same way. When it’s planted in obedience, watered by trust, and exposed to God’s light,

it multiplies and transforms everything around it.

Faith like a mustard seed may start small, but it refuses to stay small.

Jesus wasn’t celebrating weak belief; He was calling for wild belief. Faith that grows like roots through the soil. Faith that doesn’t stop spreading until it overtakes fear, doubt, and limitation.

It’s not about how much faith you have — it’s about how alive your faith is. Because faith that’s alive will grow.

Let’s Pray,

Lord, give me mustard-seed faith — not small faith, but living faith that is impossible to contain. Faith that grows roots in Your truth, stretches toward Your light, and pushes past fear. Let it spread through my heart and my days until everything I am is changed by it.

May my faith not stay planted — but grow so wildly that others can rest in its shade. Amen.