The Parable of the Mustard Seed is one of the shorter parables of Jesus. It appears in Matthew (13:31–32), Mark (4:30–32), and Luke (13:18–19). In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, it is immediately followed by the Parable of the Leaven, which shares this parable's theme of the Kingdom of Heaven growing from small beginnings. It also appears in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas.

Luke 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records several parables and teachings told by Jesus Christ and his lamentation over the city of Jerusalem. Jesus resumes the journey to Jerusalem which he had embarked upon in Luke 9:51. This chapter, taken with Luke 12:54-59, begins to outline and illustrate "the problem with the Jewish nation" which accounts for the urgency of his journey to Jerusalem. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, however early Christian tradition generally accepts that Luke the Evangelist composed this Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles.