Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Today’s Scriptures: Matthew 13:31-35 and Luke 13:20-21
“He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened." (Matt. 13:33)
“The Kingdom of God works into us like yeast, and it grows like a seed in good soil. It enters quietly, holistically, radically, joyfully subversive, right into the core of our humanity, unfurling, renewing, and giving work to our hands. It shows up when we live loved and where we love each other well. And the Kingdom of God lasts.” ― Sarah Bessey, Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible's View of Women
This parable is part of a pair, and shares the meaning of the preceding Parable of the Mustard Seed, namely the powerful growth of the Kingdom of God from small beginnings. As with the Parable of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin in Luke 15, this parable is part of a pair, (mustard seed and Leaven) in which the first parable describes Jesus' work in terms of a man's agricultural activities, and the second in terms of a woman's domestic activities. Jesus is asking the crowd whether male or female, privileged or peasant, it does not matter to enter the domain of a first-century woman and household cook in order to gain perspective on God’s kingdom.
Although typically leaven symbolized evil influences elsewhere in the New Testament (as in Luke 12:1). The use of leaven as a positive symbol for the kingdom of heaven is that it was widely regarded as an agent of corruption (fermentation) in the ancient world. A strange aspect of parables is their often paradoxical nature. They present as good something commonly regarded as bad (leaven as metaphor for kingdom of God, a "Good" Samaritan) or they present as bad something we regard as good.
What would have strike Jesus’ listeners as odd was Jesus' comparison of the kingdom of heaven to something from the sphere of women's work. The kingdom comparable to something as mundane and menial as making the dough for the daily baking! Bread baking was not only woman's work, it was servant's work - a daily drudgery necessary to keep the most basic dietary staple on the table.
The parable describes what happens when a woman adds leaven (old, fermented dough usually containing lactobacillus and yeast) to a large quantity of flour, enough flour to feed about 100 people. The living organisms in the leaven grow overnight, so that by morning the entire quantity of dough has been affected.
This parable and the parable of the mustard seed are parallel in structure. Both contrast the small beginning of the kingdom and how patience and persistence, the planting and working of the yeast in the dough, then the waiting for the growth characterizes the kingdom. What begins in a humble fashion will give way in time and through a mysterious process to a far greater and more encompassing reality. But in neither parable does the human observer cause the growth, only God bring the process to completion.
The parable speaks to the transforming power of the leaven. Leaven changed the character of the whole baking. The leaven or yeast is a living organism and if we apply this metaphor to the church, the church should not be a mere organization or institute, the church is a living, growing organism within the life of the community where it is placed. The yeast works unseen and patiently it changes the character of the dough so more can be added.
The transforming power of Jesus in our lives is revealed as a slow, unseen journey toward growth. The message and meaning are clear, especially for anyone who is a baker and bakes bread. You simply put a small portion of yeast or leaven into flour and it transforms the whole loaf.
The parable of the leaven also presents the specific act of a woman, which corresponds to the nature of the kingdom. In other words, the parable does not merely equate the yeast with the kingdom, but also emphasizes the woman's action as integral to understanding the parable. She works to incorporate the leaven in the whole bunch of flour so the leaven can do its work quietly and unseen, confident the leaven will do its work on the flour as it has done in the past.
On this view this parable teaches that with Jesus Christ and His gospel is a new force set loose in the world. The Kingdom of Heaven works unseen. We do not see the leaven working but all the time it is fulfilling its function. There is a sense in which the Kingdom, the power of Christ, the Spirit of God are always working, whether or not we see that work; and there is a sense in which the power of the Kingdom and the work of Christ are plainly manifest.
Today’s Lectionary Readings
Morning: Psalms 34; 146
Evening: Psalms 25; 91
Jeremiah 2:1–13, 29–32
Romans 1:16–25
John 4:43–54
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