This week’s parable number 15 is a short one, found in Matthew 13:33. It is also found in Luke 13:20 – 21
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” Matthew 13:33
20 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” Luke 13:20-21
The key to understanding this parable of the yeast is to note that the woman mixed the yeast into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough. The little bit of yeast worked its way unseen through the entire lump, radically changing the size and shape.
For Israel, yeast (or leaven) represented uncleanness or evil, as when Israel rid its community of yeast during the Passover. But Jesus can take what the religious leaders see as evil and unclean, the “sinners” of society, to create the kingdom. The woman mixed the yeast in the batch of dough. What cause the dough to rise is invisible, hidden from the midst of the growing process. Even though the yeast was hidden, in the end there was 60 pounds of flour which would not be something that could be hidden anymore. The idea is that the kingdom, in some ways, is hidden from sight.
The kingdom will by virtue of its contexts too. You can no more stop the kingdom growth than you can keep yeast from making dough rise and expand. In Jesus the kingdom has come near where people can see it, but the kingdom is still so small it is not obvious. One must have ears to hear and eyes to see. A person must listen for the word of the kingdom. One must begin practicing the word for the kingdom. This almost invisible nucleus will expand into the grand structure no one can miss.
Even today, when we look back on two thousand years of gospel’s progress throughout the world, we can become discouraged because of the kingdom’s hidden nature. Consider what encouragement was necessary for Jesus’ first small band of followers, when the gospel was brand new and they were the sole custodians.