Yeast

And again he [Jesus] said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” (Luke 13:20-21 ESV).

 

In our reading today, Jesus’ parable uses the practice of making bread. His audience would have known the process very well. Adding yeast by kneading the dough dates back thousands of years and is a step that cannot be overlooked by bakers. And while mixing dough ingredients sets the stage for the bread-making process, the art of kneading provides both strength and structure to the dough. Wheat flour, the most common in that day, contains two proteins, gliadin and glutenin, which combine to form gluten. When bread dough is first mixed together, the proteins are mangled and knotted in no particular order. But as the dough is kneaded, the proteins line up to form giant chains of amino acids, creating a matrix within the dough itself. It's this matrix that allows the dough to trap gas released by the yeast, resulting in the rise.

 

Like the parable of the mustard seed, the parable of the yeast also points to something small that produces amazing results. But in Israel, yeast often represented sin and evil. Only bread without yeast could be used at Israel’s feasts (cf. Leviticus 2:11). The smoke of yeasted bread was unacceptable to God. Leaven (yeast) was regularly identified with the pervasiveness of sin and wickedness. So, mentioning yeast in a parable about the kingdom of God would throw his Jewish audience off guard. Again, Jesus often used shocking imagery to make a point. God could use even something despised to produce great results in his kingdom. Jesus may well have been saying that a despised group of former fishermen, prostitutes, and tax collectors could permeate the dead lump of religious Judaism with the good news of the kingdom of God.

 

We should not miss the imagery, however. In order for the yeast to get into the dough properly, it has to be folded, and mixed in with the entire dough, to produce the spread of this element throughout the dough. It is a reminder that it is an active process rather than passive. I am not suggesting that the Church should be a militant organization; however, we must not take a “come and see” attitude toward others. Our responsibility is to be “in the world, and not part of it” (cf. John 17:14-15). Taking the truth of God’s grace into our culture is not done through legislation, but modeling the grace and forgiveness we have received in our culture.