THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN [Mt. 13:33]
Of Jesus' 7 stories told on Galilee's shore concerning His kingdom, the Parable Of The Leaven was by far the briefest, ending almost as quickly as it began. If we try to find its meaning as fast as we read it, we may miss the Lord's intended lesson.
Bible students usually couple it with the parable preceding it - the Mustard Seed. We agree with this connection. While the former stressed outward growth and influence of the kingdom, the latter emphasizes the intensive yet invisible change the gospel seed can generate inwardly. Using common, ordinary things found among men, the Lord states that the kingdom of God will grow in much the way leaven will grow among the dough it is meant to affect. We must be careful we do not allegorize the parable. While some have understood the "woman" to be the church, we simply affirm her to be an ordinary woman. Others have conjectured the "three pecks of meal" to be the body, soul, & spirit of man. It seems more plausible to see them only as the ordinary amount of dough used in the ancient world when baking.
The parable really speaks to the quiet inner transformation which the kingdom of God is able to work in us. Leaven is like salt & light...powerful, yet quiet change agents (cp. Mt. 5:13-16). Salt doesn't need a parade to improve taste or preserve meat. Light doesn't scream across a room it brightens. Jesus Himself worked in such a fashion (cp. Isa. 42:2-3). The work of leaven is inward, even invisible. This powerfully declares the spiritual nature of God's kingdom (cp. Lk. 17:20-21), much unlike realms fashioned by men (Jn. 18:36).
The gospel keeps working "...until all is leavened." All what...the world? No; rather, the parable speaks to all of man who has come into contact with the germinating power of heaven's seed. God wants all of man to be made new (2 Cor. 5:17). All of man is to cultivate a total devotion to God (cp. Deut. 6:5; Mt. 22:37-38), until we are finally transformed into the glorious image God has intended for us (2 Cor. 3:18).
Heaven's leaven is contagious...have you been affected by it?
