A Suprising Image of the Kingdom

Matthew 13:33 contains an image of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.

This is a surprising image of the Kingdom. On the surface, it appears to be prosaic and unremarkable. If you were in ancient Israel and you passed by a woman baking bread, you wouldn't give her a second thought. The same is true today.

The significance of the parable lies in the function of baking bread in the ancient world. In ancient Israel, bread was, literally, life. It was the staple of the ancient died. Without bread, there was no life. So this woman, who would have been regarded as powerless due to her gender and unremarkable in her task, is actually the one giving life to ancient Israel.

Uncovering the parable first also requires understanding the meaning of three "measures" of flour. In ancient Israel, this was an enormous of amount of flour. We can imagine, in fact, a woman sitting in the midst of a great amount of flour, very slowly getting the yeast mixed in to begin the process of turning the flour into bread.

God works in the world in ways that are almost imperceptible. God's creative power is at work in the world through nature to make the earth what it is and what it will be. And God works in us through the mundane and ordinary. God's grace works within us slowly and imperceptibly, transforming our hearts and minds. God, like the woman in the parable, is infinitely patient and diligent in making us into what God wants us to be.

Ancient Israel had lots of big problems that they wanted God to fix in quick, spectacular ways. God instead sent Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, to redeem and transform the hearts of those within ancient Israel, and to redeem and transform the hearts of Israel's enemy, Rome. Today, when we think about our big problems that we want God to fix in quick, spectacular ways, let us remember the parable of the woman baking bread. God's grace is present within us, and God's grace is sufficient for us. God's grace will slowly transform us into being the people that God wants us to be.