LESSON 7 – THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN

This is the fourth parable in the Gospel of Matthew that our Lord gave on the same day in a boat by the Sea of Galilee. In this parable, our Lord is telling the crowd what visible actions will demonstrate the growing influence of the Kingdom of God’s reign on Earth throughout this age.

He told them still another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in the three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.” (Matthew 13:33)

As in the case of the mustard seed, our Lord gives us no interpretation of this parable, so once again, we must remember that “popular interpretations” are not always correct. We must always examine if the interpretation is consistent in Jesus’s teachings, or it conflicts with them.

This is one of those parables that has been greatly misinterpreted.  The usual interpretation is that the leaven is the gospel, and the woman is the church. The most popular interpretation is that the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, and this opening phrase forms the basis for its popular teaching. This teaching assumes that leaven is good, and that the gospel will work away like yeast in bread, until all humanity and all things are reached by the gospel and spreads throughout humanity until the whole world is changed and the kingdom of heaven has arrived.

This, however, contradicts all that the Lord has taught us elsewhere concerning the outward progress of His Kingdom. We remember the first two parables, the sower and the seed, and the wheat and the tares are totally inconsistent with this parable. In the feast of the Passover, celebrating the deliverance from Egypt, only unleavened bread was to be eaten, and there was no leaven to be in the house for 7 days. The apostle Paul said. “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens [ferments] the whole lump [of dough]? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump [fresh dough], as you really are unleavened. For Christ our pascal lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8) We cannot accept from this parable that leaven is good when in all the other instances in Scripture, leaven is a picture of bad or evil.

Let’s start with the meal. The woman and the leaven both did something to the three measures of meal, so the question is what does the meal represent? In the Old Testament one of the most common offerings in Israel was the meal offering. It consisted of three measures of meal precisely prescribed to be unleavened, (without any yeast in it). This would indicate that the crowd listening to this parable knew exactly as to what Jesus was referring?

The first time the “three measures of meal” is revealed is in Genesis 18 when three strangers approached Abraham when he was in his tent by the oaks of Mamre. He welcomed them and offered them three measures of meal baked into bread made in the tent while they were socializing together out under the trees. It was during this conversation that Abraham realized that God himself was visiting him accompanied by two angels. This was the beginning of the use of the three measures of meal as a symbol. So, what did it mean? It became a symbol of the fellowship of God with his people and their fellowship with one another. The three measures of meal became a picture of the people of God sharing the life and the fellowship of God. In Corinthians 1:9 Paul said that the key thing about their lives as Christians was that they were called unto the fellowship of God:

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:9) Fellowship is extremely important to God. He wants his people to be open, honest and accepting of one another, to share each other’s dreams, successes and failures, to bear one another’s burdens, to lift each other up in hard times, to share together the life of God with each other in openness and honesty with the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

You know, I was lucky that I grew up with a family with five siblings. We really grew up without the understanding of this “fellowship” God is talking about. We just instinctively shared everything with each other. We knew each other’s faults, their successes and failures, their ups and downs, and we truly shared everything. There were no secrets. Everything was out in the open. Some caused us many problems and anxiety, but we always came together. We didn’t understand, as I did later, that all the answers to solving problems are in the bible. Some folks thought this was a mistake to be so open, but now, as all my siblings are with God, I think it was a blessing. This openness, sharing and general hospitality is difficult to find these days. In my era, it was common for someone to just drop over and spend an hour or so just enjoying one another. Today, in most cases, it is considered rude to show up without an invitation.

So, the meaning of the three measures of meal, the unleavened bread stood for sincerity, honesty, truth and openness, a recognition of one another and a transparency before each other. Anything that ruins or distorts it and puffs it up is leaven. The picture here is of three measures of meal in which a woman deliberately hides leaven, until by the working of the leaven, the whole lump is corrupted. It is the church who had the authority to preserve this wonderful fellowship that introduced leaven into it. By working the leaven, the entire lump becomes corrupted. It shows that the fellowship with God is marred by the inclusion of a corrupting influence.

The fellowship was so beautiful in the early days of the church. There was a oneness in the early days, so if God gave them something, he gave it to be used for all, and this included property. They understood that they all belonged to one family, and if anyone was in need, they could ask anyone else and that need would be met. The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring proceeds of the sale, put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to their needs”. (Acts 4:32-35). It was not that they pooled all their property like the communists and doled it out to each other. It means that in owning private property, they recognized the claim of their brothers and sisters upon it, as well as themselves.

So, this parable teaches us that the sharing of God’s grace must be based on fellowship with Him purged with all corruption. The New Testament gives us several usages of leaven, and they are all bad. The symbol of leaven always represents evil. “The leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy” Luke 12:1) i.e., presenting yourself to be something you’re not, pretending to a status before God that you don’t really possess, false and twisted teachings.

“The leaven of the Sadducees is rationalism”. (Matthew 16:6-12). The notion that life consists only of the senses. (touch, see, taste, smell, hear). Nothing beyond that. No God, no angels or resurrection. No afterlife.

The leaven of Herod was worldly wealth, power and materialism. The idea that possession of things is what makes life worthwhile. Jesus says that is evil, and it’s not the way you measure the value of a life.

The apostle Paul says that leaven in the church in Corinth was sexual immorality and impurity, destroying its fellowship. Fortunately, I am reading that today more clergy are beginning to get away from giving their opinions on the social and political issues of the day and returning to once again preaching the Word of God and teaching what the Bible says about how people are to live together. I’m happy to see more and more commercials on TV talking about Jesus and how important he can be in your life.

So, in closing, God has provided the way for us to be cleansed from leaven. Through the cross, we can be cleansed and forgiven by God by repenting our sins and being set free by God’s grace. We can then be open once again, be transparent with each other and together in fellowship proceed to enjoy each other’s successes and help solve each other’s problems. Lord, please help us understand your Word so that we can together share openly, honesty and transparently the grace and forgiveness of our heavenly Father.

Until next time, may peace, love and joy be with you always.