We have been looking at Enormous Lessons from Small Parables. In the first study, our thoughts have focused on Matthew 13:33 and the parable of the leaven or yeast in the loaf of bread. Can we glean an understanding of the point that Jesus was making as He told the story?
Let’s think about the immediate context of our passage and the Scripture from Matthew 13. Matthew, one of the twelve disciples, was a devout Jew who had a “Roman kingdom” occupation. Matthew was a tax collector. While the character of many tax collectors was suspect, Matthew was selected to be a part of Jesus’ inner circle. Perhaps no one understood what it meant to be a part of two kingdoms more than Matthew.
Matthew starts his gospel with a genealogy that begins with a key verse for the book. “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). Matthew summarizes his understanding of the Messiah in this short verse. Jesus is the son of David, heir to the throne, King of the Jews. He is also the son of Abraham, the prophet of old, the priest like Melchizedek, and the father of the covenant between God and man. Matthew speaks of the King and the kingdom.
I want to stress again that these seven parables are all part of one message.
Ray Stedman
There are eight parables covered by Matthew in this chapter. A brief outline and their references help us to understand the thrust of the entire chapter. Six of the parables begin with the phrase “the kingdom of heaven is like ….” One of the others mentions the kingdom in its verse of explanation.
- The Parable of the Sower and the Soils (Matthew 13:1-9)
- The Reason for Parables (Matthew 13:10-17)
- The Explanation of the Sower (Matthew 13:18-23)
- The Parable of the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30)
- The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13:31-32)
- The Parable of the Leaven (Matthew 13:33)
- The Parable of the Hidden Treasure (Matthew 13:44)
- The Parable of the Costly Pearl (Matthew 13:45-46)
- The Parable of the Net (Matthew 13:47-50)
- The Parable of the Householder (Matthew 13:52)
There are a couple of key verses which aid in our understanding of the immediate context of the passage. Matthew begins the chapter by saying, “On the same day Jesus went out of the house” (Matthew 13:1). This ties the events of this chapter with the crucial events recorded in Matthew 12 of opposition by the Pharisees and the questions from His mother and brothers.Both are obvious issues with understanding the ministry and work of Jesus on earth. Ironically, the chapter ends with Jesus moving on to other areas because the people in His hometown also did not understand His ministry.
The other key verse is the presentation of our parable itself (Matthew 13:33 NASB). The NIV renders the verse in this manner:
“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked through all the dough” (Matthew 13:33 NIV).
The old KJV provides a little insight.
“Another parable spake he unto them, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”
In Jesus’ day, leaven was spoiled dough in a state of fermentation which when hid (mingled or mixed) with normal dough, caused the bread to inflate when baked. It works like yeast today. A small amount of leaven was sufficient to leaven a large amount of dough – three measures (9 gallons), about three times as much as you would normally use.
Not every detail in your favorite story was important to the truth your story was teaching. The information helped build the story, but was not vital for the lesson. In the stories that Jesus told, use the same principle as you begin to interpret His parables. What is the main teaching that Jesus is trying to reinforce?
In our parable, many interpret the leaven as symbolic to the word of God, or the ministry of the church, being spread into the entire world until all nations have heard it. We compare Christianity starting small and spreading throughout the world. It is just like the yeast spreading through the dough. It is a nice, comfortable interpretation. Nothing inherently wrong with this meaning.
But that interpretation of yeast does not consider some of the other teachings of both the Old and New Testaments. Throughout the Old Testament, for example, leaven carried a negative connotation. Both Jesus and Paul use leaven to symbolize not God’s word, but the doctrines of men. They emphasize that when you mix the doctrines of men with the word of God, you corrupt the Word of God.
Remember how this chapter started! There were problems with the Pharisees. Let’s look at a few examples.
- Matthew 6:6,12 beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees;
- Luke 12:1 the leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy
- Galatians 5:7-10 who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth
- 1 Cor 5:6 purge out the old leaven
When we compare the yeast to the false teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees, we see how incorrect teaching can spread through the sound teaching of the gospel, completely changing its meaning and purpose. Do you see how easy it is for incorrect teaching to spread throughout the church?
Let me give you a third interpretation of this parable. Let’s make this one even more personal. The yeast is the power of the Gospel message, and the bread is your life. For most of us, our conversion experience did not produce an immediate “Christ-like” change in our lives. The development of Christian character and maturity took time. But when given time, the effect was as profound as the yeast impacting the dough.
Does it matter if you interpret the parable the other way? Does it matter when we read into Scripture what seems right or feels good to us? There are pieces of truth in each of the interpretations.
But when taken together, the impact of the story become powerful. As we try to learn to interpret Scripture by Scripture, the warnings of the leaven of the Pharisees provide a consistent biblical message. The other interpretations almost become secondary.