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LUKE 13:18-21
18 He said therefore, "What is the kingdom of God like?
And to what shall I compare it?
19 It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and
sowed in his garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the
birds of the air made nests in its branches."
20 And again he said, "To what shall I compare the
kingdom of God?
21 It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three
measures of flour, till it was all leavened."
These two parables have in common the concept of the
small and seemingly insignificant having, in the long run, a
great and powerful influence. They differ in that the one
with the man sowing the mustard seed stresses the external
growth of the kingdom, which the world can see. Whereas,
the one with the woman stresses the hidden working of the
kingdom. We have both the visible and invisible at work,
and the female is used to illustrate the invisible.
Jesus is saying something that has been true throughout
the history of the church. Women have been more like the
yeast. They have worked behind the scenes hidden from the
public view to bring about changes and advances in the
kingdom. At Pentecost they were there in prayer, and the
Holy Spirit fell on them, but they were in the background,
and men held the public spotlight. They provided the gifts
and talents such as Dorcus in Acts 9:36, and the mother of
John Mark who opened up her home in Acts 12:12. Pricilla,
however, had more public gifts in Acts 18:26 and Rom. 16:3,
as did the daughters of Philip in Acts 21:8-9. Women are
more like the Holy Spirit who is in the background, and men
are more like Jesus who is in the forefront, but both are
essential to the kingdom of God.
Jesus tells two brief parables here using both male and
female and we see the balance he gives to the sexes. He
included women illustrations in his teachings to give them a
feeling of equality and belonging. The small and hidden can
become major, and this is what has happened to women in
the kingdom. They were almost unnoticed to start with, but
they grew in importance to become a major factor in the
kingdom of God. It starts with an act of mercy to one woman
on the Sabbath, and grows until the Sabbath becomes a day
for mercy to all people. It starts with a story of kindness to a
Samaritan woman, and grows until prejudice for all must
die, and all people be accepted as equals in the kingdom.
Jesus is saying the kingdom of God works by small things
making big changes. Small beginnings may work slowly but
steadily until all is changed. If the yeast is working, every
generation of Christians should be different in their total
outlook on life, for they should be advancing in Christlike
attitudes. Evil, of course, can and does work the same way,
and so Jesus warned about the leaven of the Pharisees, for
Christians can become legalistic. Jesus had just gained a
victory over the false values of the ruler of the synagogue,
and this was the beginning of new value system for the people
of God.
Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God, or His coming
into the world, is like a seed sown, or yeast put in bread. It
will be just the beginning of changes that will grow until the
church will think and act with the mind of Christ. No longer
will people be subjected to burdens of religion. Christianity
will establish proper priorities, and people will be superior to
the system of religious laws and rituals.
These parable reveal how the kingdom of God and His reign
in history begin, and finally permeate the whole. What Jesus
said has happened in history, and the church has a totally
different attitude toward people than did the Judaism of that
day. No longer is the sinner stoned, but he is dealt with in
compassion. The goal is not to punish but to forgive and
restore.
Many oppose the positive view of these parables, and say
they refer to the growth of evil because of a
misunderstanding. Many take these to mean the kingdom of
God will start small and grow until the whole world is
Christian. Others have reacted against this view, and have
imposed upon these parables a negative interpretation. Just
because the liberal view perverts them is no justification for a
different perversion in the opposite direction. If we see that
Jesus is referring to the growth of right values and priorities
within the body of God's people, we do not need to try and
twist them into referring to evil. Jesus is comparing the
kingdom to seed and yeast, and how they grow and permeate
just as His love for people and their needs grew and
permeated Christian thinking. Now we no longer think of
days, traditions, and rituals as more important than people.
The idea of a great tree does not say the whole world will
be converted, or that it would bear only good fruit, or that
none of its branches would ever be cut off. All it is saying is
that from small beginnings it shall become large. The birds
making nests in it just stresses that it is large, and there is no
need to try and find symbolic meaning behind the birds. In
Eastern thought a great tree was symbolic of a great empire,
and the birds on its branches are the subject peoples who
come under its power. Jesus is saying the kingdom of God
will become a vast kingdom with many people becoming a
part of it. We see this image used so clearly by Ezekiel in
17:22-24 and 31:3f. We see it also in Daniel 4:10-12 and
Psalm 80:8-13. Barclay writes, "Sometimes the fact that
there are so many branches of the church is used as a
condemnation. In point of fact, it is the church's great virtue
and blessing. Not all people worship alike. Some find God in
a bare simplicity; others in an elaborate form of worship.
Some find Him in speech, some in music, some in silence.
Amidst the multiplicity of churches a man can find that
church in which he will find God."
J. C. Ryle writes, "Let us learn from this parable never to
despair of any work for Christ, because its first beginnings
are feeble and small." It is Christian thinking to believe that
any small effort at what is good and right can eventually
make a big difference. Zech. 4:10. The seed shows what the
kingdom becomes in itself, and the yeast shows what
influence it can have on the environment.
Some insist that leaven, or yeast, must always be evil, but
this is not consistent with the facts. The Bible uses the same
symbol for both good and evil. You have the lion as a symbol
of the devil in I Pet. 5:8, and of Jesus in Rev. 5:5. A symbol
means what the author intends it to mean by the context. It
is true that if you put a little error into your teaching it can
grow and permeate the whole, but it is also true that a little
truth can grow until it becomes dominant and changes your
whole life for good. Satan can sow the field with tares just as
Jesus can sow the field with wheat, and both grow so much
alike. What is true for good is also true for evil, but Jesus is
here illustrating the growth and influence of the kingdom.
Yeast is often used to refer to evil, but if an illustration for
evil cannot be used for good then we have greatly limited the
use of illustrations for good. Birds are used of Satan's forces
snatching the seed of the word away, but it is foolish to think
that birds only illustrate evil, for they are used more by Jesus
to illustrate good than any other creature. Even the Holy
Spirit is in the form of a dove. The serpent is the instrument
of Satan, but the serpent lifted up in the wilderness is a
symbol of Jesus, and he said we should be as wise as serpents
but harmless as doves. He called the Pharisees serpents, but
that does not mean it cannot be used with positive meaning.
The context determines the meaning. Jesus is not saying the
Gospel will convert the whole world, but that His truth and
love will eventually be a dominant influence in the whole
world.
Jesus does not refer here to the Pharisees, or to some
stranger in the night. He is dealing with two commonplace
experiences of everyday life of ordinary people that are good
and normal. Men sowing in the field and women making
bread are good, and there is no basis for reading evil intent
into these parables. All that those who read evil into this
context is true, but they should limit their teaching to the
passages where the evil tares and leaven of the Pharisees is
being dealt with, and not bring them into a setting where
they are out of place. Straton writes, of the originality of
Jesus and says, "In the thinking of his hearers, leaven had
always stood for the infective power of evil; yet here Jesus
applies it to the transforming power of God, making what
was in all probability an entirely new use of it." Jesus is
saying good also can penetrate, so don't only think that evil
can do so.
A.B. Bruce sees leaven as so positive he says there are
three symbols of Christians in the parables: Salt, light, and
leaven. All three of them when they get into something
spread over the whole, and influenced the totality of the
context. Alexander Maclaren writes, "Now, of course, leaven
is generally taken as a symbol of evil or corruption...But
fermentation works enabling as well as corrupting, and our
Lord lays hold upon the other possible use of the metaphor."
It is folly to read evil into this text and identify this woman
making bread as the great whore of revelation sowing
corruption in the church.
Leaven is a disturbing element. C. H. Dodd writes, "We
should observe that the working of the leaven in the dough is
not a slow imperceptible process. At first it is true the leaven
is hidden and nothing appears to happen; but soon the whole
mass swells and bubbles as fermentation rapidly advances."
So the influence of Christianity has also been disturbing.
Acts 17:6 and 16:20.
It teaches that the source of the power for change is both
external and internal. The dough has no power to change
itself. The woman must add yeast to the dough. Some
external agent must act, but once it is added the change takes
place from within. Lightfoot writes, "Christianity is like
leaven. It is not on the outside trying to get in, but it is on
the inside trying to get out." Leaven is aggressive. It does
not cease to work until the whole lump is affected. So
Christianity is to spread into all the world until all people's
hear the Gospel. This woman baking bread is a parallel with
the man sowing seed, and both are normal good acts that
illustrate the way in which the kingdom of God will grow in
the world.
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