Because of the yeast, it would expand. She would set it on the counter top. She would beat it with her fist to pound it down flat, and then she would begin to knead it. She would spend a half hour or so kneading the dough, and then she’d let it sit again. She did that maybe two or three times before she would put it in the oven to bake.

I came home from school many times just as she took it out of the oven, and the fragrance filled the house. I’d slice off a piece of the still warm bread and spread it with butter, peanut butter and honey. It tasted delicious. I fondly remember those days.

Many of you have probably made bread. You’ve mixed the flour, yeast, and water. You let it sit and rise, and then you would knead it. Some of you may have even made sourdough bread, where you have a little bit left over from a previous batch. You mix it in with the flour, and it becomes part of the new batch of sourdough bread. I’ve seen my wife do that.

That example provides the basis of the Parable of the Leaven. Jesus used simple, everyday events to highlight various aspects of Him kingdom. This parable uses the method of making bread. You can find it recorded in Matthew 13.33:

“Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It’s like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.”

Before we can fully grasp the meaning of this parable, we need to look at the images that Jesus used in the parable to make sure that we understand them. Then we can progress into understanding the parable itself.

As I mentioned, this method of making bread occurred as a common, everyday, community event. Several women would gather in the courtyard, and they would all participate in the making of bread. You will notice it says they took three measures of flour, about a bushel of flour.

Since they made bread for several families, it took a large amount of flour. Then, it says, a woman took some leaven and placed it in the flour. Now we commonly use the term “leaven” to identify yeast. In that day leaven stood for sourdough, not yeast. They had preserved a chunk of dough taken from a previous batch to start the next batch. They took the sourdough, put it into the flour and made a new batch. At the end they would take out some to reserve for the next batch.

In order to leaven a bushel of flour, it would take approximately three to four pounds of leaven. So this lady took three to four pounds of sourdough from a previous occasion, put it into the flour and mixed it together to make bread. That volume of leaven in flour would make a large batch of bread, enough bread for 100-150 people.

Jesus used this picture to explain to His followers, His disciples, the kingdom of God that He came to establish. A simple picture, yet from it we can draw significant understandings about the kingdom of God.

What does it mean?

It points out to us the presence and the arrival of the Kingdom. The kingdom has arrived. The Lord Jesus wanted to make sure that His disciples and friends understood that fact.

The parable points to the hiddenness of the Kingdom. When you take leaven and you put it into flour, it hides in the batch. You don’t observe it immediately. It gets absorbed with the rest of the flour, and you can’t discern its presence. Ultimately, however, it grows. In describing His kingdom, Jesus wanted them to understand the hiddenness of His Kingdom, something that started small like leaven placed into flour.

Again, this parable reveals the power of the Kingdom. Leaven has power, a self-developing power. It penetrates and permeates all into which the baker places it. It spreads throughout the whole batch of flour. That, too, describes Kingdom of God and its power.

It may appear hidden at the very beginning, small in size, and yet it expands until ultimately it reaches its full potential. The day comes when the Kingdom of God will reach its full potential, the full volume that God has designed for it to achieve. Just as the leaven expands to its full potential so the Kingdom of God will grow to reach God's ages’ long plan and purpose.

In addition, we notice the inwardness of the leaven in the flour. The woman placed the leaven into the flour. The Lord Jesus had occasion to make that point clear to His disciples about His Kingdom because they envisioned a visible Kingdom. The Lord Jesus wanted them to understand that the Kingdom of God resides within people.

In fact, the Lord Jesus, on several occasions, pointed out this very fact when He told them that the kingdom of God would not come with soldiers and armies. He told them that His Kingdom would not come that way. Many of His day wanted Him to do that. They wanted Him to take up arms against the oppressive Roman government at that time. He reminded them that His rule would not come with armies, swords, and spears.

On another occasion, He said that the Kingdom of God would come without observation. It would not come with great fanfare, great demonstrations, or grand celebrations. That will occur at the consummation of the ages, but not until then.

On yet another occasion, when He stood before Pilate at His trial prior His death on the cross, Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” and He confirmed His Kingship. Then He told Pilate that His kingdom dwelt within, unlike the kingdoms of mankind.