Matthew 13:33
[Jesus] told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’
Grandmother God
You have to love a one-sentence parable that prominently features a woman. Thank you, Jesus.
The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.
The first handful of times I tried to bake Grandma’s rye bread without Grandma at my side, it was epic failure after epic failure. The bread wouldn’t rise. No matter what I did, I could not figure out how to keep that yeast alive and at work. Was my water too hot or not hot enough? Was I waiting too long to add the yeast to the flour or not long enough? Time after time, I waited for that yeast to do its job, but the dough didn’t rise. Was the problem my bowl? The temperature of my kitchen? The age of the yeast?
Or was it just that Grandma wasn’t there?
The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.
Because I’ve failed so many times at making bread, the leavening in this parable feels rather miraculous to me. So much has to be just right for that dough to rise. The yeast needs to be handled not just with care, but with wisdom. It needs to be employed by someone who understands it, who can offer it the environment it needs to flourish, who can wait on it with patience.
Irish Soda Bread for St. Patrick’s Day 2017—no yeast required!
I imagine, given this parable, that the rising up of the kingdom of heaven also requires someone who understands it, who can offer it the environment it needs to flourish, who can wait on it with patience.
And it seems to me that only God is capable of that.
I’ve read this parable and imagined myself in the role of the woman. I even participated in an exercise once where I was invited to imagine how I might be represented by the yeast. But tonight, I don’t see myself at all.
I see God, showing up in the world as a grandmother whose bread never fails, because she knows what it takes to rise.