Introduction
You would think Jesus would use more awe-inspiring language. More dramatic word pictures. Maybe at least use big words. After all he is talking about a kingdom. Doesn’t kingdom language make us think of kings and queens, robes and jewels and crowns, opulent palaces and well defended castles, vast tracts of land rich with resources, a strong army to defend it, extensive trade networks…all the splendid trappings of power? Doesn’t kingdom talk call for majestic language?
To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? Jesus asks. And we expect him to say something impressive and magnificent. It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in (hid in) three measures of flour until all of it was leavened, he continues, in what is surely one of his simplest and shortest parables.
Yeast and flour, a mixing bowl and a spoon. These are among the most common items he could have mentioned. A woman baking. That is among the most everyday and mundane of domestic tasks. Jesus could not have painted a more ordinary word picture. In Jesus’ day, and maybe even in our own, this image strikes his hearers as humble and unimpressive. Hardly an image to spark imagination and inspire a movement. Certainly not fitting to describe the workings of a kingdom, much less the kingdom of God, is it?
But with Jesus, and especially with his parables–those word pictures that confound and surprise, delight and perplex, and leave us chewing on them for a good while after–it is always worth a second look.
The Text in its Context: The Contrasts in Luke 13
The parable of the yeast is found in the middle of the gospel of Luke in chapter 13. It is an odd chapter. It has some pretty harsh language from Jesus about repent or perish. It has a parable about a barren fig tree, and the warning to produce good fruit or be cut down. It is clear from this chapter that Jesus has already begun what will be his final journey to Jerusalem, the centre of power. Resistance to empire is a favourite theme in Luke’s gospel, and so we catch in this chapter some of Jesus’ “prophetic impatience” (Mary H. Schertz, Believers Church Bible Commentary: Luke, 258). We hear his call for decisive action in urgent times. It is time for a choice. Who is for him? Who is against him?
And yet we also see in this chapter some of the most tender and compassionate images of Jesus. One where he heals a woman crippled for 18 years, and restores her to her community. And another where he laments over Jerusalem, longing to gather the people together as a hen would gather her brood under her wings, but they are not willing.
In the middle of this strange chapter we find the parable of the yeast. It follows right after a similar parable. Another relatively short word picture that describes the kingdom of God like a mustard seed that is planted in the ground, and grows to become a tree where the birds of the air can make their nests. The mustard seed and the yeast parables seem to be a deliberate pair, placed next to each other here in Luke’s gospel. The “growth parables,” some have called them. Both about something small and seemingly insignificant that grows big and has an oversized impact. Both feature ordinary people doing everyday activities. Both are about humble beginnings. Both are about patient waiting for growth to happen.
So in Luke 13 there is a sense of urgency tempered with patience. There is a prophetic edge alongside tenderness. There is strong, confrontational language from Jesus and tender mercy. This is an odd mix. Impatience and patience don’t seem to belong together. They seem incompatible and at odds with each other. But Jesus knows both and expresses both. He confronts and comforts in Luke 13. He knows the value of both. Both have their place in how his kingdom will unfold.
Focus on the Parable of the Yeast: What is Yeast and How Does it Work?
Could it be that these parables in the middle of the chapter are meant to bridge this distance–to hold together urgency and patience?
They all encourage work, action and participation: tend the fig tree; plant the mustard seed, mix and knead the dough. And they all encourage patience: give the fig tree another year and see if it will grow; trust that the mustard seed will grow into a productive plant; relax and wait while the dough rises and later, bakes.
As Mary Schertz, professor emeritus from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, writes in her newly released commentary on the gospel of Luke, there is a three part invitation here. “Work. Wait. Wonder” (Schertz, 269). This is how Jesus’ disciples speak truth to power. This is how Jesus’ disciples resist the empire. I would like to explore these 3 in more depth.
Three Invitations in the Parable
Work
The first invitation is to work. This is the part Mennonites tend to be most comfortable with. Doing good, responding to need, offering practical, hands-on, sometimes physically demanding, tiring service in the name of Christ. This is familiar ground, for a denomination with an emphasis on discipleship. This is like the woman mixing the ingredients for bread. We are doing our part. We are participating. We are lended our energy and expertise to places where it is needed most.
We have lots of examples of this kind of kingdom work. Mennonite Disaster Service steps in after a crisis to do clean-up and repair work. And we have had a number of SJMC’s volunteering recently with MDS in Nova Scotia after the devastation of hurricane Fiona last year. Mennonite Central Committee volunteers do relief, development and peacebuilding work in the name of Christ around the world. Right here in the village of St. Jacobs Beyond Housing is expanding Sprucelawn to create many more affordable homes. And I know there are many more ways that people here at SJMC are involved in acts of service.
And we even have our share of activists who work with even more of a sense of urgency and determination. They prod us to be different and better, sometimes even making us feel uncomfortable, until we catch the seriousness of the situation. Something like Jesus does in Luke 13. This is like the woman kneading the dough. Folding and stretching, pushing and prodding, using her strength to make sure the dough is prepared for what comes next.
Of course, there is a caution here. We can get impatient that kingdom work proceeds too slowly. We can push too hard, run roughshod over others, lose track of why we are doing this work, and end up burning out. Or we can think that we are earning God’s love by doing good works. Think that we are only valued for what we can accomplish. And think that it is up to us to make anything happen. This can lead to misuse of power and influence, and we risk discounting the voices and experiences of those we think we are helping.
It is significant to note that Jesus uses a woman as a role model of kingdom work here in this parable. Of all the gospel writers, Luke emphasizes most the role of the women disciples who worked alongside Jesus. It is a good reminder that all of us participate in the work of the kingdom–the dream of God for our world. In all of our ordinary work, and interactions we can be models for what this dream of God looks like. The sacred infuses the simplest of tasks if they are done with great love. Even tasks we don’t value, elevate, or hold in high esteem. The bible is full of stories of the unlikely choice–where God uses those who for some reason or another are deemed unlikely to be God’s messengers. Somehow they are unworthy or unfit or unprepared or inexperienced. Too simple or too ordinary to matter much. Not so, says Jesus in this parable. All of you, all of your work, no matter how humble and everyday (ordinary) can help to make God’s dream a reality. The yeast of your small, simple acts of kindness can have a far bigger impact that you could even ask or imagine.
I think here of my mother, and so many other women of her generation. She did so much good work with her hands, often behind the scenes, often without much recognition. I marvel at what all she knew how to do with her hands. Cooking and baking, mostly from scratch, often for lots of people. Sewing, mending, piecing, quilting, knotting comforters. Planting, weeding, picking, canning, preserving. Milking cows, butchering chickens, making homemade soap. Tending to children and aging parents. She came from a time with clear roles and expectations for women, and not much openness to stray from that or much appreciation for what they did. In this parable I hear Jesus valuing the work of women like my mother.
Wait
Our good energy and work is so important but so is something else according to this parable. The second invitation in this parable is to wait. To be patient. We live in a fast-paced and impatient culture. We want immediate results and instant gratification. But in Alan Kreider’s research on the early church he shows that patience was a key component of the early church and its growth. In what was a hostile, even abusive environment, “the early Christians spoke to power by attending to worship, teaching, and prayer” (Schertz, 269). These are Christian practices that take us into a more contemplative space. Here we learn to slow down. We take time to ground ourselves, marinate ourselves in the Scriptures, the teachings, and the example of Jesus. This is a time to rest from our work, renew energy, to encourage one another, to centre ourselves in prayer for God’s guidance. This is like the woman waiting for the dough to rise. We need to give the yeast time to work. We need to allow time for transformation.
In the time of waiting it is so easy to assume that nothing is happening. To be impatient with the waiting and consider it all a waste of time, when so much more good work could be happening. There is a caution here too. Even top athletes take rest days so their muscles can repair, and they can renew their mental energy. They know the risk of pushing too hard to the point of injury. We too can run the car out of gas, if we think we have to do everything, everywhere all at once. We can end up depleting our resources, and come up empty and dry just when we need creativity and new ideas. In the time of patient waiting and the rest things are happening even though we don’t readily see it. This calls for trust and hope, that with patience, renewal and transformation is possible.
Wonder
This brings us to wonder, the third invitation in this parable. Wonder is about awe and amazement. This is the creative energy of the yeast, and the amazing way it works. Yeast is a single celled living organism. Basically it is a fungus that gobbles up sugar and burps up carbon dioxide. The yeast, in a small quantity, is activated by its contact with warm water, mixed with the flour, fed by sugar and starch, and kneaded into the dough by the baker. Left to do its thing it creates gas bubbles that soften, flavour and enlarge the dough, growing it to nearly twice its size. Two and a quarter teaspoons of yeast can leaven 4 cups of flour. While its effect remains hidden and secret for a while, as it works its way through the dough, it transforms the original ingredients into something new. Yeast, that seems so small and insignificant, has an oversized impact.That is a powerful and hopeful message. The creative energy of God’s Spirit is not something we can control, orchestrate or manage. Instead we are called to trust the mystery that God is at work, sometimes in silent, hidden ways. We offer our ingredients, We offer who we are and what we have. We offer our time and energy, our small acts of kindness and caring, and learn to marvel at what God can do with what we offer, small as it may seem. And marvel at how simple and humble the beginnings of anything can be.
Wonder is also about curiosity and openness to the possibility of how God is at work. Here we can bring our doubts and keep on asking questions. I remember one of my professors offering this wisdom. One of the most important questions you can ever ask is, how else could it be? What else is possible? Here we can also bring an attitude of anticipation and expectation, knowing that God works in the simple, ordinary aspects of our lives, and knowing that God works through those we least expect. We can learn to keep our eyes and ears, our minds and hearts open for signs of the yeast of God’s kingdom at work, for the mysterious work of the yeast in our own lives. An attitude of awe and amazement, curiosity and openness will keep us awake, alert and ready to appreciate, nurture those little things that spark our imagination and our creativity. It is also a reminder not to walk by the ordinary, for the sacred is often found in the simple or in the unexpected. We can’t assume we know how God works. God often surprises us. We have no idea how far and wide the yeast of our faithful discipleship spreads. We cannot fully grasp how God can and will use the yeast of our kindness and compassion to soften and flavour the lives of others. We can only imagine how God’s mercy and love can spread once it is activated.
Application
So how does the three-part invitation to work, wait and wonder apply to us today?
There are big problems that need addressing. There are urgent matters that need immediate attention in our day, just as there was in Jesus’ day:
- Housing–we know there is so much need for safe and affordable housing
Yes we should work to build, fix, repair. And we can wait, by taking time to listen to the stories of those in need. At MDS work sites it is considered important to take time to talk to and get to know the people whose homes you are fixing up. That is just as important as the drywalling and painting. We can also wonder– be curious and ask questions about why things are the way they are and how they could be better. There is a great deal in the current housing crisis that doesn’t make sense, and isn’t right or fair. We need to keep pressing our leaders for better answers and more just solutions.
- climate crisis–we know our human impact on the planet is causing serious harm
Yes, we can work on reducing our carbon footprint, and our dependence on fossil fuels. And we can wait–take a walk in the woods, and meditate by a stream. We can learn to wonder and marvel at the beauty and resilience in the natural world around us. We can get to know our watershed and the living beings we share it with. We won’t protect what we don’t know and love.
- changing church–the church is changing and that might feel unsettling
Yes we can continue to work, serve, lead, teach, clean, host meals and volunteer in all kinds of ways. We need the best gifts of all of us. And we pause from our work to wait, to pray, worship, sing and ground ourselves in the text and in the life and teachings of Jesus. And in doing so, we leave room for mystery and wonder. We open ourselves to how the Spirit might be ready to do something new and different among us.
The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in (hid) in three measures of flour until all of it was leavened. May this parable continue to live and work in us like yeast. May it keep on confronting us and comforting us. May it transform us.
Now, at the risk of throwing around too many more metaphors about what God is up to, I have chosen God of the Bible as our song of response. Watch for any metaphors that catch your attention. Notice especially the small, the ordinary, the simple, the feminine images, and the hope of transforming the world with our small acts of faithfulness. Also notice the aspects of wonder that are part of this song, in the repeated line, fresh as the morning, reminding that God is at work doing new things.