Listening to some churches you might think the kingdom is heaven is about counting nickels and noses, the “church ABCs”—attendance, buildings, cash. Jesus’ kingdom of heaven parables, however, unmask its true essence. They epitomize the kingdom’s most fundamental facets held in tension and balance. The first three parables speak of King Jesus at work among the nations, first as sowing, second as showing—miraculous “mustard trees” attracting many people. Now comes the third one, the flip side of the second, whittling those numbers down. It’s up close and personal. Uncomfortably so.
Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
Matthew 13:33 NKJV
First, the elephant in the room. This parable has interpretations galore. One book in my library, All the Parables of the Bible by Herbert Lockyer, spends nearly seven pages (in small print) debating many contradicting angles. Is the leaven good or is it bad? Many argue it’s bad because leaven pictures sin throughout the Bible. So instead of comparing the kingdom of heaven to leaven (like Jesus said), they compare it to the meal (the flour). Subtle, huh? So, they logically conclude, God’s kingdom (the dough) is corrupted everywhere with sin (the leaven).
Amidst a cacophony of respected voices, what is one to do? Thankfully the Bible sheds light on the commentators! To the law and to the testimony (Isa 8:20)! God’s word gives light; human reasoning obscures it. Importing ideas true to the Bible, but not the truth of the parable, muddies the waters, too. We need to lean hard into the Holy Spirit to hear Jesus’ voice. Jesus didn’t say the kingdom of heaven is like sin, He said it’s like leaven. Yes, the Bible abounds with symbols, like oil as the Holy Spirit. Insisting that a figure always means one thing, however, can get us off course when God employs it differently. What does serpent represent? Satan, for sure. But Jesus also pictured Himself as a serpent lifted up in the wilderness (Jn 3:14). What about lion? Of, course Jesus. But Satan is likened to a roaring lion (1Pe 5:8). So at times a symbol may have opposite utilizations.
Leaven, or yeast, infiltrates, permeates and transforms the dough. Yeast breaks down the flour’s starches into gas bubbles that yield the fluffy bread we like. This hidden infiltrating and converting trait makes leaven a fitting metaphor for sin that’s as contagious as germs. The kingdom of heaven heralds good news though! The Holy Spirit gifted to us powerfully reverses the leavening effects of sin. How? By gradual, inner transformation. Like leaven. Theologians call this process “sanctification.” The yeast-like proliferation and conversion of our evil ways of thinking to God’s ways is what the Holy Spirit achieves inside us. The same Dove who hovered over the primordial waters of the deep transforms us from glory to glory, 2 Corinthians 3:18 affirms, revolutionizing what’s inglorious to glorious. So in this sense the kingdom of heaven is like leaven.
Jesus ushers in the new. The old wine of religion is replaced by the new wine of relationship. The new heart of life supplants the old heart of stone. “I make all things new”—including leaven. The old Adam gave us the old leaven of sin. Jesus, the new Adam, lavishes on us the new leaven—heaven’s kingdom!—that counteracts the old leaven of sin.
Since Matthew offers no interpretation, we again return to Luke 13 for context to decode our parable. Keep in mind that parables don’t just randomly pop up out of nowhere. They’re rooted to a particular situation, targeting a specific audience. Full development of the many intriguing details of Luke 13 isn’t possible, so a sketch of the relevant features will have to do. The chapter opens with people asking Jesus about Galileans whom Pontius Pilate killed. “Do you think that they were worse offenders,” Jesus replied, “than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Thinking others are worse sinners than ourselves is because we don’t understand the parable of the yeast.
Jesus then tells a parable about a barren fig tree. Failure to bear the fruits of repentance results in the tree being cut down. Then He heals the bent over woman, explaining the miracle with the parable of the growing mustard seed. Now comes our parable:
And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
Luke 13:20-21 ESV
Luke 13’s repentance theme now carries on. En route to Jerusalem somebody asks, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” Jesus answers with a parable about striving to enter through the narrow door. Those trapped on the wrong side of the shut door plead, “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.” An external relationship is not enough. “Depart from me, all you workers of evil!” Those who work, or do, evil—the unrepentant—are cast out.
So the kingdom of heaven isn’t about crowds attracted to Jesus for superficial reasons. The parable of the mustard seed teaches us that people (“the birds of the air”) can be great cheerleaders for Jesus. While that’s a step in the right direction, the kingdom of heaven must advance into the innermost being. That’s why this parable of the leaven is paramount. The kingdom must saturate and transform every part of us that’s contrary to Jesus’ likeness. The kingdom must work thoroughly against all sin in our secret thoughts and desires. That’s repentance—experiencing wholesale conversion within.
“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” How much is three measures? It makes enough bread to feed over a hundred people! Three measures is a lot of dough because there’s a lot within us that needs transformation. This parable combats a smug attitude, “There’s little in me that needs changing. I’m a small loaf that’s been pretty well leavened by Christ’s kingdom, thank you.” No! We still have an enormous quantity within yet to be converted to be more like Christ. Paul near the end of his life recognized, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own” (Phil 3:12 ESV).
God used this parable to wreck me in a good way. One afternoon I spied a mailer calling out a politician who voted for schools to not report sexual assaults to police. While things like this arouse my anger, I don’t normally pray for the offender. But now I viewed this corrupt politician with fresh mercy: she and I both have three measures within needing transformation. She is not a worse sinner than me. In my flesh dwells no good thing. That’s Luke’s point, to rip down these flattering comparisons of ourselves to others. “Unless you repent, you will likewise perish.” So my compassion for the children who’d suffer from her bad law also overflowed to her for her salvation. I’m now seeing every human being as a three-measures-of-flour person in need of Jesus’ transformation. That’s not denying the work of grace already accomplished but acknowledging I’ve not arrived. My comparison is to an infinitely holy God, not finite mortal men.
So let’s summarize. Jesus does something extraordinary that catches a lot of people’s attention (the parable of the growing mustard seed). The Father is openly revealing Jesus to the world. It might be healing, a teaching, just some divine interruption of everyday life. This naturally leads to repentance (the parable of the leaven). That’s why these two parables always appear together. Both must actively work in people’s lives. Jesus doesn’t come to be our celebrity; He desires to be our Savior. See how Jesus rebuked the towns that witnessed His great miracles (the mustard tree) but failed to repent (the leaven). “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Mt 11:21 ESV). It’s not enough that we nest in what Jesus does, but that He “nests” in us.
It’s exciting to observe the kingdom of heaven all over the Bible! I offer a sample to illustrate. King Nebuchadnezzar’s mustard tree was three young Jews unscathed in his fiery furnace. He nested in the branches of this miraculous event, praising God publicly, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego” (Dan 3:28 ESV). But God wasn’t content to leave the king just a bird in the tree. King Neb’s pride remained untouched. So the Lord humbled him, devolving his mind to that of a beast. After the yeast had broken down his arrogance, he experienced genuine repentance and a real relationship with God.
Nicodemus swooped in by night to see Jesus, attracted to those lovely mustard tree branches. “No one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (Jn 3:2 ESV). Nicodemus was now prepared for the parable of the yeast. “Truly, truly, I say to you,” Jesus advised, “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The hidden, transforming work of the Spirit begins with the new heart.
Peter’s mustard tree was the net-breaking, record-breaking catch of fish on Lake Galilee. The yeast penetrated the depths of his heart: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Lk 5:8). The day of Pentecost’s outpouring of the Spirit, evidenced by speaking in tongues, was the mustard tree that drew all the birds of the air, these devout men from every nation under heaven. As Peter preached many were cut to the heart and repented (the leaven).
The parable of the leaven is the Bible’s junk drawer, so to speak. Basically anything that’s out of step with God in thought, word, and deed go in here. The Law, the Beatitudes, the prophets’ rebukes, etc. are the yeast that spotlights our junk. The kingdom of heaven’s yeast gradually undoes everything of the world’s kingdom inside of us. Jesus wants to revolutionize our whole inner life!
You think the kingdom of heaven’s operation in the world is good? Just wait to see what’s in “the house”! The next trio of parables introduce what’s nearest and dearest to God’s heart.
Glory Unveiled: Discovering Jesus 