Grace – 5 – Parable of Mustard Seed and Leaven
We have been working our way through the parables of Jesus. This week we look at the parable of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast in Matt 13
• The theme of these early parables of Jesus is “The Kingdom”. They are called this because they begin with the phrase, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like……”
• So far we have looked at the parable of the Sower and the parable of the Wheat and the Tares
• And like the first two parables Jesus uses agricultural principles like planting, growth and harvest to describe how the kingdom is going to grow in the world
• Matthew 13:31-33 (NABWRNT)31 He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field.
• As we learned in the parables of the Sower, the seed is the key ingredient to the success of the operation
• Luke (Luke 8:11) tells us that the seed is the Word of God – the Logos, Jesus Christ
• And in that story it is the seed that bring forth the fruit, some 30, 60, or 100 fold
• The key to the success of the operation is the seed, not the soil
• And so it is here as well, the seed is planted and it grows by invisible design under the control of the Invisible Designer
• 32 It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
• I’ve not seen a mustard tree but it isn’t a big impressive tree like an oak
• But in the world of herbs, apparently the mustard tree is one of the largest
• It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’”
• In Daniel 4 we have a similar story about a great tree and if we look at this story we can see the comparison Jesus is drawing in His parable of the Kingdom of God
• King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a huge tree in a field where the animals and birds come to make their homes
• Then it is cut down and a band put around the trunk for 7 years. After that the band is loosed and the tree begins to grow again
• The King is perturbed by the dream and so asks Daniel to interpret
• Daniel 4:19-22 (NLT)“Upon hearing this, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) was overcome for a time, aghast at the meaning of the dream. Finally, the king said to him, ‘Belteshazzar, don’t be alarmed by the dream and what it means.’ “Belteshazzar replied, “Oh, how I wish the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies, my lord, and not to you! 20 You saw a tree growing very tall and strong, reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see. 21 It had fresh green leaves, and it was loaded with fruit for all to eat. Wild animals lived in its shade, and birds nested in its branches. 22 That tree, Your Majesty, is you. For you have grown strong and great; your greatness reaches up to heaven, and your rule to the ends of the earth.
• So what did the great tree in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream represent? His Kingdom
• And within that kingdom the people of his empire pictured by the wild animals and birds lived in physical peace and prosperity
• So what is the comparison Jesus is making – the growing of his Kingdom on this earth under which all peoples of the world will eventually find spiritual peace and prosperity
But it starts off with humble beginnings – one small seed is planted on the earth.
• Who is that one seed? Jesus Christ
• Then it grew to 13 with the calling of the disciples
• Then to 120 on the day of Pentecost – still small enough to all fit in one room (Acts 1:15)
• But since then the message of grace has spread to the ends of the earth so that now there are over two billion Christians living off the provision of that tree – “I am the vine you are the branches” John 15:5
• But it all started when Jesus, the Seed, was lifted up on the cross and He prophesied in John 12 what would happen
• John 12:32 (NRSV)32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
• And what was it that Jesus was lifted up on? A tree
• Eventually somehow, someway, all peoples will be given the opportunity to live under the shade and provision of that tree
• And what is the best provision He has made available to us? The gift of Salvation!
• This does not mean universal salvation. However this verse does challenge the notion that it is only those who accept Jesus Christ now in this age who will receive salvation
• So the message of this parable illustrate the amazing contrast between the small beginnings of the kingdom and its marvelous expansion to include the whole world through the saving work of Jesus Christ
Parable of the Yeast
• 33 He spoke to them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”
• At first blush this appears to be a story of a wife mixing up a batch of dough to feed her husband and two kids
• But when you look at the quantity of flour she uses, you find out this is not your ordinary housewife cooking a couple of loaves for her family
• Three measures is a whole bushel of flour or 128 cups!!! That’s forty kilos of flour and when you add the 40 or so cups of water to make the dough you have over 50 kilos of dough on your hands
• So this is no ordinary woman, she is a heavy duty baker mixing up enough dough to feed over 100 people
• The woman by the way represents God in the story
• Now has anyone tried to wrestle 50 kilos of dough? Manually I’m talking about.
• If you have done any baking, you will know you have a busy morning ahead of you
• And this is precisely what happens when mankind thinks he can handle the problems of this world
• The dough in the story represents mankind
• But trying to handle the evil of this world is like trying to wrestle a 50 kilo batch of dough - It will literally wear you out
• Jesus is the only One capable of dealing with the evil in this world, the same lesson we learned in the parable of the Wheat and the Tares
• Remember the servants wanted to rip out the tares but the owner told them to leave them till the time of harvest
• The owner in this particular case says, I am the only one capable now and in the future of handling the problem of evil
So how does God handle the problem of evil in the world in this particular case?
• He plants His kingdom in the midst of the flour represented by the yeast
• And the yeast starts doing it thing - It reacts with the flour and water and starts the process of leavening
• But we read the woman mixed or kneaded the dough to make sure the whole batch was leavened
• Indicating that behind the scenes from the start of creation, God has been active in the affairs of mankind mixing the leaven of the Kingdom into the whole batch
And perhaps He actually uses man’s resistance to Him as part of the kneading process
• Unless the lump is kneaded and pounded the yeast cannot form the small pockets of carbon dioxide needed to make the bread rise
• But once the batch is mixed thoroughly, and we place the bread in the bread tins can we rush the leavening process?
• No, we have to be patient and wait for the bread to rise before we put in into the oven
• And so we too are asked to be patient and wait for the leaven to do its thing in the same way we are asked to wait for the mustard seed or the wheat seed to do what it was designed to do
• We have to be patient and allow the Divine Bread Maker to do His thing
• His timing is perfect. He moves things forward at his pace and in His time
• In the meantime we can pray “thy Kingdom come” while understanding it is going to happen according to His agenda not ours
Out job as normal is simply to “trust” the process God has put in place to save the world
• All we need to do and all we can do is simply “trust” that the leaven is, was and always will be mixed in the lump of our existence
• You’ve heard about the God shaped hole in every human’s heart wanting to be filled
• This is the leaven at work in the midst of our earthly existence drawing us into a relationship with Him
• And it will, without fail, lighten every last one of us - He says, “I (not you) will give you rest” Matt 11:28
• And the job mysteriously is already done by the power of the Word who breathed out His life for us on the cross (the leaven at work)
• And who through the glory of His resurrection now sits on the Father’s right hand and forever whispers our reconciled names into the Father ear (Again the Leaven at work)
• In other words we are as good as baked to perfection right now
• So the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast illustrate the same point: the amazing contrast between the small beginnings of the kingdom and its marvelous expansion to include the whole world through the saving work of Jesus Christ
• And this again echoes the verse we read before - John 12:32 (NRSV)32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
