Matthew 13:33

‘He spoke another parable to them; “The kingly rule of heaven is like a situation where a woman took leaven, and hid it in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.” '

In this parable the hidden but powerful process is in mind by which the Kingly Rule of Heaven will be established. Leaven was a piece of old dough which had fermented. Once this was put in new dough it affected the whole, making it more suitable for baking. Leaven can be used as a picture of corruption, and therefore of evil, but it is not always so. In the thanksgiving offering in Leviticus 7:13 cakes of leavened bread were offered along with the peace offerings, and at the Feast of Sevens (Weeks), which became Pentecost, two wave loaves of leavened bread were offered (Leviticus 23:17). Thus leaven was associated there with thanksgiving and gratitude for all God's good provision. We may conclude that leaven itself was thus here seen to be a good and useful contribution to the welfare and wellbeing of man, and thus could be used to picture the powerful influence of the Kingly Rule of Heaven spreading throughout the nations through the activity of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11; Matthew 12:18; Matthew 12:28).

Three measures of meal indicates a large amount of meal sufficient for over one hundred people. So there is again the repetition of the idea of large results from small beginnings, although now the idea of size is secondary. What is primary is the hidden power at work, the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11; John 3:7). The fact that it was ‘hidden' emphasises the unseen and unexpected (by the world) working that produced the result.

Some consider that because leaven is regularly used in order to depict evil (1 Corinthians 5:6), the picture here must be of the spreading of evil and heresy throughout the Kingly Rule. But that would be to make the parable only depict what is negative, and if it did so it would be the only parable in the chapter that did so. In all other cases the parables end in a picture of the triumph of the good. Furthermore in Luke 13:18 it is found only with the parable of the mustard seed and not in a series. It was therefore clearly intended to be interpreted on its own.

In fact the principle behind the usage in 1 Corinthians 5:6 is that ‘a little leaven leavens the whole lump' (compare Galatians 5:9). Thus it is what the leaven indicates that determines whether its influence is good or bad. On the whole fermentation was seen as good effect, not a bad one (we must not read modern science into it). In Matthew 13:6; Matthew 13:11 the leaven represents teaching, with its consequent influence. It is only because it is the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees that it is there to be seen as bad. The idea of leavening itself was neutral.

The fact that the leaven was ‘hidden' in the meal stresses the quiet way in which the work would go forward. It would not be with a great outward display but with the quiet moving forwards of God's purposes through the Holy Spirit. It would not so much be with the earthquake, as with the still small voice (1 Kings 19:12). ‘The Kingly Rule does not come with outward observation, nor will the say “lo, here” or “lo, there” for behold the Kingly Rule of God is within you (or among you)' (Luke 17:20). The meal represents the potential Kingly Rule of Heaven, the fulfilment of God's purpose for His own.