It s Alive Matthew 13:33 March 6, 2016

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Alaina Barnett
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1 It s Alive Matthew 13:33 March 6, He told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until all of it was leavened. I. It s Alive. That of course is the famous line from Mel Brook s Young Frankenstein. But, it s not Frankenstein that we re referring to, but rather the Kindom, the beloved community of God. A. But before we get to that, we need to do a little bit of an investigation. B. So let s hear that short parable again. II. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast. It is like yeast that a woman took. She took it and hid it. She hid it in three measures of flour. She mixed it in until ALL, ALL of it was leavened.

2 A. Such a short little parable, but it is so richly packed with surprises that we don t originally hear without some thought and research. B. The parable starts out by telling us that there s the kingdom of heaven, or God s imperial rule, and Jesus is telling us what it is similar to. C. Then there s the yeast. What is significant about yeast? D. Then there s the woman. Yes, the agent of God s work in this parable is a woman. E. Then there s the act of covertly hiding the yeast; hiding it, not just mixing it in, but hiding it. F. Where does she hide it? In three measures of flour. As we will see, this is not just a loaf of bread she is making. G. Then she mixes it in until everything is infected, until all the flour is leavened. 2 2

3 III. So with an effort not to allegorize too soon and to hear it as Jesus original Jewish audience would have heard it, let s work our way through; so starting from the top we begin with the Kingdom of Heaven. A. In the prayer Jesus taught us we pray for God s Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. B. The Kingdom of Heaven or God s imperial rule is a reference to making it on earth as it is in heaven. C. What would it be like on earth if it resembled God s will? D. Well Jesus says it would look like yeast. IV. Ok, so that should awaken your curiosity. A. How on earth, could God s will, God s beloved community be like yeast? 3 3

4 B. Well let s take a look at a few things about yeast, particularly as it would have been understood by the folks Jesus was speaking to. 1. To start with it was a good thing. a) It was what made bread taste really good and made beer more than wheat tea. b) It was used to cook with all through the year, except for during Passover. 2. But it also had a bad reputation. a) It was seen as a corrupting agent. b) Jesus warns his disciples to be aware of the yeast of the Pharisees. c) Yeast caused things to spoil and go bad. d) Most often in ancient times when yeast was used as a metaphor is was this corrupting, spoiling, curdling, bubbling icky thing that would bring ruin and decomposition. e) It was bad. 3. So, why is Jesus saying that the Kingdom of heaven is like yeast? a) Maybe just to get people s attention like saying the Kingdom of heaven is like an ambulance chaser. WHAT? 4 4

5 (1) But then you find that the focus of the similarity isn t upon the morality. (2) The focus is but upon the tenaciousness and unswerving focus directed at getting what they want. b) So here Jesus says, the Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast and we want to pay attention to where he s headed with this. c) So we will return to the yeast after looking a few other things. 4. So what about this woman. a) Clearly we should not dismiss this woman as insignificant. (1) This parable is found in one other gospel, the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas, and in that version it is the woman who is compared to the Kindom and not the yeast. (2) Thomas s version reads like this: Jesus [said], The Father's kingdom is like [a] woman. She took a little leaven, [hid] it in dough, and made it into large loaves of bread. [Thomas 96] 5 5

6 b) It is also significant that it is a woman because it focuses our attention on the possibility that the kindom of God may be found in the humble everyday tasks of living. c) It is also very important, because for Jesus, Women, not just men; women are agents of God s Beloved community. (1) Even if it is the yeast that is like God s community; it is a woman who serves as it s deliverer. (2) It s woman who conspires to covertly hide it so that all will be leavened. (3) It s a woman who bears the good news. (4) It s a woman who makes it, bakes it and serves it. 5. Which brings us to the next important element, the hiding of the yeast. a) As Thomas s version and the original Greek of Matthew would show us, she is not just mixing in an ingredient; she is hiding it. b) The Greek word used for hiding is the same word we use for encrypt. 6 6

7 c) Why is she hiding it? Who is she hiding it from? d) The yeast is unseen, but it will radically change the end result. 6. Then there s the Three Measures of flour. There are two very important things we must know about this Three Measures of flour. a) First, when Jesus audience hears this they will immediately refer back to Abraham and Sarah and her baking three measures worth of flour for the three Godly visitors who announced that she would soon have a bun in the oven. b) Second, is that Three Measures of flour is like 60 lbs. (1) It s not 3 measuring cups, it s like enough to serve a whole community. (2) Enough bread to feed everyone. Which may lead us to think of the feeding of the 5,000 or the Great Banquet. 7. And last but not least there is the proclamation that ALL is leavened. a) All shall be infected. b) All shall be changed. 7 7

8 c) All means All. d) Yes, the Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that infects all, changes everything and everyone. V. Now that we have all this background, what was Jesus trying to teach? What does he mean when he says that, The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.? A. Well, as Dr. Levine would remind us there may be many interpretations of this parable. B. That being said, let s move in a direction that takes us back to the yeast and something very important about yeast that I haven t brought up yet. C. It s Alive! VI. Yes yeast is ALIVE. A. It s a fungus. B. Now I don t know if folks in Jesus time knew that exactly. 8 8

9 1. I kind of doubt that they understood that it was alive. 2. In fact, I know they didn t, because it wasn t until 1857 that Louis Pasteur showed that it was an organic process of a living cell and not a chemical catalyst that caused fermentation; that is the conversion of carbohydrate into carbon dioxide. 3. Yes, the living yeast takes the solid carbohydrate and turns it into a gas, a spirit. C. Certainly the baker woman in the parable, and pretty much everyone in Jesus day, would have known that yeast made things grow. 1. In Jesus day, people believed that a woman s womb simply acted as an oven to bake the man s contribution into a baby, just as a warm oven would cause leavened bread to rise. Think back to Sarah, and remember that those three divine guests were telling her that she would soon have a bun in the oven. 2. They were very much aware that yeast made things grow and that it breathed life into things. 9 9

10 3. I suppose it is easier to see with beer than with bread that yeast brought things to life and filled it with the breath of the spirit. VII. This may now give us a working interpretation, that the kingdom of heaven, or God s will done on earth as it is in heaven, is like the spirit, the life, the love, that a woman hid in the food supply so that it would nourish everyone who ate it -- and there was lots of it to eat enough for everyone. A. In this parable, we may be the wheat flour that is kneaded until we are fully leavened. B. We may be the woman, whose role it is to hide the yeast of God s spirit, God s love, throughout the whole world until all of it is leavened. C. Maybe our role is to eat the bread. D. Maybe Jesus is the bread of life and the yeast within him, the Spirit within him would change the world

11 E. Maybe the parable is just to tell us something about the Kingdom of Heaven; that It s ALIVE and it growing in ways we can t see and don t understand; but it s happening. F. Maybe it s Jesus way of telling us that just as yeast makes bread yummy and desirable to be eaten, that it is God s love that makes life wonderful, meaningful and worth living. VIII.Now that you know a bit more about the context of this parable, what does it mean to you? So here s your homework -- A. Pray B. Listen to God s voice. C. Think D. See what comes to you. AMEN

7/27/2018. How to read a Parable? 1) As a portrait on a wall

7/27/2018. How to read a Parable? 1) As a portrait on a wall How to read a Parable? 1) As a portrait on a wall 1 How to read a Parable? 2) As a mirror on a wall How to read a Parable? 3) As a window to see through 2 THE PARABLE OF THE Leaven MATTHEW 13:33 told them