2.02 The Leaven

II. THE LEAVEN Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20 JT This parable in both Evangelists immedi ately follows that of the Grain of Mustardseed. The Kingdom of Heaven (in St. Luke the Kingdom of God) is likened to leaven which a woman hid in three measures of meal till the whole mass was leavened. Leaven was prepared from the lees of wine; or a piece of dough made of flour and water was let rest 74 THE PARABLES OF JESUS till fermentation set in of itself. The measure in question (“ saton “) was equivalent to about three English gallons. The word “ leaven,” when used figuratively in the New Testament, is usually employed in a bad sense. For instance, Jesus warns His disciples against the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees 1 i.e, against their teaching; and St. Paul, with an allusion to the Jewish ritual prescription of cleansing houses from leaven in preparation for celebrating the Passover, exhorts the Corinthians to purge out the old leaven 2 i.e, whatever effects of their former paganism or of their native corruption remained within them to defile the living abode of God. This parable is evidently designed to teach the same lesson as that of the Grain of Mustardseed which precedes it namely, the wonderful development of the Church from apparently small beginnings. This view is confirmed by the mention of the exact quantity of dough to be leavened: three measures a large quantity to be leavened at one time. The leaven would thus stand for the teaching of Jesus, or for the disciples, who are elsewhere 1 Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1;

2 1 Corinthians 5:7. THE PARABLES OF JESUS 75 styled “ the light of the world “ and “ the salt of the earth”; and the dough would represent the world as to be subjected to the process a slow and gradual one, it is true, and even in our own days by no means yet completed. This is not to be wondered at. The homely figure used by Jesus is indeed striking and appropriate; but, as in the other parables, the resemblance between the spiritual and the figurative halves is not complete. The fermentation of the mass of dough was a purely chemical process to which the dough itself could offer no resistance; but where there is question of leavening the minds of men with the leaven of a teaching so antag onistic in many respects to our natural instincts, the process is delayed or frustrated of its effects either in whole or in part by the opposition which it meets from the action of men. And yet, when Jesus spoke thisparable, which of His hearers could have hoped that His teaching, delivered in an obscure corner of Palestine far removed from the famous seats of secular learning, would ever have leavened the world as it in fact has done? As time went on, this teaching was carried 76 THE PARABLES OF JESUS to lands farther and farther distant from the cradle of our faith; and it still continues to exercise its salutary influence upon all who come within its sphere of action. Our souls have been affected by it; and God expects of us that, just as we have received this leaven from others, so we in turn should communicate it to others by word and example. This is a task well within the power of us all, whatever our calling or station or condition in life may be.

TAGS: [Parables]