July 28, 2024

Parables in Pentecost: Yeast

 Scripture

During the Season of Pentecost, we are looking at the Parables Jesus told. 

He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’ (Matthew 13:33, also Luke 13:20-21)

Conversation starters  

Jesus says, The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast which leavens not just bits of the dough, but all the dough. The yeast Jesus would have been pointing to was more like sourdough than the neat little packets of dry yeast we can use today.

Sourdough is a living organism, as anyone who has kept a starter can tell you. You must feed it and use it regularly or it will die and become moldy. In the 1970’s and 80’s it was popular to share “Herman bread” along with a container of the starter so the recipient can make more and share with others, etc. The tricky part was that unless you had a lot of friends—you became buried in the starter. It is great fun to make the delicious bread and share it, though.  

Even the dry yeast we use now, unlike baking powder or baking soda, leavens the mixture slowly. Yeast needs sugar to work optimally and flour to build nice texture for the air bubbles it creates. This takes time. The dough needs to rise before you can form it. Then it takes time to rise again before you can bake it.

Yeast is also used in wine and beer making. That process is even slower. It can take years for the yeast to turn the sugars in the fruit and/or malt and wheat into a delicious beverage.

Like yeast, our faith takes time to develop and grow. Sometimes we need one another as sugar to jump start a new phase. At other times, we are happily growing and building our own part of the kingdom to nourish others.

Have you ever made yeast bread? What was it like?

How is the slow process of making yeast bread (or wine or beer) like your spiritual life? Who is the sugar and flour in your life?

Action Item

Make a Herman starter to grow and share.