THE GOSPEL OF LUKE: - Vital Christianity

68The other comparison Jesus uses to explain the kingdom of God is yeast. He compares itto a small lump of dough that is kneaded into a large amount of flour until it is homogenized.Whereas we buy sealed packets of dry yeast in the stores for baking, in Jesus' day they wouldsave a little bit of one day's dough and keep it moist to mix into the dough for tomorrow's bread.If you have never baked a loaf of bread, you may not understand the radical differencethat yeast makes. You take flour, water, a bit of oil and salt and knead them together with someyeast. It is pretty compact at this point, and if you were to bake it now, the bread would be heavyand hard. As the yeast begins to metabolize the sugars in the dough, it forms carbon dioxide thatpuffs into tiny gas pockets all through the dough. As the gas can't escape because of the elasticgluten in the flour, these pockets of gas stay in the loaf. When the loaf finally goes into the oven,the gas expands even more as the temperature rises until the dough finally bakes, holding theshape of those tiny gas pockets, now filled with air. And as the bread rises, the size increasesmany fold.What's the point of the parable about the yeast? A small amount of yeast will leaven alarge amount of flour. The tiny lump of yeast will soon pervade a large volume of dough.Small beginnings, large endings!Occasionally people get confused about this parable. They reason that since leaven issometimes used negatively (12:1; 1 Co 5:6-8; Gal 5:9), it must be negative in The Parable of theYeast. As we've seen in the Parable of the Mustard Seed, that assumption isn't warranted.That is what the yeast is about. The yeast is placed amid all the flour. It is hidden in themidst of oppressive and unjust systems at work or in government or in the home. And then Godacts in secret, the yeast bubbling and warming and quietly expanding throughout the flour,changing it and converting it until what is left is a table full of puffy, soft, and tasty dough, readyto be bread shared with friends and others.God’s power! God’s power to transform!Although we can experience it, we cannot control it. But we can be controlled by it.JESUS USES COMMON, ORDINARY THINGSJesus uses the common, ordinary things of everyday life. He did not say that the kingdomof heaven was like a great, majestic oak. Instead, it is like a mustard shrub. Nor did He say it waslike silver or gold or jewels but like yeast.