This Sunday we continue our sermon series on the parables of Jesus, guided by the book Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi by Amy-Jill Levine.
We seem to value things that are tall. Go with me on this. We like towers. We like mountains. We often place importance on a person’s height. We like the spires on churches. We use phrases about being “built up” in positive ways. We tell people to “stand tall” in ways of encouragement and not just good posture. We seem to value things that are tall. Conversely, it’s not a great thing when the air is let out of something, leaving the image of something deflated and smaller (no, this is not a dig at any NFL quarterbacks).
This Sunday’s text gives us images of growth and height. The yeast fills dough with air, makes it rise, gives it texture and richness. we seem to value these things! And yes, perhaps I’ve inflated this illustration (as preachers are wont to do), and in doing so perhaps have given it texture and richness. The short text for this Sunday is rich with imagery, in part because it is familiar.
Matthew 13:33 (CEB)
33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in a bushel of wheat flour until the yeast had worked its way through all the dough.”
Consider these questions:
- Have you ever made bread? What kind of bread? Did you mix flower and yeast? Did you begin with some kind of starter?
- How much work was it? Did you use your hands or some kind of tool?
- How long did it take to rise? Did you have more than one stage of letting it rise? How much different did it look before and after rising?
One Comment
Mary Jane Lincoln
I tried making bread and it came out badly. What I learned was that how you handle the dough is equally as important as the yeast in determining the outcome.
Commenting has been turned off.