Parable of the Leaven


The Parable of the Leaven is one of the shortest parables of Jesus. It appears in Matthew and Luke. In both places it immediately follows the Parable of the Mustard Seed, which shares this parable's theme of the Kingdom of Heaven growing from small beginnings.

Narrative

The parable describes what happens when a woman adds leaven to a large quantity of flour. The living organisms in the leaven grow overnight, so that by morning the entire quantity of dough has been affected.
In the Gospel of Luke, the parable is as follows:

Interpretation

This parable is part of a pair, and shares the meaning of the preceding Parable of the Mustard Seed, namely the powerful growth of the Kingdom of God from small beginnings. The final outcome is inevitable once the natural process of growth has begun.Adolf Jülicher identifies three parts to a parable or similitude : a picture part, a reality part, and a tertium comparationis. The picture part is a woman making bread with leaven, the reality part is the kingdom of God, and the point of comparison is the powerful growth of the kingdom from small beginnings.
Although leaven symbolises evil influences elsewhere in the New Testament, it is not generally interpreted that way in this parable. However, a few commentators do see the leaven as reflecting future corrupting influences in the Church.
As with the Parable of the Lost Coin, this parable is part of a pair, in which the first parable describes Jesus' work in terms of agricultural activities of men compared to the second parable with a focus on women's domestic activities. Joel B. Green writes that Jesus "asks people—male or female, privileged or peasant, it does not matter—to enter the domain of a first-century woman and household cook in order to gain perspective on the domain of God."
The large quantity of flour may hint at a planned festive occasion, since the bread produced could feed a hundred people. Three measures of meal was the amount used by Sarah to bake bread when she and Abram were visited by Melchizedek and the angels. It is also the amount used in baking the shewbread for the Temple of the Lord in Israel.