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Treasure and Pearl
Gary Stedman on November 11, 2012
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The Leaven in Three Measures

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Introduction

We come to a parable that has traditionally been interpreted in two diametrically opposed ways. One view sees the leaven as representing corruption, making this a parable of how the kingdom of God is going to go from bad to worse. The other sees the leaven as a good and positive image (representing the growth of the kingdom), and this then is a parable of God’s saving purpose for the whole world. We will be considering the parable with this second meaning.

The Text

“Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Matt. 13:33; Luke 13:20-21).

Summary of the Text

This is a very short parable about growth, in the midst of other parables about growth. In most of these parables, the kingdom is growing, and alongside it an anti-kingdom is growing as well. In this parable, the only growth that is mentioned is that of the kingdom itself. Matthew says that Jesus spoke another parable to them (v. 33). Luke has the Lord introducing the parable with a question—to what shall I compare the kingdom? The kingdom is like leaven, Jesus says, which a woman took and placed in three measures of flour (v. 33), and the result was that “the whole” was entirely leavened.

Leaven Biblically Understood

Those who take leaven as an image of sin do have a lot of material to work with. This is the predominant meaning of the image in Scripture. Their mistake is in taking it as a necessarily negative image. We are warned against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). We are warned against the leaven of Herod (Mark 8:15), which is best understood as a hard-bitten sensualism. We are warned against the leaven of the Saducees (Matt. 16:6), which was the arid rationalism of liberalism. Within the church, Paul uses leaven as an image of malice and wickedness (1 Cor. 5:7-8). Elsewhere he describes legalism in these same terms (Gal. 5:7-9). The meat offerings that Israel would present to God needed to be without leaven (Lev. 2:11).

There is a possible reference to leaven as a good potency in Romans (Rom. 11:16). They used to leaven a new batch of bread with a small lump from before, much the way we do with sourdough. After atonement had been made through the blood offerings, and it came time to offer the peace offerings of thanksgiving, the offering required leavened bread (Lev. 7:13; cf. Amos 4:5). The law required leavened bread to be presented at the festival of Pentecost (Lev. 23:17). Incidentally, though Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper at Passover, meaning that unleavened bread was the only bread available, the first instance of His followers celebrating the Supper was on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:46), which was a day not purged of leaven.

Weights and Measures

How much flour are we talking about? In the ancient dry measures, a measure was about three omers. Ten omers made up an ephah, which means that our “three measures” were approximately an ephah. In modern terms, we are approaching a bushel. This is not a mom baking a little kiddie loaf—this woman is a serious baker.

Gideon made this much (unleavened) bread for the angel of the Lord (Judges 6:18-19). Hannah brought this amount of flour up to the tabernacle at Shiloh when she brought Samuel there (1 Sam. 1:24). This is an amount Ezekiel mentions presented in sacrifice (Eze. 45:24).

Why a Good Image?

We have seen that leaven can represent both good and bad. It is like Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah, or the devil, a lion seeking whom he may devour. Leaven represents potency and growth, but the growth of what? The Israelites were not to take with them any of the leaven of Egypt, because they were to make a clean break. Taking the leaven of Egypt would simply have grown them another Egypt. But once they had made that clean break, and had entered the promised land, they were to present leavened offerings in thanksgiving. Leaven is potent, whether for good or bad. In our surrounding parables, we have both possibilities. The mustard seed grows, the wheat grows, the darnel grows, and so on. Why should we take the leaven here as being a good thing?

First, Jesus is announcing and preaching the kingdom, and He says that the kingdom is like leaven. Second, we have the way the parables are paired. This parable is next to the mustard seed parable, and is paired up with it. The man and the woman are paired, as Jesus does elsewhere (Matt. 13:44-46; Luke 15:1-10). We are not out of line to take them as making the same basic point. Third, we have the “law of first mention.” The first mention of bread baking with three measures of flour (Gen. 18:6) shows Abraham and Sarah showing hospitality to the Lord and the angels, who were on their way to judge Sodom. Abraham tells them that he wants to fetch “a morsel of bread,” which they agree to, and then Abraham has Sarah make enough bread for a hundred people. Abraham does this, and they promise Sarah a son, who will be the child of promise—the ancestor of the one who told a parable about the kingdom being like a woman working with three measures of flour.

Resistance is Futile

Abraham did not serve the Lord hipster bread, full of whole grains, Ponderosa bark, and pure thoughts. It was three measures of refined flour. Think about this for a minute. Abraham served the Lord bread made from fine flour (Gen. 18:6), red meat from a tender calf (Gen. 18:7), butter (Gen. 18:8), and whole milk (Gen. 18:8). Abraham is apparently trying to give the Lord a heart attack. And there is absolutely no reference to them attempting to extract the gluten.

This process of leavening is mysterious, secret, inexorable, and impossible to thwart. The birds of the air can pick seeds off the path, but here the leaven cannot be extricated from the loaf. The thing is done, and the only thing required is time. What do you tell yourself when you read the terrible headlines, or you read about the prospect of so-and-so getting elected? Tell yourself that this woman knew her business, and the leaven is in the loaf. We can’t get it out. Sorry.

How does leaven work? It works by releasing carbon dioxide as the loaf warms, filling the loaf with thousands of little pockets of air, breath, wind, carbon dioxide. Bread that has risen is bread that is filled with the Spirit. And the loaf that will rise in this way is the entire world.

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The Mustard Seed Kingdom (Reformation Sunday)

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Introduction

In this parable, the Lord Jesus teaches us not to despise the day of small beginnings (Zech. 4:10). We see a disproportionate result from the tiniest of garden seeds—an herbal plant that can grow to twice a man’s height. When this happens, it is not an instance of things going terribly wrong—the seed is the kingdom.

The Text

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof” (Matt. 13:31-32).

Summary of the Text

Jesus put forward a third parable in this series of seven, and this parable and the following one about the leaven are found in between the telling of the wheat and darnel and the interpretation of it. Jesus says here that the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed (v. 31). A man (unidentified) takes the seed and plants it in his field (v. 31). Mark’s version of this parable says that the seed was sown “in the earth” (Mark 4:30-32), and Luke’s version says that the man sowed the seed in “his garden” (Luke 13:18-19). The Lord says that the seed is the smallest of the seeds and yet results in a plant that is the greatest of all the herbs—treelike. The result of this phenomenal growth is that the birds of the air come and take up residence in the branches (v. 32).

Remember that Jesus gave us an answer key with the parable of the sower so that we would know how to handle all of them. But what use is an answer key if you don’t use it? The sower is clearly Jesus. And since the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, it is clear that the mustard plant is that same kingdom grown to a remarkable size, especially considering its insignificant beginning. The previous parable was meant to teach us not to be thrown by the presence of evil in the kingdom, and we see the same thing here. The birds of the air represented the devil in the first parable, and there is no reason to change anything here. The kingdom grows to a size that allows for evil to take up residence. But just as darnel is not wheat, so also birds are not mustard branches.

Reformations Come from Dead Reformers

Jesus teaches us here that in His kingdom the effects are disproportionate to the causes. The cause is a small seed, and the result is a large plant. Don’t think with simplistic carnal categories. The Lord Jesus elsewhere adds another detail, which is that seeds are not just small in comparison to the plant, they are also dead (John 12:24). There is a sharp contrast with regard to size, and also a sharp contrast with regard to death and resurrection.

Jesus set the pattern in the way He established the kingdom in His death and resurrection. He is the seed . . . and He is the resurrection and the life. He died, and the whole world is quickened as a result. But He did not just die —He also died and rose to set the pace for all who would come after Him. This is how it is done. Take up your cross daily, and come follow Him.

This is why the Reformation was the glorious event that it was. It was this because at the time it was nothing of the kind. Think of it this way—every society lionizes its dead troublemakers and its living conformists. Which prophets have memorials built in their honor? Why, the dead ones! At the time of the Reformation, the Reformers did not walk to their churches, or their meetings, or their homes, past great big statues of themselves. They were not there yet. At the time, they were being hunted. Prices were on their heads. Luther describes the Christian as a solitary bird, sitting on the rooftop and warbling his little song. Nothing great was ever accomplished by a reasonable man. Part of this unreasonableness is that he expects greatness to arise out of insignificance, out of his insignificance. “How do you know you will conquer the world? How will you manage to fill Jerusalem with your doctrine?” “That is easy—I know we can do it because we are nobody.” Faith is what overcomes the world, and faith can fit in a mustard seed.

Walking It Back

The number of commentators who do not want Jesus to have told this parable (and the next one, about the leaven) is quite striking. We are like the handlers of a political candidate who uttered some gaffe in front of the microphones, and our job is to go into the spin room in order to “fix it.”This parable of small beginnings and enormous results sounds a little bit too much like Constantine did a good thing. And we then set up shop to argue that Constantine did a terrible thing, and our argument in favor of this idea is that birds came and nested in the branches of the mustard plant. But . . . isn’t that what Jesus said would happen? How is this an argument for not planting the mustard seed in the first place?

When Things Go Wrong

In the world the Lord is talking about, when things go wrong, that means we are right on schedule. Someone has once wisely observed that the kingdom of God proceeds from triumph to triumph, with all of them cleverly disguised as disasters. Begin with the greatest of them—the crucifixion. Chesterton once put it this way: “Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them Christianity has died. Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a god who knew the way out of the grave.”

Thinking Like Seed

Jesus is the Lord of history, and we are not. What is the job of the seed? It is to go in the ground and die, expecting great things to result from it. But if we are too busy to do that, if we are re-explaining the parables, or keeping children away from Jesus because He is a busy man, or otherwise making ourselves useful, we are being too busy to think like seed.

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Wheat and Darnel

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Introduction

The problem of good and evil inhabiting the same place is a perennial problem. It has been a problem within the church from the very beginning, and Jesus taught in such a way as to prepare us for it. Another parable, that of the dragnet (Matt. 13:47-48), makes the same basic point. Cast a net, and you bring in bicycle tires and beer bottles along with the fish. Why should we be surprised? Unfortunately, one of the evils we must deal with is the fact that we tend to reject His preparatory help.

The Text

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way . . .” (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43).

Summary of the Text

Jesus told His disciples another parable. The kingdom of heaven was like a man sowing good seed in his field (v. 24). But during the night, an enemy of his came and sowed tares (likely darnel) and left (v. 25). When the wheat began to grow, it became apparent that the darnel was growing also (v. 26). The servants saw the problem and came and asked about it (v. 27). He saw right away that it was the work of an enemy (v. 28), and the servants asked if they should go deal with it right away (v. 28). He said no, because of the damage that might be done to the wheat (v. 29). Wait until the harvest, and instructions will be given to the reapers to gather the darnel into bundles first for burning, and then to gather the wheat into the barn (v. 30). After hearing a few other parables, the disciples ask the Lord privately to explain this one (v. 36). He, the Lord, the Son of Man, is the sower of good seed (v. 37). The field is the world (v. 38) and the kingdom (v. 41). The good seed are children of the kingdom, and the darnel seed are the children of the wicked one (v. 38). The enemy is the devil (the father of that seed), the harvest is the end of the age (aeon), and the reapers are angels (v. 39). The burning of the darnel occurs at the end of the age/world (v. 40). The Son of Man will send out angels, who will remove all scandals (v. 41), and all those who work iniquity (v. 41). Those people will be cast into a furnace of fire, where there will be great lamentation (v. 42). Then the righteous will shine out like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (v. 43). If you have ears, listen up (v. 43).

Christ’s Explanation

The first thing to address is what is meant by age or world here. In v. 38, the word is kosmos, and in v. 39 the word is aeon, which can mean age as well as world. Is this talking about the end of the Judaic aeon (70 A.D), or the end of the world? Given what Jesus describes as happening here (angels as reapers, everlasting judgment), I think we would have to say the primary focus is on the end of the world—although that means it would apply fully to the unbelievers of the first century. The basic set-up is that Jesus sows a field full of wheat, and the devil comes along after that and sows the bad seed. So this is not Jesus coming to sow good seed in a field already gone bad, which is what it would have to be if we limited it to the first century.

Notice that we have a description of the boundaries of Christ’s kingdom (it is the world). The world is His field, and the devil is an intruder.

A Key Principle

It is far better to let the guilty go free than to condemn or hurt the innocent. But the farmer in this parable does not spare the darnel for the sake of the darnel, but rather spares the darnel for the sake of the wheat. Now some have taken this parable as excluding church discipline, which is nonsensical, but it is relevant to the question of church discipline. It is clear that church discipline is called for in certain manifest situations (1 C or. 5:4-5), but it is equally clear (here) that not every clear situation of an utterly false profession calls for church discipline.

Different Kinds of Children

In the parable of the sower, the different kinds of people are different soils, and the seed is constant. The seed is the gospel. In this one, the different kinds of people are described as being different kinds of seed. Here the seed is different.

There are two mistakes to make. One is the follow the farmer’s instructions and leave the darnel alone, but to do so in the pernicious misunderstanding that it must all be wheat. The other is to understand (with Him) that darnel and wheat are on opposite sides of the antithesis—as unlike as God and the devil, children of righteousness and children of wickedness, and on that basis to proceed with an ecclesiastical version of ethnic cleansing. And at the end of a long series of purges, there is only “thee and me,” and I “have my doubts about thee.”

Taking a Hard Line

Notice that in the argument between the farmer and the laborers, the laborers were the hard liners. They were more interested in nailing the guilty than in sparing the innocent. It is an understandable mistake, and we are not led to believe that these laborers were wicked. But they did need to be taught and restrained by their master. Never forget that the devil is the accuser—he loves to point the finger.

The devil loves to plant the work in such a way as to get the saints to do all his heavy lifting for him. He plants the seed and slips away. We do the rest. The best response to many evils is therefore to do nothing. Leave them be. Let it go. Let it ride. The word in v. 30 is frequently translated in the New Testament as forgive. Let it be. Drop it. In one sense, if they are firmly planted in the kingdom, and are plainly going to Hell . . . Jesus says to let them. In another sense, if you are called to chase it, then chase it with gospel. Speaking of that . . .

At the Same Time . . .

The Son of Man sows the good seed. The good seed are described as children of the kingdom (v. 38), as righteous (v. 43), as having God as “their Father” (v. 43). On the opposite side, the darnel are children of the wicked one (v. 38), as having been placed in the kingdom of God by the devil (v. 39), as creators of scandal (v. 41), as workers of iniquity (v. 41), and as destined for destruction (v. 42). With these two fundamental realities, there is only one appropriate response—the death and resurrection of Jesus.

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Sower, Soils, Seed

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Introduction

The central method that Jesus employed in His teaching is the method of setting forth parables. That means that if we want to be serious Christians, we should give ourselves to the understanding of His parables. We should want to learn what they mean, but more than this, we should want to learn how they mean.

The Text

“The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow . . .” (Matt. 13:1-23; cf. Mark 4:3-9, 14- 26; Luke 8:14-15).

Summary of the Text

One day things were so crowded that Jesus had to teach the multitudes from a boat (vv. 1-2). He taught them many things in parables, and the first recorded parable was that of the sower (v. 3). Some seed fell by the wayside, and birds ate it (v. 4). Some fell on stony places, where the soil was thin (v. 5). They started up quickly, but the sun scorched them (v. 6). A third category fell on ground that also had thorns (v. 7). The last cast seed fell on good ground, and was fruitful to the tune of 30, 60, and 100 fold (v. 8). Let those who get it get it (v. 9). The disciples then came and asked why He taught in parables (v. 10). Jesus answered that His purpose was to both reveal and conceal (v. 11). Not only so, but the parables are used to give more to the one who has, and to take away from those who have just a little (v. 12). Jesus spoke in parables as a judicial judgment on the Pharisees, and to fulfill the words of Isaiah (vv. 13-15). But the eyes of the disciples are blessed (v. 16). They are more blessed than the prophets and righteous men of old because they see more (v. 17). Jesus then explains the parable (v. 18). The one who hears about the kingdom without understanding it is the beaten path guy (v. 19). The one who hears “shallowly” is an eager believer, but who falls away in times of trouble (vv. 20-21). The third kind of person grows the crop, but also thorns—the cares of this world and the lies of wealth choke it out (v. 22). The good ground hears, understands, and then bears a harvest of 30, 60, or 100 fold (v. 23).

The Answer Key

We should pay particular attention to this parable. It is the first parable in Matthew, and comes at the head of a series of seven. It is a parable that has the remarkable gift of an “answer key.” Jesus breaks it down for us, which means that we can learn (by analogy) how to handle the other parables. He walks through it with us. Third, in the account given in Mark, Jesus explicitly says that it is the key to all the parables (Mark 4:13). He says, “Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?” Do not study the parables, therefore, without mastering this one.

Sower, Seed, Soils

Since we are learning how to handle these things, let us write it out in big, block letters. In the next parable, Jesus identifies Himself as the sower (Matt. 13:37), and there is no reason to not take it the same way here. Christ sows the seed. What is the seed? In this place, it is described as “the word of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:19). Luke says that it is the “word of God” (Luke 8:11). As we serve as the agents of the Lord Jesus (who is the sower), we have to be careful to empty the whole bag of seed. In the book of Acts, preaching the message of the kingdom was the same as “testifying of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24-25), as well as teaching the things that were “concerning the

Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:31). The word of the kingdom is as wide as the kingdom. It encompasses everything. It is not enough to say “word of God” as a placeholder—we have to pay attention to what He is saying.
Then there are the soils. The first thing to note is that the soils are four different kinds of human hearts. Jesus says this explicitly in v. 19, when He describes the birds taking away from the foot path man the word which had been “sown in his heart.”The crop does not succeed with the shallow man because he has no root “in himself.” So we are dealing with individual hearts, and Jesus says there are four basic types. There is the hard heart, the shallow heart, the divided heart, and the good heart. This is the Lord’s taxonomy, and we need to learn how to classify ourselves. More about his shortly.

First Century Soils

Never forget that this parable was not told for the first time at First Memorial Church in 1957. In addition to what it plainly means for every man, it also meant something particular and distinctive for the Lord’s first century hearers (Mark 12:1-12). If I were to tell you a story about a man who tried to tread on a rattlesnake and who got attacked by a bald eagle, you would pick up on things that Chinese man wouldn’t.

So think of four kinds of eras in Israel’s history—there are the hard-hearted rebellious periods (think about Israel’s idolatrous apostasies), there are the brief spurts of enthusiastic faithfulness (here’s looking at you, Joash), and the times of formal allegiance to YHWH compromised by a double allegiance to status and money (think Pharisees). And then we see that Jesus is announcing the kingdom, right? He is preaching the advent of the good soil era that the prophets foretold, which means that He is not only the sower, but also the seed. If we think ahead, He is every form of good soil—the only way any of us might become good soil. What kind of soil were the Jewish leaders of the first century? They were clearly choked out by the thorns—they loved money (Luke 16:14), and they were ambitious in all the wrong ways (John 5:44).

100 Fold

But kingdoms are established one subject at a time. Jesus told His disciples to preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). We are to make this omelet one egg at a time.

Nothing said here is critical of 30-fold farming. For Jesus, it was all good. But there is good, and there is postmillennial stupendous. We are to pay attention to kingdom agriculture—which means we work it from both ends. We do not till our plots in the hope of growing a king. But neither do we affirm that the king is established, and therefore we do not need to worry about tilling our plots. We want an educated and fruitful citizenry, and we may labor evangelistically because we are in the era of good soil. We therefore plead with the lost to receive the word of the kingdom (2 Cor. 5: 18, 20).

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