The Kingdom of Heaven is like… - Part 4

Tuesday, December 12th, 2006 | Kingdom of Heaven, Leaven, parable

The third parable given by Jesus is the Parable of the Leaven. Here Jesus compares the KoH to leaven.

He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.” - Matthew 13:33

In my previous post Alan asked two excellent questions: “So, why did Jesus tell this parable? What was [he] teaching people about the kingdom of heaven?” I will attempt to answer both of these questions in this post.

I believe that the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Leaven are both teaching about the same aspect of the KoH. We see that something tiny is planted inside something and it grows. The mustard seed grew so big that it affected the whole world, similarly the leaven affects the flour.

Jesus seems to be telling these parables to talk about this very affect that the KoH will have on the world. Some believe that leaven here represents Sin in the world and Jesus is teaching that the KoH will overcome sin. This is an erroneous interpretation. Taking the other two parables in context, the leaven must represent the sons of the kingdom, just as the mustard seed and the good seed (in the Parable of the Mustard Seed and Parable of the Tares – respectively).

It seems that Jesus is teaching that the sons of the kingdom will have an undeniable presence in the world. Almost to the point that they infect the world. I suppose, much like salt and light are meant to infect the world.

The woman, by the way, would represent the Son of God (Jesus). Jesus is hiding leaven (the sons of the kingdom) in the flour (the world) so that it will leaven all of the flour (the world). It seems to be to be unlikely that this is talking about any type of universal salvation, but it is clearly talking about the pervading influence the sons of the kingdom have on the world.

I hope you all are enjoying this series. Let me know what you think so far.

God Bless.

P.S. Sorry I am not updating very frequently. Finals and Graduation preparations have been taking up most of my time.

3 Comments to The Kingdom of Heaven is like… - Part 4

Alan Knox
December 12, 2006

Lew,
Very interesting indeed! So, are you saying that in all three parables so far, that God intends for his sons (his kingdom) to be dispersed in the world, and not clumped together separated from the world?
- Alan

Lew Ayotte
December 12, 2006

Alan,

Excellent question. I would say Jesus is definitely saying that the sons of the kingdom are meant to be dispersed through out the world (at least based on this aspect of the KoH). At the end of this series I will probably make a list of the different things we have learned about what the KoH looks like according to Jesus.

Thanks for the great questions,
Lew

Alan Knox
December 14, 2006

Lew,

That should be a very interesting list. I’m looking forward to seeing it develop, then discussing the implications of the final list.

- Alan

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