Devotion 27 August 2026
Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” Matthew 13: 33
READING: 2 Corinthians 5: 14-21
In Matthew 13, Jesus tells many parables, including the Parable of the Leaven, a one-verse Kingdom of Heaven parable.
In Jesus’ day, bread was made at home. Everyone would know about the small piece of dough kept back from each baking to be used as the rising agent, or leaven, for the next batch (the yeast or baking powder of today). Jesus equates the Kingdom of Heaven to leaven, the change agent.
Leaven is disturbing – at first nothing seems to be happening to the dough until it suddenly swells and bubbles as fermentation takes hold. So is it with religion – the ancient prophets were called troublers, disturbers, as were the early Christians. In Thessalonica, the cry was that ‘these men who turned the world upside down have come here’ (Acts 17:6).
Leaven is an imperceptible influence – we can no more see the leaven working than we can see a flower growing. Christ’s revolutionary values were entrusted to a handful of disciples, now, it is undeniable that across a large proportion of the world, the principles of Christianity underpin most accepted ethics and norms, laws and human rights.
Leaven is an inner influence – to work, the leaven has to be inside the dough. We set great store on external changes, eg, we think that if we improve housing and employment, we will create better people. But no one is changed until his heart is changed.
Leaven is an outside power – the dough has no power to change itself without the addition of leaven. We know from experience how often the best plans for change come to nothing. Archimedes discovered that if one placed a lever below a mass, one could lift the mass, and the longer the lever, the bigger the mass that could be lifted. He concluded: “Give me a lever long enough, and give me a place outside the world to stand and I will lift the world”. He knew that movement on a world-changing scale must come from outside. If we, and the world, are to be changed, that new creation must come from a power that is not ours – the power of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The leaven must be dispersed and altered - by losing its own existence, it alters the whole character of the dough. Jesus told us to save our lives by losing them (Luke 9:24).
We are required to be in the world, to get ourselves into the sometimes-sticky dough of life and quietly make a change. And we must be prepared to sacrifice our self-centredness in order to help bring about God’s reign on earth. Jesus gave up His very life on the cross, the ultimate leaven that altered the dough of life for us all.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, come into my life and change my heart; give me the courage to be quietly disturbing for change in the ‘dough’ of life where You have placed me. In Your name I pray, Amen
