A Meditation on Matthew 13:31-33

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air can come and make nests in its branches.
The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.
~Matthew 13:31-33

I have always read these parables of the kingdom in isolation and interpreted them in a positive light. In essence, I have always believed that they made the point that the kingdom of heaven would have a small hidden beginning but that in time it would grow and become great. However, I have always had a nagging feeling that perhaps something else was going on. It has always troubled me that “leaven” is almost universally given a negative connotation in Scripture. For example, the Lord gave the following admonition about how to celebrate the Passover, “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh, that person shall be cut off from Israel.” —Exodus 12:15  Our parable is from Matthew 13 and in a few pages we find this admonition to the disciples, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” —Matthew 16:6  Paul maintains this in his first epistle to the Corinthians, “ Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” —1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Paul once again uses leaven negatively in Galatians, “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” —Galatians 5:7-9

While leaven is throughout Scripture in a negative sense, the image of the Mustard Seed is always positive. While being small it can produce great results. Once again a few verses beyond Matthew 13, we find a positive reference, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible to you.” —Matthew 17:20

As I looked at this evidence I began to wonder if one of these parables was meant to encourage the disciples about the growth of the kingdom and one was meant to be cautious about evil that could “leaven the whole lump.” If the parables in Matthew 13 also reflect this two-edged sword then perhaps this is the correct interpretation of these two parables. Sure enough, this is exactly what we find. The first kingdom parable is the parable of the soils. There are three types of bad soil in which the Word fails to produce fruit. But finally, there is good soil that produces thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. —Matthew 13:1-9  Then there is the Parable of the “weeds.” “A man sowed good seed in his field, but at night an enemy came and sowed weeds… The man said to his servants ‘let them grow up together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” —Matthew 13:24-30 The last kingdom parable known as the Parable of the Net, makes the same point, “The kingdom is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw the bad away.” —Matthew 13:47-48  It is clear that the majority of these parables hold a strong note of encouragement about the success of the kingdom that must also be balanced with the reality that evil exists and will try to thwart the fruitfulness of the kingdom.

Therefore, I believe the Parable of the Mustard Seed was given to encourage the disciples that even small amounts of faith and small beginnings will lead to a kingdom large enough to give shelter to those who seek refuge in its branches. On the other hand, I believe Jesus realistically cautions them about the leaven of the evil one that will seek to infiltrate the whole lump. Many of us have seen what watered-down doctrine can do to a church and even a denomination. Many of us have witnessed a church that allows the culture to define it rather than to allow the Word of God to shape the culture. Many of us have seen churches become more interested in maintenance and entertainment than disciple-making. How many lives have been ruined by addiction, or anger, or deceit? A little bit of leaven seems harmless and is often ignored. Unless we are diligent and watchful, we can find ourselves in a bundle of weeds or thrown out with the bad fish. Jesus longs to encourage his disciples, but he wants them to be careful, to avoid the leaven of the Pharisees, to plant the good seed of the Word into good soil, even when the seeds are small.

†Bishop Mark