Thought for the Day - Tuesday 28 July

Thought for the Day – Tuesday 28^th July

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”’ (Matthew 13: 33)

Lockdown has meant that some of my evenings have been a little freer than usual and so I have been able to watch a few of those baking programmes that are on television. Programmes like the Great British Bake-Off and repeats of the Celebrity version of this, shown I believe to raise funds for Cancer Charities, and Bake-Off the Professionals – all not requiring too much concentration on my part and all very entertaining!

I am always fascinated, though, when it comes to bread week or when they are having to make buns of some sort which require yeast. Such a tiny amount of yeast is added to their mixture – at just the right time and temperature - and then it is all covered and put in the proving drawer until it has risen beyond imagining – hopefully! Then for some reason it seems they knock all the air out and prove it again before finally baking it. Of course, if that proving process has not been done properly the resulting bread or buns will be too flat or it will be too tight a mix or too dense or inedible or whatever!  

So the yeast is important but so are the conditions in which it is added for too much of some ingredients or ingredients added in the wrong order can I believe stop or stunt the whole growing process of the yeast and so the dough will not rise as it should in the proving process!

Now most of the women in Jesus day would have made bread – some leavened and some unleavened depending on the occasion – and so once again Jesus in this parable of the kingdom of heaven is using an image which would have been very familiar to people. Actually it could be argued here that it would perhaps have been even more relevant to the women of the day – so maybe Jesus is speaking more to them in this parable but who knows?

However, rather like the small mustard seed flourishing to great things, we see from this parable that a small amount of yeast can make a huge difference too.

It is therefore clear from this parable that if the kingdom of heaven is like yeast then with the right conditions and the right nurturing it too can grow beyond imagining.

When comparing the growth of the kingdom to yeast though, it does not seem to be quite as simple a process as the nurturing of the mustard seed. It can more readily be put in the ground and watered and tended and it should grow well. However, you need to treat the yeast in the correct way or it will literally die. You need to add it to the right sort of mix, you need to knock it back to grow it more and it always needs time to prove or it will not grow at all.

I think if we are seeking to grow the kingdom of heaven, there will be times when it will be straightforward and simple like growing a mustard seed but there will also be times when we will need to ensure the conditions are just right for growth to take place. We will need to have patience to wait for that growth to come and a realisation that sometimes it may not come because we haven’t quite managed to do things in the right way for growth. We like the dough may be knocked back and experience setbacks, but if we keep on sowing the seeds or adding the yeast and nurturing and waiting with patience and with hope in our hearts then the growth of the kingdom of heaven may just come sooner than we ever hoped possible.   

Prayer

Loving Lord,

Bread and cakes would be dull and lifeless, perhaps even hard, without the tiniest bit of yeast within them. Lord, help us to be yeast to our world, help us to multiply the talents and gifts you gave us and to then use these to bring yeast to the world. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.