The Parable of the Leaven
Matthew 13:33
When we lived in Romania, we had to prepare all our food, meals, from scratch. There were no mixes that came in boxes. There were no microwaveable meals. Everything was cooked from scratch. Rachel made syrup for our pancakes by cooking water, sugar, and maple extract which was shipped to us from America. It was not thick syrup but it was tasty enough.
One Saturday, I decided I was going to make pancakes for Rachel and Jewell. This was before Ana was born. Jewell loved – still loves – pancakes; she was about 1 year old. I got Rachel’s recipe for homemade pancakes and started cooking. Her recipe said that if I wanted to make buttermilk pancakes, I should add a cap full of vinegar to regular milk to make buttermilk. So I did. Sort of. Instead of adding a cap full of vinegar, I added a cup of vinegar. And the pancakes turned out horribly!
Rachel came out of the bedroom and the smell of vinegar was intense in the air! It nearly burned your eyes because it was so strong. I tried to eat those pancakes; my parents taught me not to waste anything so I had a hard time throwing 8-10 pancakes in the garbage. But I could not add enough syrup to cover the taste of those pancakes!
In some ways, leaven works just like the vinegar in those pancakes. It does not take much leaven to make dough rise and it didn’t take much vinegar to make buttermilk pancakes. Leaven is a broad word that refers to any substance that makes dough rise. Typically, it is yeast. Baking soda and, obviously, baking powder are also leavening agents. One 1/4 oz package of yeast will raise one pound of flour. It’s pretty powerful stuff!
In Matthew 13:33, Jesus tells a very short parable that relates to leaven. The purpose of the parable, of course, is to encourage Christians to be careful of our influence. The power of yeast here in the parable is compared to the influence of Christians.
There is an African proverb that says “When bull elephants fight, the grass always loses.” When Christians act like non-Christians, when we lose control of our tongue, or our behavior and we act like we have no idea who Jesus is, then our influence is hurt and the church, Jesus Himself, loses the power of our good influence.
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How can we make sure we have a good, positive influence?
1. Realize that good influence really takes a long time to build up. Influence works gradually and constantly.
2. We’ve got to make sure the gospel message is inside our hearts and minds in order for us to live like Jesus wants us to live.
3. Paul also tells us that we must continually put to death sinful behaviors in our lives on a regular basis (Col 3:5) and so we must if we are going to have a positive influence.
4. If we have friends or neighbors who turn us off because of their behavior, that’s all the more reason why we need to be involved in their lives – not in a way to be influenced by them but in a way that we can influence them.
5. As the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:2, we are “known and read by all men.” We cannot not have an influence. We do have an influence. We need to make every effort to be sure our influence is for the good and that it is directing people toward what is good, toward Christ and His church.
We all have an influence over everyone we contact daily, in large ways and small ways. Let us be sure our influence is for the good.
Paul Holland
