Series on Luke
IV The Imperatives of the Kingdom
B Instruction in Rejection
9 Seed and Yeast
Text: 13:18-21
Introduction
These parables have often been understood to teach the powerful and pervasive growth of the kingdom of God in the world. I have no quarrel with that idea. In fact if you think that is what these parables mean then I agree with the end result that the growth of Christ’s kingdom is deceptively powerful and pervasive considering its small beginning and indeed the kingdom will prosper and the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church. In fact I do not think the parables are referring to that. Let me give you some initial reasons before we consider the parables themselves. First of all, in the immediate context of Luke’s gospel there is a pitched battle between Christ and the leaders of the Jews. He persistently calls them hypocrites, and we are reminded that in this sinful world even the manifestations of the true religion are compromised by unbelief. Secondly, where these parables occur in Matthew 13 they are accompanied by a number of other parables which point out the mixed condition of the kingdom of Christ in this age. In the parable of the sower much of the seed sown, which is the Word of God, produces hypocrites. There are some who spring up and wither and some who endure for a while but the cares of this world overwhelm them. Only a portion brings forth fruit. In the parable of the wheat and the tares they are growing together, even though the farmer hates the tares, and they are not separated until the harvest. In the parable of the fishnet the fisherman gets all kinds of fish, good and bad.This Jesus says is what the kingdom is like, difficulty, limitation, mixture, and opposition. Thirdly, when I look at the history of the Church of Christ and the visible Church of our own day though I would like to say this is the Bride of Christ, without spot or wrinkle, what I must say is that if it were not for our Savior’s love and the promise of eternal salvation, most of us would quit out of sheer frustration over the hypocrisy which manifests itself in a hunger for power and lack of concern for purity. So I believe these parables are warnings based on our Savior’s own experience. Warnings are meant to prevent. We are to work to prevent: the love of power and the loss of purity.
I The Love of Power
Setting aside my preconceptions, when I read this parable I see something strange in verses 18 and 19, Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.” The mustard seed is indeed small and can grow into something very large, not an oak, but high enough to allow birds to perch in it. The problem is that the man planted the seed in his garden where no one would want such a freak. It is an anomaly, rare and unnatural. Something that would occur in a wild field. William McClure Thomson, author of “The Land and the Book,” says, “Is this wild mustard that is growing so luxuriantly along our path….i have seen this plant on the rich plain of Akkar as tall as the horse and his rider.” I am firmly convinced that those who first heard this parable envisioned an unnatural development, an unwanted issue. The mustard seed is lowly, meek and unobtrusive. This growth speaks of vulgar pride, domination, and oppression. Jesus was dealing with the rulers of the Jews. They sought power before service and possession before sacrifice. They anxiously sought disciples and made them twice the children of hell that they were. This is the history of the Church when preoccupied with pomp and power. Peter wrote to those who were elders not to lord it over God’s heritage, but that is exactly what happened historically. The Church became increasingly rich and powerful after the time of Constantine. We should not think that is a thing of the past. The worldly ambitions of men today lead them to seek higher offices, bigger churches and greater remunerations, and this has affected, and will affect every church that ever was or will be in this age. But if the mustard seed reveals Jesus realism about this age how much more the parable of the leaven!
II The Loss of Purity
If leaven in this parable in verses 20 and 21 represents something good it would be the only place in the Bible where it does, Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” Remember the people to whom Jesus spoke were Jews. These were the folks who at passover time went through their homes meticulously searching for leaven so they could get rid of it. Jesus refers to three measures of meal or flour. That is the Greek. The translators of the New International Version have said a large amount which is accurate but not literal. In the Old Testament the meal offering was brought after the burnt offering, and in the case of Abraham, Gideon, and Hannah and also in Ezekiel where the future offerings are mentioned, the amount is always 3 measures. In Leviticus one thing is eminently true, there is to be no leaven mixed in. The meal offering was a symbol of fellowship between God and the forgiven worshiper and there was to be no corrupting influence, no intrusion of anything evil into that relationship. That is why the apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 5:6-8, Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. He is dealing here with a case of sexual immorality, impurity, in the church. Paul also reminded his readers that a little leaven leavens the whole lump, and just think of the language of Jesus who constantly reminded his disciples to beware of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees, the Saducees and Herod. It would really be stretching the analogy of Scripture to suddenly interpret this leaven as something good. It is a symbol of the toleration of evil inside the church. So what we have here is a prediction of the loss of purity. If ever two things could be said about the failure of the church through the ages it is that it has been diverted by a lust for power and a toleration of impurity, and Jesus predicted this.
Conclusion
I submit to you that Christ was under no delusion as to what would happen in this age. A sower sowing seed and only a quarter of it responsive? A sower sowing seed and the enemy sowing tares? A sower sowing seed which overreaches its own nature and becomes a shelter for evil ambition? A fisherman collecting bad fish as well as good? A baker polluting the dough with leaven? this is not a carte blanche to ignore the visible Church or to forsake the peace and purity of that fellowship. It is an encouragement for us to continue. Everything is not going to go swimmingly and there are going to be major problems, but we press on in the spirit of I Corinthians 15, written in the heat of this very battle against the love of power and the loss of purity. To these Christians after reminding them of their foundation in the gospel, Paul writes in verse 58, Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. This is an age of difficulty, mixture, opposition and limitation, so do not be discouraged by hypocrisy. Oppose it and rise above it as those who believe the true gospel.
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