The Eighth Sunday after Trinity is July 30, 2023.

Readings for Year A can be found here. These are different to the ones I posted in 2020.

The Gospel is as follows (emphases mine):

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

13:31 He put before them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field;

13:32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

13:33 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.”

13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls;

13:46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

13:47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind;

13:48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.

13:49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous

13:50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

13:51 “Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.”

13:52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

Commentary comes from Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.

Gospel readings for the past three Sundays in 2023 have come from Matthew 13, which has parables from our Lord from beginning to end. For years, I did not understand these pearls of wisdom. However, I do now and, if you are like me, you will, too. Properly explained, they make perfect sense. The first two are about the qualities of soil and crops. The second discusses what happens when weeds are thrown into the mix:

Readings for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity — Year A — and exegesis on the Gospel, Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 (July 16, 2023, Parable of the Sower and significance of Matthew 13)

Readings for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity — exegesis on the Gospel, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 (July 23, 2023)

It is important to keep in mind the two verses excluded from the Lectionary, Matthew 13:10-11. The King James Version has the better translation:

¹⁰ And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

¹¹ He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

In the Old Testament, God revealed to the Prophets His kingdom in all its fullness. However, only the New Testament tells us of the times in which we are living, where Christ rules in absentia.

John MacArthur explains:

Small things, profound results.

That’s really the lesson of these parables.  And if you understand that you will understand what these parables are teaching.  Now let me give you a little bit of background so that you’ll be able to feel with the disciples what they felt as Jesus was teaching them.  The disciples, basically, believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the King.  Messiah means anointed one and that implies King, that He was the greater Son of David, that He was the promised King who would set up the kingdom. 

And for them, the kingdom had very clear definitions.  It would come in glory.  It would come in power.  There would be pomp and circumstance.  There would be great cataclysmic events.  There would be the punishment of evil doers.  They were looking for the music and the horses, the triumph, the wonder, the glory, the show, the publicity. 

They really anticipated a blazing display of power and glory and majesty and might as the Messiah established His kingdom.  But it didn’t happen that way.  And that’s why they kept asking themselves, “Was this the Messiah?”  They struggled with that all the way along.  And He would tell them again and again that He was and they would still struggle with it.  And all the way into the book of Acts they are still asking, “Will You at this time bring the kingdom?” 

I mean, they never quite understood because their expectations were so different from what they were seeing …

… You see, they were looking for a kingdom of glory, a kingdom of power, a kingdom of majesty, a kingdom of worldwide wonder, a kingdom where the unbeliever and the rejecter was immediately devastated and destroyed.  And it didn’t happen.  And so Jesus teaches them why in Matthew 13.

He says, “Before that comes, here is a form of the kingdom which now exists which you must understand so you’re not confused.” And He calls it the mystery form, verse 11.  That means it’s something that isn’t clear in the Old Testament.  It was not laid out so clearly that you would understand. 

It was hidden.  And now I will unfold it to you.  This is a form of the kingdom you never really understood.  And so He gives them seven parables which explain to them the kingdom in its mystery form, prior to the millennial blaze of glory that they were anticipating.

Jesus put before them another parable, comparing the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed that someone sowed in his field (verse 31).

Although it is the smallest of seeds, when it has grown, it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches (verse 32).

Matthew Henry’s commentary explains how great things come from small beginnings:

That it is commonly very weak and small at first, like a grain of mustard-seed, which is one of the least of all seeds. The kingdom of the Messiah, which was now in the setting up, made but a small figure; Christ and the apostles, compared with the grandees of the world, appeared like a grain of mustard-seed, the weak things of the world. In particular places, the first breaking out of the gospel light is but as the dawning of the day; and in particular souls, it is at first the day of small things, like a bruised reed. Young converts are like lambs that must be carried in his arms, Isa 40 11. There is a little faith, but there is much lacking in it (1 Thess 3 10), and the groanings such as cannot be uttered, they are so small; a principle of spiritual life, and some motion, but scarcely discernible.

MacArthur recaps the aforementioned parables about the soil and how Jesus shifted to a different set of comparisons about the kingdom:

The first two parables talk about the conflict.  They talk about the antagonism of evil and good in the kingdom.  They talk about the right and the wrong fighting one another.  But the next two talk about the victory of the right.  That, in the end, the little tiny mustard seed fills the earth, the little piece of leaven, leavens the whole loaf of bread. 

What started very small ends up profoundly influencing everything.  And so, we move now…watch this carefully…from the two parables that describe the nature of the kingdom; it will be with believers and unbelievers, side by side, to the two parables that describe the power of the kingdom, the power of the kingdom.  In spite of its smallness, it will sweep the world.

You know, there’s another way to look at this.  And I was kind of struck by this as I thought through so many things regarding these parables.  The first parable of the soils talks basically about the breadth of the kingdom.  The seed is sown in the field and the field is the what?  The world, the breadth of the kingdom.  The second parable talks about the length of the kingdom.  It will go on until the harvest.  The third parable, the parable of the mustard seed talks about the height of the kingdom.  We could talk about extent.  The fourth parable of the leaven talks about the depth of the kingdom as it is hidden in the dough and influences from within.

So, you have the kingdom seen in its breadth and its length and its height and its depth.  The Lord is describing it in every dimension.  And after He has done all of this, the next two parables He talks about its personal appropriation in the life of an individual, after having described its general characteristics, marvelous progression of thought.

The mustard seed was highly valued in our Lord’s day not only for its value as a flavouring for food but also certain medicinal purposes. Out of all the seeds that were planted in that part of the world for edible purposes, the mustard seed was the smallest.

Everyone knew the potential for the mustard seed, as MacArthur explains:

This particular mustard seed causes to grow a bush, a shrub we would call it, like a garden plant.  Normally it grows to about seven to eight feet in height.  And that’s a good size garden plant.  That’s a good size herb, and you’ll notice it’s put in the herb family, lachanon in the Greek, and we’ll discuss that in a moment. 

But very frequently it will grow to 12 to 15 feet in height.  And there are many testimonies that have been written by eyewitnesses in the east who have seen these fields, both now and in past generations, who have testified to the fact that they get to be 15 feet high.  One writer talks about them being higher than a horse and rider.  Another writer says that the horse and the rider can ride under the branches of the mustard bush.  Now, that’s a big bush.

And what the Lord is saying is you have no real connection apparent between the smallness of the seed and the largeness of the end result.  You have the very smallest seed issuing in the very largest bush that can grow.  You can plant a barley seed and you’ll get a barley plant that’s fairly good size.  You can plant a seed of wheat or of corn and you get a fairly good size thing.  But you plant this seed and you get a 15-foot high bush big enough to ride a horse under.  That’s His point. 

Detractors say that Jesus did not know what He was talking about when he said that the mustard seed was the smallest of seeds.

MacArthur refutes that by saying He spoke of seeds yielding edible things, not just any plant:

I say He’s right.  Can we prove that?  I think so.  Notice in verse 32 the word herbs, lachanon.  That word refers to garden vegetables, garden greens that are grown purposely to be eaten.  It is used in Romans 14 in that regard.  It refers to that which is planted as a crop to be eaten, in opposition to wild plants.  These are plants sown purposely.  So the seed, then, is a seed sown, agriculturally, to produce edible vegetables and greens.

Now listen, of all of the seeds that were sown in the east, or are sown there today, in 1982, to produce edible products, the mustard seed was and still is the smallest.  Jesus is speaking within a framework in which what He says is exactly correct.  And recently this was affirmed by a man by the name of Dr. L.H. Shinners.  He’s the director of the herbarium at SMU in Dallas.  They have the largest herbarium in the southwest, 318 thousand botanical specimens from all over the world.  He is a regular lecturer at the Smithsonian Institute. 

And he said, quote, “The mustard seed would indeed have been the smallest of those to have been noticed by the people at the time of Christ.  The principle field crops, barley, wheat, lentils and beans, have much larger seeds as do other plants which might have been present as weeds and so forth.  There are various weeds and wild flowers belonging to the mustard, amaranth, pigweed, chickweed family with seeds that are small or smaller than mustard, but they would not have been known or noticed by the inhabitants.  They are wild and they certainly would not have been planted as a crop.”

Isn’t that wonderful?  Isn’t it wonderful when Jesus talks about seeds, He’s right?  If I can trust Him with seeds, I can trust Him with eternity.  Shinners went on to say, “The only modern crop plant…the only modern crop plant in existence with smaller seeds than mustard is tobacco, and this plant of American origin wasn’t grown in the old world until the sixteenth century or later.”  So, when Jesus said a man sowed the smallest seed that’s ever sowed, He was dead right.

Henry discusses the mustard tree and compares it to the Church:

The church is like a great tree, in which the fowls of the air do lodge; God’s people have recourse to it for food and rest, shade and shelter. In particular persons, the principle of grace, if true, will persevere and be perfected at last: growing grace will be strong grace, and will bring much to pass. Grown Christians must covet to be useful to others, as the mustard-seed when grown is to the birds; that those who dwell near or under their shadow may be the better for them, Hos 14 7.

MacArthur says that this mustard tree of Christianity has benefited both believers and unbelievers alike in Western society:

Now that’s what you have to understand that as you teach the kingdom, sometimes the kingdom refers, specifically, to the true saints in the kingdom.  Sometimes it’s bigger than that.  And in this sense, it’s bigger.  You’re looking at the kingdom in terms of God’s sovereign rulership over everything.  And think of it this way.  Wherever Christianity flourishes, the people who climb in the branches prosper because of the flourishing of Christianity even though they don’t know Christ. 

America is what America is today because of its Christian heritage and there are lots of birds in our bush.  They’re not Christians but they benefit, don’t they?  The dignity of life in America, the jurisprudence system, the law, the sense of right and wrong that’s traditionally been ours, education, free enterprise, the dignity of a woman, the caring of children. 

All of these rise out of Christian truth, every great reformation, every reform movement in history has had at its roots biblical truth.  Wherever the kingdom has extended, you have an environment of protection for the people who aren’t even in that kingdom truly.  It’s kind of like in…in macrocosm what I Corinthians 7:14 is in microcosm, where it says if you’re married to an unbeliever and the unbeliever wants to stay, let him stay because he is sanctified in the presence of a believer.

In other words, an unbeliever married to a believer benefits just by hanging around somebody receiving the blessing of God.  I mean, if I’m married to you and you’re not a Christian and God’s pouring out blessing on me, you’re going to get some of it, if only for here and now.  And so you’re sheltered in my tree.  And on a macrocosm level, when the kingdom expands around the world, the people who find lodging within that kingdom…listen, you can look at it anyway you want.  It all comes out the same…are the most blessed people in terms of human life.

You contrast what it is to be in part of western culture under the influence of Christianity as opposed, for example, to being in India or being in an aboriginal part of the world where Christianity’s never been, where the mustard seed bush hasn’t grown.  That’s what He’s saying.  The kingdom will grow so that many will find lodging in its branches. 

And what the parable is trying to tell us is that in spite of the opposition, in spite of the three bad soils, in suite of the presence of the darnels [weeds], we’re going to win.  The kingdom is going to grow and grow and grow and grow and grow.  That’s the promise of the Lord to encourage us. 

MacArthur says that Jesus wanted His disciples to grasp that this would not be the messianic kingdom foretold in the Old Testament. This mystery period of the Church would begin in a small and unassuming way then grow to be something impressive:

It’s going to start small.  Can you imagine how this is important to tell the disciple?  I mean, they were standing in a little group, being literally smothered by oppression and rejection and blasphemy, and they were saying, “Well, there’s just a little handful of us against the whole world.” And Jesus says, “It’s okay.  That’s the plan.  Everything starts from something very, very small.”  And boy, they were small.

They were indeed small, as Jesus was when He came to earth to save us. That, too, took time:

Think of a manger, a feed trough.  Think of a stable, smelly animals, people wandering around ankle deep in the manure of that filthy place, and a baby born in obscurity in a country that was nothing but an infant wiggling in the arms of imperial Rome, with two districts, Judea and Galilee, that were just dots on the earth.  And Samaria which was less than the other two.  And think of Nazareth where Jesus spent thirty years uncouth, uncultured, uneducated Nazareth.

And think of the disciples.  All of them put together wouldn’t add up to a mustard seed.  They were so small, so inadequate, so inconsequential, so unqualified, so fearful, so faithless, so weak.  And that was the kingdom that was planted.  But in the breast of that little infant in that feed trough in the manger was eternal life that would burst forth into an eternal kingdom.  The seed was planted, small beginning.

You see, this is a marvelous truth because this is not seen in the Old Testament.  This is mystery revealed.  It starts small, just that little tiny group.  And when Jesus ascended back into heaven, there were just 120 of them.  If you talk to a pastor today who has a church of 120, he feels cheated.  You’ll hear people, “Well, our church is so small, we’ve only got 120.”  But when the kingdom started it only had 120, and so far it’s doing very well.  Before it’s done it will cover the entire globe.

MacArthur brings us to the enormity of Christianity around the globe:

That takes us to the second lesson.  The kingdom started very small, the kingdom ends very large.  Very simple outline, right?  It started very small, ends very large.  The prophets saw a great kingdom.  I mean, if you go through the Old Testament prophets and you read about what they looked for in the kingdom, it’s…its extent is staggering.  For example, in Psalm 78…in 72 rather, verse 8, it says, “He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and the abundance of peace as long as the moon endures.  He shall have dominion from sea to sea from the river to the ends of the earth that they dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him, and His enemies shall lick the dust. 

“The kings of Tarshish and of the islands shall bring presents, the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.  All kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him.”  Now that’s the extent of the kingdom.  That’s how big the bush gets.  I mean, from a very little seed to a massive bush and that’s the thing the Lord wants you to see.  That you get the largest result from the smallest beginning in the case of the kingdom.

Isaiah saw the same end result.  Chapter 54 of Isaiah verse 2, “Enlarge the place of thy tent, let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation, spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes.”  You better get this tent bigger and bigger and bigger, something is expanding.  “Thou shalt break forth on the right hand, thou shalt break forth on the left, thy seed shall inherit the nations.”  Messiah’s kingdom shall extend from shore to shore, from one of the globe to the other.  Jeremiah saw it.  Amos saw it.  Micah saw it.  Zechariah saw it. 

And I could read you scripture after scripture after scripture that the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God would stretch from sea to sea, from land to land, cover the globe.  And we know this to be true, don’t we?  Ultimately, the millennial kingdom comes; Jesus reigns over the whole earth.  That’s coming.  In fact, it says in Revelation 11:15, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”

Then Jesus told them another parable, of the woman who made bread by mixing yeast with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened; such is the kingdom of heaven (verse 33).

Yeast is used in good and bad examples in the Bible, especially in the New Testament. The idea is that yeast is an influencer — for good and bad, depending on the situation.

In that era — and, in fact, throughout most of history — leaven was used to make bread rise. Yeast was not properly invented for baking until relatively recently. French speakers will know that ‘levain’ means ‘leaven’. It refers to sourdough, not modern yeast. ‘Levure’ is the French word for yeast. Professional French bakers will tell you there is a big difference between the two, and it is not unusual for them to incorporate some sourdough into their doughs for extra flavour and a better all-round texture, including crust.

But I digress.

Henry describes this parable as spiritual leaven working on the soft — rather than the hard — human heart, readying it to receive Christ:

The leaven was hid in three measures of meal. The heart is, as the meal, soft and pliable; it is the tender heart that is likely to profit by the word: leaven among corn unground does not work, nor does the gospel in souls unhumbled and unbroken for sin: the law grinds the heart, and then the gospel leavens it. It is three measures of meal, a great quantity, for a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. The meal must be kneaded, before it receive the leaven; our hearts, as they must be broken, so they must be moistened, and pains taken with them to prepare them for the word, that they may receive the impressions of it. The leaven must be hid in the heart (Ps 119 11), not so much for secrecy (for it will show itself) as for safety; our inward thought must be upon it, we must lay it up, as Mary laid up the sayings of Christ, Luke 2 51. When the woman hides the leaven in the meal, it is with an intention that it should communicate its taste and relish to it; so we must treasure up the word in our souls, that we may be sanctified by it, John 17 17.

Henry tells us how spiritual leaven works:

The leaven thus hid in the dough, works there, it ferments; the word is quick and powerful, Heb 4 12. The leaven works speedily, so does the word, and yet gradually. What a sudden change did Elijah’s mantle make upon Elisha! 1 Kings 19 20. It works silently and insensibly (Mark 4 26), yet strongly and irresistibly: it does its work without noise, for so is the way of the Spirit, but does it without fail. Hide but the leaven in the dough, and all the world cannot hinder it from communicating its taste and relish to it, and yet none sees how it is done, but by degrees the whole is leavened.

No doubt we feel as the disciples did, sometimes hopeless at seeing and hearing about all the wickedness in the world.

MacArthur tells us that the disciples had it even worse trying to reconcile their belief in Jesus as the Messiah with all the rejection He received. This, too, is relevant to the parable of the leaven:

And that is why in Romans 14:17, Paul says, “The kingdom of God is not food and drink, it is not outward, it is righteousness and joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.”  It is internal.  You see on another occasion, in Luke 17:20, they said to Him, in effect, “Well, if You’re a King, where’s the kingdom?”  And He said, “The kingdom of God is – ” where? – “within you.”  In your midst; you just don’t perceive it because it isn’t discerned by human perception, but I’m a King nonetheless.

Now, the disciples are sort of scratching their heads and saying, “He’s the King.  You can’t deny it.  But where’s the kingdom?”  Because they were looking for the outward display and they have just gone through the horrible rejection of chapter 12 where He’s been blasphemed and called Satanic.  And so the Lord says, “Look, I’m going to teach you now how to understand this period of My reign, this period of My kingdom.” 

The future will yet unfold the full glory of the kingdom in its outward early millennial majesty, such as Zechariah and Micah prophesied.  But for now, there is a form of the kingdom which He calls, in verse 11 of Matthew 13, the mystery. 

MacArthur sums up our Lord’s teaching thus far in Matthew 13:

The first two describe the nature of the kingdom, the nature of the kingdom.  The parable of the soils, the parable of the wheat and the tares, and the nature of the kingdom is that good and evil will co-exist.  There will be soil that rejects; there will be the true soil. 

In other words, there will be people who refuse the kingdom, people who receive the kingdom.  The second parable says and they should grow together until the final judgment.  So, you’re not to expect the rebels to be condemned, you’re to expect the rebels and Christ rejecters to be devastated, burnt up, consumed or whatever.  They’re going to go along together.  Now, having said that, He then discusses the power of the kingdom in the next two. 

And He says, “In spite of that, in spite of the coexisting of the good and the evil, in spite of the tremendous power of sin and the power of Satan, in spite of the very massive oversowing of tares and the wheat, in spite of the fact that three of the four soils are evil and rejecting, still the power of the kingdom is so great it’s going to grow.  From a small beginning like a mustard seed, it will become a massive tree.  From the littlest seed it becomes the biggest bush.  And like a little tiny piece of leaven, hidden in a massive pile of dough, it permeates everything, and influences everything.

Now, this is a hopeful word, beloved, after two parables that were not hopeful at all.  The first two parables told us we’re going to have to allow evil to go along in this world.  And I’ll be very honest with you, I hate sin.  And there are many times when I sense that Davidic heart where David cried out for God to destroy the sinner and destroy sin. 

And there are times when you just wish you could just act as God’s executioner and purge.  But the first two parables said no.  No, that’s not for you to do.  This is the time of God’s grace.  Judgment awaits the future.  So they go together.  That’s a message of…of fearfulness, of intimidation, of distress because we tolerate all this stuff. 

But the message of hope comes in the next two parables.  In spite of that the kingdom’s going to grow, and finally, it’s going to fill the earth. And I believe these two parables actually usher us right into the millennium when the bush is at its largest and the trees are…and the tree is filled, as it were, with birds, when the leaven has leavened the entire lump.  And we look forward to that.  And so these are parables of great hope, great hope.

By the way, the next two parables also have a common subject.  They’re about the person appropriation of the kingdom.  The first four see the kingdom in general; the next two see it in specific.  So the first two parables speak of the nature of the kingdom, the next two the power of the kingdom, and the next two the appropriation of the kingdom.  That’s very important.  Because when you interpret this parable, you want to interpret it in the homiletic consistency that our Lord uses as He unfolds these parables.  

In discussing the parable of the leaven, MacArthur says that the amount is quite small compared to the large amount of flour:

Now, the leaven is a very small piece, very small.  But you’ll notice that it is hidden in three measures of meal. 

Now, that is a massive amount of dough.  You want to know how much?  Three measures of meal is the equivalent of an ephah.  Aren’t you happy about that?  And by the way, it was not uncommon for them to prepare that much bread.  Because it was the staple of life and the families were large, and the servants in the house and everybody, and so they made great amounts of bread.

Just as a footnote I did a little checking when I first saw that three measures of meal, I was sort of stunned by it.  I mean, it would make bread that would be just an almost inconceivable amount.  And so I went back and found that when the Lord and two angels in Genesis 18 visited Sarah and Abraham, Sarah made bread.  You know how much she used?  Three measures of meal. 

And then I went into Judges chapter 6, verse 19, and I found in the case of Gideon that bread was prepared using three measures of meal, or one ephah.  So this must have been the common recipe.  I mean, if that’s the way Sarah made bread for God, no matter…no wonder they just kept it up, right?  Now, the large amount of meal, I think, is indicative of the tremendous enormity of the task accomplished by a little bit of leaven. 

It’s very parallel to the smallest seed resulting in the largest bush.  Here you have the little tiny piece of leaven, ultimately extending its impact and effect to a massive amount of dough …

But, here’s another thing to keep in mind.  The leaven influences a massive amount of dough.  Secondly, it influences it positively.  It has a positive affect.  It makes it better and makes it more tasty.  It has a good influence, ultimately, on it.  Makes the bread better.

Another thing we see here is that she hid this…this in it.  The leaven has to be inserted; it can’t sit on the counter and yell at the bread.  God didn’t approach His extending…His influence in the world by standing on a cloud and hollering down, you see.  The leaven has to be injected.  It has to be placed within, and then it begins to permeate, and permeate and permeate.  Now this was something that every Jew would know, everyone would understand, this is not very difficult.

MacArthur gives us the lessons from this parable, which, apparently, confuses a lot of Christians:

What are the lessons?  It’s a very simple story with very simple lessons.  And yet I’m telling you, so far of all the parables I’ve studied, people are more confused on this one than any other parable, and it is so simple.  If I didn’t tell you what the alternative view was to what I’m going to give you and you had never heard it, I don’t believe you’d ever guess it.  It’s that obscure in my thinking.  But I’m going to tell you what it is so in case you’re confronted you can help those folks who don’t agree with me.

Now key truths.  Here we go.  Here are the lessons.  Number one, the power of the kingdom is great.  That’s the lesson.  The power of the kingdom is great.  I mean, a little tiny bit of leaven influences the whole mass of dough.  That’s what He’s saying.  The fact that the kingdom begins small is not necessarily debilitating because it has the power to influence everything. 

The meal [flour] here, the measures of meal, the dough is like the world.  And you plant the kingdom of heaven in the middle of the world, and as small as it is, it will influence the whole thing because inherent in it is a bubbling, fomenting, supernatural power.  I believe, without question, the leaven represents the good influence of Christ, His kingdom, His gospel, His subjects in the world.

First of all, I believe that because of the way the Lord laid out the parables.  The first two have spoken of the nature of the kingdom.  The next two, I believe, of its power to overcome the evil that is present.  Now some people, at this point…I’ll tell you the other and more dominant view.  Some people think the leaven means evil and that what the parable is teaching is that evil is going to be in the kingdom permeating the kingdom. 

Well, I have several problems with that.  Problem number one, it doesn’t fit the layout of the parables.  We’ve already dealt with the evil in the world in the first two parables, now we’re dealing with the power of the kingdom to overcome that.