Our sermon this coming Sunday will focus our attention on the parable of the leaven (Luke 13:20-21). In this parable, the woman puts leaven in the dough. Literally (in the Greek), she hides, conceals, or enfolds the leaven into the dough. The presence of the yeast is a secret.
Some of you may know that I completed my undergraduate studies in Spanish literature. I enjoy the Spanish language and especially certain idiomatic expressions that can sound funny when translated. In English, we know what it means to say “it’s a small world.” In Spanish, a person might use the phrase, “el mundo es un pañuelo” (Translation: “the world is a handkerchief”). In English, we might make room for a guest at a table by saying “the more, the merrier.” In Spanish, you could use the phrase, “donde comen dos, comen tres” (trans. “where two eat, three eat”). The expression that comes to my mind, as I think of the verses from Luke, is “con las manos en la masa” (trans. “with your hands in the dough”) meaning, “caught red handed.”
In Luke’s Gospel, the author shares the parable of Jesus by describing a scene where a woman is preparing dough (and a lot of it), and she mixes/sneaks in yeast. We might think this sounds like solid culinary skills, but yeast wasn’t necessarily a good thing in the first century culture of Jesus’ audience. The Passover was a celebration of when God set the Israelites free, when they ate UN-leavened bread. The notion of leaven had taken on some negative connotations. The woman was hiding the yeast in the bread, corrupting it, without the knowledge of others.
The Kingdom of God is not intended to be “good common sense” or “socially accepted moral values.” The Kingdom of God, according to this parable, sneaks into our world. Enters into our society in subversive and covert ways. If the world, culture, and society are in need of God’s grace and mercy, it is because they have been corrupted by sin and evil. The role of the leaven, then, is to “corrupt” that which has already been “corrupted.” This is an invitation to us, followers of Jesus, to put our “manos en las masa” (hands in the dough), for the sake of God’s kingdom. Let’s conspire together.
Very truly,
Pastor Adam
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