This is one of Jesus short parables, but though it may be short in length, it has a lot to teach us.
We can read this parable in Matthew 13, where we find Jesus telling many parables about the Kingdom of Heaven.
In this particular story, Jesus speaks of a woman baking bread, she uses only a tiny bit of yeast, but it makes the whole batch of dough rise.
Jesus often talks about how the Kingdom of God – God’s way of doing things – is often small and unexpected or unnoticed at first, but it’s something that grows and grows, bringing change to everything it touches.
A mustard seed that grows into a tree large enough for the birds to shelter.
A seed scattered on the ground, small enough even for the birds to steal it away or to fill a field to overflowing with bountiful harvest.
A small measure of yeast that makes the whole dough grow and expand.
Jesus is saying that God’s kingdom moves in unseen ways, but it always grows, and it always affects its surroundings.
What would God’s Kingdom growing in us look like?
Well, God shows us throughout the Bible what He values: selfless love, tenderness for those who are suffering, generosity…just to name a few things.
God promises us the gift of the Holy Spirit to enable these things to grow in us…we see God’s Kingdom less as an actual physical place we could travel to, but more and more as the people who let God’s words and Jesus’ sacrifice into their lives.
Like the picture of a woman kneading the yeast into the dough, what are the ingredients we’re mixing into our lives? Waht will they do to the batch? Will we see growth in good things, or will we find the dough going flat and stodgy?
Use the worksheet to consider what ingredients you want to mix into your life. Write or draw them in the bowls, on the rolling pin, on the eggs and on the loaf.
What do you need more of?
What else could you add to see growth in your life?