More on the Kingdom: Like Yeast

Yesterday I blogged about Jesus' parable of the Kingdom being like a mustard seed; I just couldn't ignore the subsequent parable of the yeast. As a keen home bread baker who uses lots of natural leaven (the above picture is of my first "sourdough" loaves), I get the image of a tiny amount of yeast affecting a large amount of dough.

However, Joel Green makes a point that I would have totally overlooked:

(Jesus) asks people - male or female, privileged or peasant, it does not matter - to enter the domain of a first-century woman and household cook in order to gain perspective on the domain of God.

He highlights the basic point of the invasive character of the leaven, and then says:

Set in relation to the healing episode of (Luke 13) vv 10-17, this parable declares that satanic domination is being repealed and the kingdom of God is made present even in such inconsequential acts as the restoration of an ill woman who lived on the margins of society.

What a King! Jesus not only demonstrates concern for a marginalised woman, but he also draws one of his key points of illustration from such a counter-cultural source - the household kitchen.