Yeast And Good News

Today’s good news comes through a most common sight in households in Jesus’ day. I daresay, it is still the case in many homes, where people use yeast in baking. Jesus, in His inimitable, unique and always, spell-binding way, brings us good news in this homely parable about the Kingdom of God. This is what He says. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough. Matthew 13:33.

We are receiving good news through three visible things in the parable. These are the yeast, the flour, and the woman’s hands.

Good News Through Yeast

Yeast is a raising agent but left alone, it does absolutely nothing. For the yeast to show its power, it is imperative that it be mixed into the flour. The proportion of yeast to flour is always amazing to me, for only a small amount of yeast is required for a large amount of flour. What is the good news here for us? Whatever our flour-status, all we need is but a little amount of faith to be able to receive all that faith will accomplish. Often, we believe that faith depends on quantity. For example, when Jesus told the disciples about doing some action, they felt that they could only obey and comply if they had more faith. Think of it, we are always feeling that if we had more, we would be better off in serving our Lord and being more like Him. The disciples were no different with faith and asked their Master, Jesus, for more faith to do as He commanded them. Jesus’ answer is good news to us, I should think. He replied, If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to the mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you. Luke 17: 6.

The good news is that regardless of how small your faith is, Jesus says it is enough to do what He wants you to do and even more, for the mulberry tree is quite a giant of a sturdy tree.

Good News Through Flour

Flour is loose and left on its own, does absolutely nothing. The woman has, a large amount of flour, before her. It matters not the quantity or the quality of the flour, for it can be white, whole wheat, cassava flour, or more, it does not matter to the woman and her yeast. Sometimes, you have a lot of things on your mind, as so much needs to be done. There are crucial decisions to be made, things are piling up on you and regardless of what you do, nothing is happening. You even feel at times that things are getting out of hand, slipping away from you.

Here is the good news, regardless of what is happening to you, apply faith to your large amount of flour and see nothing less than miracle. Faith is as the yeast, which is worked into your ‘loose’ circumstances, producing God’s responses. Do you remember what the angel Gabriel said to Mary about her cousin Elizabeth? Elizabeth’s situation was ‘loose’, in that she was barren and by the laws of nature, she should not have a child. But Luke 1: 37 assures us of this indisputable fact. For nothing will be impossible with God. Isn’t that great news?

Good News Through the woman

This woman knows what she wants. She wants dough that will rise, not flat dough. Now let’s look at the hands of this woman, this homemaker. Hers are:-

Experienced Hands- She is not afraid to work with a large amount of flour. You must not be afraid to face the number of challenges before you. Your faith will not fail you.
Expert Hands – She knows the exact amount of liquid needed and at the correct temperature also. Whether she uses, coconut milk, water, oil, butter or whatever, she knows what is needed in their perfect quantities. Faith allows you to know exactly how to handle each situation, to God’s honour.
Expressive Hands - She knows just the right amount of pressure to give to the dough when kneading and working in the yeast. She knows just the degree of mixing and working in, that this work requires. Through faith, God will work His miracles through you, in you and by you.

Do you see yourself as flat dough? Do not any longer. Your good news is before you. Believe by faith.