Leaven
By Greg Jenks
One of my favourite parables is the saying about a scholar (scribe) “who is schooled in Heaven’s imperial rule” (Matthew 13:52). While it probably cannot be attributed to Jesus, the image of a “toastmaster who produces from his cellar something mature and something young,” remains an inspiration for me as a priest and scholar.
What follows is a selection of two vintages from my cellar, both dealing with the parable of the leaven (Luke 13:20-21, Matt 13:33, and also preserved in Thomas 96:1).
The influential parables scholar, John Dominic Crossan, draws on the work of his Jesus Seminar colleague, Bernard Brandon Scott, when he observes:
… “leaven in the ancient world was a symbol of moral corruption,” according to Brandon Scott, since it was “made by taking a piece of bread and storing it in a damp, dark place until mold forms. The bread rots and decays ... modern yeast ... is domesticated”.1 Furthermore, “in Israel there is an equation that leaven is the unholy everyday, and unleavened the holy, the sacred, the feast” (p324)…(W)e are confronted with an image of the Kingdom that is immediately shocking and provocative. And it is compounded by the fact that, again from Scott, “woman as a symbolic structure was associated in Judaism, as in other Mediterranean cultures, with the unclean, the religiously impure. The male was the symbol for purity.” Furthermore, “the figurative use of hiding to describe the mixing of leaven and flour is otherwise unattested in Greek or Hebrew” (p326). Here then, stands a triply shocking image for the Kingdom—a woman hiding leaven in her dough. It’s there, it’s natural, it’s normal, it’s necessary, but society has a problem with it.2
In a more recent study of selected parables, Scott notes the intertextual connections that draw Jesus, his audience and their shared sacred tradition into a new act of imagining a world where God’s domain is a lived reality—
“The “three measures” of flour alludes to Abraham’s hospitality to three anonymous sacred visitors in Genesis 18. …
“When the parable employs the term three measures it conjures up from the audience’s repertoire the story of Abraham and the birth of Isaac. In parable it suggests a comparison between the woman’s actions and the birth of Isaac.
“Now we begin to understand the difference between parabolic or oral thinking and our own literate, more abstract way of thinking.
“In parable “three measures” serves to compare the event of Isaac’s birth with the event of the parable. Literally and abstractly it makes little sense. But parable is a concrete way of thinking, not an abstract way.”3
Leaven is a symbol of decay and corruption, as Scott outlines—4
“In the ancient world the process of leavening frequently stood as a metaphor for moral corruption. …
“The New Testament contains several examples of this negative use of leaven. In Mark’s Gospel Jesus warns the disciples concerning the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod (Mark 8:15). …
“Twice Paul quotes the proverb, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” …
“In the Hebrew Bible unleavened bread is a powerful symbol of the holy. During the feast of Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, all leavened bread was to be cleansed out of the house.
“When we reflect how leaven is a product of rotten bread and is associated with a corpse, we begin to see how it can serve as a powerful metaphor for corruption and how its opposite, unleavened bread, can serve as a metaphor for the sacred and holy.
“The very beginning of the parables with the simple word “leaven”, would throw an audience off guard and maybe into panic. For leaven is surely no correct symbol of the kingdom of God.”
Scott has an eye for detail as he guides us through this tiny parable—
“In the normal process of baking one might expect a woman to be kneading the dough. There is nothing untoward about her role here. But as a parable for the Kingdom of God, a woman’s role as an emblem of the sacred becomes highly problematic.
“Again, there is nothing wrong with the Kingdom of God being hidden. But in this parable an unexpected word is used for hiding. “Concealed” — krypto (Luke) or enkrypto (Matthew) — is a much more negative term, for hiding than the more neutral kalypto. Krypto has some sense of concealment.5
Finally, under the delightful subheading “Kneading the parable,” Scott begins to sketch out a way of hearing this parable:
“... my contention is that Jesus told parables to let people in on his experience of God. Parables were his way of making God available to them. Actually, empire of God is a symbol used to make God available to folks, to provide them with an alternative to their everyday life in the empire of Caesar or in the kingdom of Caesar’s puppet, Herod Antipas.”
“If we listen to the parable it says something like this.
The empire of God is like moral corruption.
“Well of course, that is a very bad start. Most folks in Jesus’ audience would have blanched at the first term “leaven” … perhaps they would snicker that the empire of Caesar is more like leaven.
…which a woman took.
“Again how can a woman, weak as she is, have anything to do with God’s empire? But if it is like leaven, then there is a certain logic, a weird logic, to the parable.
…and concealed ...
“Does she do it while no one is looking? How can she keep it concealed? Will folks be unaware that it is leavened bread? After all most bread in the ancient world was flat bread, like tortillas or pita.
…in three measures of flour ...
“Now we are getting somewhere. Finally an image of great size, an image appropriate to God. And this tells us we are on the right track. Three measures assures us that this is after all the empire of God. What a huge banquet she is preparing, enough for a hundred people! This is an event like the birth of Isaac. Is she preparing the messianic banquet?
…until it was all leavened.
“Until it has worked its way through everything, until it has corrupted the whole mass of dough. Surely such total corruption is nonsense as a way of talking about God or experiencing God. What is this about?”6
Scott then poses the question, “for whom would this parable be good news?” Whether or not it seems good news for me probably depends on whether I see myself as doing well under the status quo, or whether I yearn for change and freedom.
These notes are prepared by Dr Gregory Jenks, Executive Trustee of FaithFutures Foundation.
www.faithfutures.org