Daily Devotions – Hidden Yeast

Daily Devotions – Hidden Yeast

 

Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:

 

Matthew 13:33-35 (NIV)

33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” 34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

 

In the first century, long before Donald Trump coined the phrase “Make America Great Again”, the Jews were expecting God to “Make Israel Great Again”, just like during the time of king David and king Solomon. But this parable of yeast mixed into a massive amount of flour (60 pounds!) was a challenge to their expectations, and ours. God’s hidden kingdom works through death and resurrection, forgiveness, mercy and “fruit” like “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). This is not a condemnation of politics, but a call to trust that Jesus is most often working in hidden ways that we do not expect. What other expectations might we have about life, success, politics, power, etc. that we need Jesus and his cross to reorient?