July 19, 2026
He spoke to them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened." (Matthew 13:33)
Our Lectionary provides us options for our Gospel this week; the longer one includes three parables and a stark explanation of the first. In the warmth of summer, I am usually inclined to share the short form of the Gospel, especially knowing that not every church is blessed with air conditioning! Still my attention focused on the story of a woman that follows the parables of the wheat (and weeds) in the field and the mustard seed.
The kingdom of heaven is like yeast? Something in this parable immediately caught my eye: “three measures of wheat flour.” It made me think: How much is three measures? I assumed a “measure” meant something like a cup or two. It turns out I was thinking far too small. In the original Greek translation, measure is designated “tria sata” referring to three ‘seahs’. (Of course I had to google this!) This actually denotes forty to fifty pounds of flour, enough dough to feed well over one hundred people. Imagine that! A tiny bit of yeast, kneaded by a woman with care and persistence, becomes hidden within an enormous batch of flour. Gradually the entire batch is transformed and capable of being baked into bread.
We know almost nothing about the woman in the parable. She may have been small in stature. The yeast itself occupied almost no space. Yet something so seemingly insignificant had the power to affect an astonishing amount of flour. Jesus reminds us that the Kingdom of God often works in exactly that way. The woman had to work intentionally and with patience and in doing so something miraculous happens. With so many other miracles of life, this action becomes commonplace.
The first reading from the Book of Wisdom stretches my imagination and makes me smile. “And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.” (Wisdom 12:19). I am sure the author didn’t connect the word “good ground for hope” with the image of ground wheat that would serve as flour but it reminds me that with grace we are provided all we need to transform the world with Bread from Heaven. This just requires the same work and attention that the woman provided.
St. Paul carries that same message into our own lives. “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.” When I imagine the woman, I think of my elderly grandmother who, well into her 90’s, kneaded the dough in preparation for a special dessert. She was frail but carefully and lovingly was able to provide a special treat for a dinner party with all of us brought together to celebrate a special holiday or a Sunday made more special by her presence. The Kingdom of God makes our lives special and unites us with those who now are served at the Heavenly Table.
To share the longer version of the Gospel, we endure the mustard seed (I’ve heard this one enough for the rest of my life!) but perhaps rethinking how we hear things reminds us that God is not done with us yet. We also hear a commentary about the separation of the wheat from the weeds which is often interpreted as a harsh warning, perhaps a scare tactic. Read alongside Wisdom and St. Paul this week, it reveals something else first: God's remarkable patience and love. As I have often slipped into a homily, “Thank God the Great Teacher grades with a curve!”
Like my mother, my aunt, and my uncle, my grandmother was a teacher. She probably taught me more during the later years of her life than I ever fully understood or appreciated. The Kingdom of God reminds us that every one of us has a place in God's reign and every one of us has a mission to help bring the "already, but not yet" of God's Kingdom into fuller reality.
God kneads us to need one another, and to need Him more fully as well. As we receive the Bread of Heaven, may we also become bread for others. In preparation, like yeast that disappears into the dough but stays present, our smallest acts of faith, kindness, and love may accomplish far more than we will ever know.
May God continue His careful, loving work within us until the whole world is filled with the Bread of Life, the Life of His Kingdom. God bless you…and Happy Baking!