This past weekend, the gospel reading from Matthew contained several parables. As I was listening, there was one that really jumped out at me, even though I’ve heard it hundreds of times before. Comprising two sentences, this single verse spoke anew to the baker in me.

“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

Whenever you read reflections for this parable, Jesus is the yeast. He is the one causing the growth, and that makes logical sense, especially to one who does not bake. I’m not going to argue with the Church Fathers that this perspective is incorrect, but rather would like to offer another point of view. 

What caught my attention was the precise delineation of the amount of wheat flour: three measures. When details are given in the gospels, they can be easily skimmed over and overlooked, but they often have a deeper meaning. It’s not just that the yeast was added to wheat flour (another precise detail), but a specific count of three. What else comes to mind when we think about the count of three? To me, it was Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So if Jesus, the Son, is one of the measures of flour, what then is the yeast? That would be each of us. Think about being mixed with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit until the heavenly kingdom is  leavened, that is, we rise.

The other major detail is that it’s not just any flour that the yeast is mixed with, but rather the flour is from wheat. It is the composition of the wheat flour that gives the yeast the food it needs to be able to do its job of creating carbon dioxide, which causes bread to rise. By itself, yeast can do nothing. It requires food, and only when it has an abundance of food, can it perform to the best of its ability. We require God; our nourishment from having a relationship with Him feeds us so that we can be the best version of ourselves and perform the good works that He asks of us. The more we feed on God, in prayer and in the Sacraments, the more we can leaven the bread of His Kingdom. 

Wheat and bread are common references throughout scripture. Each example illustrates a different aspect of our relationship with God. It’s amazing when you take something so simple as one verse of scripture and in reflection be impacted so powerfully and overwhelmingly, just by looking at it from a different perspective.