Parables are what they are, parables. They are stories whose meaning is not in the story itself, but by its side. The word “parable” comes from two Greek words, “para” which means “side by side” and “ballin” which means “to throw”. In other words, the real meaning of the story is to accompany only the story, thrown or put together with the story.
How to understand the meaning of a parable
Who then decides the meaning of the story in a parable? The obvious answer is who gives that story. So when the disciples asked Jesus the meaning of a parable, he gladly agreed because he knew what the meaning of his parable was. He did not say: It is up to you to interpret my parable. Rather, his response showed that he knew the meaning and wanted to express it by explaining the parable he narrated.
In the same way when we want an explanation of the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven, the only one who knows the true meaning of these parables is Jesus, who spoke them.
Therefore, we cannot ask ourselves: What is the explanation of the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven? Jesus gave no explanation. There are none.
On the other hand, there have been many explanations of these parables throughout the centuries. They are not the explanations of Jesus, but they are explanations of men and women who profess some kind of relationship with him, a disciple, a minister, a leader in their church.
Two types of explanation
Basically, there are two types of explanation for these parables given by these men and women. One set of explanations says that they describe how the church had small and insignificant beginnings symbolized by the smallest seed known to the Jews, the mustard seed, and the yeast indistinguishable from the dough, but grew into a large organization overshadowing the empire. Roman and the governments of the nations.
The other group of explanations considers that the parables point to the corruptions that would enter the church later, the birds on the mustard seed tree symbolize the corrupt church leaders and the leaven symbolizes the corruption that, like leaven , it could not be easily detected. in the church and could not be removed, since leaven is a symbol of corruption in the other passages of the Bible.
An explanation according to the spirit of Jesus
Now a question can be posed: Who can explain these parables according to the meaning that Jesus intended? The obvious answer is his Spirit that continues to live with us. And when we ask this Spirit, the wonderful thing is that he gives different explanations to different people, according to their need.
Here, then, is my explanation according to the light that the Spirit of Jesus gave me. This is not the only valid explanation. You may have your own explanation and it may be as correct as mine.
First of all, when explaining something we have to give the context or the circumstances surrounding a passage.
In the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven there are two different contexts. In the Gospels according to Matthew and Mark they are found within a group of parables that are given while Jesus was teaching from a boat. However, the parable of the leaven is not given in the Gospel of Mark. In Luke’s narrative, these two parables are inserted into a story after Jesus healed a woman in a synagogue on a Sabbath. Luke gives them after a demonstration of the power of the Kingdom of God in healing the woman who was bound by Satan for 18 years.
The contexts tell us that for Mark and Matthew these two parables are only part of the group of parables. Therefore, they must be understood within that group of parables. But for Luke, these parables tell us about the operation of the Kingdom of God.
Second, here Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God, not the church. Jesus did not say: The church is like a mustard seed. But he said: The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. The two, the Kingdom and the church, are different realities. So this parable does not refer to the church, its beginnings and expansion, but to the Kingdom of God.
Third, Jesus was talking about a seed. And in the previous explanation he said that the seed is the word of God. So we can also safely say that the mustard seed also represents the word of God that is sown in people’s hearts. It grows there. Then follow this with the parable of the leaven, as the gospel writers arranged it that way. Yeast produces its effects on all three measures of flour.
There are commentators who point out the large amount of these three measures of flour. How can a little yeast act on these three measures of flour? It’s too much for that small amount of yeast. Why didn’t Jesus just say “a measure of flour”? Why did you specify “three”?
Our explanation is that leaven here still refers to the word of God. This word of God mixes with our total personality, influencing its three components: body, soul and spirit. We have here an indication that even Jesus knew that we are composed of body, soul, and spirit, in contrast to the teaching of Aristotle and his followers, who taught that we are composed only of body and soul.
Fourth, Jesus was not referring to the rise of an organization or of Christianity. He said that the kingdom of God is within us. Therefore, these parables refer to the action of the Kingdom within us. The kingdom grows within us, so that others can find refuge through our love for them.
In summary then we can say that these parables of the mustard seed and the yeast refer to the seed of the Kingdom of God that is the word of God planted in our heart and grows within us and influences our entire personality, transforming our body. , soul. and spirit.
The Kingdom of God is like the mustard seed, a growing reality that makes us bigger and bigger in the eyes of God and is like an unnoticed but effective transforming agent that makes us like God in our whole being: body , soul and spirit. .