Luke 13:20

A woman took some yeast when the church, by the Lord's generosity, secured the energy of love and faith from on high. She hid this in three measures of flour until the whole batch was leavened. She did this when she performed her ministry of …

And again he said, "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God, and what is it like? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until the whole was leavened." A measure called "satum" is a unit …

The Satum is a kind of measure in use in the province of Palestine, holding about a bushel and a half.

Or, by the leaven He speaks of love, which kindles and stirs up the heart; the woman, that is, the Church, hides the leaven of love in three measures, because she bids us love God with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our strength. And this until the whole is leavened, that is, until love moves the whole soul into the perfection of itself, which begins here, but will be completed hereafter.

And again he said,.... That is, Jesus, as the Syriac and Persic versions express it; besides the parable of the grain of mustard seed, that also of the leaven hid in three measures of meal: whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God; either the Gospel of the kingdom, and the mysteries of it; or the church, which is Christ's kingdom; or the grace of God in the heart, which makes meet for the kingdom of glory; the first seems rather to be intended; See Gill on Mat 13:33.

"You expect it will appear great, and will arrive at its perfection all of a sudden; but you are mistaken, it is like a grain of mustard-seed, a little thing, takes up but little room, makes but a little figure, and promises but little; yet, when sown in soil proper to receive it, it waxes a great tree, "

There is a peculiar interest belonging to the two parables contained in these verses. We find them twice delivered by our Lord — and at two distinct periods in His ministry. This fact alone, should make us give the more earnest attention to the lessons which the parables convey. They will be found rich both in prophetic and experimental truths. The parable of the mustard seed — is intended to show the progress of the Gospel in the world. The beginnings of the Gospel were exceedingly small.

It yields more real satisfaction to see in this brief parable just the all-penetrating and assimilating quality of the Gospel, by virtue of which it will yet mould all institutions and tribes of men, and exhibit over the whole earth one "Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ." (See on Re 11:15).

There is a peculiar interest belonging to the two parables contained in these verses. We find them twice delivered by our Lord — and at two distinct periods in His ministry. This fact alone, should make us give the more earnest attention to the lessons which the parables convey. They will be found rich both in prophetic and experimental truths. The parable of the mustard seed — is intended to show the progress of the Gospel in the world. The beginnings of the Gospel were exceedingly small. "It is like a mustard seed — which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a great tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches." It was a religion which seemed at first so feeble, and helpless, and powerless — that it could not live. Its first founder was One who was poor in this world, and ended His life by dying the death of a criminal on the cross. Its first adherents were a little company, whose number probably did not exceed a thousand when the Lord Jesus left the world. Its first preachers were a few fishermen and publicans — who were, most of them, unlearned and ignorant men. Its first starting point was a despised corner of the earth, called Judea — a petty tributary province of the vast empire of Rome. Its first doctrine was eminently calculated to call forth the enmity of the natural heart. Christ crucified was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness. Its first movements brought down persecution from all quarters on its adherents. Pharisees and Sadducees, Jews and Gentiles, ignorant idolaters and self-conceited philosophers — all agreed in hating and opposing Christianity. It was a sect everywhere spoken against. These are no empty assertions. They are simple historic facts, which no one can deny.