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By Joshila Philip, India National Ministry Team
Secunderabad, Telangana, India
Recently, when we visited our daughter in the U.S., she introduced us to sourdough bread. (Yes! You read that right; I didn’t know about it before.) She said it was a healthier option than the typical white bread. Later, I learned from “Google university” about the sourdough method. Sourdough is a traditional method of making bread that uses a live fermented culture of flour and water as the leavening agent. It’s known as the sourdough “starter.” I also learned that there are some bakeries across the world making sourdough with starters that have been passed down over centuries, going back generations!
Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” Matthew 13:33 NKJV
The parable of leaven is one of the shortest parables told by Jesus. It’s followed by another short one, the parable of mustard seed. In both the parables, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to small things, a mustard seed and a leavening agent. A very small portion of leavening agent can leaven a large quantity of flour. While the mustard seed’s growth is visible in the plant, leaven’s action is more hidden, helping the dough increase invisibly. Leaven begins as a small portion, but the entire dough is transformed into the very nature of leaven.
Likewise, the kingdom of heaven and the characteristics of the kingdom culture — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control — permeate our surroundings. Kingdom culture spreads to our family, workplace, congregation, and neighbourhood. The kingdom of heaven grows till all humanity has seen it, felt it, or experienced it. The kingdom of heaven and its culture is like yeast — at times seemingly invisible, yet it permeates the whole world. Evil, in all its ugliness, cannot stop it.
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