Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’

And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I took the load of bread out of the oven. It smelt wonderful, but it hadn't risen much and on eating it I found it disappointing. What had gone wrong? I had used 550g of strong white flour, dried yeast, salt, 40g of soft butter and a little water as the recipe demanded. Then I checked the date on the box of yeast. It was out of date! It was lucky the bread had managed to do anything!

Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to yeast. The Greek phrase used says the yeast was actually 'hid in' the flour. The message of the Gospel has to be placed in minds and hearts, like yeast in flour where it can work secretly within a person. But sometimes it becomes stale - perhaps we hear about God as a child, but when our busy teenage life gets in the way we push Him away. It may be years before we respond to another such experience and respond to God's loving call.

When we allow God's love to grow within us and to fill our hearts, we too become responsible for taking the Gospel message to others - for spreading God's yeast! We are all responsible for spreading the Kingdom. The next time someone tells you about an illness or death perhaps you could say "I'll keep you in my prayers!" Little drops of fresh 'yeast' will grow if encouraged in our prayers.

Father-God,
Your Son Jesus taught us
that the Your Kingdom grows quietly.
Thank You for choosing us to spread Your word,
and help us to learn ways of passing on the
message of Your love
to the people we know,
so that the Kingdom will grow and multiply.
Amen.