Several modern translators suggest that the woman “mixed,” rather than “hid” the leaven in the meal. Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, emphasizes that in the original Greek, the woman indeed “took” and “hid” the leaven.
Dr. Levine also affirms that the mention of leaven in the gospels can sometimes refer to a pernicious effect rather than a wholesome one, though her own interpretation proposes that in this parable, Jesus presents the leaven as a blessing. She further emphasizes the “enormous yield that would result from forty to sixty pounds of flour.” (Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, Harper Collins, New York City, 2014, p.136)
Truth be told, when I first learned that “three measures of flour” would be far, far more—ridiculously more--than three portions of the one-cup measure that was so often at hand on my mother’s kitchen counter, my response was to discount the parable (could a scribe have made a mistake?) and to feel embarrassed (how could I preach anything worthwhile about such an impossible occurrence?).
This parable felt “too strange” for me. Many times I ran from the strangeness. I wasn’t yet ready to hear it.
Now I understand that I was running from the strangeness of Jesus, in particular, from his strange understandings of God.
No wonder Jesus “hid” his message in parables. He could speak the parables out loud, even in the presence of a crowd, and people who were not ready to grapple with his prophetic insight could easily miss it, or run from it.
At the same time, any who had “ears to hear," as Jesus often put it, could catch on to what he was saying.
Perhaps this parable speaks, writes Dr. Levine, “to the importance of extravagance and generosity. Perhaps it suggests we adapt our lives in light of the kingdom and do something that might seem foolish or wasteful to people on the outside.” (p. 136)
The question I'm playing with today is: If we let this parable work in us, might we do something foolish or wasteful… or strange, like God? Perhaps we might become “too liberating” or “too loving," like Jesus?
More tomorrow!!
Previous entries in this week's series, "Hot Summer Reading: The Parables We Need Right Now!!!" can be found by clicking on Earlier Reflections link at the top of this page.