When we read parables we should look for Jesus to surprise us. If your first reading elicits only a little "hmmm," investigate deeper. In the case of today's parable one surprise is relatively obvious. The second is... well... hidden.Jesus grabs our attention with 60 pounds of flour! Maybe we expect that of the king's baker. But Jesus doesn't say a baker, he says a woman. How many women have bowls big enough to mix 60 pounds of flour? That's 12 five pound bags! How long would it take to bake that many loaves in a large modern oven? And the women of Jesus' day had no bread machines. But point of the parable is not the flour, it's the tiny bit of yeast that works its way through, transforming 60 pounds of flour!
Then Jesus says the woman mixed the yeast into the dough. For "mixed" he uses a form of the Greek word krupto which means "hide inside." That hidden yeast works its way unnoticed through the dough. In verse 35, Matthew adds that Jesus opens his mouth in parables to speak things that have been hidden since the creation of the world. Matthew uses another form of the same word.
Lent is about the invisible work of God in our lives. Why should we practice such spiritual disciplines, even if we don't "see" the immediate effects?
