S3 111: A Farmer and a Woman
The Parables of a Mustard Seed and Yeast [31:04]
Episode Length: 31:04
Published Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2019 01:00:00 -0700
Session 3
About this episode:
Marty Solomon and Brent Billings look at two intimately connected parables in the stories of a crazy farmer and his mustard seed, and a credulous woman and her baked goods.
The Parable of the Leaven — LeAnn Dent, Campus Christian Fellowship
Sermons — Campus Christian Fellowship, Truman State University
Notes
*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.
BEMA Episode 111: A Farmer and a Woman - Study Notes
Title & Source Summary
Episode: 111 - A Farmer and a Woman
Hosts: Marty Solomon and Brent Billings
Focus: Matthew 13:31-33, Ezekiel 17:22-24, Genesis 18 (Sarah and the visitors)
This episode applies the PaRDeS hermeneutical framework (introduced in the previous episode) to two brief but intimately connected parables: the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Leaven. Through careful examination of cultural context and Old Testament connections, the hosts reveal how Jesus uses counterintuitive imagery to teach that the Kingdom of Heaven begins small but grows unstoppably to bless all nations, particularly outsiders and those considered unworthy by religious society.
Key Takeaways
- The Kingdom of Heaven operates on a three-part eschatology, beginning small rather than arriving with dramatic force
- Both parables use culturally shocking imagery: mustard seed was considered a toxic weed, and leaven typically represented sin in Jewish thought
- The four characteristics of God’s Kingdom revealed in these parables: small beginnings, counterintuitive nature, unstoppable growth, and blessing to outsiders
- Jesus’s remez (hint) points to Ezekiel 17 in the mustard seed parable and to Sarah’s hospitality in Genesis 18 for the leaven parable
- The drash (wisdom/application) centers on radical hospitality toward foreigners, Gentiles, and the mamzer (outsiders)
- Matthew’s Gospel agenda emphasizes inclusion of those outside traditional religious boundaries
- Parables hide truth from those unwilling to change while revealing it to those genuinely seeking the Kingdom
- Small acts of radical hospitality can transform the world despite appearing insignificant
Main Concepts & Theories
The PaRDeS Method Applied
The hosts demonstrate the four-level Jewish hermeneutical approach:
P’shat (Surface Level): The literal, plain meaning of the text. For the mustard seed: it’s small, grows large, provides shelter. For the leaven: a small amount affects a large batch of dough.
Remez (Hint): The reference pointing back to Old Testament scripture. Identifying the remez requires noticing what seems “off” or unnecessary in the text. In the mustard seed parable, the phrase “birds come and perch in its branches” serves as the remez pointing to Ezekiel 17. In the leaven parable, “three measures” (60 pounds) of flour points to Sarah baking bread in Genesis 18.
Drash (Wisdom/Application): The interpretive insight derived from connecting the remez to its Old Testament context. Both parables teach that God’s Kingdom grows from small, counterintuitive acts of hospitality and blessing toward outsiders.
Sod (Secret/Mystery): Wisdom received directly from God through personal revelation. The hosts don’t explicitly develop this level for these parables, acknowledging it comes through individual spiritual insight.
Kingdom of Heaven as Small and Counterintuitive
Jesus presents a radical departure from expected messianic imagery. Rather than depicting the Kingdom as arriving with overwhelming force (two-part eschatology), he describes a three-part eschatology where the Kingdom begins imperceptibly small. The mustard seed was “the smallest of all seeds,” and yeast represents just a tiny amount affecting large quantities of dough.
The counterintuitive nature is emphasized through Jesus’s choice of culturally problematic imagery. Mustard plants were considered toxic weeds that farmers would never intentionally plant. Once established, mustard spreads uncontrollably through extensive root systems, making it nearly impossible to eradicate. Listeners would have laughed at the idea of someone planting mustard seed deliberately.
Similarly, leaven (yeast) consistently represented sin and corruption in Jewish religious thought. During Passover, Jewish families meticulously removed all leaven from their homes. God commanded that sacrifices be offered with unleavened bread. For Jesus to compare the Kingdom of Heaven to leaven would have been shocking and provocative.
The Unstoppable Nature of God’s Kingdom
Both metaphors emphasize inevitability. Mustard, once planted, cannot be stopped regardless of efforts to burn, poison, chop, or dig it up. Yeast, once mixed into dough, cannot be removed or reversed. This unstoppability reflects the certain advancement of God’s purposes despite apparent opposition or obstacles.
The hosts note that this characteristic addresses Jewish expectations. The Kingdom may start small and seem insignificant, but its growth is guaranteed by God’s power, not human effort.
Blessing to the Nations (The Birds in the Branches)
The phrase “birds come and perch in its branches” serves as the crucial remez connecting to Ezekiel 17:22-24. In Ezekiel’s prophetic vision, God promises to take Israel (represented as a tree) from exile and replant it. This tree will grow so large that “birds of every kind will nest in it.”
Throughout Ezekiel, animals represent nations. Fish, birds, and beasts consistently symbolize Gentile peoples, while the tree represents Israel. The promise is that God’s people will finally fulfill their original Abrahamic calling: to be a blessing to all nations.
Ezekiel 17:24 declares, “All the trees of the forest will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall.” This connects to Jesus’s botanically impossible claim that a mustard bush becomes a tree. Ezekiel prophesied that God makes the low grow tall, performing counterintuitive reversals.
Jesus’s application is clear: the Kingdom of Heaven exists to bless outsiders, foreigners, and those excluded from religious society. The disciples, knowing their scriptures, should immediately recognize that Kingdom living means generosity and love toward Gentiles and the marginalized.
The Leaven Parable and Sarah’s Radical Hospitality
The leaven parable parallels the mustard seed exactly but adds emphasis through its connection to Genesis 18. When Jesus (through Matthew) mentions “three measures” (60 pounds) of flour, Jewish listeners would immediately recall Sarah preparing bread for three mysterious visitors.
Abraham and Sarah demonstrated radical hospitality to strangers whose identity they didn’t know. They prepared an elaborate feast, with Sarah baking an extraordinary amount of bread. Rabbinic interpretation considered this a miracle, teaching that God supernaturally blesses radical acts of hospitality.
This story is deliberately contrasted in Genesis with the next narrative: Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction. The same visitors who received generous hospitality from Abraham were violently rejected by Sodom. The message is unmistakable: radical hospitality to strangers reflects Kingdom values, while inhospitality toward outsiders invites judgment.
The woman in Jesus’s parable acts like Sarah, taking a small amount of leaven and incorporating it into a massive quantity of flour (enough to feed many people, not just her household). This abundance for blessing others mirrors the Kingdom’s outward-focused nature.
Matthew’s Agenda: The Mamzer
Throughout the discussion, the hosts reference “Matthew’s agenda” regarding the mamzer (Hebrew term for illegitimate child or outsider). Matthew’s Gospel consistently emphasizes Jesus’s mission to include those excluded by religious society: tax collectors, sinners, Gentiles, women, the ceremonially unclean.
These parables fit Matthew’s editorial purpose perfectly. They teach that the Kingdom’s nature is to spread blessing to those outside traditional boundaries. Anyone who views God’s Kingdom as existing primarily for the religious elite misunderstands its fundamental character.
Parables as Both Revealing and Concealing
Building on previous episodes about the Parable of the Sower, the hosts explain why Jesus taught in parables. Parables simultaneously reveal truth to seekers while concealing it from the unwilling.
Understanding these parables requires change: treating Romans differently, welcoming foreigners, sharing wealth with outsiders. Many religious people weren’t interested in this transformation. Parables ensure that “only people that are truly trying to dig and to find” will discover and be transformed by Kingdom teaching.
Those with “ears to hear” will notice the remez (the unusual phrase about birds or the specific measurement of flour), search the scriptures, make the connection, and embrace the life-altering drash. Others will hear a simple story about farming or baking and miss the revolutionary message entirely.
Jesus and Ezekiel
Marty offers a personal theory that while Jesus quotes Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Isaiah most frequently in direct quotations, he references Ezekiel more than any other prophet through remez. This would make sense if Jesus’s rabbi was an Essene, since the Essenes focused intensely on Ezekiel because of its interpretive difficulty.
This observation invites listeners to study Ezekiel more carefully to discover additional layers in Jesus’s teaching, though the hosts acknowledge Ezekiel is challenging material.
Examples & Applications
Modern “Toxic Weeds” and the Kingdom
Just as mustard was seen as an undesirable, invasive plant, Kingdom values often appear undesirable to worldly thinking. Practices like sacrificial giving, loving enemies, prioritizing the marginalized, and practicing radical hospitality may seem foolish or even harmful to established religious or cultural systems. Yet these “toxic” Kingdom practices spread irresistibly and transform everything they touch.
Small Acts, Unstoppable Impact
The parables challenge the human tendency to seek dramatic, visible impact. Instead, Jesus validates small, seemingly insignificant acts: sharing a meal with a stranger, showing kindness to someone different, offering hospitality to the unwelcome. Like yeast in dough or a tiny seed in soil, these acts initiate unstoppable transformation.
A contemporary application might be: befriending a refugee family, inviting a marginalized person to dinner, or using resources to bless those outside your community. These appear small but participate in God’s unstoppable Kingdom work.
The Time Required for PaRDeS Study
The hosts repeatedly emphasize that discovering the remez and developing the drash takes time. While they compress the process for podcast purposes, listeners shouldn’t expect instant results. Sometimes finding connections takes minutes; sometimes days, weeks, or years.
This models a patient, community-oriented approach to scripture study. Discussion groups become essential because different people make different connections. Even teachers learn from young, “untrained” students who notice connections others missed.
Radical Hospitality in Practice
Sarah’s example provides concrete application: prepare more than necessary, welcome strangers without knowing their identity or worthiness, and trust God to multiply the impact. The 60 pounds of flour represents abundance oriented toward blessing others, not scarcity thinking or hoarding resources.
Modern application involves practicing hospitality that seems excessive or risky: inviting people into your home who are different from you, sharing meals across cultural or religious boundaries, offering resources to those who can’t repay you.
Warning Against Over-Systematizing
The hosts include important caveats about not over-mechanizing interpretive approaches. While they present PaRDeS in systematic form for teaching purposes, actual practice requires flexibility. “There is an exception to every rule.” The analogy to photo editing is helpful: you must push saturation to extremes to understand the proper middle ground.
This warns against rigid application of interpretive techniques or symbolic meanings. Numbers, first mentions, and other patterns provide useful tools but can be taken too far.
Potential Areas for Further Exploration
Comprehensive Study of Ezekiel
Given Marty’s observation about Jesus’s frequent use of Ezekiel remezim, a thorough study of Ezekiel would likely illuminate many Gospel passages. Brent suggests memorizing portions of Ezekiel, acknowledging it’s challenging material but potentially rewarding.
Areas to explore:
- Ezekiel’s use of animal imagery for nations
- Fishermen imagery in Ezekiel 47 connecting to Jesus calling fishers of men
- The relationship between Ezekiel’s temple vision and Jesus’s temple teachings
- Ezekiel’s oracles against nations and Jesus’s mission to Gentiles
Three-Part vs. Two-Part Eschatology
The hosts reference this distinction multiple times but don’t fully develop it. Further study could explore:
- How two-part eschatology influenced Jewish messianic expectations in the Second Temple period
- How three-part eschatology changes understanding of the Kingdom’s present reality
- Implications for how believers should live during the “middle” period
- Other Gospel parables that emphasize gradual Kingdom growth
Abraham and Lot Hospitality Contrast
While the hosts mention the Sodom and Gomorrah story as contrast to Abraham’s hospitality, deeper exploration of Genesis 18-19 could reveal:
- The specific nature of Sodom’s sin as inhospitality (challenging common interpretations)
- How Lot’s compromised hospitality (offering his daughters) differs from Abraham’s full-hearted welcome
- The role of the angels/visitors in testing hospitality
- Connections to Jesus’s teaching about welcoming strangers as welcoming God
The Essenes and Jesus’s Training
Marty’s theory about Jesus having an Essene rabbi deserves further investigation:
- Archaeological and textual evidence about Essene interpretive practices
- Dead Sea Scrolls’ treatment of Ezekiel
- Other Gospel passages that might reflect Essene influence
- How this theory fits with Jesus’s differences from Essene theology (inclusion vs. separation)
Leaven Symbolism Throughout Scripture
The consistent use of leaven as negative symbolism creates interpretive tension when Jesus uses it positively:
- Exodus and Leviticus regulations about unleavened bread
- Paul’s use of leaven metaphors in 1 Corinthians
- How Jesus’s positive use subverts or reframes the traditional symbol
- Whether this connects to Jesus declaring all foods clean
Matthew’s Complete Mamzer Agenda
The hosts reference Matthew’s focus on outsiders repeatedly. A comprehensive study could trace:
- Every instance of outsiders, tax collectors, sinners, and Gentiles in Matthew
- Matthew’s unique genealogy including women and foreigners
- The Great Commission’s emphasis on “all nations”
- How Matthew’s own background as a tax collector influences his editorial choices
The Purpose and Function of Parables
Building on the Parable of the Sower, explore:
- Old Testament precedents for teaching in parables
- How parables function differently than direct teaching
- The relationship between understanding parables and willingness to change
- Whether modern preaching should incorporate more parabolic teaching
Mustard Plant Botany and Ancient Agriculture
Understanding the historical and botanical context more fully:
- The two types of mustard plants mentioned (bush vs. tree)
- Ancient agricultural practices regarding weeds and crop management
- Whether Jesus’s botanical “error” was deliberate or reflects different ancient classification
- Regional variations in mustard plants across ancient Israel
Comprehension Questions
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What are the four levels of PaRDeS, and how did the hosts apply each level to the Parable of the Mustard Seed? Provide specific examples from the episode of how each level revealed different insights.
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Why would Jesus’s original audience have found both the mustard seed and leaven imagery shocking or counterintuitive? What did mustard seed and leaven typically represent in their cultural and religious context?
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Explain the remez in the Parable of the Mustard Seed. What phrase alerts the careful listener to an Old Testament reference, what passage does it reference, and how does that connection inform the parable’s meaning?
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What are the four characteristics of the Kingdom of Heaven revealed through both parables? How does each characteristic challenge common expectations about how God’s Kingdom operates?
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How does the Parable of the Leaven connect to the story of Sarah in Genesis 18, and what does this connection teach about the Kingdom of Heaven’s relationship to outsiders? Include the significance of the “three measures” or 60 pounds of flour.
Personalized Summary
These two brief parables pack enormous theological weight when examined through Jewish hermeneutical lenses. By choosing culturally shocking imagery—toxic weeds and corrupting leaven—Jesus immediately signals that Kingdom thinking requires radical reorientation. The parables aren’t about botanical facts or baking techniques; they’re about God’s surprising methodology for redeeming the world.
The Kingdom doesn’t arrive as expected religious triumph. Instead, it begins with seemingly insignificant acts: a tiny seed planted, a pinch of yeast mixed in, a meal shared with strangers. These small gestures, counterintuitive and even offensive to religious sensibilities, prove unstoppable. They spread through underground root systems and invisible fermentation processes, transforming everything they touch.
The genius of Jesus’s remezim becomes clear when we connect the dots to Ezekiel’s vision and Sarah’s hospitality. Both Old Testament passages emphasize blessing outsiders, welcoming foreigners, and trusting God to multiply generous acts beyond natural explanation. The birds nesting in branches and the abundance of bread point to the same truth: God’s Kingdom exists to bless those outside the religious establishment, the Gentiles, the marginalized, the mamzer.
This teaching method itself reflects Kingdom values. Parables reward diligent seekers while allowing the self-satisfied to remain comfortable in their misunderstanding. Those willing to dig, question, search scriptures, and embrace uncomfortable truth discover life-transforming wisdom. Those who want a Kingdom that validates their existing prejudices and practices hear only simple farming and cooking stories.
For Matthew’s audience—and for contemporary readers—the challenge remains constant: Will we recognize that the Kingdom grows through radical hospitality to outsiders, or will we keep trying to make it about blessing ourselves and those already inside our boundaries? The mustard seed keeps spreading. The leaven keeps working through the dough. The question is whether we’ll participate in that unstoppable, counterintuitive, world-blessing work or resist it.
Note: This episode particularly demonstrates the value of community study and patient scripture investigation. The PaRDeS method isn’t a mechanical formula but a practiced art that deepens over time and benefits from diverse perspectives. The hosts model both confidence in interpretive methods and appropriate humility, acknowledging that insights sometimes take years to develop and can come from unexpected sources.
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