The Hidden Leaven

Jesus says of the kingdom of God, “It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.”

Just like the mustard seed that is hidden in the earth, the leaven is hidden in “three measures of meal.”  God’s kingdom is hidden, but becomes visible by its effects.  The dough rises, though we don’t see the leaven itself once it is hidden in the meal.  Our own experience of God is often that he is hidden, yet we can still see the effect he has on our lives, and feel the peace and joy of His presence.

When the leaven is heated up, it creates bubbles of carbon dioxide, which make the dough rise.  God does something similar in our own lives.  He expands our interiors and makes us free.  We catch glimpses of the vast horizons of the Spirit of God.  He opens us up by helping us to let go of attachments until we are empty inside, so that we can be filled by God’s love.

The meal can be considered the stuff that God works with.  He works with our souls and our bodies, with our habits and our passions.  He takes all of this, along with our flaws and even our sins, and leavens it, raising it up toward heaven.  

The mustard seed was sown in the garden by a man, and the leaven is hidden in the meal by a woman.  The woman hiding the leaven is just like Mary, who hid Jesus in her womb for nine months; and the man sowing the seed is just like Jesus, who, as the new Adam, tends the gardens of our souls.