02.03 The leaven

III. THE LEAVEN

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened”

(S. Mat 13:33). The parable of the mustard seed illustrates the outward signs of the life of the Kingdom; that of the leaven, the method of its inward working. Its influence passes always from within, outward. The leaven contains within itself hidden qualities of expansion and penetration; as soon as it is lodged within the foreign substance, these qualities at once operate, till the whole is leavened. Thus the life of the Kingdom, in the soul or in the world, possesses an inward vitality and energy which at once and with increasing force diffuse their influence.

TAGS: [Parables]