Luke 13:21
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It is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened.”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
THE LESSON, "REPENT OR PERISH," SUGGESTED BY TWO RECENT INCIDENTS, AND ILLUSTRATED BY THE PARABLE OF THE BARREN FIG TREE. (Luk 13:1-9) Galileans--possibly the followers of Judas of Galilee, who, some twenty years before this, taught that Jews should not pay tribute to the Romans, and of whom we learn, from Act 5:37, that he drew after him a multitude of followers, who on his being slain were all dispersed. About this time that party would be at its height, and if Pilate caused this detachment of them to be waylaid and put to death as they were offering their sacrifices at one of the festivals, that would be "mingling their blood with their sacrifices" [GROTIUS, WEBSTER and WILKINSON, but doubted by DE WETTE, MEYER, ALFORD, &c.]. News of this being brought to our Lord, to draw out His views of such, and whether it was not a judgment of Heaven, He simply points them to the practical view of the matter: "These men are not signal examples of divine vengeance, as ye suppose; but every impenitent sinner--ye yourselves, except ye repent--shall be like monuments of the judgment of Heaven, and in a more awful sense." The reference here to the impending destruction of Jerusalem is far from exhausting our Lord's weighty words; they manifestly point to a "perdition" of a more awful kind--future, personal, remediless.
Open source ↗In this chapter we have, I. The good improvement Christ made of a piece of news that was brought him concerning some Galileans, that were lately massacred by Pilate, as they were sacrificing in the temple at Jerusalem (Luk 13:1-5). II. The parable of the fruitless fig-tree, by which we are warned to bring forth fruits meet for that repentance to which he had in the foregoing passage called us (Luk 13:6-9). III. Christ's healing a poor infirm woman on the sabbath day, and justifying himself in it (Luk 13:11-17). IV. A repetition of the parables of the grain of mustard-seed and the leaven (Luk 13:18-22). V. His answer to the question concerning the number of the saved (Luk 13:23-30). VI. The slight he put upon Herod's malice and menaces, and the doom of Jerusalem read (Luk 13:31-35).
Open source ↗13:21 It is like the yeast: Leaven can represent evil (see 12:1; 1 Cor 5:6; Gal 5:9), but here it is a positive image of the permeating, transforming power of the Kingdom.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened.”
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough?
He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.
So let us know— let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.
Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.