This Sunday, we will continue in Matthew 13 with Jesus’ short but strange parable of the yeast hidden in the dough. It sounds cozy at first, maybe even like something from The Great British Baking Show, but Jesus’ parables rarely stay cozy for long.

Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman hid in three measures of flour until all of it was leavened. The good news is that the kingdom does not wait for us to become impressive before it gets to work. Grace is already hidden in the lump. Christ is already mixed into the world. The Spirit is already breathing life into places that still look heavy, stubborn, and resistant.

So maybe the good news this Sunday is that we are more like dough than we thought.