The Living Word: A Daily Devotional with Jeff & Dale from The Jenkins Institute

As we conclude our week reflecting on Jesus' short parable in Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:20-21, let us think together briefly about different elements in this parable: the kingdom of heaven or God, the leaven hidden, the three measures of flour, and the leavened bread. Each is significant. We know the kingdom of Heaven is the church with its very precious cornerstone, Jesus Christ (Acts 4:11)....

Context! Context!! Context!!! Despite the negative spiritual connotation of leaven—as a symbol of sin and something to be removed from nearly every grain offering and feast —there were a few exceptions. In the very short parable recorded in Matthew 13:33, found in a chapter full of parables using similes and metaphors for the kingdom of Heaven, Jesus says, “The kingdom of Heaven is like leaven tha...

We have seen how leaven symbolizes corruption and evil, both in the Old and New Testaments. However, is it not interesting that the only sacrifices and remembrance celebrations in which God permitted leavened bread were the peace offering for thanksgiving (Leviticus 7:13; 23:17) and the Feast of Weeks?

Bread used in most Old Testament feasts and sacrifices, as well as in the Lord’s Supper under the New Testament, is unleavened—that is, made without yeast or leaven. When leaven or yeast is used to make bread rise, it ferments and develops an acidic content that causes the bread to rise and become sweeter.

This week, we explore one of Jesus’ short parables, one verse in Matthew 13:33 and two verses in Luke 13:20-21. Matthew records, “He told them another parable. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened’” (Matthew 13:33, ESV). In his parables, Jesus used many illustrations familiar to his listeners. Perhaps none were as clos...

“Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn’” (Matthew 13:30, ESV). “No Justice, No Peace!” We hear this phrase shouted repeatedly by protesters who feel they have been wronged by the powers that be. They are not alone. Everyone wants to receive the justice t...

“So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.’” (Matthew 13:28-29, ESV). Jesus Christ is a patient and loving Savior, and he demonstrates this in his answer to the servants who want to remove the weeds from amongst the wheat. We must remember that the wheat and the weeds represent real...

“But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat” (Matthew 13:25, ESV). Jesus Christ, the One who sows the seeds of the kingdom, has an enemy. We need to know a few things about this enemy. First, he is crafty and deceitful. He secretly sows weeds while the workers sleep. But why does the enemy sow weeds? Just as Jesus is good, the enemy is evil.

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field . . .” (Matthew 13:24). The Parable of the Weeds starts with such promise—a man sowed good seed in his field, and since the seed was good, the harvest should also be good. We learn that the man sowing represents Jesus Christ, and the seed represents His followers in the kingdom. The fact that he sowed good seed does n...

As we discuss this parable, let’s first ask ourselves, “Why did Jesus speak to the people in this fashion?” The apostles wanted to know this also, and Jesus answered by quoting the prophet Isaiah, “This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can ba...

"We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work" (John 9:4, ESV). The man blind from birth in John 9 encountered Jesus doing the amazing works of God. What a life-changing moment it was! From that moment forward, His eyes would see, and his lips would tell the story of Jesus who had opened his eyes. His weren't the only eyes opened t...

When I read this week’s parable, I think about the master’s return for more workers and remember: the call to follow Jesus is for ALL . In the Great Commission, Jesus commands, "Go therefore and make disciples of ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19, ESV). Paul declares in Titus, "For the grace of God has appeare...

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest" (Matthew 9:37-38 ESV). In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, the master makes five trips seeking laborers. His persistence reveals God's profound heart for His work. Do we see with the same eyes as our Master, Jesus? In Matthew 9:35...

When I taught, I reminded students of two crucial elements in Bible study: Content (what is said) and Context (the setting, occasion, and culture). There is much for us to learn when we consider this week's parable of the vineyard workers. We first need to zoom out and observe the surrounding moments that frame this teaching. In Matthew 19, we encounter a rich young man who allows his wealth...

“When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet” (Matthew 21:45-46 ESV). Even though they were seeing Him directly—knowledgeable of His miracles, aware of His fulfillment of prophecy, aware that He is speaking directly to them—the...

“They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”(Matthew 21:41-42, ESV). People in Jamaica have a wonde...

Sometimes we see scenes in courtrooms where a lot of drama unfolds. Some of the saddest scenes involve children. Few scenes are more perplexing than watching heartbroken parents speak of their child’s murder while the killer smirks. Occasionally, a father loses control and leaps at the perpetrator and is restrained by security. To murder someone’s child is one of the worst things humankind can do.

This parable indicates that the vineyard tenants had succumbed to greed and avarice. Matthew 21:37-39 says, “Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” After killing the servants...

This parable features the story of a man who invests in a vineyard that he will lease to tenants. He lays the foundation, builds the necessary structures, and provides the essentials—the land, the stone winepress, the fence, and the tower where watchmen can oversee the whole operation. He has a lot invested. The tenants will “keep” the vineyard, prune the vines, protect the crop, repel thieves and...

The great enemy of true religion is false religion, and perhaps the most insidious form of false religion is a mistaken trust that religious observance can substitute for righteousness. In the pagan world of antiquity, the Greeks and Romans largely divorced worship of their gods from questions of moral good and evil. The gods were to be manipulated by sacrifice and pleased by praise. Christianity...

Everything in this life has an end. Even the gifts God has given us and the work He has assigned us pass away. They find their lasting significance in how they affect the life that never ends. Thus, we receive God’s gifts in this life as a sacred trust, knowing that they are placed in our care but belong to God, and that we must give an account. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of...

By its nature, law creates duty. We must obey the law’s commands. We sometimes mistake grace as though it frees us from duty. Instead, grace deepens duty. “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required” (Luke 12:48, ESV). This is especially true when grace has been extended so that we can serve a nobler purpose than mere compliance with law. Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard describ...

The history of God’s people in the Old Testament is largely a history of failure. In Judges, repeated cycles of rebellion, punishment, and deliverance lead not to grateful obedience but to deeper depravity. Under their kings, the Israelites continue to fail. No king in the history of the northern kingdom of Israel is described as doing what is right, and the southern kingdom of Judah experiences o...

One of the most basic and powerful human desires is the wish to belong, to have someone regard us as their own and thus naturally have a stake in our happiness and care for us as their own. God claims Christians as His own. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are” (1 John 3:1-2, ESV). Peter describes us as “a chosen race, a royal p...