I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 13-14.

    I usually focus on Jesus’ parables when I read this passage, but today I want to focus on Jesus’ explanation of why He taught with parables. There are actually two parts to that explanation, one explicit and one which I only just realized (although thinking about it, I believe that I have heard it touched upon before). Jesus tells us that He taught in parables because so many people look, but do not see, and hear, but do not listen. And that leads me to the part I just realized. Jesus did not teach in parables to hide the truth He was teaching. He spoke in parables because even the people who were not really listening would often remember the parable. Then later when things had happened in their life which made them receptive to His message, the Holy Spirit could use the parable to reveal God’s truth to them.
    When Jesus talked about looking but not seeing, and hearing but not listening, He was making a comment about how we, all too often, go through life. We look at the people around us, but we do not see what they are going through. We hear what they say, but we do not listen to what they mean. Oh yes, when Jesus said this He was talking about seeing what God is doing and listening to what God is saying, but if we truly see what God is doing and listen to what He is saying we will do the same for the people around us. The reverse is also true. The less we see what the people around us are going through and listen to what they mean, the less we will be able to see what God is doing or understand what He is saying.

    At the beginning I kind of implied that I was not going to talk about the parables today. However, I want to touch upon the parable of the yeast. Jesus’ point was that a very small amount of an ingredient, if it is the right ingredient, can have a large impact on how a recipe turns out. A typical bread recipe calls for 1/4 ounce of yeast to 6 cups of flower. Six cups of flour weigh more than 25 ounces, which is more than 100 times the amount of yeast. I make mead (which is essentially honey wine). In the process, only a small amount of yeast is necessary to ferment a large amount of liquid. The thing is that in many ways the hardest part of making mead is keeping everything clean, because it takes only a small amount of bacteria to ruin the batch. So, the lesson here is that a small number of people can make a huge difference in society for good or bad.
    So, if we strive to make a difference in society, and Jesus teaches that we should, how do we make sure that we make a positive difference and not a negative one? The account of what Peter did when Jesus walked on the water gives us the answer (although not from within the metaphor of yeast). When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he wanted to do the same in order to go to Jesus. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus he was able to walk on the water. As soon as he began to look at other things, he began to sink. As soon as he lost his focus on going to where Jesus was, he stopped being able to walk on water. As soon as we stop focusing on Jesus and doing what He wants us to do, we stop being a positive influence on those around us.