Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 13:33

"Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened." — Matthew 13:33 (ASV)

The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven. This parable describes the influence of Christ's Church on the world, but in a different way than the parable of the Mustard Seed. In that parable, the growth was outward, measured by the Church's expansion and missionary efforts; here, the influence is from within. The “leaven” is commonly a symbol of malice and wickedness, as in the Passover ritual (1 Corinthians 5:8), causing a kind of decay in the flour it is mixed with. Yet in this teaching, which is not confined by traditional symbolism, leaven becomes a type of influence for good as well as for evil. It can turn the flour into human food—a symbolism traceable to the leavened loaves offered on the day of Pentecost (Leviticus 23:17). It can permeate the customs, feelings, and opinions of non-Christian societies until they become blessings to humanity, not curses. We can trace the working of this leaven in the new, gradually diffused attitudes of Christendom regarding slavery, prostitution, and gladiatorial games, and in the new reverence for childhood and womanhood, for the poor and the sick.

Turning to the details of the parable, we are free (as an application, if not a direct interpretation) to see the woman—just as in the parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8)—as a representative of divine Wisdom at work in the history of the world, or of the Church of Christ embodying that wisdom. The three measures of meal likewise allow for many interpretations, and we cannot say with certainty which one was most likely intended. The descendants of Noah's three sons; the Jew, the Greek, and the Barbarian, representing the whole human race; or the body, soul, and spirit, as the three parts of human nature that the new truth is to permeate and purify—all are, in this sense, equally legitimate applications.