Yeast is a tiny little plant, but very little is needed to make bread dough rise. Yeast is not something that commands dough to rise from outside, but becomes part of the dough, disappears in the dough, working from within to raise the dough. This little bit of yeast changes dough from something heavy and dense into something light, airy and delicious.
Jesus also used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.” (NLT Mt. 13:33)
God’s Reign started small. It involves us integrating ourselves into the dough, disappearing among God’s people. Through us, from within, working secretly, the whole world is transformed into God’s Reign.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta gave a good suggestion about how to be this yeast in the world:
Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.
Let us never think that we are too little or too late. Let us never think that we cannot make a difference. Our world may seem like a hardening and unappetizing lump of dough, but what’s happening in our world, beneath all appearances, is a wonderful transformation. The bread of the world isn’t baked yet. There is still time. There is still reason to believe and to keep doing our little part.
– Blog entry by Sister Terry Walter