Hi everyone. Welcome back to Logical Bible Study, where we take an in-depth look at the scriptures

of the day. So if you go to Mass today, you would hear from Luke chapter 13 versus 18 to 21.

So as always, we'll read the passage and then we'll have a go at doing an exegesis verse by verse of the text.

What does it mean? What does the scholarship tell us about this? How can we understand this passage in a coherent, faithful way?

So Luke chapter 13 versus 18 to 21.

Jesus said, what is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? It is like a mustard

seed which a man took and threw into his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its

branches. And another thing he said, what shall I compare the kingdom of God with? It is like the yeast,

a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was all leavened through.

So that's our reading today. It's a short one. What's the context? So Jesus is moving from Galilee to Judea

and it's getting towards the final phase of his ministry and

he's speaking to the crowds and doing healings along the way.

Now just before this he has been in a synagogue on the Sabbath and he healings along the way. Now, just before this, he has been in a synagogue

on the Sabbath, and he's just healed a woman on the Sabbath. So that has all just happened. And now

here, he's going to give two short parables to the crowds about the kingdom of God. So he's going to

give the parable of the mustard seed, a very well-known one, and then the parable

of the yeast.

Now it's possible that he deliberately gives these parables straight after the healing of the

woman as some sort of continuation of the theme of the arrival of the kingdom of God.

So when he healed the woman, that could certainly be seen as Jesus bringing God's kingdom and overturning

the reign of Satan. That's sort of how that particular story is understood. And then it leads

straight into what we have today, which is Jesus telling us more about the kingdom of God,

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