Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 Dear Partner in Preaching, There’s something sneaky about the parables we are reading this week. And I mean that quite literally – in each parable (except perhaps the last), there seems to be some element of surprise or stealth. A quick overview to explain what I mean: While most of us grew up reading the parable of the mustard seed somewhat simplistically – “big things often have small beginnings” – the truth is that mustard was a weed, uncontrollable, invasive, undesirable. So different from our cultural associations, leaven in the biblical world was a sign of impurity, and kneading it into the flour...