He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
How could the kingdom of heaven be like yeast? Yes, we all appreciate the homey metaphor, and props to Jesus for getting a woman into the picture, but what might yeast have to do with the realm of God? Well, let’s do some wondering about yeast – and some pondering between paragraphs.
Yeast, like the mustard seed, is a tiny thing that generates a large outcome.
Yeast needs to be activated by liquid and a sweetening agent of some sort, sugar or honey. So there is interdependence, as there is in the community of God. Once yeast is added to those other agents, it soon begins to bubble and move – we call that proofing. If the yeast is worn out, it won’t come to life, but if there is any life there, a little sweetness and water will bring it out. Sound like anyone you know?
Yeast is a catalyst. Just as it cannot achieve its “yeastiness” by itself, it helps other ingredients to become a whole new creation, a loaf. The woman in the story adds it to three measures of flour. Hmmm – I see some parallels to community in Christ, the way different elements combine to achieve a greater result. And why three? What do you see?
Yeast works from the inside out. You can’t just sprinkle it on top and hope it “takes.” You must knead it all through, working it into every part of the dough – just as our formation as Christ followers needs to become internal and organic, not just surface, one-hour-a-week-on-Sundays.
And the dough goes though some turmoil in the kneading process, as the baker smooths out air pockets and gets all the ingredients evenly distributed for a nice, fine grain. Sometimes, turmoil is how the leaven of the Holy Spirit gets worked all through us. Has that happened in your life?
And then there’s the result – the bread. At the point at which the loaf is baked, the yeast has ceased to be. It has become one with the dough, one with the loaf. Didn’t Jesus say, “whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it?” Didn’t Paul write, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me?“ And the loaf itself cannot fulfillt its destiny unless it is broken and given away. That’s what we enact in Eucharist – a making whole of Christ's Body, a re-membering, and then a breaking apart again to feed the world.
Yeast as the Life of God works as a metaphor in several ways. We can see it as the Spirit’s presence in us, a seemingly indiscernible force that heals and transforms and empowers us from within, making us finest bread. AND, turning the parable another way, we can see ourselves as the yeast Jesus is talking about, leaven that works through the dough of the communities in which we find ourselves, sacred and secular, to bring life and air, to work transformation and healing.
How are you experiencing the Spirit of God as yeast in your heart, mind, spirit? In your life?
How do you find yourself serving as leaven in the world around you? Are you willing to offer yourself in a particular context? That’s a good prayer for today.
Without yeast, we would have no risen bread, a tragedy to those of us who love bread. Without the Yeast of Christ, we could not become Risen Bread – a tragedy for a world in need of resurrection life.
Note of Celebration: Water Daily is seven years old today! I’m so grateful for this far-flung community of prayerful readers. Who else might be blessed by this? Pass it along and invite a friend to subscribe.
No comments:
Post a Comment