A Little Yeast

I thought that as a way of understanding some of the issues our community faces and how we try to address these through our worship services I would upload the weekly sermon. By most standards these are short reflections because they are translated and therefore take twice as long to deliver.

This is a series of sermons I will be giving on Parables of Jesus from the material in Amy Jill-Levine's book, Short Stories by Jesus. Harper One, 2014.

A Little Yeast, delivered September 24, 2017, Texts: Matthew 13:33-35; 16:5-12; Genesis 18

Yeast. This is the essential ingredient in bread that allows it to rise and grow. To transform from a tough dough to a light, delicious bread. The yeast we use now is a simple substance in a packet. But the yeast used in Jesus’ time would have been a substance of flour and water that was mixed and let to sit for a while. And before this was added to flour, part of it would be pulled out and set aside for future use. Jesus told a story describing very familiar actions of a woman combining yeast and bread. What seems to be a simple story at first, but is filled with meaning if we let it sit and work inside us.

Jesus often used simple images and stories in his teaching. Stories that we call, “parables”. Over the next few weeks I would like to take a look at some of these parables to see what Jesus was trying to tell his disciples and what God is trying to tell us today. 

Jesus says that the woman takes the yeast and adds it to the flour. The verb describing her action is often translated as mixing, which is what one usually does with yeast. But here Jesus uses the word, “to hide”. So the woman “hides” yeast in the dough. This idea of things hidden is picked up in the next verse, which quotes Psalm 78 that we read together about things that were hidden since the beginning of the world being spoken in parables. So what is it that is hidden? And why does she hide it? And why does Jesus speak in parables about things that were hidden?

When we read this short parable about yeast and flour, we should think about other uses of yeast and bread in the Bible, a few of which we read today. In one, Jesus gives a warning to his disciples to “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6), which he later explains is their teaching. Why does Jesus compare their teaching to yeast? Isn’t it the case that the things we believe about ourselves, or others, or God, can slowly grow and affect our lives in different ways? Yeast can be good, but if there is some of it that is bad it can affect the whole dough. 

The Jewish people have a ritual before their feast of Passover of cleaning out all yeast from their homes. By removing all the yeast, they are removing any bad yeast from the home. Likewise, Jews reflect on the influences in their lives and try to remove the bad ones. I think throughout our lives we need this constant act of reflection and removal of bad yeast, or bad influences, so that we can make room for God to do new things. I think this is especially important when we have changes in how we understand God, or when our systems of belief change. In these times, we need to be willing to throw out the yeast so that we can make room for something new. Earlier in Matthew 9:17, Jesus said, “Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

But once old yeast is thrown out and replaced, it does not immediately fill the dough. No, yeast takes time to rise and work through a dough, in the same way that our faith, when it faces changes, takes time to develop. In Genesis 18 we read another story where three measures of flour were used to bake bread for strangers. In this story, God appears before Abraham’s tent and Abraham immediately extends hospitality and offers food. After the meal, the message God shares with Abraham is that Sarah, his wife, will have a son even in her old age. But a child is not an immediate blessing. No, we all know that a baby takes time to develop in its mother’s womb. Just like yeast in dough, or a baby in the womb, our faith starts small, but as it is fed by God through reading God’s Word, prayer, and gathering together as a community, our faith grows.

But what is the purpose of our faith? Is it only a personal thing between us and God? Do the woman in the parable, or Abraham and Sarah, only make bread for themselves? We may miss the subtlety of it in the reading and translation, but the amount of flour used in both stories makes much more bread than for one person. The yeast works through an amount of dough that is enough to feed many people. When Jesus warns the disciples, he reminds them of the miraculous feedings where thousands of people were fed with extra food left over. The gospel and our faith are to be shared with other people. Our faith should fill us with a trust that God is good and will provide for our needs, like Jesus providing for the thousands of hungry people, so that we can live generously. Throughout the Gospels a central idea and image of the kingdom of God is that of feasting and abundance. When our faith is nurtured through prayer and study of God’s Word, it grows like yeast working through a large amount of dough, that keeps growing and growing and pushing to be shared. Our faith when lived out through love towards our neighbor, causes us to live with generosity and awareness of the needs of others, so that all may be fed. And in doing so, this becomes an answer to the prayer, “Lord, Give us our daily bread.” Amen.