Those of you who bake will understand this concept quite easily. Using leavening, or yeast, is essential if you wish your product—be it bread, muffins, etc.—to rise and have some “airiness” to it. These little unicell fungi are amazing organisms and, considering their size and simplicity, create an incredible amount of transformations.
The Bible speaks of leavening quite liberally throughout the Old Testament. Having bread that is unleavened illustrates the ideology that we should, as a character of meekness and honor, be humble and unadorned… without any “filler” or superfluous nature. Nearly every time the Lord asked his people to follow rules of obedience, bread was unleavened. (e.g. Ex 34:18)
The New Testament uses it more symbolically. The very nature of leavening is described in numerous passages as a metaphor for the spreading and rampant transformations that can, and do, occur within the church… and usually in a negative connotation.
In the first three gospels Jesus warned the disciples about the “yeast of the Pharisees”, speaking of how their hypocrisy and deluded understanding of the world can spread. Paul also spoke about the dangers of not holding accountable sinful members of the church: “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are.” (I Cor 5:7 NIV).
Whether communicated in a literal sense or metaphorically, the fact that sinful attitudes can spread and cause havoc is a truth we need to be mindful of on a daily basis. The next time you bake or simply enjoy a piece of bread, let it be a positive reminder of this wise principle.
“Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.” (I Cor 5:8 NIV)
Greg A. Morton
© 3-03-2008
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