18th August, 2009

LLOYD HARKNESS

Kneaded leaven, by character, diffuses itself throughout the dough and remains hidden until its work is done. Once it has penetrated, you can sit back and wait for a transformation silently, secretly secured.

The fermentation process involved in leavening has literary allusions to disintegration and decay. Hence it often symbolises corruption, uncleanness, malice, wickedness, tainted doctrine and such.

KNEADING LEAVEN: Only a "wee bit" of leaven is required to work through an enture batch of dough. PICTURE: Kriss Szkurlatowski (www.sxc.hu) "It is interesting that Jesus spoke of the leaven of the Pharisees but avoided singling out individuals. He always left the door open for people to come to him whether they were a Pharisee like Nicodemus, or a tax collector, or a Gentile, or an unclean woman."

And only a little, a wee bit, a dram, a dollop is required. So states the laws of culinary presentiment. And Jesus.

One sinner, one dose of legalism, one malicious act, or one distorted miscast portrait of Christ can leaven itself through a whole community.

On at least one occasion, though, Jesus aligned leaven with wholesomeness and life. He said the Gospel is working silently within, transforming lives and communities, being the energising force of God’s kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven. The Gospel, as leaven, creating a scrumptious bread, which is the staff of life, breaks the mould (sorry about the pun) of standard references to leaven.

The majority of references to leaven are a metaphor connected to warnings. Jesus was concerned about the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians. Each group had its own cultural orientation which was blanketing God. The Herodian’s leaven consisted of malice and political guile as evidenced by the beheading of John the Baptist. This was bad enough but Jesus' harshest condemnation was directed at religious leaders who claimed to be directing people to God but who in fact were doing the opposite.

Jesus commended the Pharisees for their observance of the law but railed against them for being more concerned about their ethnic and cultural identity than about love, mercy and truth.

In hanging onto their identity, in preserving Israel from pagan corruption, from a Greco-Roman culture, they had become preoccupied with an outward show of piety.

Feeling under attack, the Pharisees put up their defences but in the process became distracted by a nit-picking judgementalism. Hypocrisy always flourishes alongside a judgemental spirit. And hypocrisy is leaven and leaven is hypocrisy. The Pharisees were not living by the principles they espoused.

As the retainers of Israel’s unique position with God, their primary task was to impart something of that blessing to others. Instead they became more concerned about their position, their influence, their well being.

The Pharisees were using their power, their control, to preserve Israel in their image and, as Jesus so adamantly pointed out, that did not line up with God’s image or God’s heart.

It is interesting that Jesus spoke of the leaven of the Pharisees but avoided singling out individuals. He always left the door open for people to come to him whether they were a Pharisee like Nicodemus, or a tax collector, or a Gentile, or an unclean woman.

Jesus identified the Pharisee’s leaven as more dangerous than outside threats from alternate cultures and lifestyles.

Hypocrisy, especially amongst leaders, likewise neuters churches. It robs the church of compassion and service and sacrifice. It robs the church of the authority of God and the life of Christ.

Israel needed leaders whose hearts were sincere to survive and flourish as a people and to be a light to the nations.

Jesus was all about ushering in the kingdom of God and, without leaders who could genuinely exhort, encourage, inspire and impart, that kingdom would be limited or stymied. This is why He spent so much time with His chosen leaders, His disciples who would become apostles.

The cost of reducing faith to rituals, clichés and slogans is to leave God no room to dwell in our midst. Traditions and culture have to be fashioned by the Word made flesh not the Word subsumed by traditions or cultural axioms. The Pharisees, as Jesus said, were caught up in the latter.

Another aspect of the Pharisees leaven was their unwillingness to enter God’s kingdom and so it follows they were setting up stumbling blocks or traditions slash cultural axioms which kept people from the kingdom of God also.

Add to this religious pride, a legalistic focus which encourages a self-righteous attitude and a readiness to accuse others, and a preoccupation with an outward show of piety and it is easy to see why Jesus was upset with them.

Jesus also lumps the Sadducees with the Pharisees even though their leaven took on a different taste. The Sadducees' leaven consisted of scepticism and culpable ignorance, yet they too exhibited the traits of leaven already discussed in reference to the Pharisees.

Be warned, said Jesus. Your righteousness has to exceed that of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Don’t become obsessed with the little things while weightier matters are ignored, He warned.

It’s the love of Christ, the Gospel, which needs to be diffused through the community and not the leaven of well-intentioned religion, be it Pharisee or some modern version of the same spirit.

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