Yeast inflates bread, teaching inflates your head!

Mark 8:11-21

¹¹ The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. ¹² He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” ¹³ Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.

¹⁴ The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. ¹⁵ “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

¹⁶ They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”

¹⁷ Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸ Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? ¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

“Twelve,” they replied.

²⁰ “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

They answered, “Seven.”

²¹ He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

I’ve done my fair share of playing around with yeast. I’ve made a couple of hundred loaves of bread, and maybe a thousand pizza bases. I’ve brewed beer and made apple cider and even Kombucha (fermented tea) and also Kefir (a sort of runny yoghurt made with yeast and bacteria). I’ve used store-bought yeast and I’ve cultivated my own natural yeast cultures.

Yeast is an amazing microorganism that digests sugars and produces carbon-dioxide and other bi-products including alcohol. Google tells me that there are 1,500 known species of yeast and there are likely thousands more undiscovered (or unnamed) varieties. Each variety prefers different environments and sugars and produces different ratios of these biproducts.  

Teaching is an amazing concept where an idea is transferred from one person to another. Ideas, when they take root in people generate the biproducts of ideals and idols! Each variety of teaching prefers different environments and people and produce different ratios of these biproducts.

Jesus understood the similarities between good yeast and bad yeast, and good teaching and bad teaching. He knew that once an idea takes hold, it has incredible power for growth.

What ideas and teachings have I made into idols in my life?

How can I create an environment where good teaching and ideas can become ideals that bear good fruit in me?

Lord, help me to follow the teaching of Jesus and understand Your Word properly. May my teaching be good and healthy and bear good fruit in others.

Written by Ps Justin Ware