DOUGH

Ah--the aroma of baking bread! A bread machine I got in the 1990s (still chugging away) makes that treat lots easier. I usually use the “dough” cycle so I can shape the loaves or make rolls. The machine requires that I mix the ingredients in a certain order: liquid ingredients at the bottom, then dry, and finally dry yeast in a well at the top. Sometimes as I measure in the right amount, from a jar kept in the refrigerator, I marvel at the invention of “dry yeast.” If I'd lived in Bible times, there was no such luxury. Women had to keep a bit of dough from each batch to “leaven” the next--something like the traditions of Alaskan sourdough.

I imagine Jesus as a little boy watching His mother make the daily bread. Some of Bible-times 'bread” was more like a tortilla, but others “leavened” to rise. Maybe He recalled His mother's cooking when He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Matthew 13:33). This was a parable about how Christ-followers should penetrate their entire community with their Christ-imbued words and deeds.

But a few chapters later, Jesus turned the illustration around, warning His followers to be “on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (16:6, 11). Here, He was referring to the destructive legalism of such spiritual leaders. It might penetrate the hearts of those who hear it, but not for good.

The apostle Paul put another spin on the “yeast” illustration. In his letter to the church at Corinth, chastising them for tolerating sin. In their case, they put up with terrible sexual sin (“a man has his father's wife,” 1 Cor. 5:1) while they kept on “playing church.” Such sinful behavior damaged the church's calling and reputation in their pagan culture. As Christ-followers, they had to get rid of such hypocrisy (the old “yeast of malice and wickedness”) and establish instead a reputation of “the bread of sincerity and truth” (v. 8).

Jesus used such simple but profound illustrations. In the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels, the feeding of the 5,000, He declared: “I am the bread of life.” I sometimes think of that as I plop my blob of risen-once dough on a floured surface for its final kneading and shaping. The Bread of Life—how I represent Christ to my world—should contain no corrupting or decaying lifestyles that could cause someone to sin.

Our culture doesn't promote that. It encourages us to take in the rubbish of selfishness, bitterness, entitlement, and immorality. If you doubt that, watch TV a while. Or cruise the internet, even just scrolling through the features of the “home page” of various internet engines. It's like sweeping a dirty kitchen floor and dumping the filthy results into the dough.

Don't worry. I'd never add “floor dirt” to my dough. I want it fully edible, fragrant, and fulfilling. Qualities I associate with Jesus, “the Bread of Life.”