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.”

BREAD FOR THOUGHT

I love working with dough. Oh, the fragrance of bread or rolls while baking! When bread machines were popular, my husband bought me one, and the loaves of bread it produced were quickly consumed by my peanut-butter-and-jam crowd.

Usually around Christmas I would make a Swedish apple ring, spreading chopped apples, sugar, and cinnamon over a buttered dough circle, rolling it into a sausage shape, forming a ring, and then cutting slits on top. Every time I pulled one out of the oven, I remembered my late mother, who excelled in “rings.”

These days, I bake little, but appreciate the “dough” cycle on my machine as arthritis makes kneading dough painful. The other day, I rolled out the dough circle for crescent rolls to take to a meal with my grandboys' other grandparents, visiting from across the state. Fresh out of the oven, the rolls wafted a tempting smell even from the covered bun basket. Those little tigers ate several before we even sat down together for Sunday lunch!

Working with yeast after several months' hiatus got me thinking about yeast in ancient times. Bible women didn't have the convenience of granulated yeast from the grocery store. They kept a “live” lump from each baking. It was a valuable cooking product! I wrestled with the passages that weren't complimentary about yeast. In Matthew 16, Jesus warned His followers, “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Because this teaching followed the miracle of feeding 4,000, the disciples had a “duh” reaction and thought Jesus was referring to their failure to bring enough food for the gathered crowd.

Then the lightbulb moment: Jesus was referring to the legalistic teaching of the traditional religious leaders.  His point was that you can't mix Jewish legalism in with freedom-in-Christ. Luke 12:1 called out the Pharisees' hypocrisy as “leaven.” They paraded their adherence to spiritual “rules” they made up to the tiniest details, like counting out seeds of spices for a precise tithe. But deep inside they were evil and corrupt. In Galatians 5:9, a passage about falling back into legalism, Paul remarked, “A little yeast works through the whole patch of dough.” Yeast “works” because of fermentation, a “dying” process.

Not to take away the romance of enjoying homemade bread and rolls, but could there be a rebuke for our times? Christ replaced thousands of pharisaic rules with the rule of love: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).

Actually, that's quite a “yeasty” life philosophy. Doing so permeates life in a positive way. Especially in this season, tainted by the fears and ills of the coronavirus, we need the positive “leavening” of practical love. Oh, and some homemade bread or rolls would be a nice gift, too!

MAKING A LIST...

If Santa was for real, what would be the most-requested item in his mailbox?

I wonder how many millions of notes would ask for “Frozen” costumes and play gadgets. Or toys connected to Spiderman or some other super-power character?

 Back in the really old days—like Bible times—kids had pretty simple want-lists. I pick that up from Jesus’ teaching about children’s gifts:

You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. (Matthew 7:9-10)

This teaching’s context is Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” in which He unlocked truths about a holy but gracious and generous God. I think the point of this portion is sometimes we are asking for symbolic stones and snakes, not realizing their worthlessness and potential for harm. If human, fallible parents can make good judgment calls about children’s “wish lists,” so much more can our Heavenly Father do so.

When my children—now adults and parents—were small, they were allowed to open one gift before breakfast and before opening the rest of their presents.  They knew it would be rectangular and rattle when shaken. Because I favored buying “healthy” breakfast cereal the rest of the year, their joke gift would be the most sugar-laden, crazily-advertised cereal I could find.

The rest of the year, they had to eat healthier stuff, but oh the sugar rolled on Christmas morning. I called the joke gifts “Flicky Flacky Flakes,” and thankfully the package didn’t last the week. The normal breakfast around our house—something a challenge with their lists of likes and dislikes—was usually a bit more nutritious to keep them from fading halfway through the school day.

In my adult world—my spiritual adult world—I try to guard against empty spiritual calories in the morning. I don’t have a “Santa list,” but my first thought in the quietness of an early morning devotional time is like this little song: “Good morning, Lord, this is your day. I am your child. Show me your way.”

I don’t need Santa. I don’t need stuff.  But I do need God’s gracious provision of wisdom to discern stones from the Bread of Life, and snakes from the miracle Sea-of-Galilee fishing nets, in the choices and problems I face every day.     

Heaven's wonder bread

When my children were home, they both savored being able to eat the crusty heel off the freshly-baked loaf of bread. Hmm, good, with homemade raspberry jam. I remembered that the other day when I baked bread for dinner. I also thought of what Jesus, who called Himself the Bread of Life, did by the Sea of Galilee long ago when surrounded by thousands of famished people. Some had walked two hours from home to hear Him and to seek healing.

Actually, the New Testament records two separate occasions when He fed multitudes. But His feeding of 5,000 is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. For several reasons, it’s become my favorite miracle. These are the teachings it fed into my life:

*If God wants you to do something for Him, He will put it right in front of you. Jesus didn’t have to look far to see 5,000 men plus women and children needing Him. My circles of relationships include many with baffling and frustrating needs, some of which He wants me to tend on His behalf.

*If you feel inadequate, you’re probably qualified. The disciples wanted to send the crowd away because they didn’t feel they could handle it. Similarly, the expectations of schooling, job, relationships and ministry always look bigger than we think we can handle. When God allowed overwhelming challenges into my life, I didn’t feel that I was the best candidate for His work. I wanted to echo Moses and Jeremiah, “Who me? I’m just a nobody.” But God wanted me to learn that He would help me do what I considered impossible.

*If the task is impossible, it’s just the right size for God. Andrew was the math whiz of Jesus’ followers, and he just knew that five loaves and two fishes wouldn’t even give everybody a crumb. When I left the comfort zone of my first job for mission service, I wondered how I would ever survive on what the mission considered “just enough.” Yet I always had “just enough,” and never had to dip into my personal savings, which eventually paid for a year at Bible college. I even had “fragments” to share with others.

*If God has a task for you, He has a method to get it done. Jesus didn’t randomly throw crumbs and fish bits at the crowd. He had them sit in orderly picnic groups. As the baskets were passed, the miracle of multiplication took place. I saw that happen every time I wrote a book. Yes, I had done my research and had files of loosely organized notes. But the raw form of a book emerged only through prayer-saturated seat-in-chair, one page at a time.

*If God is in it, He will get the glory. The little boy who gave up his lunch didn’t get paraded around the hills as the hero of the day. All eyes were on Jesus. That’s the way it should be. Years ago I had the privilege of hearing Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom. The church was packed for the visit of this simple Dutch lady. I’ve been to “speaker training” and learned that speakers should “power dress” and begin with “power stories” to reach an audience. Corrie did none of that. She just came in her cotton dress and spoke about the Bible, God’s care, and the love of Jesus. And when the applause came, she pointed to the ceiling—that is, to Heaven, to give God the glory.

There’s another detail from this feeding miracle worth considering. It took place right after Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist was beheaded. Matthew 13:14 says that Jesus, upon hearing this horrific news, “withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.” In His humanity, He sought aloneness to grieve. I think God is telling us that when we go through a traumatic time, it’s okay to pull back briefly to heal. But that’s not to be a permanent condition. In Jesus’ case, word of mouth quickly moved the crowd to His new location, and He resumed His role as Teacher, Healer and Savior—the Bread of Life.

The bread I bake from scratch needs to be eaten up within a few days or it will mold. Spiritual riches left unshared by excuses like “I can’t do it” also go stale. Feel you have too little? Remember, Jesus multiplied crumbs.