Sunday, July 17, 2011

The bread of life.

Wonder Bread

“He told them still another parable: 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 little parable about a woman making bread is tucked away in the text of Matthew in the midst of several other parables that seem more important.  The ones about the wheat and the tares and the mustard seed growing into a mighty tree, we all know from Sunday school.  This one is just one sentence, almost an afterthought. In my mind, I can see Jesus looking up to the sky, thinking, ‘how can I make this simpler, let’s see….the kingdom of heaven is like yeast…’

         Anyone who has ever made bread, though, knows how very important yeast is.  Without it, you get a dry cracker.  With it, you get a wonderfully fragrant, deliciously tasty loaf of bread.  A bowl of flour is just an inert thing.  Even good wheat flour is nothing you’d want to dig into.  But when you add the yeast, things begin to happen.  The flour takes on a whole new character; it moves and breathes, and rises up in the bowl.  In fact, it will swell right out of the bowl, down the sides and across the counter, if you’re not attentive to it.  Take it from one who knows.  With the addition of yeast, the very nature of the flour is changed for the better. 

         Yeast is an ingredient that must be added.  It’s not a natural characteristic of flour.  The gifts of the Holy Spirit that Jesus calls the kingdom of God, are not native to human beings either.  They are gifts that must be given and in order to receive them, one must be as open and empty as a bowl.  Spiritual gifts change the person in the same way that yeast changes flour.  They make one bigger; they move and breathe and change the very nature of the personality into something of great beauty.  And, like fresh baked bread, the gifts of the spirit-wisdom, understanding, counsel, courage, hope, reverence, and wonder—are meant to be shared. 

                                   Namaste,
                                   Jane

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