Leaven Bad

Jesus refers to two different kinds of leaven in this passage. This is my little opinion, as I understand things, on those two polar opposite yet equally deadly problems.

First, what is leaven? More to the point, what does it do? While I'm not exactly sure what leaven is (maybe someone can find its molecular composition ;) ), I do know that it is responsible for making bread "rise". As it sits, leavened bread puffs up with little bubbles of air, making it appear larger, fluffier. It only takes a little bit of leaven to leaven an entire loaf.

Now, the two types of leaven mentioned here are:
1. The leaven of the Pharisees
2. The leaven of Herod

The Pharisees had put so much effort into appearing righteous that they ignored the seed of sin in their hearts. They said, "as long as I can look, act and talk the part, I'm safe". Meanwhile, that little leaven was actively affecting their entire being. We see this in how they respond to Jesus, when he stands up to them and points out their problem. Given the choice of having the leaven beaten out of them or getting the preacher out of their faces, they chose the latter. These people tried to attain righteousness through human effort. They didn't want to give up control.

Jesus didn't minister to them. He stood against them.

Herod represents the opposite problem; the other side of the coin, so to speak. Herod had no respect for God, The Torah, the Talmud or anything religious beyond what use it could be to the end of keeping himself in power. To me, Herod represents the "anything goes, just be a good person, love people and love Jesus" crowd. They say they want to worship Jesus, but they crucify him afresh daily with their immoral, permissive and ungodly lifestyle. These people try to attain righteousness by assuming God is blind to their lifestyle. These people don't want to give up control either.

Jesus didn't minister to Herod. He stood against Herod and He most certainly stood against immorality and sin.

So who was able to be ministered to by Jesus? The hungry 4000-man multitude with nowhere else to turn. In Mark 8, the hungry crowd hadn't eaten in three days, had followed Jesus into the wilderness and was now weak and hungry. They had no pious religious argument delivered out of a hypocritical heart, neither did they try to quench their hunger by sinful means. They simply followed Jesus' direction and God worked a miracle of provision.

I can only conclude the following: Leaven bad.

Watch out for leaven of both types. BOTH ARE EQUALLY DEADLY.

Created 7 months ago