When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. “Be careful,“ Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Why did Jesus give His devoted followers this specific warning? For the answer, we must first take a closer look at yeast.

Yeast is a special, single-cell, living organism that needs food, warmth, and moisture to survive. When given the right environment, it converts its food – sugar and starch – through fermentation, into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Though the science is interesting, most appreciate yeast for another reason. It is the most widely used biological leavening agent.

It can be used to make bread rise. It can bring something hard and flat to life.

With this in mind, we can better examine Jesus’s warning. What was the “yeast” of the Pharisees and Sadducees? What were they depending on to rise? What did they trust in to bring dead things to life?

According to their teaching, God could be pleased through efforts of the flesh. In turn, God would bestow the blessing of life. Though one focused more on the power of the individual and the other on the power of community, both ultimately trusted in the efforts of man to rise to God. This is the way of ascension that the enemy offered in the garden and continues to offer today. The prince and the power of the air offers a way to become like God apart from God to please God.

Subtly, the yeast of the Pharisees spreads throughout our world, even into the corners of our churches, homes, and hearts. This leaven leads to hypocrisy. We must sweep it out completely since a little yeast can spread throughout the whole batch. To be saved on the first passover, the Israelites had to do more than place the blood of a perfect lamb over their door. They also had to remove all the leaven from their houses.

May we head Paul’s warning to the Galatians:

Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

You and I must continually consider and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. By His Spirit we will rise.

In Christ,

—Roger Garrison

P.S. Salt stops the spread of yeast ;)

*Please be advised that this blog represents the views, opinions and beliefs of the writer and does not necessarily reflect those of our church leadership or denominational affiliation.