The Other Leaven
The Days of Unleavened Bread that we have just kept point to getting rid of the leaven of sin. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:6–7). When used in conjunction with sin, leaven is undesirable because it spreads sin within the individual as well as within God’s church. Just a little leaven puffs up an entire batch of bread. Understanding the symbolism, we diligently put out the leaven.
However, there is another usage for leaven. Christ highlighted the beneficial use of leaven and compared it to a tiny mustard seed. “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches”” (Matthew 13:31–32). The mustard seed would grow exponentially, just as the Kingdom of God will, once the seed is planted and develops through the maturation process.
The following parable points to the same thing but with a particular twist. “Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened” (Matthew 13:33). In the previous parable, outward growth, even though minute at first, develops in the open for those who are watching to see. In this one, the growth or the spread of the leaven is inward, undetectable to the eye. We can liken it, over time, to total inner change in the inner man.
Christ was and is represented by the unleavened bread we just finished consuming several days ago. He said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). By consuming His sinless character into our own lives daily, we will undergo the good usage of leaven – the change of our inner person.
The Apostle Paul brings both parables together for us in Philippians 2:13-15. “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:13–15). As the leaven of God’s kingdom does the internal work in our hearts and minds, visible growth will become the light God intends that we be to this world.
Let us allow the other leaven to leaven the whole lump.
Marshall Stiver
