Prayer Pointers: For strength in daily prayer
For daily bread
For compassion
Today’s text: Mark 8:11-26
A FUN SCIENCE experiment with children is to let them hold a gram of yeast in their hands, let them determine that the tiny “pebbles” in their palms are “not alive,” and then proceed to cast those inert grains into a glass of warm water mixed with sugar. In time, there is much bubbling and activity!
The deeper meaning of leaven, or yeast, as Jesus uses it in his conversation with the disciples is that something small or apparently insignificant can affect all of life. In this moment, Jesus warns his disciples to be wary of both religious/spiritual and political/worldly leaven. The Pharisees focused on the purity of their ritual and their observances, neglecting the relationship with God that was the only reason for any of the ritual; Herod and his court grasped political power and expediency, freely mixing political pragmatism and Godly piety. Jesus tries to get his students to see the froth, to realize that the things they think are inert or harmless have deep power to bend them away from God.
In our own day, there are many sources of leaven that would froth and excite us. Let us be wise in these days! As Jesus asked that long ago day, so he asks us “do you not remember?” Let us continue to remember the goodness of God, who gives to us all we need day by day.
May your day be grace-filled ~ Pr. Dave Brooks