Beware

I. Comfort Food

A. Pandemic shortage

1. Spring 2020 stay at home orders

2. things begin disappearing in stores

a. disinfectant, wipes, toilet paper

b. flour and yeast

3. people quarantined at home started making bread

a. April 20, 2020 USA Today article

b. 2 to 3 weeks buffer inventory disappeared as sales for yeast was up by 410%

4. When yeast couldn’t be bought people began making sourdough starters

a. mix the right amount of flour and water and leave it in a warm place to ferment

b. sourdough bread uses yeast, not dry yeast but it harnesses the yeast in the environment around it

5. Yeast is a single-celled fungi

a. feeds on sugars, gives off carbon dioxide which helps bread to rise

b. there are thousands of strains of yeast

1) one type causes infections in humans

2) another causes food to spoil

3) others ferment fruits and grains for alcoholic beverages

4) others help bread to rise

6. Yeast has been used for centuries to make bread, a staple of life

a. As a rule, we like bread

b. bread could be described as a comfort food

c. maybe that’s why so many people ran to buy bread machines, flour and yeast when life felt overwhelming during the first weeks of the pandemic

d. If we can just get some good warm bread, things must might feel a little more manageable, but at the least, we’ll feel good

7. Maybe that’s how the four thousand people felt sitting hungry in the presence of Jesus

8. Maybe it’s how the disciples felt, with only one loaf of bread sitting with Jesus and he begins talking about yeast

B. Feeding of the Four thousand

1. Chapter 8 begins with Jesus feeding four thousand people

2. similar to what happened in chapter 6 with five thousand but different

3. the feeding for the four thousand occured among gentiles

a. like last week with the demon possessed man we are reminded the Kingdom of God is for everyone

b. whosoever, Jesus came for Jew and gentile alike

4. In chapter 4 it’s 5 loaves and two fish, in chapter 8 it’s seven loaves and a few fish

5. The leftovers picked up were different

a. chapter 6 there are twelve baskets, maybe reminding the Jews there are twelve tribes of Israel

b. chapter 8 there are seven baskets

1) seven signals completion and wholeness

2) God is doing something inclusive of Jews and gentiles

3) God does not discriminate, His grace and love are for all

6. The feeding is a Eucharistic act

a. Jesus breaks the bread, gives thanks to God and extends the bread to the people

b. The people are given grace in this gift of bread

7. Bread, grace, was given to Jew and Gentile

a. everyone is welcome to participate in the kingdom of God

b. God desires to extend abundance to everyone

II. Abundance & Scarcity

A. Comparison between the abundance of God and the myth of scarcity

1. Even though the disciples witnessed the abundance of the feeding miracles, when Jesus begins talking about the yeast of the Pharisees, they think he’s getting on to them for not bring bread

2. They are worried about not having enough bread because they only have one loaf

a. did they not remember what they witnessed Jesus doing - feeding thousands of people

b. Could they not see that Jesus can produce an abundance through the power of God

3. While it may seem like that the disciples and us don’t have enough, whatever it is, is enough in the hands of God

4. It’s easy to forget about the provisions and abundance of God in the face of scarcity

a. the disciples forgot about the provisions shortly after the miracles

b. We get scared in the face of scarcity

c. we look at our little forgetting to look at the creativity of God’s provisions

d. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned about how I’m going to retire in a few years, but God has taken care of us this far and I’m sure He’ll figure something out when that time comes

e. look what happened when the stay at home orders came and we faced quarantine

1) People became so afraid store shelves went bare

2) Instead of sharing, people hoarded (some probably still have tp they bought a year ago)

f. We too quickly forget about the grace of God’s abundance when difficult times come

5. When we share, God multiplies things

a. Isn’t that what we see in the feeding miracles?

b. by multiplying, we’re not talking about a prosperity gospel. (1 package of yeast, get 10 back)

c. The blessings are often very different from what we expect, but they are blessings none the less

d. When we divide our bread, share, there’s enough to go around as we witness the creativity of God’s abundance at work

B. Watch out of the yeast of the Pharisees

1. Jesus compares the grace and goodness of the bread he offers to the infectious nature of yeast the Pharisees offer

a. tension between Jesus and the Pharisees

b. Pharisees wanted a sign from heaven, testing him

c. proof He is the Messiah

d. Jesus had already performed some miraculous miracles

e. He leaves warning the disciples to beware of the Pharisees yeast

f. Choose who you will follow, which way you will go

2. What Jesus offers

a. Jesus’s bread is plentiful. There is no shortage in the kingdom of God

b. Jesus is extending grace

1) there is a sacramental nature to this bread

2) This Eucharist - the extending of grace through ordinary means and yet like the disciples, we can’t fully understand it

3) Annie Flint, He Giveth More Grace, He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater....His love has not limit; His grace has no measure. His pow’r has no boundary known unto men. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again

c. Jesus is proclaiming a kingdom of inclusion

1) there was a miracle of bread extended to the Jews

2) there was another extended to the Gentiles

3) The grace of God is extended to everyone

3. What the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod offered

a. Herod, as king, was in a position of political power that focused on there is not enough

1) He clung to power so tightly, he killed his own sons to stay in power

2) in a kingdom like this there is not abundance, there is never enough

3) you fight to get what you want and fight to keep it

b. The Pharisees focused on law versus grace

1) They were constantly trying to trap Jesus as he healed on the Sabbath and gave to others

2) They were so focused on the law and keeping it they missed the point of the law

3) Their relationship with God was more about self-righteousness than being righteous

4) even in gratitude they were gleeful and prideful that they were not like others instead of being humbly thankful putting others before themselves

c. For the Pharisees, the kingdom of God was one of exclusion

1) Their focus was on who is in and who is out

2) If you were out, you were not to be embraced but avoided for you’re were unclean

3) a system that created enemies where there was no place to fulfill the command of the kingdom of God to love your enemies

d. The insidious nature (the yeast) of the Pharisees and Herod was their harmful ideas and theologies spread too easy

1) it’s easy to get caught-up in legalism, in exclusion, in the creation of enemies

2) It’s easy to get trapped in the idea of scarcity, the need to fight for what you want and even kill to keep it

4. Jesus was warning his disciples of a dangerous lifestyle and life choices

a. Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees

b. yeast symbolized evil intentions and acts

c. every Passover the Jews would not put yeast in their dough and even removed it from their homes

d. evil, like yeast or leaven, is small and hidden, but it spreads and soon infects the whole

e. beware of false doctrines, teaching, hypocrisy

f. We can never be too careful about detecting and avoiding false teaching/doctrine

g. only a small deviation from the Word may get into a person or church but then it grows and infects everything

III. We are often like the disciples

A. The disciples didn’t understand

1. they had seen the miracles, but didn’t understand the work of Jesus

a. They were still operating based on what they could see rather than by faith in the kingdom of God

b. They were worried about not having enough bread when they were with the One who could multiply the bread

2. They were susceptible to the ways of the world

a. the way of the Pharisees were insidious and easy to get trapped in

b. Watch out! Beware!

3. The disciples can directly connect to us

a. How often to we forget the miracles?

b. How often do we look at the world through eyes of the world, instead of the eyes of the kingdom of God?

c. Do we trap ourselves and others in the burden of legalism?

d. Do we leave others out because we are focused on the law over grace?

e. Do we reject others based on some sort of unattainable standard?

f. Do we believe the myth of scarcity or live in the abundance of the kingdom?

g. Do we look to political power to save us or to Jesus/

h. Are we willing to kill to keep power and stuff that we have? (character assassination)

4. As followers of Jesus, our food is to be the bread of life and not bread baked with the yeast of religious legalism or political power

5. We are to consume grace, extend grace and live in grace.

B. We are people of bread

1. Every culture has it’s own version of bread

2. Tortillas to sourdough and everything in between

3. Bread is a cornerstone of survival, a comfort food, in some ways, if we’ve got bread everything will be ok

4. Bread is what Jesus used to represent his body to the world as he broke it and extended it to his disciples

5. Bread, the body of Jesus, is a symbol of hope, grace and inclusion to those often rejected by the world

6. We are people of bread but the question is: whose bread are we consuming?

a. Are we feasting on the bread of life?

b. the bread of the abundant grace, love and hope of the kingdom of God?

c. Have we allowed the yeast of legalism, fear, political power and control feed us?

d. May we feast on the bread of the Kingdom of God

e. May our lives and homes be clean of the yeast of this world

f. May we shed our allegiance to power, legalism and scarcity as we eat of the bread of life - a bread of abundance that is extended to all.