Reading the Gospels for Lent

 

Read ~ Mark 6-8

 

There is much in these three chapters to comment on, but I want to focus on one passage, 8:14-21.  Jesus says to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees (religious people) and the yeast of Herod (political powers that be).  Enter the metaphor with me, yeast is what causes bread to rise, it creates a chemical reaction and response when mixed and mingled into the flour and salt.  So too, religion and politics can create a chemical reaction and response within us.  This can be good.  There is nothing I love more than a warm slice of bread with butter on it.  Yet, sometimes the chemical reactions and responses are not so great or grand.  One of my favorite quotes from Richard Rohr, “It’s possible to trace the movement of Christianity from its earliest days until now. In Israel, Jesus and the early “church” offered people an experience; it moved to Greece, and it became a philosophy. When it moved to Rome and Constantinople, it became organized religion. Then it spread to Europe, and it became a culture. Finally, it moved to North America and became a business.” 

 

There is a tension in being the church.  Balancing the experience of God that is unique to each of us as created in God’s image and or with call to be in community.  There is a yeast in community that can cause us to rise, but not always in healthy ways.  We can be stirred by outrage that we are always looking for something else to be upset about, and there are so many options to be angry about in the paper this morning.  We can be stirred by fear, again no shortage of options here that can cause our amygdala to race and run with all kinds of “what if,” worst case scenarios for tomorrow.  We can be stirred by malaise, wondering difference can one person make?  We can be stirred by cynicism.  Connecting this to yesterday, there is a legion of emotions that dwell within us as yeast to our lives.  Not all yeast is healthy or helpful. 

 

I love that right after this warming to pay attention to the yeast in our lives, Jesus encounters a blind man…that is us.  You and me.  We are not aware of what is stirring and churning and swirling within us.  We don’t always know why we do what we do.  And then, just for funzies, we like to think we know what motivates the other person!  Pause with me.  We are confusing to ourselves, but we think we have the other person figured out! 

 

Mark is a master storyteller here inviting us to pay attention to what is moving and motivating us, the motion of emotions that are causing chemical reactions and responses within us.  And to realize that we need healing from our inability to see clearly.  It is my prayer as we inch closer to our Holiest Week that you will be caught up in God’s yeasty movement, which by the way we don’t always grasp, but we are grasped by a grace that will never let us go.  Be open to that this day.  Amen.