How much yeast? - Sept 7
“Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?”
Sometimes people use the phrase “a few bad apples” to dismiss the actions of a handful of misbehaving people who are part of a larger group. “They were just bad apples and don’t represent the group as a whole.” But this use forgets the entirety of the phrase “A few bad apples spoils the whole bunch.”
Paul is writing to the church in Corinth and in this section appears to be focusing his attention on one man. This man is living an immoral life, and Paul tells the church that this man should already have been expelled for this. Paul fears that this one man will damage the whole church; this little bit of leavening will infest the whole dough.
In my fondness for baking leavened bread, my first reading of “a little yeast leavens all the dough” was a positive one. Like mustard seeds growing into a large plant these amazing little grains of yeast can make bread beautifully rise. But that is exactly not the point here. The point is that the leaven is spoiling what is supposed to be unleavened bread.
Questions of maintaining church purity and dealing with members whose actions are negatively affecting the whole church are incredibly difficult. The Mennonite church has a long and at times troubling history with trying to keep the church pure and excommunicating those they see as violating this purity.
Is not the church here especially for those who need healing and restoration? “I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.” (Mk 2:17) Managing these limits of hospitality and welcome with those who may cause damage remains an ongoing struggle.
Perhaps this text is most impactful when we bring it within ourselves. What is the yeast in my life that has the potential to infect and harm all of my life? It may be an addiction, or pride, or judgementalism, or something else. What do we need to learn to expel from our hearts so that our lives will be the “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth?”