Leaven is a substance which is added to dough in order to make it rise.
Jesus is not using the word “leaven” in a positive sense when He uses it in our Gospel. Here He applies it to the Pharisees and to Herod and is ultimately alluding to the fact that what they have to offer can bring about a transformation which ruins a person.
With that we must stay on guard against anything that can take hold of us which may ruin us. Instead we must follow Matthew 13:33 or Luke 13:20-21’s positive use of the word “leaven.”
From the Gospel of Saint Matthew: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”
From the Gospel of Saint Luke: “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”
Very soon we will enter into the season of Lent. Hopefully we will make use of this season to move ourself away from wordiness in order to pursue the Kingdom of God.
