Matthew

Bedrock Discipleship V: Relationships

Douglas Wilson on April 13, 2014

Introduction

On Palm Sunday, we remember the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem shortly before He was betrayed, condemned, and executed. As we reflect on this moment in His mission, we should take care to remember what that mission was. His mission was not just to save people, it was also to save a people.

The Text

“And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest” (Matt. 21:9).

Summary of the Text

There are many things that can be drawn out of this story, but this morning, we are just going to focus on one of them. When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem—where He was to be lifted up and draw all men to Himself—He was greeted by multitudes. Contrary to the popular assumption that the Triumphal Entry crowd and the “crucify Him” crowd were the same people, we have no reason for identifying them. These people who greeted Him were doing so sincerely. Jesus was approaching Jerusalem in order to save multitudes, and He was greeted there by multitudes. Their central cry was Hosanna, which means “Save, we pray.” In other words, we are praying that You would save us. “Yes,” He answered.

Two Questions

Back in the seventies, the great question was what is truth? Today the pressing question is where is community? Some might make this kind of observation in order to set the questions against one another, but rightly understood they are complementary questions. Truth is foundational to any true community, and community is the only appropriate response to the truth. “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth” (1 John 1:6). Fellowship exults in the truth, and truth generates fellowship.

Koinonia

The biblical word for fellowship is koinonia, and here is how the idea connects to our text. To welcome Christ into Jerusalem you have to go down to the street He is on. When you do so, you are not just praising Him as He travels by. You also have a necessary relationship to those people on your right and left who are also praising Him. Christ was welcomed to the week of His passion by a crowd, and not by the last true believer. Save us, they cried, and that is what He did.

But the crowd had to come to Christ. They could not have gone two blocks over, turned and faced each other, and establish a little koinonia by themselves. It never works.

In modern church parlance, fellowship means coffee and donuts. But in the biblical world, fellowship meant mutual partaking and indwelling. Fellowship is what we have in the body together, as we are being knit together in love.

One Another

A body is what we are. We do not act in a particular way in order to become a body, we are to act that way because we are a body and desire to be a well-functioning one. “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Rom. 12:5).

Receive

When it comes to life in the body, there are all kinds of offenses. There are business offenses. There are family offenses. There is petty rudeness in the parking lot, and there is glaring sin within a marriage. What in the world are we to do with other people? “Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7).

It glorified God when Christ received us, and it glorifies Him when we receive one another. When we receive a brother or sister, we are not promising to “look the other way.” That is not biblical receiving. We are promising to let love cover it, when that is appropriate, and to confront it, when that is appropriate. We are promising tonot complain about it to others. We either cover it or confront it, and this principled communion is why it is possible to excommunicate in love.

Love

Of course the center of this is love. When we look at the “one anothers” of Scripture, this has a central place. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to
another” (John 13:35). “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). “These things I command you, that ye love one another” (John 15:17). “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13:8).

We can only love because we have been loved. And we can only know that we have been loved if we grasp— through a living faith—the glories of the gospel. Christ died and was buried, Christ was buried and rose, and He did it so that you might be put right with God. You are ushered into the fellowship of love that He offers, and this is what makes it possible for you to love your neighbor.

Strive

But it is very tempting for us to conceive of love as a generic disposition to “be nice.” But love rolls up its sleeves, and gets into the dirty work. If all we had to do was sit around and radiate love rays at one another, I am sure we would all be up to the task. But what about all those provocations that come from . . . you know, other people?

We begin by making sure that we do not rise to the provocations. We need to have peace with one another. One of the characteristics of the band that traveled with Jesus is that He had to caution them to preserve the peace with each other. “Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another” (Mark 9:50).

We should labor to think alike. We noted earlier that truth is the foundation of community, and the more we share in the truth, and walk in it, the greater will be our unity. “Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus” (Rom. 15:5). Our modern temptation is that of simply “agreeing to disagree,” which is fine as a temporary measure—but it is not the ultimate goal that Scripture sets out for us.

But the “one anothers” we pursue should not be limited to staying out of fights. “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another” (Rom. 12:10). Scripture tells us to point the honor away from ourselves, and toward the other.

Conclusion

As the people of God, we are being gathered. But we cannot be gathered without being gathered together. And once we are gathered together, we face the glorious calling of life together. But in order to maintain this, we have to keep emphasizing the basics—gospel, love, forgiveness, truth.

What Joseph Knew

Douglas Wilson on December 8, 2013

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Introduction

Before discussing what Joseph knew, we should perhaps begin by considering what we know about Joseph. Despite the fact that we tend to assume we know very little, we may be surprised to discover how much in fact we do know. This is even more surprising when we consider that in the entire scriptural narrative, Joseph never says a word.

The Text

“And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ” (Matt. 1:16).

Summary of the Text

Matthew gives us an account of the genealogy of Joseph, descended from David, meaning that Christ’s covenantal lineage was Davidic, as well as His physical lineage (through Mary) being also, as is likely, Davidic. The fact that genealogies are given the place they have in Scripture should indicate to us that they are important, and not given to us so that we might have occasion to roll our eyes at all the begats.

What We Know

We know that Joseph’s father was a man named Jacob (Matt. 1:16). We know that Joseph was of the royal Davidic line (Matt. 1:6). Luke makes a point of telling us this (Luke 1:27), just as the angel had called Joseph a son of the house of David. We know that Joseph was a good man, both righteous and merciful (Matt. 1:19). We know that he was a prophet—an angel appeared to him in a dream and gave him a word from God (Matt. 1:20). We know that Joseph was an obedient man—when he woke from sleep, he did just what the angel had commanded him in that dream (Matt. 1:24). When the Lord’s life was in danger, God entrusted the protection of the Messiah to Joseph, sending an angelic warning in a second dream (Matt. 2:13). God led that family through the head of the family. After Herod died, God gave Joseph a third dream (Matt. 2:19). We know that the legal and covenantal lineage of Jesus was reckoned through Joseph, because that is how Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:4), and the prophet had insisted that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).

When the shepherds came, they found Joseph together with Mary and Jesus (Luke 2:16). We know that Joseph was diligent to keep the law (Luke 2:27). When Simeon blessed Jesus, Mary and Joseph together marveled at what was said (Luke 2:33). Given what they heard from Simeon and Anna (and from Elizabeth, and from Mary herself), they knew a great deal. And don’t forget the shepherds and the wise men. They knew something huge was up. Remember that Joseph was the second person on earth to believe in the virgin birth, Mary being the first and she almost doesn’t count.

We think we know that Joseph was a carpenter, which he might have been (Matt. 13:55). In the parallel account in Mark (Mark 6:3), Jesus Himself is called a carpenter. The word in both occasions is tekton. The word can refer to a swinger of hammers, but it could also mean builder (as in, contractor), or even architect. In fact, our word architect comes from this word—archon + tekton. We know that whatever business he had, it wasn’t off the ground yet when Jesus was born. The offering they presented at the Temple for Jesus was two turtledoves, the offering available for poor people (Luke 2:24). This also may have had something to do with the “newlywed” adventure they had in Bethlehem, when they couldn’t get a room in an inn.

Joseph lived long enough to be present when Jesus was twelve (Luke 2:43), and we know that he is absent from the narrative after that. At the same time, we may infer from the number of Christ’s siblings that Joseph lived well past the Lord’s twelfth birthday. Jesus was the eldest of at least seven, which normally wouldn’t fit within twelve years (Mark 6:13).

The Namesake

The name Joseph means God will increase, like the Puritan name Increase Mather. It is a name that denotes blessing and abundance. Joseph of the Old Testament sheds some light on Joseph, the husband of Mary. For example, both men shared a name, and both of their fathers shared the name of Jacob (Gen. 30:23-24; Matt. 1:16). Rachel named Joseph Increase because that is what she was looking for—and received in the birth of Benjamin. The one through whom all God’s promises would come to fruition and increase, Mary, was protected and cared for by a man named Increase. Both Josephs had prophetic dreams. Both Josephs were righteous men. Both were connected in some way to a sexual scandal involving false accusation. Both of them were a wonderful combination of integrity and compassion. Both went down into Egypt and were thereby means of saving their respective families. Both were used by God to provide for a starving world.

Just and Merciful

In the Scriptures, justice and mercy are not at odds with each other. “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Ps. 85:10).

In Deuteronomy 22:23-24, we are given the death penalty for a betrothed woman who committed adultery. Such commandments were never meant to be applied woodenly, but rather with a firm grasp of the principles involved. For example, consider what the law says about the city limits. Now, under the rule of the Romans, it would not be possible for the Jews to apply such a law. One of the things we see in the New Testament is the use of the ultimate penalty from another government in lieu of the one excluded by an unbelieving government. And thus it is we see Paul requiring excommunication at Corinth, while citing this and four other places that required execution. In the same way, a family could apply disinheritance or divorce. This is something that Joseph is resolved to do.

But we are told something else. We are told that Joseph had a tender heart (Matt. 1:19), and that this was an example of his commitment to justice. Joseph, we are told was a just and righteous man, and because of this, he was resolved to do the right thing, but without humiliating Mary publicly. We know that Jesus grew up in a home that could not have seen Joseph as one of the men with stones in the famous incident of the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:7).

What Joseph Knew

We may presume that what Joseph marveled at was part of what he knew. At a bare minimum, Joseph knew that the salvation of Jews and Gentiles both was growing up in his home. “For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

And here we find our gospel conclusion.

State of the Church 2013

Douglas Wilson on January 13, 2013

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Introduction

Near the beginning of every calendar year, it has been our custom for some years now to have a message that addresses the “state of the church.” Sometimes we have addressed the state of the national church, and sometimes of this local congregation. It all varies . . . depending on the state of the church.

The Text

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:24-26)

Summary of the Text

The fundamental call to discipleship is one at a time. Jesus says that if any man wants to follow Him, he must deny himself (v. 24). He must take up his cross, and follow Christ. A cross fits one at a time—it is not an instrument of mass execution. Jesus then teaches that if we are clingy with our own lives, then we will lose what we are clinging to. But if we lose it for the sake of Christ, then we will gain what we have given up (v. 25). What is the point, what is the profit, in gaining anything if we lose our own soul in the transaction? What would be a good price to put on your own soul (v. 26)? Jesus teaches us to value our own soul over anything else we might gain or accomplish.

The Individual and Individualism

We go to Heaven or to Hell by ones. The Lord Jesus was the one who established the importance of the individual, over against every secular collective. A man or a woman will live forever, in a way that corporations and empires will not. But if we live forever in glory, we will do so as part of the Body of Christ, and we will find ourselves in union with Him, and with all the rest of the redeemed. We are all members of one body. But we are not melted down in some sort of cosmic unity—the more Christ is formed in each of us, the more like ourselves we will become.

A Holy Sanctuary

Pascal once said that “men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.” This has often and unfortunately been the case in the building of sanctuaries. Holy places have often been assembled with unholy hands. I say this because it now seems possible, Lord willing (Jas. 4:15), that we will allowed to begin construction on a sanctuary for worship in this calendar year. We have architects working on the initial drawings now. But when we are done, we don’t want a sanctuary that is holier than all the people who built it.

A Thought Experiment

We want to build, but we want to build with gold and silver, and with costly stones—and not with wood, hay, and stubble (1 Cor. 3:12). But we are talking about materials from God’s supply houses, not from ours. What does He call gold and silver? What does He call stubble?

It all lies in the adverbs. How we build is going to govern how we occupy, and whether God receives it. If we build in a spirit of love and mutual submission, and a meteorite destroys the whole thing before the first service, we are still that much ahead of the game. This is because building the external building is just a device that God is using for building us—we are the true Temple. We are the living stones, and we ought never to privilege the dead stones over the living ones.

And if we build a glorious building for future tourists and sightseers in Moscow to ooh and ahh over, and to comment on how majestic our spiritual vision must have been, but we did it while quarreling, fussing, and complaining, then we were trashing the real sanctuary for the sake of our picture of it. This is like a man yelling at his wife for damaging a precious picture he had of her.

Many of you have been on glorious tours of glorious churches, both here and in Europe. Don’t be the guy who carves his last scrollwork—soli Deo Gloria, or something equally lofty—and then dies and goes to the devil. What does it profit a man, Jesus asks, if he crafted something as glorious as the Rose Window at Chartes, but loses his own soul?

A Generation on the Move

Since this congregation was first planted in 1975, it has met in many locations. We have met in East City Park, St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, the Hawthorne Village common room, the American Legion cabin, a garage, Greene’s body and paint shop (both locations), the Paradise Hills Church of God, Moscow High School, the Logos auditorium, and now the Logos field house. I will say this—you all are good sports. During the body and paint shop days, I remember joking once that we were the only church I knew of where you could come to worship, find a Rainier beer truck in the sanctuary, and not think anything of it.

But all this was preparation time, not “get lazy” time. God intended the time in the wilderness as a time to shape and mold Israel. Those forty years had a point for them, and they have had a similar point for us. This means I would deliver a charge to the generation following us—my children’s generation, and those coming up after them. You must be like the men who served with Joshua, and who kept Israel faithful as long as they lived (Judges 2:7). You must teach your children to do the same (2 Tim. 2:2). You must not be like the odious woman who finally gets married and is insufferable as a result (Prov. 30:23).

Never Forget the Lord

When you come into a land full of good things, take special care not to forget the Lord (Dt. 6:12). And if your response is something like “oh, we could never do that,” you have already started to do it. The one who thinks he stands is the one who needs to take heed lest he fall (1 Cor. 10:12). The Old Testament was given as something that New Testament saints constantly need.

Treasure and Pearl

Douglas Wilson on November 11, 2012

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Introduction

We come to two short parables, given to us side-by-side, and with the same basic point. Given their length, teaching, and placement, it only makes sense to treat them together. As with the parable of the leaven, we first have to decide on which way we shall take it. Some interpret this with the treasure/pearl representing the church, and the discoverer of them as being Christ, sacrificing all for His people. The other way to take it, and the way I will be handling it, is to represent the treasure as Christ, and the discoverer as the disciple who gives up everything for the sake of what he has found.

The Text

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it” (Matt. 13:44-46).

Summary of the Text

The treasure parable is about hidden treasure (v. 44). A man comes across it (apparently by accident), and then he hides it again. Having done so, he goes out in joy and sells everything he has in order to obtain the field the treasure is in (v. 44). The next parable comes hard after, with the same basic point. The difference here is that the merchant traffics in pearls—that is what he is looking for in the first place (v. 45). When he comes across the sort of object he seeks, a pearl of great price, he goes and sells everything he has in order to get it (v. 46).

Parables, Not Allegories

We treat parables as though they were allegories when we try to assign a meaning to every last detail in the parable, and by so doing distort the central meaning of parable. What does the field containing the treasure in the first parable represent? Some have said the church, some have said the Bible. I think it would be better to key off an earlier parable and say it is the world, which would include any place where you found the treasure, even though that might be a tract in a laundromat. And if we insist on a meaning for every detail, does this mean that the gospel can be purchased for ready money? Not at all—although there is an exchange based on an understanding of value that we shall see in a moment. Chaucer rightly mocked the idea of “pardons, come from Rome, all hot.”This also means that we don’t need to get sucked into discussions of the ethics of hiding a treasure you found in somebody else’s field. That is not the point. The parable of the unjust judge does not commend injustice in the judiciary, and the parable of the dishonest steward does not teach us to pilfer from our employers. The fact that the Lord will return like a thief in the night does not mean that He is returning to steal something.

Going All In

What is the point then? The point is the surpassing value of our salvation, a value not immediately obvious to other onlookers. That surpassing value, once seen, makes every sacrifice a joy. The man who stumbles across the treasure in the field goes and sells everything he has, and he does so impelled by joy. He does not mope around because of the “sacrifices” he now has to make. As Jim Eliot put it, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Because he did not see this, the rich young ruler went away sorrowful (Mark 10:22).

Just as faith is the natural response to the perceived faithfulness of God, so sacrifice is the natural response to the perceived value of salvation. But you fall between two stools if you do not see the surpassing value of Christ, and yet are guilted into giving up a bunch of stuff anyway.

The man who finds the treasure sees what he needs to do instantly, and he does it with joy. The merchant looking for good pearls knew all along what he needed to do, and only needed to find the appropriate opportunity to do what he knew all along.

More Than Much Fine Gold

So Jesus is not talking about giving up everything, and then groaning over it. We are simply talking about the natural functioning of a value system. Which do you value more? Gold or God’s commands? The psalmist much preferred the law of God to gold (Ps. 19:10). God’s commands are worth more to us than gold (Ps. 119: 27- 128). All your choices proceed naturally out of your value system. The response from Heaven will reflect God’s value system. This is why the one who prefers the world over God will lose both. The one who prefers God to the world will gain both. Why is America losing all its dollars? Because we worship dollars—you cannot serve both God and Mammon.

False gods are impotent. The gods of green give us brown. The gods of pragmatism don’t work. The gods of wealth breed poor people. The gods of liberty are slave-drivers. Our national election last Tuesday demonstrated that we love our false prophets (Jer. 5:31). This will not be changed without a massive religious reformation and revival.

Where You See Excellency

The one excludes the other, and the choice is an easy one for every one who actually sees the choice.

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. 3:8-9).

You set your hand to the plow. You don’t leave behind your goods like Lot’s wife did with Sodom, with many long, lingering glances . . . and more than a few sighs. And so what is it that we are to see as surpassing all other value? It is the righteousness of another. It is the rejection of our own performance. It is to see, truly see, the worthlessness of our own goodness. It is to treat homemade piety with contempt.

The Leaven in Three Measures

Christ Church on November 4, 2012

Introduction

We come to a parable that has traditionally been interpreted in two diametrically opposed ways. One view sees the leaven as representing corruption, making this a parable of how the kingdom of God is going to go from bad to worse. The other sees the leaven as a good and positive image (representing the growth of the kingdom), and this then is a parable of God’s saving purpose for the whole world. We will be considering the parable with this second meaning.

The Text

“Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Matt. 13:33 ; Luke 13:20-21 ).

Summary of the Text

This is a very short parable about growth, in the midst of other parables about growth. In most of these parables, the kingdom is growing, and alongside it an anti-kingdom is growing as well. In this parable, the only growth that is mentioned is that of the kingdom itself. Matthew says that Jesus spoke another parable to them (v. 33). Luke has the Lord introducing the parable with a question—to what shall I compare the kingdom? The kingdom is like leaven, Jesus says, which a woman took and placed in three measures of flour (v. 33), and the result was that “the whole” was entirely leavened.

Leaven Biblically Understood

Those who take leaven as an image of sin do have a lot of material to work with. This is the predominant meaning of the image in Scripture. Their mistake is in taking it as a necessarily negative image. We are warned against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Luke 12:1 ). We are warned against the leaven of Herod (Mark 8:15 ), which is best understood as a hard-bitten sensualism. We are warned against the leaven of the Saducees (Matt. 16:6 ), which was the arid rationalism of liberalism. Within the church, Paul uses leaven as an image of malice and wickedness (1 Cor. 5:7-8 ). Elsewhere he describes legalism in these same terms (Gal. 5:7-9 ). The meat offerings that Israel would present to God needed to be without leaven (Lev. 2:11 ).

There is a possible reference to leaven as a good potency in Romans (Rom. 11:16 ). They used to leaven a new batch of bread with a small lump from before, much the way we do with sourdough. After atonement had been made through the blood offerings, and it came time to offer the peace offerings of thanksgiving, the offering required leavened bread (Lev. 7:13 ; cf. Amos 4:5 ). The law required leavened bread to be presented at the festival of Pentecost (Lev. 23:17 ). Incidentally, though Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper at Passover, meaning that unleavened bread was the only bread available, the first instance of His followers celebrating the Supper was on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:46 ), which was a day not purged of leaven.

Weights and Measures

How much flour are we talking about? In the ancient dry measures, a measure was about three omers. Ten omers made up an ephah, which means that our “three measures” were approximately an ephah. In modern terms, we are approaching a bushel. This is not a mom baking a little kiddie loaf—this woman is a serious baker.

Gideon made this much (unleavened) bread for the angel of the Lord (Judges 6:18-19 ). Hannah brought this amount of flour up to the tabernacle at Shiloh when she brought Samuel there (1 Sam. 1:24 ). This is an amount Ezekiel mentions presented in sacrifice (Eze. 45:24 ).

Why a Good Image?

We have seen that leaven can represent both good and bad. It is like Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah, or the devil, a lion seeking whom he may devour. Leaven represents potency and growth, but the growth of what? The Israelites were not to take with them any of the leaven of Egypt, because they were to make a clean break. Taking the leaven of Egypt would simply have grown them another Egypt. But once they had made that clean break, and had entered the promised land, they were to present leavened offerings in thanksgiving. Leaven is potent, whether for good or bad. In our surrounding parables, we have both possibilities. The mustard seed grows, the wheat grows, the darnel grows, and so on. Why should we take the leaven here as being a good thing?

First, Jesus is announcing and preaching the kingdom, and He says that the kingdom is like leaven. Second, we have the way the parables are paired. This parable is next to the mustard seed parable, and is paired up with it. The man and the woman are paired, as Jesus does elsewhere (Matt. 13:44-46 ; Luke 15:1-10 ). We are not out of line to take them as making the same basic point. Third, we have the “law of first mention.” The first mention of bread baking with three measures of flour (Gen. 18:6 ) shows Abraham and Sarah showing hospitality to the Lord and the angels, who were on their way to judge Sodom. Abraham tells them that he wants to fetch “a morsel of bread,” which they agree to, and then Abraham has Sarah make enough bread for a hundred people. Abraham does this, and they promise Sarah a son, who will be the child of promise—the ancestor of the one who told a parable about the kingdom being like a woman working with three measures of flour.

Resistance is Futile

Abraham did not serve the Lord hipster bread, full of whole grains, Ponderosa bark, and pure thoughts. It was three measures of refined flour. Think about this for a minute. Abraham served the Lord bread made from fine flour (Gen. 18:6 ), red meat from a tender calf (Gen. 18:7 ), butter (Gen. 18:8 ), and whole milk (Gen. 18:8 ). Abraham is apparently trying to give the Lord a heart attack. And there is absolutely no reference to them attempting to extract the gluten.

This process of leavening is mysterious, secret, inexorable, and impossible to thwart. The birds of the air can pick seeds off the path, but here the leaven cannot be extricated from the loaf. The thing is done, and the only thing required is time. What do you tell yourself when you read the terrible headlines, or you read about the prospect of so-and-so getting elected? Tell yourself that this woman knew her business, and the leaven is in the loaf. We can’t get it out. Sorry.

How does leaven work? It works by releasing carbon dioxide as the loaf warms, filling the loaf with thousands of little pockets of air, breath, wind, carbon dioxide. Bread that has risen is bread that is filled with the Spirit. And the loaf that will rise in this way is the entire world.