Leaven of Scribes

Leaven of Scribes September 9, 2014

Pastor Rich Lusk of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, suggests that the “leaven of their Pharisees” isn’t simply their teaching, but their entire vision of the coming kingdom.

For the Pharisees, as Marcus Borg pointed out, the kingdom could come only if Israel pursued holiness by means of separation. At the center of Jesus’ kingdom is holiness-as-mercy, especially holiness as compassion for outsiders.

The feeding miracles that surround Jesus’ warning about the Pharisees symbolize the impotence of the Pharisaical program. When Jesus feeds 5000 (a Jewish multitude), the disciples take up seven small baskets of leftovers. They end with more than they started with. By Jesus’ Eucharistic blessing, bread has multiplied. In Jesus’ kingdom, consumption doesn’t diminish supply but increases it.

That’s nothing compared with the multiplier effect of feeding the 4000 (a Gentile multitude). When Jesus breaks seven loaves for 4000, the disciples pick up seven large baskets of leftovers (Mark 8:20). When the disciples do table service for Gentiles, they have far, far more than they started with.

The disciples don’t appear to like serving Gentiles, and Jesus charges them with being Pharaohs, their hearts hardened (8:17). They have been infected with the leaven of the Pharisees, a kingdom that is exclusive to Jews, and more particularly to Jews like them. No wonder Jesus is dismayed at the disciples’ blindness. 

Once for all though they are, these miracles set a pattern for the ministry and mission of the church. Ministering within the community creates abundance; five loaves is enough to feed everyone, and then some. But when the church extends its ministry out, when the church turns outward to serve tables for the homeless, for prisoners, for outcasts, the multiplier effect multiplies: Seven loaves feeds everyone, and still there are enough leftovers to feed another multitude, and again and again.


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