From Bagels to Baguettes

He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” (Matthew 13:33 ESV). From bagels to baguettes, bread comes in thousands of forms. What do they have in common? On the most basic level, they all involve cooking a mixture of milled grains and water. Some are amazingly simple. Matzoh, for example, is nothing more than flour and water, baked until crisp. Raised breads, on the other hand, involve the complex interactions between flour and the leaveners that give them their porous, tender quality. Leaveners come in two main forms: baking powder or soda and yeast. Yeast is a live, single-celled fungus. There are about 160 species of yeast, and many of them live all around us. However, most people are familiar with yeast in its mass-produced form. You know them as tiny beige granules that come in little paper packets. This organism lies dormant until it comes into contact with warm water. Once reactivated, yeast begins feeding on the sugars in flour, and releases the carbon dioxide that makes bread rise. Yeast also adds many of the distinctive flavors and aromas we associate with bread. But leavening agents would just be bubbling brews without something to contain them. Here’s where flour comes in. There are lots of different types of flour used in bread, but the most commonly used in raised bread is wheat flour. This is because wheat flour contains two proteins, glutenin and gliadin, which, when combined with water, form gluten. As you knead the dough, the gluten becomes more and more stretchy. This gum-like substance fills with thousands of gas bubbles as the yeast goes to work during rising. You now know more than most of Jesus’ audience when he used “leaven,” or yeast, in our parable today. They simply knew how it worked. However, Jesus knew how and why it worked. It is not by accident that he compares it with the kingdom of heaven. He knew, just like yeast, the community of faith when “mixed” with the world would have an effect in the world. He also knew that for this to take place that same community of faith had to be dispersed into the world. I have found it interesting how many churches do not understand this principle. I do applaud them for their efforts to do the work of ministry in specialized locations and exotic locales; however, the bulk of the work is done where we are placed on a daily basis. The work is done in our families as we interact with our spouses and children; it is done where we work with our fellow employees; and it is done where we frequent each day. This is how we are “mixed” with the ingredients of our world. Certainly this is what Jesus meant when he told us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Matthew 5:13-16). So, whether you’re a bagel or a baguette, be that where God has placed you each day. Bring joy and peace into the lives of others as you reflect the grace of God in your life.