Too Much Yeast

The largest loaf of bread ever baked weighed 3,463 pounds! It was made by Joaquim Goncalves of Brazil in 2008. Talk about a lot of bread! On November 13, 2008, in celebration of Guinness World Records Day, Goncalves and a host of others set out to bake the largest loaf of bread ever recorded.

Local papers and other members of the press were there to witness it, as well as an official from Guinness World Records. After baking for an hour-and-a-half, the warm, steamy bread came out and the record was declared. A majority of this bread was sent to various charities in the area.

In order to bake a loaf of bread that big, you have to have a lot of yeast!

Interestingly, it was this precise thing that Jesus warned His disciples against—too much yeast! In response to the disciples not having enough bread for a journey upon which they were embarking, Jesus took the opportunity to warn them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod” (Mark 8:15 NRSV).

The disciples were utterly perplexed. They thought Jesus was referring to the fact that they did not have enough bread, but He was talking about something entirely different. The purpose of yeast is to cause dough to rise and expand. It literally puffs bread up.

This is precisely what the Pharisees did and what their teachings encouraged. They were the definition of puffed up. They tried to magnify everything they did, impressing people with their pious prayers and self-righteous ceremonies. And embracing just a tablespoon of their pride-filled teaching would eventually cause the leavening of a whole life.

But Christ’s character is altogether different. While man’s pride naturally expands, Christ humbles Himself and chooses to become nothing. (See Philippians 2:5–8.) And His followers, when beholding Him, will naturally follow His lead.

Key Bible Texts

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: (1 Corinthians 5:6-7 KJV)