Broken for Tomorrow

In the sermon text this morning, Jesus warned the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. He insisted that his provision of bread was sufficient for the disciples. Not only is their leaven dangerous, but the disciples shouldn’t need it. But this only makes sense if we understand how leaven worked in the ancient world. In the past, leaven was not a packet of yeast you bought at the grocery store. Leaven was actually a chunk of dough left over from the last loaf of bread you made yesterday. Leaven was actually dough from yesterday’s loaf. Leaven was a bit of leftover dough that you saved so that you could have bread not only today but also bread for tomorrow. And this is perhaps why Jesus points to the leftovers he has provided for his disciples. He has plenty of dough, plenty of bread for the disciples. But notice also how this leaven works. It is broken off from the main lump today in order to make a new loaf tomorrow. And the next day another part of the dough will be broken off for the bread on the following day. And this is precisely how Jesus taught about his own life and death. On the night in which He was betrayed he took bread and broke it and gave it to his disciples and said that it was his body broken for them. Later, Paul says we who partake of the one loaf are one loaf, but this means that just as we are also the body of Christ, we are being called to be broken. But you are not merely being broken for the sake of brokenness. You are being broken for tomorrow. You are being broken today so that God can make another loaf of you tomorrow, so that God may give you life tomorrow and next year, and so that your children and grandchildren and neighbors might have life. And in Christ the cumulative effect of your life being broken is life for the world. Each of us has the calling to die for our spouses, our children, our neighbors, our coworkers, and even our enemies. We do this willingly and joyfully because we know that we serve the God who provides not only today, but in our brokenness he is also providing for tomorrow.