… Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to perceive that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisses and Sadducees.
The passage then concludes with:
Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The “moral” of the story is made pretty obvious by this last sentence, but I think there is a broader message contained here that the Church needs to take to heart: The Holy Spirit’s true voice comes from the Church as a whole, the body of the people, not from narrow theological hair-splitting delivered from above by Bishops and prelates.
Where do I get this moral? Consider what “bread” is and how Jesus uses it as a metaphor. Bread, especially in the time and place of Jesus’ earthly ministry, is more than just a food; it is the absolute staple of sustenance—it is life itself. Thus when a small amount of this life (teachings of the Church) is sent out into the crowds, it returns in such quantity as to feed (teach) thousands. But Jesus tells us to beware of self-appointed authorities who will try to leaven (modify, fluff up, adulterate—pick your metaphor, they all seem apt here) the miracle of God’s people sharing their common experience of the Holy Spirit.
So this is the lesson for the Anglican prelates gathering later this year: Trust what you hear from the body of the Church. Listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit, not from the dubious leaven of narrow theological debate but from the baskets full of genuine faith coming from through out the Anglican Communion.
