Leaven is a quite common illustration which both Jesus and various inspired Bible writers employed to make a number of points. Leaven is, of course, an agent used in baking bread that causes it to rise. Indeed, it doesn’t take much of this agent to have an effect on the final product. And, so, one who bakes must be cautious with how much he uses. Consider Jesus’ own words in Mark 8:15 wherein He warned with the following statement: “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

As you may recall, this prompted confusion and questions among Jesus’ disciples – they failed to initially grasp the point that Jesus was making. But, with our ability to read the entire account, we understand clearly that Jesus was teaching significant lessons for them and for us, too.

The Pharisees in the first century were, as we see in the gospels, notoriously self-righteous and selfish in their ambitions. Anyone that got in their way became their enemy and they would degrade such persons – much like happened with our Savior. As Jesus became more influential with common men, we see the Pharisees getting more and more agitated with Him. Ultimately, they sought to take His life in order to attempt to keep their place in Jewish society.

The frightening thing about the Pharisees and Herod was that their thoughts and opinions were quite influential with so many. So, Jesus warned His disciples to be cautious about falling under their sway and influence. Instead, they were to keep their focus on the mission of their Lord. This would have been awful difficult at times when they preached and practiced the things that were contrary to the way of the upper Jewish echelon.

Even though we don’t interact with Pharisees today and the Herods are long gone, the warning about the things that can influence us is still vital today. Even a little evil influence can impact us so much. Far too often, we witness one-time faithful followers of God departing from the way of Christ to do their own things. And, the cause of their change of hearts is so often tied to the fact that they allowed themselves to be influenced, swayed, and moved by the opinions of those in the world. Let’s be careful to not be unduly influenced by others to do wrong and forsake our Lord and the mission before us. Our efforts to do right will most certainly pay off!