Luke 1:50 – Re-Generation

His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.

Summary: From our human perspective it may look like the work of spreading the Gospel is limited to the people around us. From God’s point of view, the work continues generation after generation.

The last two meditations have been on Jesus’ parable about yeast and flour. The parable itself is about the kingdom of heaven.

In the first meditation, we looked at how a little bit of yeast, along with some elbow grease, can work into a large batch of flour. The yeast not only mixes with the flour, but it also changes the flour. The difference between bread made with yeast and bread without yeast is obvious.

In the second meditation on yeast, we examined how God’s Word and his Holy Spirit change us from people who are self-centered into people who are God-centered. Today’s mediation looks at one more aspect of this parable: time.

Let’s assume for a moment that each grain of flour is a person. Sixty pounds of flour, then, is a lot of people! With enough effort and time, the yeast is worked through the entire batch, and when that happens, God’s Spirit causes us all to “rise up” and love God above all else and our neighbors as ourselves. But that takes time. It takes time to get the Word out and to share it with others. It takes time to knead the Word into the flour. When the yeast has been added and worked into the four, it takes time for the Spirit of God and his Word to work in the hearts of the people.

There is another time factor as well.

Mixing yeast into flour as Jesus describes in his parable is what engineers call a “batch process.” The work is done in batches, and when the batch is done and more bread is needed, another batch has to be made. The parallel here is with want we call generations.

While it may feel like the people around us are more a part of a flow than a batch, genealogists still divide us up into generations. From God’s perspective, I expect the view of human generations is more clear. If one generation fails to pass on the wisdom they have acquired to the next generation, there is no guarantee that the new batch will look anything like the old one.

Generations are a batch process, just like making bread. When it comes to sharing the Word of God, we are never finished! We cannot rightly say, “Okay, I’m all done.” There is always the next batch of dough for us to work in.

Finally, there is the yeast itself.

I am not a bread baker but I’ve read about making “starter yeast” and it is quite interesting. The micro-organisms we call yeast live in the air. Setting a flour and water mix on the counter can attract enough yeast organisms to create the “starter” that bakers talk about. Once active, yeast has to be cared for. It needs to be fed and kept at the right temperature to survive. There are a lot of interesting possibilities for analogies to our relationship with God. Maybe someday I’ll have time to take up baking bread and I can learn more about them.

Application: If you want to be “yeast,” share a little levity with those around you.

Food for Thought: How can we help future generations know more about God?