We know, of course, that by "leaven" (yeast) He was talking about a creeping influence that spreads unseen and eventually pervades everything. We will look at this below.
But notice something else first: According to common consent, the Pharisees and Herod were against each other, not in the same boat. They were probably as far apart then as the left- and right-wing politicians are today. Herod was worldly power, the ruler, cruel, unjust, compromising morals for his own ends. The Pharisees were fixated on keeping God's given law to the letter, and their own laws that they had erected to encourage and force people to keep God's law. Herod's attitude was arrogant, self-centred real-politik; the Pharisees' attitude was one of arrogant moral superiority with hypocrisy.
Do not these two wrong attitudes mirror those of today's extreme right- and left-wing?
Jesus saw them both as wrong influences to guard against. What this implies is that Christians who are against the right-wing and Christians who are against the left-wing are both far away from what Jesus meant and said.
The two leavens might spread different things that seem, from the world's perspective, to be against each other, but they were both spreading wrong. Just different wrong. The leaven of the Kingdom of God is very different from both.
Some say that leaven is a metaphor for evil, but that is not so. Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God being leaven. Other parables too back this up by talking about God's influence spreading unseen. Leaven can be good or bad either of the Kingdom or God or or Herod and the Pharisees.
Both God's kingdom and the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod are influences that spread unseen, pervading all. Only later do we see the results of which leaven we have mixed into the dough of our lives and cultures. That is why Jesus' followers need to beware.
Jesus seems to be telling the disciples that there are different kinds of wrong, both against the Kingdom of God. So what unseen influence does God want to spread? And what are the two main wrong unseen influences that we find in Herod and the Pharisees?
The leaven of Herod is that of the Romans and the Greeks, which was also found in the Canaanite tribes and in Sodom, a culture of being hunger for power, cynicism, narcissism, competitiveness and a fighting mentality. When this mindset pervades a group or a society, it spreads inexorably through all people. The leaven of the Pharisees is that of hypocrisy and moral superiority and legalism. Likewise, this spreads inexorably when some people exhibit it.
We can see these leavens at work today, though maybe one more in the right-wing and the other more in the left-wing. Both kinds are subtle. They are deep presuppositions as to 'how the world really works' or 'how to get on in the world'. But they are false. God did not fashion the Creation like either of them.
The leaven of the Kingdom of God, by contrast to both, is justice and peace (as Melchizedek showed to Abraham) with openness (meekness) and self-giving love (as Jesus showed throughout His life and in His death, and now shows today in His interaction with us). This too spreads in groups and societies. If someone is filled with the Holy Spirit, mature in Christ, their gentleness and voluntary vulnerability opens the way for others to adopt similar attitudes and let their guard down. It is not in vain that Jesus told people "Blessed are the meek; they shall inherit the earth" [Matthew 5:5]; meekness, justice, peace, love all 'work' because Creation is made that way, but are unseen.
Let us consider carefully and openly what heart attitude God values, and what is the heart of both the left and right wings.
These are not knock-down arguments, of course, since they depend on certain interpretations of Scripture. But I at least take it to mean that I as a follower of Christ should not take sides to the left or to the right. Does anyone want to join me in this? Are we not supposed to be representing God to the lost and damaged world?
This page, "http://abxn.org/dicussion/left.v.right.html" is part of Andrew Basden's abxn.org pages - pages that open up discussion and exploration from a Christian ('xn') perspective. Written on the Amiga with Protext, in the style of classic HTML.
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Created: 7 April 2026. Last updated: 17 April 2026 some rw. SeeAlso.