Homily outline using the image of yeast:

• Old yeast vs unleavened bread
  • Yeast Single-celled microorganism
  • Many types (over 1,500 species)
  • One most commonly used Saccharomyces cerevisiae (which means “sugar-eating fungi”)
  • https://www.finecooking.com/article/the-science-of-baking-with-yeast-2
• Why do we prefer yeasted bread?
  • It’s taste, texture, smell, different styles of yeasted bread, memories of eating/cooking with risen dough
• How yeast helps bread rise
  • When dough is kneaded, yeast metabolizes the starches and sugars in flour
  • Yeast turns these starches/sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas
  • This gas inflates the bubbles caused by kneading, which causes bread to rise
  • During rising, yeast divides and multiplies, producing more carbon dioxide gas
  • As long as there is air + carbohydrates in the dough, yeast will multiply until it is actively stopped by heat
  • Punching down or stirring a dough after it first rises will refresh the yeast’s environment
  • https://www.finecooking.com/article/the-science-of-baking-with-yeast-2
• Paul juxtaposes what old yeast or bad yeast can do to bread vs unleavened bread
  • Old yeast or bad yeast for Paul
  • Spoils bread like sin spoils us
  • Once in us, multiplies and won’t stop growing
  • Examples: anger, fear, hatred, avoidance, lust
  • If we beat down, avoid, try to mask our sin, just like yeast it will thrive and be refreshed and continue to grow/spoil us
  • Jesus Christ: True Bread of Life
  • There is a such thing as “good” yeast
  • A little yeast goes a long way
  • Example of good yeast spreading: when cooking, you take a piece of yeasted dough from one batch to be the starter for the next batch
  • Fundamental to using yeast is communal sharing/giving
  • Through Jesus Christ’s Paschal Mystery, we are cleansed of old/bad yeast
  • Like Jesus Christ who offered Himself for us on the Cross, we are called to celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection by becoming the bread of life for others
  • A call back to the life Yahweh gave the Israelites through the Passover meal and the mana in the desert
  • We are called to be food for those in need
• What does this mean for the community?
  • Like new yeast, the Easter Resurrection spreads
  • Spread joy, life, hope in our lives
  • Paul: calls for use to clean out the old yeast to make room for something new, this is what our 40-day Lenten journey has been for us
  • Easter Sunday is what we have been prepared for
  • Jesus Christ as bringer of life, of something new