The Way of Wheat and
the Resistance of Wheat
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is
like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all
of it was leavened.” Matthew 13:33 (NRSV)
On their way to the
other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring
along bread. In the meantime, Jesus said to them, “Keep a sharp eye out for
Pharisee-Sadducee yeast. Thinking he was scolding them for forgetting bread,
they discussed in whispers what to do. Jesus knew what they were doing and
said, “Why all these worried whispers about forgetting the bread? Runt
believers! Haven’t you caught on yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves of
bread and the five thousand people, and how many baskets of fragments you
picked up? Or the seven loaves that fed four thousand, and how many baskets of
leftovers you collected? Haven’t you realized yet that bread isn’t the problem?
The problem is yeast, Pharisee-Sadducee yeast.” Then they got it: that he
wasn’t concerned about eating, but teaching—the Pharisee-Sadducee kind of
teaching. Matthew 16:5-12 (The Message)
The violence that accompanied
the European colonization of the Indigenous people of Mesoamerica is a
well-known fact. Historians have elaborated on the devastating effects
colonization had on Indigenous societies, cultures, and mortality -- we know
guns, god, and glory altered the cultures of the Americas. Europeans arrived on
the coasts of what is now referred to as “the Americas” mounted on horses,
armed with advanced weaponry and a bunch of European diseases. Europeans had
one principal tool of colonization that gets overlooked: food and nourishment. Food
is power. The Indigenous people of the Americas encountered a radically
different food system with the arrival of the Spanish. The legacy of this
system is still present in the food practices of modern Latin American people.
Imagine that you are a
Spaniard, newly arrived on the coasts of a foreign land. Your survival depends
on two things: protecting yourself from danger and nourishing yourself for
survival. The Spanish diet differed from the Indigenous diet, but it was more
than a matter of different tastes. European settlers believed if they consumed
“inferior” Indigenous foods, they would eventually become like the “inferior”
original residents. They believed only proper European foods could maintain the
superior nature of European bodies and protect colonizers from the unfamiliar
environment. For example, the Spaniards determined that guinea pig meat was
“Indian” food, so anyone who consumed guinea pig was considered “Indian.” The
same was true for other staple Indigenous foods, such as corn and beans. The
Spanish called these staples “famine foods,” fit for consumption only if all
other European foods were scarce.
European settlers wanted beef
and dairy. And they wanted wheat. They filled the fields with wheat in places
where the Indigenous communities already had their sown their crops of yucca, cassava,
and sweet potatoes. Europeans planted, thinking only of their own needs and not
taking into consideration the pre-existing cultures and foods that were part of
the native landscape. European foods literally supplanted much of the local
food.
During one of the protests
last week, as I joined masses of people demanding women’s voices be heard and
honored, I ran into an acquaintance who works for Casa de Maryland. We caught
up on our lives and careers as we marched. I asked him about this idea of food
and colonization. He told me in his home town in El Salvador, there is an
enormous building that was used as a warehouse for colonists. As ships arrived,
they packed the warehouse with European food for distribution to settlers. He
told me the building is still there in town. Everyone knows what it was for.
Wheat bread served as a
powerful symbol of how the colonists considered their culture better than the
original residents’. Wheat also became a symbol of European religion and greed.
In one of Columbus’s early ship logs, he wrote about how he kidnapped nine
island residents and shipped them to Spain. He wrote, “...Your Highnesses must
resolve to make them Christians. I believe that if this effort commences, in a
short time a multitude of peoples will be converted to our Holy Faith, and
Spain will acquire great domains and riches and all of their villages. Beyond
doubt there is a very great amount of gold in this country... Also, there are
precious stones and pearls, and an infinite quantity of spices" (November
11, 1492). With Spanish colonization came Roman Catholic religion. Just as we
see today, wheat bread and wine played a central role in the Catholic ritual of
communion. Catholic doctrine required that communion must offered using only
wheat bread and grape wine. When Spain planted wheat in their new world, it
became a sign of religious domination married with political control.
So, what were the Indians
supposed to eat? As their roots were replaced with fields of wheat, what would nourish
them? Many settlers encouraged the Indians to adopt the dietary habits of
Europeans. Settlers believed food alone would improve Indians’ level of
civility. “You are as you eat.” For
Indigenous people, the struggle was in maintaining their own cuisine while
understanding that they had to accept new foods to survive.
Jesus
knew all about the way of wheat and yeast. When yeast is introduced to
dough, it violently changes the physical state of the wheat to create something
unprecedented. Wheat rises with a different form and purpose. Jesus knew that bread and yeast have a political
dimension. We hear about it in Matthew 16 … “Beware of the yeast of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.” It’s another way of saying, “Look out for the
religious and political elites.” Yeast
symbolizes corrupt behavior that works its way through religious and political
systems.
Jesus
also talked about yeast as a symbol of political and religious upheaval. Yes,
yeast can reveal corruption. But it can also grow into reckless abundance, shared in our daily bread. All it takes is little subversion. Jesus offered a one-sentence parable
about yeast and subversion: “The
kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three
measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” Most English translations say the woman mixed yeast
into the dough. In Greek, the literal translation says the woman “hid”, not
“mixed”, but “hid” the leaven into the flour. Subversion is afoot. Upheaval has
begun.
Let
me be clear. I’m not saying yeast is a moral agent. It is not good or bad. All
it does is make dough rise. The yeast revels the true nature of the dough by
making it bigger. Because the dough will inevitably rise, there’s no way to for
the dough to hide what it really is. Some dough will rise and reveal political
and religious systems that only serve their own needs. We experience
it now in a toxic political and religious environment, driven by ratings,
advertising dollars, ideology, power and religious fervor. Whether it is this “Christian spokesman” or that famous “spiritual leader” or this leftist politician or that radical conservative talk show host, we are
bombarded hourly by the yeast of the
religious and political elites. If we don’t watch out, it
feeds on fear and divides into despair.
As
I look at the world today, it just seems too much: Too much violence, too much
fear; too much of demands and problems; too much of broken dreams and broken
lives; too much of the sounds of people devouring each other and the earth; too
much of stale routines and quarrels, unpaid bills and dead ends; too much of
cruelty and selfishness and indifference. I want something different for my
community, for my family, for my church, for my sisters and brothers who
suffer.
I
want something like and civility and mutual forbearance. Something like mercy
instead of aggression. Something like the abundant living Jesus kept talking
about. Something like yeast that transforms flat, cheap living into gracious open-handedness.
Food
is power. So, on this World Communion Sunday, we remember. We remember what can
develop when we hide some yeast into the dough of kindness. We get a taste of
the steady growth of generosity … the heightening of healing … the
deliciousness of deep care. Today, the same
yeast that aggravates corruption also leavens our love. The growth can continue
from here. We just need to hide a little yeast in the dough.
Sources:
http://www.foodispower .org/colonization-food-and-the-practice-of-eating/
https://academic.oup. com/ahr/article/115/3/688/41267
http://www.dickshovel.com/500.html
