March 1, 2024

We buried a good man today. His name was Shane. He didn’t make a lot of noise in this life, nor did he live to be very old. But what he did was amazing. He quietly and gently impacted every person he came into contact with. We heard stories from his family of Shane’s influence and impact on them. How people, young and old, tended to gravitate to him. He had an infectious smile, loved to laugh, and just made everybody glad they were there—even at family events when they really didn’t want to be there! After the funeral and graveside today, I was back at the church finishing up some things, and I was talking with one of our Celebrate Recovery people who heads up the kitchen. She told me that Shane was always the first to arrive and always offered to help in any way he could. She said he was just super sweet and always gracious and kind. He brought warmth, love, and life to everyone he came into contact with.
When I sat down to write and read our parable for today, I thought it was simply a perfect description of Shane. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God, when it’s at its best, is quiet and subtle, but quite powerful. It’s like yeast. You don’t need a lot, you just need it to come into contact with the dough. The yeast quietly penetrates the bread, bringing a life to it that it didn’t have on its own. It becomes fuller, richer, and more tasty. Yeast doesn’t make a lot of noise, and all by itself you might not even notice it. But when you put it in the dough, that’s where the magic happens.
Shane had a bit of that magic himself. The joy of God shone through him. The love of God was in every smile and every hug. He made our lives richer, fuller, and more enjoyable. Shane was diagnosed with cancer last year. But even cancer, with all of its ugliness and treatments with horrible side effects, couldn’t put out the light of Jesus shining through Shane. When I visited him in the hospital about a week before he died, he was truly delightful. We laughed together, looked at pictures of Alaska together, and prayed together. Though I came to help lift his spirits, I was the one who walked away blessed. Shane and this parable remind us that you don’t have to be big, bold, loud, or super talented to make an impact for the Kingdom of God. A little love and a little joy can go a long way to draw people toward God. Let’s all strive to be a bit more like Shane. He was the “yeast of these.” That’s God’s Word for you today.