Stephen Sabu's Sermon on the Leaven of the Pharisees

Father, all glory to the one triune God. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing unto you, O God, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.

Respected Anish Achen, Jacks Achen, and my dear beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,

I would like to take a moment to thank God Almighty for allowing me to be here in Brisbane, Australia, once again to share a few words on today’s gospel reading.

In today’s gospel reading, our Lord warns His disciples, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” At first, the disciples misunderstand Him, thinking Jesus is talking about literal bread. But Christ is speaking spiritually. He uses the image of leaven, or yeast—something very small, yet with the power to change and shape the entire dough. Those who bake know that a tiny amount of yeast transforms everything completely, causing the dough to rise.

Jesus is teaching us that what seems small—a habit, a thought, a compromise—can grow and shape our entire spiritual life. This is what He means by the leaven of the Pharisees: the subtle, powerful influence of their hypocrisy and false teachings.

The same is true today. A small sin is tolerated, a small negligence is normalized, a small worldly influence is accepted. All these act like leaven. They may seem insignificant, but they can grow, spread, and transform the heart. One of the most common small sins we normalize is judging one another. We think, “It’s just my opinion. I’m not saying anything bad about anyone.” Yet our Lord tells us plainly, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” Judgment hardens the heart and blinds us to our own sins. It makes us focus more on others’ faults than our own shortcomings.

Let me share a story to illustrate this further. One day, a woman came to an Achen and said, “Achen, I’m leaving the parish. There are so many people with big egos. The women gossip, the choir is too loud, and the kids are running around. I’m going to leave because of this.” The Achen took a glass of water, filled it to the brim, and handed it to the woman. He told her to walk around the church three times while focusing on the people. So, she walked around once, twice, and a third time, looking at everyone else. When she returned, the glass was empty. She had stumbled, fallen, and spilled the water.

Then the Achen said, “Before you leave the church completely, do the same thing again. Walk around the church three times with this glass of water filled to the brim, but this time, focus on the glass and no one else.” So, she walked once, twice, and a third time, and this time, her glass remained full. The Achen said, “My daughter, this glass is like our soul. God has entrusted it to you, not for you to compare with others, but to guard and carefully keep it full. When your attention was on everyone else, you stumbled and spilled what was precious. But when your focus was on the water in your hands, you walked steadily and reached the end without losing a single drop.”

So it is with the spiritual life. When we spend our energy watching other people—their sins, their mistakes, their hypocrisies—we lose sight of what God is doing within us. Grace slips away, peace is disturbed, and our hearts grow cold. But when we fix our eyes on Christ and tend to the state of our hearts, we walk steadily on the path of salvation. Our soul remains full—full of mercy, full of humility, and full of repentance.

Beloved, judging others may seem small, like a pinch of leaven, but it changes everything inside us. It breeds pride and resentment. Instead of becoming like Christ, we become critics of His body.

Another small habit that grows into great spiritual harm is the way many of us treat the Holy Qurbana. Some of us think it’s enough to attend the Holy Qurbana only on special occasions—birthdays, wedding anniversaries, or when a special Achen comes. Others complain regularly, believing that parts of the Qurbana are not important. But dear brothers and sisters, this is yet another dangerous leaven. Just as the body cannot live without daily food, the soul cannot thrive without regular nourishment from the body and blood of Christ. Our Lord said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” If this is the source of our spiritual life, how can we limit it to a few times a year? How can we feed ourselves so rarely and expect to remain strong?

Beloved parents, I speak to you with love. If you treat the Holy Qurbana lightly, your children will too. If they see you rushing in late and attending only when convenient, they will grow up thinking the Eucharist is optional. Children do not learn faith from Sunday school alone; they learn it from the habits of their parents. A casual approach to the Eucharist today leads to spiritual detachment tomorrow. The small leaven of neglect will grow into indifference and, eventually, separation from Christ.

Leaven is powerful, but so is grace. Just as a small amount of yeast transforms the dough, a small spiritual discipline transforms the soul. A few minutes of prayer each morning can reorder an entire day. A single act of forgiveness can begin healing in a wounded relationship. A habit of weekly participation in the Qurbana can anchor a family’s entire spiritual life. The danger is that both sin and grace work the same way—quietly, slowly, and thoroughly. The leaven of sin corrupts the heart; the leaven of grace sanctifies it. The question is: which leaven are we allowing to shape us?

As I conclude, my dearly beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, Christ’s warning is not about bread; it’s about the heart. A little judgment, and the heart becomes proud. A little neglect, and the soul grows cold. A little compromise, and the whole person is changed. But the opposite is also true: a little humility makes room for great grace, a little obedience draws us deeper into Christ, and a little repentance opens the door to transformation.

Let us therefore examine our hearts. What small leaven have we allowed to work within us? And let us replace it with the leaven of Christ—His word, His grace, and His body and blood offered to us in the Holy Qurbana. May we not treat this gift lightly. May we teach our children, by word and example, that the Eucharist is not an occasional celebration but the very source of life. And may we remember: even a little leaven embraces the whole dough. So let it be the leaven of holiness, not of sin, that transforms our hearts and our homes.

May all praise, glory, and honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, one God forever. Amen.