In Jewish culture, yeast was seen as a metaphor for evil. In fact, before the Jews would have partaken in the Feast of the Unleavened Bread (Directly connected to the Passover), they would have cleansed the entire house of yeast. Even the children were involved in this ritual cleansing in order to teach them this lesson. The idea is that it is impossible to let just a little yeast into the dough. It would spread throughout it all, ruining the entire batch (if you were striving for unleavened bread).
Jesus uses this imagery of yeast to show that the teachings of the Pharisees were extremely dangerous, because they would work their way in to every bit of our teachings. As we see in earlier teachings, the primary indictment of the Pharisees is that their hearts are far from God and they have followed the traditions of men rather than the commandments of God.
There are a few ways that we must guard ourselves against that spiritual yeast today. One is that we must continue to grow in our love of the word of God. We must make the Bible our sole authority, and not merely men’s interpretations of it. We can be so caught up with certain teachers that we wind up idolizing their teachings, rather than going back to God’s word. Secondly, in our love for the word of God, we must be careful to treat it appropriately. What I mean by this is that we cannot merely pull verses that back our position, but that we must study it in light of the grand narrative of the entire Bible, which is God’s redeeming work through Jesus Christ. Too often we make a stand on a certain issue and fail to love those on the other side, because we fail to remember that more than anything else, God wants to redeem those who are far from him.
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