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Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." And He left them and departed.
Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread." But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is is you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
- Matthew 16:1-12
Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them. So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?" Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish." So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.
Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. That both Pharisees and Sadducees are here together, demanding a sign from heaven, is important. It shows the growing influence of Christ's ministry. The fact that members of both groups are here tells us notice of Him is important enough that they have come to see and to confront. A sign from heaven would be a spectacular display of power -- supposedly requested so that He prove He's the Messiah, a holy one sent by God. The time of the Messiah among the Jews was expected to be accompanied by signs, prophesied in Scripture. But clearly there are an abundance of these signs all around. In yesterday's reading, we were told of the multitudes marveling, when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. These are clear signs named by the prophets, so this question is one made in hypocrisy, demanding proofs so they recognize authority in Him. It's not the first time we've heard this demand. In chapter 12, Jesus was asked by some Pharisees and scribes, in response to His criticism, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." (See By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.) Their deliberate dullness of perception serves as example of hardened hearts.
He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." And He left them and departed. How is it they can discern the weather, but they can't "see" what is happening in His ministry, or recognize the works He's already done as signs? In chapter 12, when He was previously requested to show a sign, He also referred to an evil and adulterous generation that asked for a sign. Evil is ill-willed, adulterous refers to the relationship to the God of Israel. They have no loyalty, no fidelity to God. And again, this is the same response He gave in chapter 12, to refer to the sign of the prophet Jonah. He has not performed any great work without the presence of faith first, and He won't do it now. Only His death and Resurrection will be a sign for the whole world. To test God isn't a motive worthy of His response; their faith would lack anyway. Love isn't compelled, it's voluntary.
Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread." But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is is you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. My study bible tells us that the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees is their doctrine and hypocrisy. This demand for a sign from heaven is just a way of drawing a line in the sand, setting themselves up as judges of the ways that God "must" be at work in the world. It doesn't come from the faith in God that allows perception of the heart in the first place. They're too enamored of their own authority in the first place. That kind of leaven, testing for a sign, is a way of hardening the heart rather than having it open to spiritual illumination, to God who is always surprising and always revealing things we don't already know or understand. Leaven has been used by Christ as a positive metaphor in the parable of the leaven "hid in three measures of meal" (see this reading). But generally speaking is used throughout Scripture as a negative, something mixed into and tainting what would otherwise be good, or pure. In terms of faith, we have to ask why the disciples don't understand Him. The answer is that at this point, they're painfully slow as they have little faith, as Jesus tells them. It teaches us about the importance of the Spirit to our own comprehension and capability for faith. They won't fully grasp His teachings until Pentecost, the time when the Holy Spirit was given.
Sometimes it seems like our own authority interferes with the authority of God. It's hard -- maybe impossible on some level -- for human beings to grasp the concept or reality of a being much greater than ourselves. Try understanding a concept that requires knowledge greater than one already possesses. It requires a constant change of assumptions, as new information comes to light. In science, this happens all the time. Physics, for example, particularly in advanced fields of research like theoretical nuclear physics, must change all the time, in terms of scientific beliefs. A new particle is discovered, or not, and it changes all of the assumptions upon which the science and its theories have already been based. In fact, there was recently the "discovery" of what was called the "God-particle." What was so revolutionary about this news? It actually confirmed theories already formed, held, and taught. That was news. In that light, it's strange that some people claim science precludes the possibility of the existence of God or even signs by Christ; it does no such thing, not even in theory. Being on a journey with God is something akin to that process of discovery, where what is so much greater than we are leads us into new things, new ways of thinking, a bigger picture than we already have. Just as the New Testament is revealed through Christ, magnifying the picture already given in the Old, but defying expectations at the same time, so is the individual journey of faith. Our expectations just can't measure up to the immeasurable God. So it is with these men who demand a sign. All they're really asking for is a confirmation of their own authority, the right to judge God, rather than accepting the unfolding and greater revelation of God present in Christ's ministry. So what does it mean that we harden our hearts? It means that we refuse to engage with that part of ourselves that is capable of discernment, and that we lack the humility for any form of repentance or "change of mind" as the word literally means in Greek (metanoia). There's a reason why Jesus gives us the example of the faith of a child. Humility means we're willing to learn and to change, to cast off the things we might call "sacred," so to speak, in order to find deeper meaning, and broader understanding. And that's the journey of prayer, the journey with Christ. Oftentimes our own discoveries are of things we hold onto that we need to let go, opening up a space of "unknown" in order to be led by God. If you think about it, spiritual practices that ask for sacrifice, like fasting, or giving alms by donating what we have -- such as time, money, possessions, or skills, for example -- "open up" and make room for places to be filled by God. These men can't give up their own authority and find a greater one; their own places are too precious for them. Let us remember what it is to have a hardened heart, and the one thing needed to really invest in and open up to in our faith. Everything else comes second. Sometimes the signs may be all around us, but we need to wake up to our own ability to discern them.
