Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees

 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 it 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

Yesterday we read that Jesus departed from the region of Tyre and Sidon, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat 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 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.  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.  What is a sign from heaven?  In yesterday's reading, we read of the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, all signs of fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the time of the Messiah.  But here, members of the ruling Council come from Jerusalem to test Him.  They demand a spectacular display of power in order that He prove Himself to them.  The time of the Messiah, my study bible says, was expected to be accompanied by signs, but these hypocrites have not recognized the signs that are already being performed.  Their hearts are hardened -- they ignore the works that are happening all around them.  Instead, they create more demands.  Jesus refuses to deliver a sign on demand.  He offers them only the sign of the prophet Jonah, His death and Resurrection after three days.  There is also a message here, in that Jonah was sent by God to prophecy to Gentiles, the Ninevites.  They were Assyrian enemies of the Jews, a great power of the time.   Unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees, their king led them in repentance and to God's mercy.

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 it 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.  The leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  My study bible says that the reason the disciples are painfully slow to understand is that they have such little faith.  They will not fully grasp Christ's teachings until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given.

In today's reading, we have a study in faith, or rather a lack of faith.  Even though Jesus has done many great signs, the Pharisees and Sadducees can't recognize this.  Perhaps it is that they simply don't want to.  Certainly they see Jesus as a rival to their positions of authority.  Among the people, we're told (in yesterday's reading, above), the multitude marvels and glorifies the God of Israel at the sight of His many healings.  If Jesus is truly the prophesied Messiah, this is a serious challenge to the position of the ruling Council, and to the Pharisees and Sadducees who come to test Him.  But they don't just give Him a test.  They demand a stupendous sign.   They ignore what is happening around them, and the words of Scripture (in which they are experts) that convey clues to Jesus' identity:  the prophesies fulfilled, the "types" from the Old Testament that can be observed in all He does.  Their hearts are hardened to this awareness, and they have no discernment.   It is this for which Jesus takes them to task, saying that they can see the signs of the weather, but they can't discern the signs of the times.  Funnily enough (and not for the first time in Matthew's Gospel), the lack of faith in the Pharisees and Sadducees is contrasted with the apparent lack of comprehension of the disciples, which Jesus says is due to their little faith.  So there are two groups of people who cannot discern what Jesus says and does.  One group is fiercely opposed to Him and seeking His destruction, while the other group form His disciples.  This paradox is an important one, because it's given to us quite deliberately.  The disciples also lack insight into what He's telling them about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  And, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, they don't seem to have comprehended the astonishing miracles of feeding the five thousand and the four thousand with a few loaves and fish in the wilderness!  This may seem hard to understand, but if we look around ourselves we may find in experience the potential that human beings have to ignore facts that are in front of their eyes.  Our minds have filtering mechanisms that work particularly as a defense against things which seem too great for us to comprehend, overwhelming, and possibly threatening to our perspectives.  And this is the key here with Christ:  what He brings is overwhelming.  It is too great for the disciples to take in, although they follow Him.  And it is too much for the leadership to sacrifice their positions of authority to anyone.  What the disciples have in their favor, although they are in this moment those of little faith, is their humility.  It is this that stands in great contrast to the leadership that comes to test Jesus.  It is this that reminds us of the people of Nineveh, who repented because of Jonah's preaching, and thus found God's mercy.   It is humility that saves us from the worst effects of hypocrisy, because in humility we can follow Christ's example and know that it's not the praise of men that counts, but rather the praise of God (John 12:43).  Faith also implies and asks of us a trust in God.  In fact, the Greek word for faith in the Gospels really means "trust."  The disciples trust in Jesus.  These men from the Pharisees and Sadducees who come to test Jesus fear for their places and zealously guard their authority.  When it comes to discernment, there is perhaps no greater guide to its acquisition than a heart that trusts in God above all else.  To be on guard against false prophets and false doctrine is a good thing, for which we also need discernment.   But God is also always leading us somewhere, and for that we need humility and the desire for a pure heart without mixed motives.   The disciples are on this journey, but the hypocrisy of the authorities in today's reading keeps them from it.  Let us guard our own hearts today and take this message to heart.  In what do you put your trust for the journey?