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 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.  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."  My study Bible explains that a sign from heaven means a spectacular display of power.   It says that the time of the Messiah among the Jews was expected to be accompanied by signs, but these hypocrites have not recognized the signs which are already being performed by Jesus, because their hearts were hardened, and they ignore the works happening all around them.   

 

"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.    Jesus refuses to prove Himself in a spectacular way, for a sign is never given to those whose motive is to test God (see Matthew 4:5-7).  My study Bible also comments that the sign of the prophet Jonah is a veiled prediction of Christ's death and Resurrection (Matthew 12:40), the ultimate sign that Jesus is the Christ.  The term adulterous generation is an echo of the illustration used for Israel by the prophets when Israel was unfaithful to God (Jeremiah 2; Hosea 2:2-13; see also Matthew 12:39).

 

 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.  My study Bible comments here that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  It says that the reason the disciples are painfully slow to understand is that they have such little faith; they would not fully grasp the teachings of Christ until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given.

Jesus speaks in important metaphors, using the term "leaven" for the doctrine and hypocrisy of the Pharisees.  Leaven is a natural kind of yeast, fermented grain added to a mixture of dough which eventually spreads to the whole mixture, and making bread more digestible for human beings and making loaves rise.  It's often used negatively as something undesirable added which changes the whole as a bad influence, as in the way Jesus uses the term here.  See also, for example, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.  Jesus also uses "leaven" in a positive way, to illustrate the kingdom of heaven, in Matthew 13:33.  But what He questions in today's reading is why the disciples fail to understand that He's illustrating to them a picture of the influence of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and He's not talking to them about bread!  It's important that we understand this, also, given that yesterday's reading was all about the second feeding miracle Jesus speaks of here (see above).  In yesterday's commentary we remarked on the idea of food and consumption, that Christ's feeding miracles, and also the Eucharist and His sacrifice, remind us to consider what it is we "take in," what we consume.  We want to be sure that what it is we feed ourselves is for the good, and its influence within us is for our good -- and this is precisely Jesus' point in today's reading about the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.   These who demand a sign from Christ are not acting in good faith.  They are not coming to Him with honest questions, nor are they truly interested in what He has to teach.  They are hypocrites, and their doctrine is self-serving.  Jesus will say of them that "they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers" and that "all their works they do to be seen by men" (Matthew 23:4-5).  Virtually the whole of chapter 23 is Jesus' grand critique of their doctrine and hypocrisy.  But our concern today, as indicated by Jesus, is His surprise at the disciples' failure to grasp what He's getting at, to understand what He means by speaking of "the leaven of the Pharisees."  It is with ears of faith that we are opened to the meanings in Christ's illustrations; it is through discernment that we come to understand that there are influences that aren't good for us, that change us and change our ways of thinking, change how we see things.  In Christ's illustration of the kingdom of heaven, the leaven is a good influences that changes and permeates the whole.  But leaven is also an illustration of influences we don't want, as St. Paul will more than once warn that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" (1 Corinthians 5:6, Galatians 5:9).  So, once again, let us allow Jesus' words to sink in and remind us that what we must be discerning about what we choose to consume -- be it on social media, or in newspapers or television, or gossip from our friends, a political slogan, or various doctrines that cut down what we know is good for others' self-serving purposes behind the scenes, or someone's phony mask of virtue.  All of it has an influence; this is the message of Christ and the message of St. Paul.  Let us not discount the effects both ways:  when we pay attention and nourish ourselves with what is good, or when we "take in" what is not good for us.