You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times

 

 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 that 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 

 

In yesterday's reading, we read that after healing the daughter of the Canaanite woman, 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 aid 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 tells us that the time of the Messiah among the Jews was expected to be accompanied by signs, but these men are hypocrites who have not recognized the signs already being performed by Jesus because their hearts were hardened.  Thus 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.  Adulterous generation is an echo of the prophets, who used this term to indicate the faithlessness of the people in response to God (Jeremiah 2; Hosea 2:2-13).  Jesus refuses to prove Himself in a spectacular way, my study Bible tells us, for a sign is never given to those whose motive is to test God.  See also Matthew 4:5-7.  The sign of the prophet Jonah is a veiled prediction of Christ's death and Resurrection (Matthew 12:40), which will be the ultimate sign that He is the Christ.  

 

  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 that 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 explains that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  It notes that the reason the disciples are painfully slow to understand is that they have such little faith; they would not fully realize Christ's teachings until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given.  Jesus here refers to the two separate feedings in the wilderness; found at this reading, and in yesterday's reading (see above).

 

Today's reading shows the disciples in a rather iconic place of incomprehension.  They don't understand what Jesus is talking about when He tells them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  We, the readers, are supposed to understand this, which is quite interesting, because St. Matthew has just reported Christ's interaction with the Pharisees and Sadducees, in which He called them hypocrites.  But the apostles can't understand what He is talking about, and they come to the conclusion (after they reasoned among themselves) that "it is because we have taken no bread."  This answer seems to strike Christ in a way that we haven't quite seen Him react before.  He reminds them of the feedings of thousands of people in the wilderness, which happened not just once but twice, going over the explicit details of each multiplication of bread from a few loaves to thousands.  And He asks, "How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Finally, they begin to understand.  Throughout the Bible, leaven functions as an image of adulteration, and almost always in a negative way.  St. Paul writes, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9), speaking about a bad influence within the community, a doctrine that is not true.  Interestingly, in one of His parables of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus uses the image of leaven in a positive way, speaking of the influence of the kingdom which is transformational in its action (Matthew 13:33).  But, in this case, He is clearly indicating, as my study Bible said, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Sadducees, made manifest through their legalism.  Jesus also says to the disciples, ""O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?"  Importantly, my study Bible explains that this "little faith" is linked to their lack of understanding, and that a fuller grasp of Christ's teachings would only come after Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Perhaps there is a lesson there for us, in that so often we seek by pure reasoning to understanding moral teachings, or to approach Christ's teachings as purely philosophical or intellectual, subject to reduction to ethics.  But this is not the case for us either, inasmuch as it was not the case for the disciples.  For unless we also cultivate, secure, and honor the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and our need to guard our spiritual lives and hearts, so regarding of how we reason, we won't really fully understand Christ either.  For faith is not simply an intellectual process, or assumption of values or beliefs.  Faith is an active participation in Christ's life, death, and Resurrection, in the spiritual life of the kingdom of heaven which Christ preaches.  All of the practices of the Church with her sacraments and traditions (and the Bible is included in the Tradition of the Church) are meant simply to guard our lives within the power of the Holy Spirit, for there is established the Church in the first place.  For without the Holy Spirit, there is no Church, and no people of God.  Let us bear in mind that the disciples -- recorded for all of history here in St. Matthew's Gospel -- show us that even those hand-picked by Christ can fail to understand and miss the mark.  Jesus says to the Pharisees and Sadducees, "You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times."  Let us remember that it is the Holy Spirit which gives us discernment and understanding, and the grace of faith.  Let us take heed to keep ourselves on the path of the inner life of the heart Christ teaches us to keep and to know as the way in which we truly expand our faith. 

 

 

 

Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times

 

 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 Gentile 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."  A sign from heaven, according to my study Bible, 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 already being performed because their hearts were hardened, and they ignored 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.  "Adulterous generation" is an echo of the prophets, who compared an unfaithful Israel to an adulterous spouse (Jeremiah 3; Hosea 2:2-13).  My study Bible comments that Jesus refuses to prove Himself in a spectacular way, for a sign is never given to those whose motive is to test God (see also Matthew 4:5-7).  The sign of the prophet Jonah is a "hidden" prediction of Christ's death and Resurrection (see Matthew 12:40), the ultimate sign that Jesus is truly the Christ.  

 

  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, according to my study Bible, is their doctrine and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  It further explains that the reason the disciples are painfully slow to understand is that they have such little faith, as Jesus indicates.  They will not fully grasp Jesus' teachings until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit is given. 

 

 In the first part of our reading for today, Jesus says, "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."  Jesus speaks about the ability to read signs.  So, even as the Pharisees and Sadducees are demanding signs from Him, He's chastising them for their inability to read the signs that are already right in front of them.  They demand proofs of His identity, while at the same time His healings and the grace that comes through His ministry is multiplying, even among great numbers of people who witness them.  In the second part of our reading, Jesus warns the disciples about this perspective of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  He tells them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  But, as often happens in the Gospels as the stories of the interactions of Christ and His disciples are reported, neither do the disciples seem capable of discerning the "signs" or symbols Christ is using here.  They don't understand Him, nor what He's telling them.  In one of the lovely comical moments of the Gospels, they hear Him speaking about leaven, and they think He's upset because they haven't brought bread.  This opens the door to an almost incredulous Jesus reminding them that He's fed thousands of people twice from a handful of loaves of bread, asking them to remember in detail all the baskets of leftover fragments of bread they took up afterward.  He asks, finally, "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."   But Jesus gives us a clue concerning both the lack of comprehension of the Sadducees and Pharisees, as well as the incomprehension of the disciples.  "Little faith" is the cause for both.  But, of course, this prompts us to ask of the difference between the little faith of the disciples and the lack of faith in the Pharisees and Sadducees.  For that discernment, we need also go back to Jesus' words.  He addresses these religious leaders as "Hypocrites!"  and there we can discern the difference between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the disciples.  For the disciples, for all their own difficulties and slowness of comprehension, are sincere in their faith, even if that faith is still yet "little."  We know that eventually even one of them will betray Jesus, namely Judas, but Judas also we can call a hypocrite for his duplicity and betrayal, emblematic in his betrayal of Jesus with a kiss (Matthew 26:47-56).   We could say that the hypocrites in this story (including Judas) are heading one way -- away from Christ, while the sincere disciples, even though they as yet have only "little faith" are headed more deeply toward a fullness of relationship with Him.  And this is the way that we need to see our lives, for from the perspective of the Gospels, this is the framework of faith.  We are either headed in one direction or the other, toward Christ or away from Him.  This is the summing up of the "two ways" so prevalent in early Christianity, and remains so for us.  As we have reviewed lately in commentary, it is the guarding of the heart that remains so necessary for us today, the understanding that we need to be aware of our inner lives as much as our outer lives, made clear for us in the teaching of Jesus in Monday's reading, to "Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a manmouth, this defiles a man."  He explained, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.  These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." Let us endeavor for the purity of heart that guards against hypocrisy, the sincerity of the disciples, and not the mask of virtue that hides the work we need to do in the heart.  For often when we seek to fool others, we are only fooling ourselves.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O you of little faith

 

 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 that 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 where He healed the daughter of the Canaanite woman, 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 already being performed because their hearts were hardened, and they ignored the works which were 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.  An adulterous generation is an echo of the illustration used by the prophets when Israel was unfaithful to God (see Jeremiah 3; Hosea 2:2-13).  Jesus refuses to prove Himself in some spectacular way -- a sign is not given to those whose motive is to test God.  (See also Matthew 4:5-7).  The sign of the prophet Jonah is Christ's veiled prediction of His death and Resurrection (Matthew 12:40), the ultimate sign that He is the Christ.  

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 that 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 teaches that the reason the disciples are painfully slow to understand is that they have such little faith; in fact, they would not fully grasp Christ's teachings until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given.

Why do we think the disciples are so slow to learn?  Christ addresses them, "O you of little faith."  He has to remind them about the feeding of the five thousand from five loaves, and the seven loaves that fed the four thousand on another, more recent, occasion (see yesterday's reading, above).  How does faith correspond with what we understand?  Clearly today's reading expresses that link for us.  Faith is also linked to the activity of the Holy Spirit, as my study Bible points out that the disciples would not really understand Christ's teachings until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given.  We understand that the word faith is rooted in "trust" -- but in today's reading there is a link expressed between the growth of this trust in Christ and an understanding of His life, His works, His teachings.  It is as if the more full participation in the life of Christ is the one correlation with our understanding of it.  This, then, makes perfect sense out of why Christ will not give a miracle "on demand," won't acquiesce to the demand for a sign by the religious leaders.  There are all kinds of signs happening in His ministry, and they manage to ignore them anyway.  Any such proof would still be denied or explained away, just as they have already sought to explain miraculous healings by Jesus as the work of the demonic (Matthew 12:24).  We seem to be given a great clue to human nature in today's reading, since we're given to understand that so much depends upon what we put our faith into.  Human beings are capable of rationalizing away all kinds of things, of deluding themselves about relationships and other realities in order to empower beliefs that make life easier than the stark reality we'd rather not face.  In this case, the power of Christ's presence and work in the world is not easily acceptable.  We might understand the gospel of the kingdom of heaven as good news, but imagine being confronted with such shocking and powerful reality in the flesh, right in front of you.  For the Sadducees and Pharisees from Jerusalem, the reality of Christ is like an earthquake in their establishment, one that rocks their positions as the regulators and keepers of the faith.  How can they possibly assert a greater authority than One such as Christ if He's really divine, if He "casts out demons by the finger of God" (Luke 11:20)?  Their own faithlessness is self-protective in this sense:  what Christ brings into the world shatters their illusion of their own ultimate authority, for a greater authority is present here.  And what do we make of the disciples, who are so slow of comprehension that even Christ seems to be somewhat amazed?  They are witnesses to two miraculous feedings, and still they misunderstand His words about "leaven."  This teaches us, first of all, not to be afraid of our own "little faith" or comprehension, because faith is not a one-time-only declaration or experience.  It is a journey, and today's text clearly indicates that faith is something that grows and is dynamic within us, and parallel to it is our own understanding of the things of God, of Christ's action in our own lives.  To understand salvation as a one-time declaration of faith is belied by the text:  even though these men have left everything behind to follow Christ as disciples, they still have an enormous amount of growth to do as far as their spiritual lives and their faith is concerned.  And so it is with us.  There is no comparison between individuals, but all of our lives must be on a track going one way or the other.  We are on a road somewhere, and there are times when we will grow in faith and dependency upon God, and other times when our more comfortable understanding of life will do battle within us against the things to which God seeks to open up our eyes, about which we need a deeper faith, and a greater enlightenment.  Perhaps we feel highly secure with certain beliefs that need to be shaken up, perhaps faith calls us to relinquish a sense of control we don't really have -- such experience can be extremely disconcerting although our faith gives us a more true sense of reality.  There are times when we'll have to open up our eyes to the unreliability of particular relationships or certain things we take for granted in our lives; and again, that will spark a time when our faith will be at war with our fears, and that struggle for faith taking place within our souls.  These times can shake up our sense of ourselves and our place in the world, but we can usually count on them to be times when our faith is being challenged, our depth of faith being called upon to grow through the experience.  We will certainly be called upon to an even greater dependency upon God.  One way or another, there is a choice we're being asked to make.  It may seem like a strange quandary:  our understanding increases with faith, and not the other way around.  But this is the way that spiritual growth happens, the ways that challenges to faith will work in our lives.  So much depends upon that struggle within, and how we come to respond.  For this is the ongoing work of salvation.