The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees - Matthew 16:5-12
The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees
5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”
8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Reflection: After his discourse with the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus sets out with the disciples to the other side of the lake. But they forget the provision of the bread. When Jesus warns them to watch out against the yeast of these two religious groups, the disciples immediately think he is referring to their mental lapse. As they fret over this, Jesus intervenes and mildly rebukes them, "Really guys do you think I am worried about bread when we just fed 4,000 and 5,000 people on two different occasions on a few loaves. Do you think I am worried about a bread problem?"
So what is he worried about? A different kind of bread problem. What the Pharisees and Sadducees are feeding the people. Remember again the Pharisees were legalists, they had taken the basic Ten Commandments and added hundreds of additional laws in their need to control. The Sadducees, on the other hand, were the modern day theists or Gnostics, who sought truth on their own terms and believed in no absolutes. They would say there are no absolutes, but in saying this they violated their own rule.
And Jesus compares this doctrinal threat to yeast. Why? Because yeast starts small, keeps getting worked though the dough, and eventually causes the bread to rise taking a different form. And this is usually how false doctrine starts corrupting the church. It starts small in this little corner and eventually can affect the whole flock. Legalism can start subtle enough with comments like, "if you were a real Christian you would ----". What happens is people have a strong experience of God and start legislating that everyone else has to have this same experience if they are a real Christian.
For a while, as the Charismatic Movement began to take root on American soil, some branches of that movement said "unless you speak in tongues you haven't really experienced they filling of the Holy Spirit" The problem with this teaching is that there is nowhere in the bible it teaches that every Christian must speak in tongues as evidence of the Holy Spirit. Was the gift of speaking in tongues a powerful gift God used in the first century? Yes. Could God give someone that gift today? Yes. But the problem is that we start making religious experience normative for all. We like to be in control, and even in matters of God.
On the flipside we have the Sadducees, who also like control of a different kind. They wanted to control doctrine so that they could rule out anything they could not explain. That is why they ruled out the resurrection of the dead, because they couldn't explain it. But the bottom line as Jesus would soon show, is that the greatest sign Jesus would show is not only raising his friend Lazarus from the dead, but then himself rising after three days from the tomb. You can only explain that in one way. God. The only explanation for someone rising from the dead is the One who gave life and can take it away. The Sadducees couldn't concede that point, because it would be to give up control. They mistakenly thought they had to be arbiters of what could and could not happen.
So you see in both camps there is the issue of control. And the very nature of the Christian life is one of saying Jesus I trust in you. I trust in what you did for me on the cross and I believe you rose from the dead. And now I trust that you can run my life better than I can, so I surrender again today to you. Your will not mine be done. So what camp do you fall in? There is a little Sadducee and Pharisee in all of us, and like the yeast it can sprout up at any time. But Jesus says come follow me and I will show you life and life abundantly.
Jesus thank you for making us aware of our tendency to be like the Pharisee and the Sadducee. But you are the bread of life. You offer a life where we can make a difference in this world, as we are the good leaven that works through the whole dough in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in Your name. Amen.
5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”
8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Reflection: After his discourse with the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus sets out with the disciples to the other side of the lake. But they forget the provision of the bread. When Jesus warns them to watch out against the yeast of these two religious groups, the disciples immediately think he is referring to their mental lapse. As they fret over this, Jesus intervenes and mildly rebukes them, "Really guys do you think I am worried about bread when we just fed 4,000 and 5,000 people on two different occasions on a few loaves. Do you think I am worried about a bread problem?"
So what is he worried about? A different kind of bread problem. What the Pharisees and Sadducees are feeding the people. Remember again the Pharisees were legalists, they had taken the basic Ten Commandments and added hundreds of additional laws in their need to control. The Sadducees, on the other hand, were the modern day theists or Gnostics, who sought truth on their own terms and believed in no absolutes. They would say there are no absolutes, but in saying this they violated their own rule.
And Jesus compares this doctrinal threat to yeast. Why? Because yeast starts small, keeps getting worked though the dough, and eventually causes the bread to rise taking a different form. And this is usually how false doctrine starts corrupting the church. It starts small in this little corner and eventually can affect the whole flock. Legalism can start subtle enough with comments like, "if you were a real Christian you would ----". What happens is people have a strong experience of God and start legislating that everyone else has to have this same experience if they are a real Christian.
For a while, as the Charismatic Movement began to take root on American soil, some branches of that movement said "unless you speak in tongues you haven't really experienced they filling of the Holy Spirit" The problem with this teaching is that there is nowhere in the bible it teaches that every Christian must speak in tongues as evidence of the Holy Spirit. Was the gift of speaking in tongues a powerful gift God used in the first century? Yes. Could God give someone that gift today? Yes. But the problem is that we start making religious experience normative for all. We like to be in control, and even in matters of God.
On the flipside we have the Sadducees, who also like control of a different kind. They wanted to control doctrine so that they could rule out anything they could not explain. That is why they ruled out the resurrection of the dead, because they couldn't explain it. But the bottom line as Jesus would soon show, is that the greatest sign Jesus would show is not only raising his friend Lazarus from the dead, but then himself rising after three days from the tomb. You can only explain that in one way. God. The only explanation for someone rising from the dead is the One who gave life and can take it away. The Sadducees couldn't concede that point, because it would be to give up control. They mistakenly thought they had to be arbiters of what could and could not happen.
So you see in both camps there is the issue of control. And the very nature of the Christian life is one of saying Jesus I trust in you. I trust in what you did for me on the cross and I believe you rose from the dead. And now I trust that you can run my life better than I can, so I surrender again today to you. Your will not mine be done. So what camp do you fall in? There is a little Sadducee and Pharisee in all of us, and like the yeast it can sprout up at any time. But Jesus says come follow me and I will show you life and life abundantly.
Jesus thank you for making us aware of our tendency to be like the Pharisee and the Sadducee. But you are the bread of life. You offer a life where we can make a difference in this world, as we are the good leaven that works through the whole dough in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in Your name. Amen.
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