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5 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." 7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread." 8 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? 9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11 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." 12 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 16:5-12
Today, we return to our study of Matthew 16 where the Lord Jesus had just fended off an attack from the religious leaders from Jerusalem. They came to Galilee after the Lord Jesus had just fed 4000 people with a few fish and seven loaves of bread. He performed miracles on the behalf of the people so that they could gain an inroad into a deeper understanding for their need to repent of their sin and enter into a personal relationship with Him. And, of course, no one can enter into a personal relationship with God until our sins are forgiven and we are "born again."
In v.5 of today's passage we read, "Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread."
After the Lord Jesus had fed the 4000 there were seven baskets full of the leftovers. Initially the disciples thought they had left all of the leftovers but according to Mark's account, when they arrived on the other side of the lake, they discovered they had one loaf of bread. Similar to the religious leaders from Jerusalem, the disciples primarily functioned on the physical level. They were in the presence of God Himself who had just fed four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish and they forgot the one thing that would have reminded them of the most important thing.
In v.6 of today's passage we read, "Then Jesus said to them, 'Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.'"
The one loaf of bread made it natural for the Lord Jesus to warn His disciples of the negative influence of the Jewish religious leaders. He drew their attention to leaven or yeast that was used to make the bread to make His point. Yeast is a biblical illustration of influence. Yeast makes dough rise by bacterial corruption. The Lord Jesus used the illustration of yeast to warn the disciples of religion or religious corruption. It was to the heart of religion's problem that the Lord went that day which is the lack of involving our hearts in the process. The disciples were in danger of doing what the religious leaders had long ago done, they failed to give their hearts to the Lord. They strove to meticulously obey God in everything but their hearts weren't engaged. The religious wrongly thought their attempts at self-improvement made them right before God.
In v.7 of today's passage we read, "And they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'It is because we have taken no bread.'"
Previously, the people had eaten so much bread and fish they were satisfied physically. The disciples were not that much different than the people that were fed that day, they primarily based their satisfaction upon the physical. We do the same, we seek material and emotional blessing far more than we seek spiritual blessing. They were so in tune to the physical that the spiritual went unnoticed by them. This is also our problem, to be defined by the thinking of our fallen selves. The disciples did not understand the Lord Jesus because the word "leaven" was not often used among the Jews to warn of faulty doctrine which leads to faulty thinking which leads to faulty living. Like the disciples, we were born dead in our sins which means we were born dead to God. And, if we are never "born again" or made alive to God by His Spirit, we remain in our sinful condition. This is why the Lord Jesus came to remove that barrier which was created by our sin.
In v.8-11 of today's passage we read, "8 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? 9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11 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.'"
We tend to be reactive. When a problem presents itself, we focus on the problem until it gets solved. When we focus on the immediate, we can easily miss out on the ultimate. The disciples fell into this trap. This is why the Lord Jesus called out their lack of understanding and then brought attention to their lack of faith. Learning to be defined by God and to think His way takes time. It requires a process whereby we continually learn that His way of thinking is diametric to the way we have always thought. Everyone has faith, the difference is the object of our faith and we will always be most defined by the object of our faith. Very often, we lack understanding like the disciples. Understanding the ways of the Lord is key and is not learned over night because His way of thinking is upside down, inside out, and backwards compared to ours. He calls us not to be served but to serve, and to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. In order to do this we must look to the Lord Jesus to satisfy our deepest longings. This is hard because the flesh will always court us to follow its way.
The process of learning to be defined by the God of the Bible is called sanctification. While our justification gets us into heaven, our sanctification gets heaven into us now. Most believe this life is about the acquisition of answers. Most believe our exclamation marks are more important than our questions. The Lord Jesus reveals in this story that our questions are more important. If our pursuit is for the truth, we will discover the secrets to life by entertaining the deeper and most of the time unwanted questions. Like the disciples, we need spiritual healing, and questions help in the process of being healed spiritually. Those who do not entertain questions are like those who have eyes, but cannot see, or, ears and cannot hear. It is strategic that in the very next passage in the parallel chapter in Mark that the Lord Jesus open the eyes of a blind man.
The disciples had witnessed the feedings of the 5,000 and the 4,000, but, they had missed the point. When the Lord Jesus fed the 5,000, there were twelve baskets of leftovers: one for each disciple. With the feeding of the 4,000, the disciples collected “seven” baskets of leftovers: the number for completeness or wholeness. We are only completed when we throw ourselves into an abandoned relationship with the Lord and we are consistently being defined by Him. The Lord Jesus strategically asked the disciples questions, giving them the chance to dive deeper with Him. This is what He does with all who follow Him.
In v.12 of today's passage we read, "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."
When we feed the flesh we reduce our sensitivity to the culture of God. This was the problem for the disciples and it was the problem in the book of Galatians. Paul points out there that they had started out being defined by God by walking in the Spirit. Then they reverted back to their old ways when they tried to perfect themselves in the flesh. This is what steered them into legalism. They had not figured out the answer God had given them which is the indwelling Holy Spirit who always works in tandem with the word of God to inculcate the culture of God into us. It is the Holy Spirit who through God's word leads us into the truth. And, as we learn to be taught and are led by the Holy Spirit we are found to be defined by God. This is the goal of choosing to avoid the leaven of the religious leaders of Israel who were defined by the self life which is contrary to the Lord's culture.
