Matthew 16:1-12, Beware the Leaven

In this passage Jesus again speaks of the sign of the prophet Jonah, which He spoke of and we wrote on back in Matt. 12:39.  They will only get the sign that is bound up in the resurrection of Christ.  This assumes, of course, His death; there is no resurrection without a death.  Therefore, Jesus is proclaiming that the rejection of the leaders will run its course, leading to the cross.  Their request for a sign is, again, just a bunch of hypocritical bloviating.  They are not really wanting to follow Him.

This, then, leads to the conversation between Jesus and the Twelve concerning the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  Jesus is right, is He not, to be amazing at the disciples’ concern about bread.  Jesus uses the lack of bread as an opportunity to use the “leaven” illustration.  As the leaven makes the bread look larger while adding nothing to its substance, so hypocrisy makes us look one way when, in our hearts, there is not a correspondence between our outward appearance and our heart.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were quite different from each other.

PHARISEES	SADDUCCEES
Conservative	Liberal
Accepted both the written (Mosaic) and oral (handed down through the rabbis) Law	Accepted only the written Law, although were not as meticulous and well-versed as the Pharisees
Believed in a future resurrection	Denied the resurrection
Believed the spirit world was active	Denied a real spirit world
More people sided with them; a majority of members on the Sanhedrin	Had more money and power; joined with the family of the High Priest
Hated Gentiles	Hated Gentiles

The problem with both is their hypocrisy: they both emphasized external religion that automatically ruled out the Gentiles, or at least any contact with the Gentiles.  For Jesus, of course, the issue is not literal bread but the Bread of Life.  Paul spoke of this, in the context of the Church, in Gal. 5:1-12.  A little leaven leavens the whole lump (Gal. 5:9).  What is he talking about?  He is talking about the legalism that was making inroads into the Galatian churches.  By legalism we refer to the attempt to rebuild in the Church the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile.  Believers in Christ are no longer under law but under grace; legalism seeks to move them back under the law-system.  Paul tells Christians to stand fast, therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage (Gal. 5:1).  Jesus says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees!

Brothers and sisters, this hypocrisy is a killer to the life of Christ in His Body.  Le-t us beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  People in our midst who espouse law-keeping may seem like incredibly righteous people; but in fact, their righteousness is as filthy rags.  Our righteousness for eternity and for every-day life is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.