Matthew 16:1-12 The Leaven of the Pharisees and 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.”
Well, the religious professionals are at it again! This time, these oily guys sidle up to Jesus and say, “Rabbi, if you’re so great, show us a sign from heaven.” Sounds good, right? But Jesus has already been doing miracles, so where do these people think the miracles are coming from? Demon-possessed people are clothed and mentally sound, while the lame, the maimed, the deaf and mute and the blind are freed from their afflictions. If these healings aren’t coming from heaven, where are they coming from? How could such miracles possibly benefit Satan?
Jesus knows these men are only trying to boost their standing in the community and have no real interest in seeking God. The Pharisees and Sadducees might disagree about whether people will go to heaven or simply die and disappear forever, but they have no problems attacking an upstart who appears to threaten their position as religious experts. These men are not interested in truth but are trouble-makers.
What does leaven symbolize in the Bible? Gotquestions.org says this: The Bible mentions leaven, or yeast, in several contexts. In some contexts, the reference to leaven is obviously literal; in other contexts, leaven takes on symbolic connotations.
Leaven causes dough to rise, but the process takes time. The Israelites, when God freed them from captivity in Egypt, had no time to spare, so, in their haste, they baked and ate flat (unleavened) bread for their journey: “With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves” (Exodus 12:39).
To commemorate of His deliverance from Egypt, God instructed the Israelites to celebrate a week of feasting following the Passover Day (the 14th day of the 1st month on the Jewish calendar). This was called the “Feast of Unleavened Bread.” During that time the Israelites were commanded to remove all leaven from their houses and eat no bread that contained leaven (Exodus 12:15; 13:6–7).
Elsewhere in the Mosaic Law, leaven represents sin or corruption. The law forbade grain offerings made with leaven (Leviticus 2:11). In fact, no yeast was allowed to be burned on the altar in any sacrifice. The grain offering for Aaron and his sons (the priests) was also not to contain leaven and was to be eaten in a holy place (Leviticus 6:17).
Leaven is also mentioned in the New Testament. In Matthew 16:6–12, Jesus compared the false teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees and Herodians to leaven. The Pharisees had come to Jesus to test Him (verse 1), but Jesus perceived their true intent and the state of their hearts. He later warned His disciples against being taken in by their teachings (verse 12), which He compared to leaven. A small portion of the “leaven” of falsehood can permeate a person’s heart and mind. In Luke 12:1 Jesus specifies that the leaven of the Pharisees is “hypocrisy.” Having a show of piety, without true holiness, is like leaven in that it gradually increases and spreads corruption, puffing up a person with vanity. Lies and hypocrisy can poison one’s whole character.
Paul warned the church at Corinth against tolerating sin in their midst, using leaven as a metaphor (1 Corinthians 5:1–8). There was a man in the church who was guilty of sexual immorality. Paul told them to remove the man from their fellowship because, like leaven, his influence would permeate the whole church. “Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?” Paul asks (verse 6). Then he points them to the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread: “Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (verse 7)…”
https://www.gotquestions.org/leaven-in-the-Bible.html
In Egypt, leaven was used to brew beer. Throughout the Bible, leaven frequently is used as a symbol of something small that can corrupt everything. Why should disciples worry about leaven? 1 John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
How easy is it to imbibe our surrounding culture without even realizing it? Two generations ago, most people attending church would dress in their very best; these days, jeans and brief cut-off shorts are a common sight. Young women may wear low-cut dresses with very short skirts. One famous Ghanaian musician has stopped singing during the offerings when people come to the front of the church because women are wearing such low-cut dresses that he is distracted from worshiping the Lord. Will God love us no matter how we dress? Certainly. But when we dress to please only ourselves without a thought for the impact on others, there may be unexpected consequences. Those wishing to share the Gospel with Muslim friends and neighbors find themselves struggling to explain why Christian young people are dressing in a provocative fashion while Muslim young people are dressing modestly.
Am I against anyone looking attractive? Absolutely not! But there are many ways to look attractive while still dressing modestly. The question is this: Are we dressing to glorify God or to attract members of the opposite sex? We cannot claim to be disciples if we want God to give us a pass when we go to the closet or the dresser to select our clothing.
How pure is our speech? How many times a day do we say “Oh my God” or “OMG,” as if the abbreviation would make it more acceptable? What TV shows or videos are we watching? What are the lyrics in the music that entertains us? What is the spiritual effect of such music?
Several years ago, we lived in an apartment in New Orleans that had an evil presence. When we came home, it would take several hours before the evil presence would leave. We tried leaving the radio tuned to classical music that simply entertained the demons. The same thing held true when we left the radio tuned to Christian stations that played contemporary Christian music. But when we found an African American station that featured old time hymns and a great deal of preaching about the blood of Jesus, we could return to a spiritually clean house. It’s the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from sin and it’s teaching about the blood that routs demons.
Jesus warned his disciples to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees because it gave the appearance of holiness but would lead people into mindlessly following a minute set of rules that could draw them further away from God, rather than closer to Him. The same pitfall still exists for disciples today. Once we become disciples, we must still beware of leaven.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to follow hard after You and to surrender all of our lives to You including the way we dress, the music and movies that entertain us, our manner of speech, and the way we present ourselves in public. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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