The Leaven of Unbelief

Introduction

Last week we looked at the nature of hypocrisy and its roots in unbelief. We saw how important it is to recognize it and run from it where it appears. And yet, what good are such warning if we do not have the ears to hear?

In our passage today, we see the dangers of a weak faith presented in this simple episode with Christ and his disciples. My hope is that, as we examine this, we will all be driven to a greater zeal for spiritual strength which comes only from the Lord but is not handed out to those who do not strive for it. But in striving, we may indeed obtain it and in doing so have greater confidence and security in our walk after Christ.

The Misunderstanding

After leaving the region of Magadan where Jesus’ last encounter with the Pharisees and Sadducees took place, Jesus and his disciples make their way to the other side of the lake.

We must remember that in verse 1, the Pharisees and the Sadducees both came to test Jesus. While little is known about these groups, what we do know is this. The Pharisees were lay-people, not priests, who had taken up a call of strict obedience to God through the traditions of the religious teachers that had gone before them. In this way, we could think of their approach to obedience to God as giving mostly equal weight to both Scripture and the traditions, with the tradition necessary to interpret and obey Scriptures. We already saw Jesus’ conflict with them over these traditions in the last chapter. The Sadducees, on the other hand, traced their heritage back to the priestly line of Zadok, the man who replaced Abiathar as high priest after David’s son Solomon became king of Israel. They did not hold to the written traditions of the elders, and it seems not even very strongly to most of the OT except for the Torah (the law recorded in Genesis-Deuteronomy). Since they were very strict on only taking the first five books of the Bible as God’s Word, they rejected many doctrines that sprang both from the prophetic books and from Pharisaic tradition. They didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, demons, or seemingly even spirits or an afterlife. They were very strict, even cruel, in their attempts to enforce the law of Moses although these efforts were limited.

Between the two groups, although the Sadducees came from a priestly heritage and many of them were in or had connections to the temple authorities, they were not as influential or widespread as the Pharisees. The two groups were not friends, but in this case a common enemy unites the greatest of foes.

Jesus didn’t fit in with either of these groups. He rejected the way Pharisees elevated human tradition with God’s Word, but also taught (and better, demonstrated) the resurrection from the dead. He recognized the existence of the demonic realm and the entire OT Scripture. So with both of these groups offended by Jesus’ teaching, they surrounded him in arrogance as they both demand a sign from heaven.

Jesus’ Warning

Now, as Jesus is traveling with the disciples and considering these things, he overhears the disciples discover their lack of bread. He picks up on this and uses it as an illustration to warn them against the danger these two groups present to the disciples, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

The warning is emphasized by two words: watch and beware. We could translate the thought as, be very very careful. This is not an offhand comment, but a warning he expects his followers to take very seriously. This is a real danger for them and, if they are not careful, they could easily be led astray.

Leaven refers to yeast, or specifically to a small lump of dough which contained the yeast from a previous batch of dough that was mixed in with a new batch so that the yeast could fill the new batch. This was a common metaphor both in Jesus’ teachings and in the OT. While the metaphor could be used positively, as Jesus compared the Kingdom of Heaven to leaven back in chapter 13, most often it was a metaphor for a small amount of impurity that could infect that which was pure undetected. Once a small bit of leavened dough is in the lump, the yeast multiplies quickly and is mixed in until the whole lump is leavened.

That is the way the metaphor is being used here. It does not take an obviously heretical doctrine, open sin, or a pride flag waving above the pulpit to corrupt a church. All it takes is a little unchecked impurity, a little unrepented sin, a little deviation from or addition to the Gospel, a little pride, a little jealousy, or a little bitterness for an entire church to spoil and become unclean throughout.

Later we find out that Jesus was referring to the teachings of these groups. There is difficulty in this because Jesus tells his disciples in Matt 23:2-3

Matthew 23:2–3 NIV 2011

‘The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practise what they preach.

What do we make of this? Should the disciples listen to their teaching or not? The answer to this is exactly why the disciples need to be so careful. Luke gives us some clarity in Luke 12:1

Luke 12:1 (ESV)

(Jesus) began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

This may confuse us further. Is it their teaching or their hypocrisy? The answer is both. In Matt 23, Jesus tells his disciples to listen to the scribes and Pharisees because they sit on Moses’ seat. In other words, they teach the Scriptures which were first recorded by Moses. Because they teach God’s Word, much of what they say is correct and should be listened to. They know the Bible well and yet somewhere in the truth they preach is a bitter yeast.

What Jesus warns his disciples about is the same thing he’s warning them about in Matt 23: the hypocrisy and unbelief with which these men handle God’s Word. For a time, a man may keep his life and his doctrine separate, but we are not made to be divided beings. Eventually, the hypocrisy of their life begins to spill over into the dough of their teachings and threatens to spread, like yeast, to the minds and hearts of their hearers and can spread indefinitely. Some archaeologists recently made beer with yeast from an ancient Egyptian brewery that was thousands of years old; that is how durable yeast is, both physically and spiritually. Jesus uncovered this yeast by exposing the hypocrisy of what the Pharisees taught about honouring their parents back in 15:4-6. This is why the disciples must be so careful. Though they preach Moses, hypocrisy is bound to get into their teaching and into the hearts of unsuspecting listeners.

But it is not just the tradition-touting Pharisees that Jesus warns about. The Sadducees, the group that took Scripture Alone to the extreme, is also bound to do this. It is not the theological positions these men have that corrupt them, or their views of Torah and tradition, but their hypocritical hearts. So we see how similar these two vastly different groups are. Though in the Jewish world they were opposites, their problem was the same. It wasn’t primarily the Pharisees’ treatment of tradition, nor the many theological problems of the Sadducees that raises the alarm bells for Jesus. It is the way that their teaching is infected with the yeast of hypocrisy which, as we saw last week, is the yeast of unbelief.

The Disciples’ Misunderstanding

There is a lot of debate over what happens next. It seems impossible that the disciples could have misunderstood Jesus’ here. Why would Jesus have even brought up the Pharisees and Sadducees if he was talking about physical bread? While the bible scholars debate that, Matthew’s point is still clear. The disciples, whose minds are so troubled by the current problem of food, are unable to pull themselves away long enough to think about Jesus’ words carefully.

Jesus’ Correction

This brings us to the second and most substantial part of this story.

Jesus’ Indictment Against Little Faith

Jesus response to the disciples’ discussing their lack of bread as their interpretation of what he just said may sound harsh. Like with Peter on the stormy sea a few chapters ago, Jesus declares that they have little faith. Why do they deserve this rebuke? Couldn’t Jesus have simply and politely repeated himself and clarified the misunderstanding? However, what we see here gives us valuable insight into what Jesus expects of the disciples.

Little Faith

It may appear that the disciples merely misheard Jesus. Perhaps they didn’t catch everything he said and just heard something about leaven, maybe thinking that they should have brought some to make more bread with. So why is their misunderstanding considered a lack of faith?

The rebuke is not because they misheard or misunderstood Jesus. Nor is he exasperated and touchy because the disciples were not listening. Rather, he is revealing the lack of faith they have as evidenced by what has their attention.

Two words in verses 9-11 shed light on what they are missing. These are the words understand and remember. These words are poor substitutes in the English language for the force they carry in Greek. This is important to note, because again Jesus isn’t correcting them for something outside of their reasonable control. I may not understand something simply because I am not smart or have not been educated. I may not remember something because it slipped my mind. But these two words both imply careful mental effort. To understand here means to consider something; to mentally digest and carefully think about it. It means to have put effort into what something means so that you may come to a correct conclusion. Similarly, remember also means not just being able to recall a fact or past event, but again to have considered it carefully, to meditate on it, to discover what it means and draw out a logical conclusion from it. In both of these words, we see where the disciples have been lacking. They have not focused their minds on what they have seen and heard as they should have. They have not sat down and considered the meaning of the feeding of the 5000 or the 4000 and how it should shape their view of life. If they had, they would have concluded that food was not something they needed to worry about as long as they were with Jesus. Why would you worry about your lack of bread when you know that the man you are following can feed more than 5000 people at a moment’s notice?

This is why they fail to understand. They certainly remembered these events. They could recall them to mind at will. But they had not thought of the implications because their minds were set on other things. They had certainly heard Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount where he assures us that God, who feeds the birds, will feed us as well. This frees us from the necessity to set our cares on the needs of our stomach so we may consider and strive after the Kingdom of Heaven. They remembered this, they didn’t disagree with it, but evidently those words had made little difference to their real lives because, when push came to shove, their minds were set on bread.

But why does this lead to the disciples’ being charged with ‘little faith’? There is an irony here as they are providing an example of exactly what Jesus is talking about.

DA Carson:

“Jesus had already denounced the Pharisees and Sadducees for their particular “teaching” that demanded manipulative signs instead of believing in the bountiful evidence already supplied. And now the disciples are perilously close to the same unbelief in Jesus’ person and miracles.”

The fact that the disciples’ minds are still set on bread, after all they had seen and heard, proves that they had not internalized faith very well. The different between little faith and no faith is an eternally important one, and yet practically the line between them is thin. While the Pharisees reject Jesus’ words and actions as insufficient or even demonic, the disciples are beginning to realize that their own faith is not as strong as they perhaps thought. Although they agreed with Jesus’ words, although they followed him, preached his Gospel, and even performed miracles and cast our demons in his Name, their faith is small because they have not yet come to understand just how significant his coming is to their lives.

The Disciples Understand

While Mark does not include what Matthew does in verse 12, we see Matthew setting us up for a climactic moment in his Gospel: Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. Here, Jesus does not actually explain his warning from verse 6; he simply repeats it. Carson notes the discipleship, or parenting style, if you will, of Jesus in that he does not spoon-feed his disciples the answer. He simply informs them that their misunderstanding is rooted in their little faith. Now the disciples must focus their thoughts and try to take their first steps as spiritual infants. We read, “Then they understood”. They had to be pushed to think a bit, Jesus gave them all the pieces but didn’t put the puzzle together. They must do that, and they do. They take their minds off of what was important to them before, their lack of bread and poor travel planning, and put it on what matters. They consider what Jesus has said and then, with careful thought, they see now what Jesus meant. Now they not only understand Jesus’ warning, but they are beginning to see things in a spiritual way, rather than in an earthly way.

Conclusion

We dare not look down our nose at the weak faith of the disciples. After all, although Peter had been called “you of little faith” when he began to sink into the raging sea, at least he stepped out of the boat. A man who grew up surrounded by a culture filled with mythology and superstition about the chaotic waters willing stepped onto stormy waves and walked to Jesus. Would you dare say you have more faith than that?

The truth is this: little faith is relatively easy (though even this is difficult, as we will see next week), but great faith is the most impossible thing in the world. With a little faith one can move mountains, but with great faith one can live on Christ and care about nothing else. But we dare not stay in little faith, or else our lives as Christian will be both miserable and dangerous. Miserable because of the cares we will continue to vainly pursue, and dangerous because of the leaven of unbelief which we may easily be corrupted with.

Years ago, I was working in a construction yard and there were 40 heavy wood trusses leaning on a metal pole. As I stood beside this pole and talked with another yard worker, the weld on the base of the pole snapped and the literal ton of wood pressing on this pole brought it smashing about an inch into the pavement right between me and this other man, mere inches from our faces. Had we been talking 6 inches one way, or 6 inches the other way, one of us would either be dead or have permanent brain injuries (we were not wearing hard hats). Those few inches saved our lives. Likewise a little faith will save you from hell and judgement, but do you really want to be in such a dangerous position? On judgement day, do you want to put so much at risk so as to singe your eyebrows with the fires of hell, or do you want to be as far away from that infernal furnace as possible?

So we see, the difference between the little faith of the disciples and the unbelief of the Pharisees was the difference between eternal life and eternal death, and yet how close and unprotected they were. With little faith, they were unable to understand the warning Jesus’ gave them, not because it was beyond their mental abilities, but because they were so consumed with what really doesn’t matter when seen through the eyes of faith. To a child of the world, a loaf of bread can mean everything to a starving man. But to a child of the King of kings, what is starvation? What is hunger or thirst or sickness or death? And yet, little faith keeps our attention on things we need not concern ourselves with. After being adopted into a wealthy family, must the orphan still beg for bread? Does a stray dog need to scavenge for scraps after being brought home by a great animal lover? But this is what little faith does to us. Although the seed of faith is planted in our hearts, it must be watered, tended to, and fertilized if it is to grow into something that can withstand the forces of this dark world.

Jesus’ heart is full of compassion and pity for those with little faith, and it is for that very reason that he pushing us to go on to a stronger and more mature belief. Otherwise, we will easily become infected with the unbelief of either skeptic or hypocrite because our concerns are set elsewhere. Jesus care for the smoldering wick, but what does that care mean? That he would have the smoldering wick never become more than that? It is because he cares for the smoldering wick that he would not have it go out, that he would have it flamed into a great and roaring bonfire.

But for that to happen we must do what we can only do with his help and power, and yet we must do it. Have we used our reformed doctrines to encourage passivity in our Christian lives? What are you doing to wean yourself from worldly cares so that you can better understand spiritual things? Are you praying fervently? Are you fasting? Are you sacrificing for the Kingdom? Are you intentionally growing in good works? Are you meditating on the Scriptures? Are you forsaking comfort now for a glory to come? When you leave the church or your Bible in the morning, do you even give what you read or heard another thought that day, or that week? Do you sit alone with your phone off and take time to think about the things you have learned? Or do you passively take it in while your thoughts and efforts are elsewhere? What we see in this text is that Christ expects of us a life of constant reflection on how he has revealed himself, and that can only happen if we give ourselves the necessary opportunities for that reflection.

So, let us today and together refocus our thoughts and reorientate our hearts. Let us remember that Christ is able to feed and clothe us and remind ourselves of that over and over again until we stop worrying about things God has already taken care of. Instead, let us seek to understand this warning and watch our hearts as if they could burst into flames at any minute. Let us train ourselves to be filled with thoughts of Christ. Let us beat our bodily desires into submission and wrestle with God like Jacob until we receive a blessing. Knowing the danger, do not endure another day of weak faith. Know the race you are running is a hard one, and those who finish it with a weak faith are very few, as are their rewards. But for the one who endures, who makes it their daily and central focus to orientate their lives around the truths they have come to know about Christ, their faith will expand and grow and bear great fruit, while also resistant against the leaven of unbelief. Brother and sisters, let us not be content with weak faith, but rather strive for higher and higher understandings of Christ until we reach perfection in glory.