Matthew 15-16: Bread

Introduction

Today’s passage picks up from the ending of our last lesson where we found Jesus in Gentile territory healing countless people. This led the Gentile to worship the God they had previously not cared for.

We will soon learn that this event lasted about 3 days and will lead to another feeding miracle. But this in and of itself will connect to a larger passage dealing with the “yeast of the pharisees” and this metaphor of bread.

Finally, (time allowed) we will see Peter’s great confession of Christ.

15:32-39: Feeding of the 4,000

Tell me if you’ve heard this story before: Jesus has compassion on a huge crowd of people, tells the disciples to feed them, disciples ask how, bring Jesus some bread, Jesus multiplies the bread and feeds everyone.

This story is interesting because it’s an extremely similar miracle to when Jesus fed the 5,000.

But there are a few key differences:

Jesus had more to work with - 7 loaves instead of 5.

There were only 4,000 men (plus women and children).

The disciples picked up 7 baskets of leftovers rather than 12

Location

This last point is probably the key difference between these two miracles. Remember, Jesus isn’t in what they would consider “Israel” at the moment. These are primarily Gentile crowds.

Because of that, I think there is some symbolism to the numbers.

4000 being “less than” 5000, follows up on the theme we saw with the Canaanite woman of, “not giving the children’s food to the dogs”. And yet, even if these people were “lesser” they were still getting access to Jesus!

Which I think leads to symbolism with the number 7. Seven is a “perfect number”. In fact, based on Scripture, you could make the case that seven is God’s favorite number!

Seven represents completion, or fullness, or wholeness. It could be argued that it’s used in this manner more than than the number 12 (which we saw at the feeding of the 5,000). Whatever the case, I think the Lord lined this all up to show the disciples that even the Gentiles are loved by him too and can have access to everything the Jews had.

Aside from the numbers, this was once again the Lord demonstrating his mighty power to a new people. Remember, the feeding of the 5,000 was so consequential that every single Gospel records it. At some level I think Jesus is saying, “What I did for them, I can do for everyone.”

I do think it’s funny that the disciples asked Jesus, “Where are we going to get that much bread?” I just imagine Jesus staring at them blankly like, “Really?”

After this great miracle, Jesus sends the crowds home and they get in a boat to head off to Magadan which was on the southwest side of the Sea of Galilee.

This might have been the hometown of Mary Magdalene.

16:1-4: The only sign

When Jesus and the disciples land they are greeted by their favorite people: the Pharisees!

I’m sure the Pharisees are dying to know where Jesus has been (news flash: hanging out in the Gentile world wasn’t very Savior-ish of Jesus to them).

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: the religious leaders ask Jesus for a sign and he tells them the only sign they’ll receive is that of the Sign of Jonah.

Because we have! Back in Chapter 12. Can you start to see why the Lord probably got frustrated? The disciples seemingly forgot that Jesus had fed 5,000 and didn’t know how they would feed 4,000. And now the Pharisees are asking the same question that he already answered them before!

The stubbornness and hard-heartedness is amazing here. Did they hope for a different answer? Were they really that blind? They themselves had probably seen tons of the miracles Jesus had been performing (or heard about them), and now they again have the audacity to ask for a sign?

In response, Jesus gives them this comparison about weather.

He says when the sky looks one way, they know it will be sunny, but when it’s another way, they know storms are coming.

Us in the Midwest should understand this well. You can tell when a good storm is coming can’t you? During Spring and Summer, it may be sunny during the day, but if it is hot and muggy we usually know something is up.

We don’t even need storm clouds to tell us when a storm is coming. We can almost predict how severe the weather is going to be based on how humid and muggy it is!

Last year I was in my back yard just before some severe storms came through and the sky was greenish color. It reminded me of this story.

Jesus’ point is obvious: you can see (and interpret) weather. But they couldn’t interpret the signs of the times. And what were those signs?

To name a few…Matthew 11:5 “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”

Or another…Matthew 12:28 “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

It’s also fitting that John writes his Gospel around 7 “signs”. It’s almost like he was saying, “In case the signs of the times weren’t obvious, here are seven really big ones you should pay attention to.”

But because they still didn’t get it, Jesus again tells them that the only sign this “evil and adulterous generation” will get is the sign of Jonah. This is a veiled reference to his death and resurrection. I also think it could be a direct hit at their inability to interpret Scripture correctly.

After this they again got in a boat and crossed back over to the other side.

16:5-12: This thing about bread

The opening line of this passage is a little funny to me. We aren’t told how long they stayed in Magadan, or how long after the feeding of the 4,000 took place, but on the surface it seems a little ironic that they had collected seven basketfuls of bread.......and then forgot to bring bread on their journey.

Here we’ll see Matthew finally tell us the lesson Jesus gave to the disciples related to the previous passages that had a lot to do with bread.

Jesus, ominously, says, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Of course, instead of actually trying to understand what Jesus meant, the disciples start to panic and think Jesus is annoyed that they forgot to bring bread.

I imagine them arguing, “Who brought the bread?” “I thought you did?” “Me? You were suppose to load the baskets into the boat!” “Did you really leave ALL SEVEN BASKETS sitting on the beach??”

As we’ll see at the end, they realize that Jesus is talking about the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Not literal yeast. Which I also find kind of funny.

I’ll be honest, I would have been one of the disciples that would have thought, “Oh man, he’s mad we forgot bread and now he’s warning us not to trust the baking skills of the Pharisees and Sadducees! Note to self: do NOT buy their bread in the marketplace.”

Of course Jesus knew that they were arguing about this, and I’m sure he let out the loudest sigh the universe has ever heard.

His response is like the response he usually has, “O you of little faith”. And it’s true. Earlier I asked how the disciples could be concerned about where to get bread when they had literally just seen Jesus feed 5,000 people with less bread than what they had. But still they didn’t trust Him.

And that’s what Jesus calls them out for: How can they really think he was talking about physical bread when He has clearly demonstrated that He can literally make as much bread as he wants out of nothing?

Now before we blame the disciples for being too obtuse, I want us to reflect on how many times Jesus has done great things in our lives, only for us to later be not so sure he can do something again.

It happens more than we probably like to admit.

I love that Jesus repeated his original statement. You almost know He probably said it very slowly this time to make sure they understood it. And they finally did.

Jesus wasn’t talking about the religious leaders baking skills and the ingredients they used. He was talking about their teaching.

Later he’ll warn the people to listen to their leaders but not copy them, Matthew 23:3 “so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.”

The Pharisees and Sadducees were notorious for their hypocrisy, and Jesus had already called them “blind guides leading the blind”.

It’s no surprise that Jesus tells the disciples this right after the religious leaders demanded a sign. Jesus is warning the disciples to not be like them - but ironically they already kind of were, since like the religious leaders they had seen the two great feedings and still thought real bread was a problem!

It’s also fitting that Jesus compares teaching to leaven. It doesn’t take much leaven to quickly spread throughout the entire dough. Similarly, it didn’t take much from the religious leaders to corrupt the people and lead them astray.

16:13-20: Peter’s great confession

They crossed back over to the eastern sign of the sea of Galilee and eventually ended up in the northern city of Caesarea Philippi.

This is one of the most consequential stories in the Gospel.

Caesarea Philippi was a thoroughly pagan place. For centuries it had been the worship spot of several gods, but in Christ’s day it was a spot dedicated to the Greek god Pan.

Pan was known as the god of chaos and nature. We still use his name to invoke that idea: pandemic, panic, pandemonium.

The entire area was believed to be cursed and inhabited by the chaos god. And yet, people still went there to make sacrifice to him. It certainly wasn’t the place that a bunch of Jewish men would feel comfortable being at. Imagine sending the church choir to Vegas!

It was also very rocky. And there was a certain cave there that had a very deep pit. It was said that people will take their unwanted babies and toss them into the pit - it was so deep you wouldn’t hear them hit the bottom. This place was called, you guessed it, ‘the gates of hell’.

And so it’s with this backdrop, pagan sacrifices, infanticide, and who knows what else, that Jesus brings the disciples to have a conversation about His identity.

He first asks them who other people say that he is. They give him some of the more popular answers, and they all have one thing in common: the people think Jesus is a prophet, probably one of the prophets of old, but they aren’t sure which one.

The Lord’s identity was just as perplexing 2,000 years ago as it is to many people today. Ask people today who they think Jesus of Nazareth is and you will probably get just as many answers. A very popular answer among non-Christians is that Jesus was simply a “very good teacher”.

But they also say he was a revolutionary

A socialist

A delusionist

Just another one of the religious figures the world has produced, like Buddha and Muhammad.

And the list can go on and on

But then Jesus asks them directly, “Who do you say that I am?”

And Peter, for all his faults (a few of which we’ll immediately see in the next passages), nails the answer: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

What Jesus says next is one of the most disputed passages in all of Scripture.

Jesus starts by blessing Peter for his answer. It was correct! Not only that, but nobody had “told” Peter this. It has been given to him by “my Father who is in heaven”. In other words, Peter had seen everything the Father had done through Jesus and believed Him to be God’s son.

Up to this point, Peter had been known as Simon (son of Jonah). But Jesus renames him to Peter, which means ‘the rock’. It seems that at this point Peter was made the leader of the disciples. But what Jesus says next is highly disputed.

Jesus says, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

The traditional (and Catholic/Orthodox interpretation) of this passage is that Jesus is here declaring that Peter is the head of His church, and the foundation upon which it is built. This is the basis for the Papacy (in Catholicism) and the Patriarchs (in the Eastern Orthodox churches).

This is added by the following statement that Jesus says, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven...”

Since the Protestant Reformation, the typical protestant interpretation has put the focus less on Peter, and more on his statement. In other words, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” is the “rock” on which the Church is built.

A third possible interpretation to consider is the physical context of this entire conversation. Remember, they are standing in a very rocky and evil place, with the “gates of hell” nearby. The fact that Jesus says, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

I have to wonder if Jesus is declaring that His Church would take root in the most evil and vile of places. And even a disgusting and wicked place like the pit behind them where babies were being murdered wouldn’t even stop it. To this day, the Church is still most successful in those strongholds of darkness.

Whatever Christ’s meaning here, I think it is clear that the following verse also gives great power to the Church and to Christians.

Even if he is directing his statement to Peter, I think the that it applies to the entire Church - we have been given the keys to the kingdom and “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” That means that the Lord has given us, as his followers, great authority. This is especially true when it comes to the forgiveness of sins.

John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.””

Conclusion

The biggest takeaway from this passage should be Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. This is such an important testimony to the Lord’s identity, and we are going to see it start to take a more centralized focus in the next chapter.

I think a broad takeaway from this entire section is this: how do you respond to the Lord’s mighty power, works, and signs? Are you like the religious leaders who kept a blind eye to the obvious “signs of the times”, or are you like Peter, who saw what was happening and knew the truth: Jesus is the Son of God.

Many people will (hopefully) ask us who Jesus is. It is important that we give them the right answer. The King, through His Holy Spirit, has given all of us great authority to change the world. It’s important that we use it, and use it well.